Bjorn Borg during his '91 comeback. (Photo by Simon Bruty/Getty Images)

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1/23/1944 - Red Wings win 15-0

Before a crowd of 12,293 at Olympia Stadium, the hometown Detroit Red Wings defeat the New York Rangers, 15-0, in what remains the largest blowout in NHL history. Besides their margin of victory, the Red Wings set records in consecutive goals, third period scoring, scoring points (15 goals and 22 assists), and points in one period (22 in the third), while at point scoring four goals in the span of three minutes and 52 seconds.

Ten of Detroit's players scored, including Syd Howe, who scored all three of his goals in the final eight minutes to finish with a hat trick. Detroit's rookie goalie, Connie Dion, only had to make nine saves to preserve his first career shutout, while Rangers' goalie Ken McAuley saved 43 over the course of the onslaught. The Red Wings' victory would have been greater had another second been left on the clock; a Detroit player scored just after time expired, preventing them from tying the record for goals in a game.

Things didn't get better for the New York Rangers, whose futility rested in the fact that many of their best players were overseas, fighting in World War II. The Rangers wouldn't win a single game the rest of the year, and carried their record 25-game winless streak into the next season. The 1943-44 Rangers finished with a record of 6-39-5 while tallying only 17 points, easily making them one of the worst teams of all time.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in five games in the semifinal round.

1/23/1983 - Bjorn Borg retires

Tennis great Bjorn Borg stuns the sports world by announcing his retirement at the age of 26. Borg, the winner of 11 Grand Slam singles titles and a participant in a Wimbledon match against John McEnroe that was widely considered the greatest of all time, hadn't played in an ATP tournament in a year and a half, though it was speculated that he had taken the time off to train.

"I haven't got the right motivation," Borg was quoted in Kvallposten, a Swedish newspaper. "I can't give 100 percent, and if I can't do that, it wouldn't be fair to myself to go on. Tennis has to be fun if you want to get to the top and I don't feel that way anymore."

Borg contended that he wanted to do more with this life than work out and play tennis. But in 1990, he announced that he was returning to the court, saying, "I have discovered that I can still contribute a lot to the game. And I do miss the battle out there." But as a 34-year-old in a sport of twenty-somethings and teenagers, Borg's comeback was doomed from the start. He played in 12 official matches and lost all 12 of them before stepping away once again.

Also on this day:

1929: Jacob Ruppert announces the Yankees will be the first team to wear uniform numbers. [See: April 16th]

1998: The Denver Nuggets tie an NBA record for consecutive in-season losses (23). They'd win the next day.

Further reading:

• The Boston Globe: Bjorn again