June in Baseball History
Published by Evan Wagner
Jul 01, 2023
Interesting Baseball History for the month of June:
1899 - The St. Louis Perfectos played the New York Giants in game one of a doubleheader, then the Cleveland Spiders in game two, losing to two different teams on the same date.
1903 - Boston Beaneater Wiley Piatt becomes the only 20th-century pitcher to lose two complete games in one day, falling to Pittsburgh 1-0 and 5-3.
1906 - A 19-game losing streak ends for the Boston Beaneaters with a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
1907 - Branch Rickey, catcher for the New York Yankees, watched 12 Washington players steal safely in a 16-5 Senators win.
1908 - Cy Young's third career no-hitter is an 8-0 Boston win over New York. At 41 years and three months, he is the oldest pitcher to turn the no-hit trick. Nolan Ryan will beat him in 1990 at the age of 43.
1909 - Jim Thorpe makes his baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (Eastern Carolina League) with a 4-2 win over Raleigh. It is the professional play in this year that will cause him to lose his medals won in the 1912 Olympics
1910 - Joe Tinker of the Chicago Cubs became the first major leaguer to steal home twice in the same game.
1916 - Cleveland players, in a game with the White Sox, wear numbers on their sleeves, marking the first time players are identified by numbers corresponding to those on the scorecard.
1917 - Boston pitcher Babe Ruth starts against Washington. He walks leadoff man Eddie Foster, griping to plate umpire Brick Owens after each pitch. On ball four, Ruth plants a right to the umpire's jaw. He is ejected, and Ernie Shore relieves. Foster is caught stealing, and Shore retires all 26 men he faces in a 4-0 win, getting credit in the books for a perfect game.
1917 - Hank Gowdy is the first major-league player to enlist during World War I when he signs up in the Ohio National Guard. He will play until he reports for duty July 15
1918 - Losing 5-4 against the Yankees, the White Sox load the bases in the ninth with no outs. Chick Gandil lines a shot to third baseman Frank Baker, who turns it into a game-ending triple play.
1919 - Carl Mays of Boston pitched two complete games against the New York Yankees. The Red Sox won the first game, 2-0, and lost the nightcap, 4-1.
1920 - Lou Gehrig gets his first national mention when, as a high school junior for New York City's School of Commerce, he hits a grand slam in a high school championship game against Lane Tech in Chicago. Scouts sit with open mouths as the ball sails out of the N.L. park (later known as Wrigley Field).
1920 - The Reds' Edd Roush falls asleep in center field during a long argument in the infield. Heinie Groh goes out to wake him, but the ump ejects Roush for delaying the game.
1921 - Babe Ruth is arrested for speeding in New York, fined $100, and held in jail until 4:00 PM. Game time is 3:15, so a uniform is taken to him. He changes in jail and follows a police escort to the ballpark where he enters with New York trailing 3-2. The Yanks rally for a 4-3 win.
1924 - Yankees outfielder Bob Meusel gets hit in the back with a pitch then throws his bat at Tigers pitcher Bert Cole. The resulting fight includes players, fans and the police. Nearly thirty minutes later umpire Billy Evans is unable to clear the field and forfeits the game to New York, 10-6.
1925 - Lou Gehrig begins a consecutive-game streak that will surpass Everett Scott's mark by pinch-hitting for Pee Wee Wanninger, the shortstop who replaced Scott in the Yankees lineup. The next day, first baseman Wally Pipp shows up with a headache, and Gehrig takes over.
1926 - The Cardinals pick up 39-year-old Grover Cleveland Alexander on waivers from the Cubs to help in the pennant chase. He'll go 9-7 down the stretch.
1928 - Ty Cobb, 41 years old, steals home for the 54th and final time in his 24-year career to extend his major league record. It came in the eighth inning against the Indians, in a 12-5 Athletics win - a straight steal of home.
1930 - Grover Alexander is released by the Phillies after posting an 0-3 record. He ends his career thinking he has the N.L. record for most wins at 373, one more than Christy Mathewson. In 1946, a win disallowed in 1902 is restored to Mathewson's record, to leave the two great pitchers at a tie.
1932 - Lou Gehrig hits four consecutive home runs and narrowly misses a fifth in a Yankees-Athletics slugfest won by New York 20-13. Tony Lazzeri hits for the cycle, and the teams set a still-standing record for extra bases on long hits in a single game (41).
1932 - Roger Cramer of the A's has six hits in consecutive times at bat in a nine-inning game. Cramer will do this again in 1935, the only A.L. player to repeat the feat.
1932 - The N.L., at a meeting of club presidents, finally approves players wearing numbers. The A.L. had started in 1929.
1935 - Lou Gehrig collides with Carl Reynolds on a play at first base and leaves the game with arm and shoulder injuries. His consecutive streak is preserved, in part, by a rainout of the next day's game and an open date.
1938 - Babe Ruth is signed as a Dodgers coach for the rest of the season. He is in uniform for batting demonstrations the following day.
1938 - Johnny Vander Meer stuns baseball by pitching his second successive no-hitter, defeating the Dodgers 6-0, as Brooklyn plays the first night game ever at Ebbets Field. In front of 38,748 fans, including spectator Babe Ruth, Vandy strikes out seven and walks eight, including three walks in the ninth. A force at home and a fly ball end the game.
1939 - The New York Yankees announce Lou Gehrig's retirement, based on the report that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The 36-year-old star will remain with the team as captain.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio is credited with a hit in his 30th consecutive game when an easy grounder to short bounces up and hits Luke Appling on the shoulder. Chicago beats the Yankees 8-7
1941 - Joe DiMaggio singles against Washington knuckleballer Dutch Leonard in the sixth inning in the first game of a doubleheader to tie George Sisler's A.L. consecutive-game hit record of forty-one (41). In the nightcap he collects a seventh-inning single off of Walt Masterson to set the record at forty-two (42) games.
1941 - New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 37 in New York. From that time on, the illness is known primarily as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
1941 - The Giants use plastic batting helmets for the first time against the Pirates but lose a doubleheader to the Bucs 5-4 and 4-3
1943 - Rip Sewell of the Pirates throws his dew-drop ball in a game. Sewell loops the ball 18 to 20 feet high on its way to the strike zone. Later it is called a blooper or eephus ball. The pitch is more than a gag, and Sewell is on his way to a 20-win season.
1944 - D-Day, all major-league games are canceled as the country's focus is turned toward Europe while allied forces invade occupied France
1944 - More than 50,000 pack the Polo Grounds to watch the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants play each other in a six-inning contest to raise money for war bonds. Each team plays successive innings against the other two teams, then sits out an inning. The final score is Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants, 0.
1944 - Pitcher Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds is the youngest player in major-league history. Nuxhall, only 15 years, ten months old, pitches one-third of an inning in an 18-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. He manages to give up five walks and two hits before Bill McKechnie takes him out.
1947 - The Dodgers win 4-2 over the Pirates as Jackie Robinson swipes home for the first of 19 times in his career.
1948 - Number 3 is retired in honor of Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium in front of 49,641 fans. The ailing Bambino is in attendance as well as members of the 1923 Yankees squad.
1949 - Eddie Waitkus of the Phillies is shot by 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. She will later be placed in a mental hospital. Waitkus battles for his life and will come back to play the following season.
1953 - Congress cites the research of New York City librarian Robert Henderson in proving that Alexander Cartwright founded baseball and not Abner Doubleday. His 1947 book Bat, Ball and Bishop documents Cartwright's contributions to the origins of the game of baseball.
1953 - Red Sox rookie outfielder Gene Stephens becomes the only A.L. player to get three hits in the same inning, as Boston scores 17 in the seventh inning in a 23-3 romp over Detroit. The Red Sox send 23 to the plate in the seventh, getting 14 hits and six walks 20 runners in succession before third baseman George Kell flies out to end it.
1955 - The Dodgers option pitcher Tommy Lasorda to Montreal to make room on the roster for bonus baby Sandy Koufax, who has been on the injured list.
1956 - At Detroit's Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle puts two Billy Hoeft pitches into the right center field bleachers, something no other player had done since the bleachers were built in the late 1930s. New York wins 7-4.
1958 - The Dodger referendum passes in Los Angeles by a slim margin of 24,293 votes. The proposition allows the city to sell 300 acres of Chavez Ravine to the Dodgers for their stadium. The N.L. president had stated that the Dodgers should vacate Los Angeles if the bill failed.
1959 - In Chicago, two balls are in play at the same time. On a wild pitch from pitcher Bob Anderson, Stan Musial draws a walk. As the pitch gets by catcher Sammy Taylor, Musial tries for second base. Umpire Vic Delmore puts another ball in play by mistake. Taylor promptly throws the ball into center field. Third baseman Al Dark, who chased down the original ball, throws to shortstop Ernie Banks, who tags out a confused Musial. After a 10-minute conference, the umpires agree that Musial is out. Delmore will be fired because of the boner.
1962 - Larry Doby, retired from the Cleveland Indians, signs on with the Chunichi Dragons. He becomes, with Don Newcombe, the first former major league player to toil for a Japanese team. Doby's season batting average will be a mediocre .225.
1963 - Jimmy Piersall of the New York Mets hits the 100th home run of his major league career and celebrates by running around the bases backwards. Dallas Green of the Phillies, who gave up the home run, is not amused. Neither is Commissioner Ford Frick, who is in the stands.
1963 - The Colt 45s beat the Giants 3-0 in the major leagues' first Sunday night game. The exception is made because of Houston's oppressive daytime heat.
1965 - No-hit pitching and 18 strikeouts, tying the N.L. extra-inning record, net Cincinnati's Jim Maloney a 0-0 tie with the last-place Mets through ten innings. Johnny Lewis's 11th-inning home run gives New York and reliever Larry Bearnarth a 1-0 win.
1966 - Miami ekes out a 4-3 triumph over St. Petersburg (Florida State League) in 29 innings. It is the longest game not interrupted by a suspension of play in the history of organized ball. Sparky Anderson is the manager for St. Petersburg.
1966 - Minnesota rocks Kansas City with the first five-home run inning in A.L. history. Rich Rollins, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don Mincher, and Harmon Killebrew connect in the seventh inning to give the Twins a 9-4 victory.
1966 - The New York Mets, picking first in the June free-agent draft, pass up Arizona State outfielder Reggie Jackson to select catcher Steve Chilcott. Chilcott will retire after six years in the minors and will be the first number-one pick to never play in the major leagues. The A's take Jackson with the second pick.
1967 - Curt Flood's record string of 568 straight chances without an error ends when he drops a fly ball during a 4-3 win over the Cubs at St. Louis. The Cardinals center fielder had played an N.L.-record 227 straight games without an error beginning Sept. 3, 1965.
1968 - Detroit's Jim Northrup hit his third grand slam in a week and the Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2.
1968 - Don Drysdale works four scoreless innings against Philadelphia before finally allowing a run, after 58 2/3 shutout innings, on Howie Bedell's sacrifice fly. Bedell has no other RBI in 1968. Drysdale breaks the major league record of 56 consecutive scoreless innings set by Walter Johnson in 1913. The Dodgers win 5-3.
1968 - San Francisco rookie Bobby Bonds becomes the second player to debut with a grand slam as teammate Ray Sadecki blanks the Dodgers 9-0. Bonds does it on his third at-bat. The only other player to hit a grand slam in his first major-league game was William Duggelby of the Philadelphia Nationals in 1898.
1968 - The major league Executive Council decides that both the A.L. and N.L. will play 162-game schedules in 1969 and operate two six-team divisions.
1970 - Detroit's Cesar Gutierrez goes seven-for-seven to tie a record set in 1892 in a 12-inning, 9-8 win over Cleveland. Mickey Stanley's home run wins it for the Tigers. Gutierrez will collect just seven hits in all of 1971, and 128 hits for his career.
1971 - Indians slugger Ken Harrelson announces his retirement from baseball to join the pro golf tour.
1971 - Willie Mays strokes a 12th-inning home run off Joe Hoerner of the Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader, his 22nd and last career extra-inning homer, a major-league mark.
1972 - By a 5-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court confirms lower court rulings in the Curt Flood case, upholding baseball's exemption from antitrust laws and the legitimacy of its reserve clause. Its decision is narrowly construed, however, and leaves the way open for legislation or collective bargaining to undercut the reserve system.
1972 - Culminating a long battle to reach pro baseball, Bernice Gera umpires the first game of a doubleheader between Auburn and Geneva (New York-Pennsylvania League). Several disputes take place and she ejects the Auburn manager. Gera resigns before the second game, leaving in tears.
1973 - Bobby Bonds leads off with a home run, but the Giants lose 7-5 to the Reds. It is Bonds's 22nd leadoff home run, breaking Lou Brock's N.L. record.
1973 - David Clyde, 18 and fresh out of Houston's Westchester high school, makes his eagerly awaited debut with Texas before 35,698, the largest Rangers' crowd of the year. Clyde, the number one pick in the draft, walks the first two Twins he faces, then gets Bob Darwin, George Mitterwald, and Joe Lis on swinging third strikes. Clyde goes five innings and gives up only one hit a two-run home run walks seven and strikes out eight. He is the winner, 4-3.
1973 - Phillies pitcher Ken Brett beats the Expos 7-2 and hits a home run for a major-league record for a pitcher fourth consecutive game. He hit home runs on June 9, 13, 18, and 23: he will total ten for his career.
1974 - During a 12-0 win over the Astros, Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt hits a ball off the public address speaker hanging from the Astrodome roof, 117 feet up and 300 feet from the plate. Schmidt must settle for a titanic single.
1974 - Oakland's Reggie Jackson and Billy North engage in a clubhouse fight at Detroit. Jackson injures his shoulder, and Ray Fosse, attempting to separate the combatants, suffers a crushed disk in his neck that virtually ends his season.
1974 - On Ten-Cent Beer Night at Cleveland, unruly fans stumble onto the field and cause the Indians to forfeit the game to the Rangers with the score tied 5-5 in the ninth inning.
1975 - The Yankees sponsor Army Day at their temporary home, Shea Stadium (Yankee Stadium is being refurbished). During a ceremonial 21-gun salute, glass is splintered, the park is filled with smoke, part of the fence is blown away, and another part is set afire.
1976 - Rain out! The scheduled game at the Astrodome is canceled when heavy rains make it difficult for the visiting team and umpires to get through flooded streets to the stadium.
1976 - Randy Jones pitches the Padres to a 4-2 win over the Giants, and ties Christy Mathewson's 63-year-old N.L. record by going 68 innings without a base on balls. He receives a standing ovation from the home crowd after striking out Darrell Evans to end the seventh. His streak ends when he walks catcher Marc Hill leading off the eighth. It is Jones's 13th win of the year.
1976 - Ranger Toby Harrah becomes the first shortstop in major-league history to go through an entire doubleheader without a fielding chance. At the plate, Harrah makes up for the inactivity, collecting six hits, including a grand slam in the opener and another round-tripper in the nightcap. The Rangers beat the White Sox in the first game 8-4, but lose the nightcap 14-9.
1977 - New York's Reggie Jackson loafs after a fly ball during a 10-4 loss to Boston and is taken out by manager Billy Martin. Jackson and Martin nearly come to blows in the dugout as national television cameras watch.
1977 - Willie McCovey smashes two home runs in the sixth inning to pace a 14-9 Giants victory over the Reds. McCovey becomes the first player to twice hit two home runs in one inning, having also done it on April 12, 1973. He also becomes the all-time N.L. leader with 17 career grand slams.
1979 - Rickey Henderson makes his major-league debut for Oakland in a 5-1 loss to Texas in the first game of a doubleheader. Henderson has a single and double in four at-bats and steals the first base of his big-league career.
1979 - The Giants lose to the Cubs 8-6, but Willie McCovey hits his 513rd career home run off Dennis Lamp. McCovey becomes the most prolific lefthanded home run hitter in N.L. history.
1984 - In a teary home plate ceremony before the Twins-White Sox game at the Metrodome, Calvin Griffith and his sister, Thelma Haynes, sign a letter of intent to sell their 52 percent ownership of the Twins to Minneapolis banker Carl Pohlad for $32 million. Griffith and his sister had been involved with the franchise since 1922, when owner Clark Griffith of the then-Washington Senators adopted them
1986 - Bo Jackson, college football's Heisman Trophy winner in 1985 and the first pick (by Tampa Bay) in the NFL draft, stuns observers nationwide by signing with the Kansas City Royals instead.
1986 - Give him an 'A' for effort. San Francisco second baseman Robby Thompson is caught stealing four times in the Giants' 7-6, 12-inning win over the Reds, establishing a new major league record. Thompson was thrown out by Bo Diaz in the fourth, sixth, ninth and 11th innings.
1988 - Alarmed by the White Sox' threatened move to St. Petersburg, Florida, lawmakers in Illinois grant state subsidies for a new stadium to replace venerable but decaying Comiskey Park.
1988 - George Steinbrenner fires Billy Martin for the fifth time, replacing him with Lou Piniella. In 1985, Piniella was fired and replaced by Martin. In 1985, Martin was fired and replaced by Piniella. New York's 40-28 record is the fourth best in the big leagues, but the Yankees had just completed a 2-7 road trip.
1988 - Yankees designated hitter Rick Rhoden hits a sacrifice fly in New York's 8-6 win over Baltimore. He is the first pitcher to start a game as a DH since the rule was adopted in 1973.
1989 - After taking a 10-0 lead in the top of the first inning (Pittsburgh's best inning since 1942), the Pirates lose to the Phillies 15-11. After the season, Pirates broadcaster Jim Rooker will conduct a charity walk from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh as a result of his on-air promise to walk home if the Pirates blew their early lead.
1989 - Cardinals outfielder Vince Coleman steals his 39th and 40th consecutive bases in a 5-2 loss to the Pirates to break the major-league record set by Davey Lopes in 1975. Coleman has not been caught stealing since September 15, 1988.
1989 - Rick Wolff, 37, writing an article on minor-league baseball for Sports Illustrated, finishes a three-day stint playing second base for the South Bend White Sox (Midwest League). He replaces Cesar Bernhardt and goes 4-for-7 against the Burlington Braves. Wolff will finish the year with the highest average of any Chicago White Sox farmhand.
1989 - The Mets' defense does not record a single assist in a 5-1 win over Philadelphia, tying the major-league record set by the Indians in 1945. New York pitchers retire the Phillies on 13 strikeouts, 12 fly outs, and two ground balls to first base.
1990 - Oakland's Dave Stewart and the Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela both throw no-hitters. Stewart blanks the Blue Jays 5-0, and a few hours later Valenzuela beats the Cardinals 6-0.
1990 - Seattle's Randy Johnson, at six feet ten inches the tallest pitcher in major-league history, pitches the first Mariners' no-hitter, a 2-0 win over the Tigers. He walks six and strikes out eight.
1990 - The last-place Braves fire manager Russ Nixon and replace him with general manager Bobby Cox, who last managed Toronto in 1985, he would remain the Braves manager thru the 2010 season.
1990 - The N.L. announces plans to expand from 12 to 14 teams for the 1993 season. The price of admission for each expansion franchise is $95 million.
1991 - Albert Belle is shipped to the minors for not running out a ground ball in Cleveland's 2-1 loss to the White Sox.
1992 - Eddie Murray of the Mets becomes the all-time leader in RBI by a switch-hitter. He passes Mickey Mantle with his 1,510th RBI.
1992 - San Jose voters tell the Giants they don't want them by rejecting a plan to build a new stadium in their town
1994 - Replays show that A's pitcher Bobby Witt beat Kansas City's Greg Gagne to first base in the sixth inning, but umpire Gary Cedarstrom sees it differently. The infield hit is the only blemish on what otherwise would have been a perfect game.
1995 - Giants infielder Mike Benjamin goes 6-for-7 in a 13-inning 4-3 win over the Cubs. It caps a three-day binge in which Benjamin, a career .186 hitter in his first six seasons, sets a major league record with 14 hits in three games. Benjamin was 14-for-18 in that stretch.
1995 - Orioles third baseman Jeff Manto, who had four home runs in his first three years in the major leagues, homers in his fourth consecutive at-bat. In all, he homers five times in six at-bats in three games.
1995 - Rockies first baseman Andres Galarraga becomes the fourth player to homer in three consecutive innings in an 11-3 win over the Padres. Galarraga, who had seven RBI in the game, went deep in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and was on deck when the Rockies were retired in the ninth.
1997 - Kevin Brown pitches the first no-hitter of the season and the second no-hitter in Marlins history in a 9-0 win over the Giants in San Francisco. Brown has a perfect game going until he hits pinch-hitter Marvin Benard with a 1-2 pitch with two outs in the eighth inning. Benard is the only Giants player to reach base. San Francisco starter William Van Landingham also had a no-hitter for six innings before Charles Johnson's home run in the seventh breaks up the bid and triggers a Florida offensive explosion.
1997 - Tony Gwynn of the Padres breaks a seventh-inning tie with an inside-the-park grand slam as San Diego beats Los Angeles, 9-7. The opposite-field hit not only puts Gwynn back over the .400 mark, but is also the first N.L. inside-the-park grand slam in six years.
2003 - Eric Byrnes hit for the cycle and matched a franchise record with five hits in Oakland's 5-2 win over San Francisco.
1899 - The St. Louis Perfectos played the New York Giants in game one of a doubleheader, then the Cleveland Spiders in game two, losing to two different teams on the same date.
1903 - Boston Beaneater Wiley Piatt becomes the only 20th-century pitcher to lose two complete games in one day, falling to Pittsburgh 1-0 and 5-3.
1906 - A 19-game losing streak ends for the Boston Beaneaters with a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
1907 - Branch Rickey, catcher for the New York Yankees, watched 12 Washington players steal safely in a 16-5 Senators win.
1908 - Cy Young's third career no-hitter is an 8-0 Boston win over New York. At 41 years and three months, he is the oldest pitcher to turn the no-hit trick. Nolan Ryan will beat him in 1990 at the age of 43.
1909 - Jim Thorpe makes his baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (Eastern Carolina League) with a 4-2 win over Raleigh. It is the professional play in this year that will cause him to lose his medals won in the 1912 Olympics
1910 - Joe Tinker of the Chicago Cubs became the first major leaguer to steal home twice in the same game.
1916 - Cleveland players, in a game with the White Sox, wear numbers on their sleeves, marking the first time players are identified by numbers corresponding to those on the scorecard.
1917 - Boston pitcher Babe Ruth starts against Washington. He walks leadoff man Eddie Foster, griping to plate umpire Brick Owens after each pitch. On ball four, Ruth plants a right to the umpire's jaw. He is ejected, and Ernie Shore relieves. Foster is caught stealing, and Shore retires all 26 men he faces in a 4-0 win, getting credit in the books for a perfect game.
1917 - Hank Gowdy is the first major-league player to enlist during World War I when he signs up in the Ohio National Guard. He will play until he reports for duty July 15
1918 - Losing 5-4 against the Yankees, the White Sox load the bases in the ninth with no outs. Chick Gandil lines a shot to third baseman Frank Baker, who turns it into a game-ending triple play.
1919 - Carl Mays of Boston pitched two complete games against the New York Yankees. The Red Sox won the first game, 2-0, and lost the nightcap, 4-1.
1920 - Lou Gehrig gets his first national mention when, as a high school junior for New York City's School of Commerce, he hits a grand slam in a high school championship game against Lane Tech in Chicago. Scouts sit with open mouths as the ball sails out of the N.L. park (later known as Wrigley Field).
1920 - The Reds' Edd Roush falls asleep in center field during a long argument in the infield. Heinie Groh goes out to wake him, but the ump ejects Roush for delaying the game.
1921 - Babe Ruth is arrested for speeding in New York, fined $100, and held in jail until 4:00 PM. Game time is 3:15, so a uniform is taken to him. He changes in jail and follows a police escort to the ballpark where he enters with New York trailing 3-2. The Yanks rally for a 4-3 win.
1924 - Yankees outfielder Bob Meusel gets hit in the back with a pitch then throws his bat at Tigers pitcher Bert Cole. The resulting fight includes players, fans and the police. Nearly thirty minutes later umpire Billy Evans is unable to clear the field and forfeits the game to New York, 10-6.
1925 - Lou Gehrig begins a consecutive-game streak that will surpass Everett Scott's mark by pinch-hitting for Pee Wee Wanninger, the shortstop who replaced Scott in the Yankees lineup. The next day, first baseman Wally Pipp shows up with a headache, and Gehrig takes over.
1926 - The Cardinals pick up 39-year-old Grover Cleveland Alexander on waivers from the Cubs to help in the pennant chase. He'll go 9-7 down the stretch.
1928 - Ty Cobb, 41 years old, steals home for the 54th and final time in his 24-year career to extend his major league record. It came in the eighth inning against the Indians, in a 12-5 Athletics win - a straight steal of home.
1930 - Grover Alexander is released by the Phillies after posting an 0-3 record. He ends his career thinking he has the N.L. record for most wins at 373, one more than Christy Mathewson. In 1946, a win disallowed in 1902 is restored to Mathewson's record, to leave the two great pitchers at a tie.
1932 - Lou Gehrig hits four consecutive home runs and narrowly misses a fifth in a Yankees-Athletics slugfest won by New York 20-13. Tony Lazzeri hits for the cycle, and the teams set a still-standing record for extra bases on long hits in a single game (41).
1932 - Roger Cramer of the A's has six hits in consecutive times at bat in a nine-inning game. Cramer will do this again in 1935, the only A.L. player to repeat the feat.
1932 - The N.L., at a meeting of club presidents, finally approves players wearing numbers. The A.L. had started in 1929.
1935 - Lou Gehrig collides with Carl Reynolds on a play at first base and leaves the game with arm and shoulder injuries. His consecutive streak is preserved, in part, by a rainout of the next day's game and an open date.
1938 - Babe Ruth is signed as a Dodgers coach for the rest of the season. He is in uniform for batting demonstrations the following day.
1938 - Johnny Vander Meer stuns baseball by pitching his second successive no-hitter, defeating the Dodgers 6-0, as Brooklyn plays the first night game ever at Ebbets Field. In front of 38,748 fans, including spectator Babe Ruth, Vandy strikes out seven and walks eight, including three walks in the ninth. A force at home and a fly ball end the game.
1939 - The New York Yankees announce Lou Gehrig's retirement, based on the report that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The 36-year-old star will remain with the team as captain.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio is credited with a hit in his 30th consecutive game when an easy grounder to short bounces up and hits Luke Appling on the shoulder. Chicago beats the Yankees 8-7
1941 - Joe DiMaggio singles against Washington knuckleballer Dutch Leonard in the sixth inning in the first game of a doubleheader to tie George Sisler's A.L. consecutive-game hit record of forty-one (41). In the nightcap he collects a seventh-inning single off of Walt Masterson to set the record at forty-two (42) games.
1941 - New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 37 in New York. From that time on, the illness is known primarily as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
1941 - The Giants use plastic batting helmets for the first time against the Pirates but lose a doubleheader to the Bucs 5-4 and 4-3
1943 - Rip Sewell of the Pirates throws his dew-drop ball in a game. Sewell loops the ball 18 to 20 feet high on its way to the strike zone. Later it is called a blooper or eephus ball. The pitch is more than a gag, and Sewell is on his way to a 20-win season.
1944 - D-Day, all major-league games are canceled as the country's focus is turned toward Europe while allied forces invade occupied France
1944 - More than 50,000 pack the Polo Grounds to watch the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants play each other in a six-inning contest to raise money for war bonds. Each team plays successive innings against the other two teams, then sits out an inning. The final score is Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants, 0.
1944 - Pitcher Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds is the youngest player in major-league history. Nuxhall, only 15 years, ten months old, pitches one-third of an inning in an 18-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. He manages to give up five walks and two hits before Bill McKechnie takes him out.
1947 - The Dodgers win 4-2 over the Pirates as Jackie Robinson swipes home for the first of 19 times in his career.
1948 - Number 3 is retired in honor of Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium in front of 49,641 fans. The ailing Bambino is in attendance as well as members of the 1923 Yankees squad.
1949 - Eddie Waitkus of the Phillies is shot by 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. She will later be placed in a mental hospital. Waitkus battles for his life and will come back to play the following season.
1953 - Congress cites the research of New York City librarian Robert Henderson in proving that Alexander Cartwright founded baseball and not Abner Doubleday. His 1947 book Bat, Ball and Bishop documents Cartwright's contributions to the origins of the game of baseball.
1953 - Red Sox rookie outfielder Gene Stephens becomes the only A.L. player to get three hits in the same inning, as Boston scores 17 in the seventh inning in a 23-3 romp over Detroit. The Red Sox send 23 to the plate in the seventh, getting 14 hits and six walks 20 runners in succession before third baseman George Kell flies out to end it.
1955 - The Dodgers option pitcher Tommy Lasorda to Montreal to make room on the roster for bonus baby Sandy Koufax, who has been on the injured list.
1956 - At Detroit's Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle puts two Billy Hoeft pitches into the right center field bleachers, something no other player had done since the bleachers were built in the late 1930s. New York wins 7-4.
1958 - The Dodger referendum passes in Los Angeles by a slim margin of 24,293 votes. The proposition allows the city to sell 300 acres of Chavez Ravine to the Dodgers for their stadium. The N.L. president had stated that the Dodgers should vacate Los Angeles if the bill failed.
1959 - In Chicago, two balls are in play at the same time. On a wild pitch from pitcher Bob Anderson, Stan Musial draws a walk. As the pitch gets by catcher Sammy Taylor, Musial tries for second base. Umpire Vic Delmore puts another ball in play by mistake. Taylor promptly throws the ball into center field. Third baseman Al Dark, who chased down the original ball, throws to shortstop Ernie Banks, who tags out a confused Musial. After a 10-minute conference, the umpires agree that Musial is out. Delmore will be fired because of the boner.
1962 - Larry Doby, retired from the Cleveland Indians, signs on with the Chunichi Dragons. He becomes, with Don Newcombe, the first former major league player to toil for a Japanese team. Doby's season batting average will be a mediocre .225.
1963 - Jimmy Piersall of the New York Mets hits the 100th home run of his major league career and celebrates by running around the bases backwards. Dallas Green of the Phillies, who gave up the home run, is not amused. Neither is Commissioner Ford Frick, who is in the stands.
1963 - The Colt 45s beat the Giants 3-0 in the major leagues' first Sunday night game. The exception is made because of Houston's oppressive daytime heat.
1965 - No-hit pitching and 18 strikeouts, tying the N.L. extra-inning record, net Cincinnati's Jim Maloney a 0-0 tie with the last-place Mets through ten innings. Johnny Lewis's 11th-inning home run gives New York and reliever Larry Bearnarth a 1-0 win.
1966 - Miami ekes out a 4-3 triumph over St. Petersburg (Florida State League) in 29 innings. It is the longest game not interrupted by a suspension of play in the history of organized ball. Sparky Anderson is the manager for St. Petersburg.
1966 - Minnesota rocks Kansas City with the first five-home run inning in A.L. history. Rich Rollins, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don Mincher, and Harmon Killebrew connect in the seventh inning to give the Twins a 9-4 victory.
1966 - The New York Mets, picking first in the June free-agent draft, pass up Arizona State outfielder Reggie Jackson to select catcher Steve Chilcott. Chilcott will retire after six years in the minors and will be the first number-one pick to never play in the major leagues. The A's take Jackson with the second pick.
1967 - Curt Flood's record string of 568 straight chances without an error ends when he drops a fly ball during a 4-3 win over the Cubs at St. Louis. The Cardinals center fielder had played an N.L.-record 227 straight games without an error beginning Sept. 3, 1965.
1968 - Detroit's Jim Northrup hit his third grand slam in a week and the Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2.
1968 - Don Drysdale works four scoreless innings against Philadelphia before finally allowing a run, after 58 2/3 shutout innings, on Howie Bedell's sacrifice fly. Bedell has no other RBI in 1968. Drysdale breaks the major league record of 56 consecutive scoreless innings set by Walter Johnson in 1913. The Dodgers win 5-3.
1968 - San Francisco rookie Bobby Bonds becomes the second player to debut with a grand slam as teammate Ray Sadecki blanks the Dodgers 9-0. Bonds does it on his third at-bat. The only other player to hit a grand slam in his first major-league game was William Duggelby of the Philadelphia Nationals in 1898.
1968 - The major league Executive Council decides that both the A.L. and N.L. will play 162-game schedules in 1969 and operate two six-team divisions.
1970 - Detroit's Cesar Gutierrez goes seven-for-seven to tie a record set in 1892 in a 12-inning, 9-8 win over Cleveland. Mickey Stanley's home run wins it for the Tigers. Gutierrez will collect just seven hits in all of 1971, and 128 hits for his career.
1971 - Indians slugger Ken Harrelson announces his retirement from baseball to join the pro golf tour.
1971 - Willie Mays strokes a 12th-inning home run off Joe Hoerner of the Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader, his 22nd and last career extra-inning homer, a major-league mark.
1972 - By a 5-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court confirms lower court rulings in the Curt Flood case, upholding baseball's exemption from antitrust laws and the legitimacy of its reserve clause. Its decision is narrowly construed, however, and leaves the way open for legislation or collective bargaining to undercut the reserve system.
1972 - Culminating a long battle to reach pro baseball, Bernice Gera umpires the first game of a doubleheader between Auburn and Geneva (New York-Pennsylvania League). Several disputes take place and she ejects the Auburn manager. Gera resigns before the second game, leaving in tears.
1973 - Bobby Bonds leads off with a home run, but the Giants lose 7-5 to the Reds. It is Bonds's 22nd leadoff home run, breaking Lou Brock's N.L. record.
1973 - David Clyde, 18 and fresh out of Houston's Westchester high school, makes his eagerly awaited debut with Texas before 35,698, the largest Rangers' crowd of the year. Clyde, the number one pick in the draft, walks the first two Twins he faces, then gets Bob Darwin, George Mitterwald, and Joe Lis on swinging third strikes. Clyde goes five innings and gives up only one hit a two-run home run walks seven and strikes out eight. He is the winner, 4-3.
1973 - Phillies pitcher Ken Brett beats the Expos 7-2 and hits a home run for a major-league record for a pitcher fourth consecutive game. He hit home runs on June 9, 13, 18, and 23: he will total ten for his career.
1974 - During a 12-0 win over the Astros, Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt hits a ball off the public address speaker hanging from the Astrodome roof, 117 feet up and 300 feet from the plate. Schmidt must settle for a titanic single.
1974 - Oakland's Reggie Jackson and Billy North engage in a clubhouse fight at Detroit. Jackson injures his shoulder, and Ray Fosse, attempting to separate the combatants, suffers a crushed disk in his neck that virtually ends his season.
1974 - On Ten-Cent Beer Night at Cleveland, unruly fans stumble onto the field and cause the Indians to forfeit the game to the Rangers with the score tied 5-5 in the ninth inning.
1975 - The Yankees sponsor Army Day at their temporary home, Shea Stadium (Yankee Stadium is being refurbished). During a ceremonial 21-gun salute, glass is splintered, the park is filled with smoke, part of the fence is blown away, and another part is set afire.
1976 - Rain out! The scheduled game at the Astrodome is canceled when heavy rains make it difficult for the visiting team and umpires to get through flooded streets to the stadium.
1976 - Randy Jones pitches the Padres to a 4-2 win over the Giants, and ties Christy Mathewson's 63-year-old N.L. record by going 68 innings without a base on balls. He receives a standing ovation from the home crowd after striking out Darrell Evans to end the seventh. His streak ends when he walks catcher Marc Hill leading off the eighth. It is Jones's 13th win of the year.
1976 - Ranger Toby Harrah becomes the first shortstop in major-league history to go through an entire doubleheader without a fielding chance. At the plate, Harrah makes up for the inactivity, collecting six hits, including a grand slam in the opener and another round-tripper in the nightcap. The Rangers beat the White Sox in the first game 8-4, but lose the nightcap 14-9.
1977 - New York's Reggie Jackson loafs after a fly ball during a 10-4 loss to Boston and is taken out by manager Billy Martin. Jackson and Martin nearly come to blows in the dugout as national television cameras watch.
1977 - Willie McCovey smashes two home runs in the sixth inning to pace a 14-9 Giants victory over the Reds. McCovey becomes the first player to twice hit two home runs in one inning, having also done it on April 12, 1973. He also becomes the all-time N.L. leader with 17 career grand slams.
1979 - Rickey Henderson makes his major-league debut for Oakland in a 5-1 loss to Texas in the first game of a doubleheader. Henderson has a single and double in four at-bats and steals the first base of his big-league career.
1979 - The Giants lose to the Cubs 8-6, but Willie McCovey hits his 513rd career home run off Dennis Lamp. McCovey becomes the most prolific lefthanded home run hitter in N.L. history.
1984 - In a teary home plate ceremony before the Twins-White Sox game at the Metrodome, Calvin Griffith and his sister, Thelma Haynes, sign a letter of intent to sell their 52 percent ownership of the Twins to Minneapolis banker Carl Pohlad for $32 million. Griffith and his sister had been involved with the franchise since 1922, when owner Clark Griffith of the then-Washington Senators adopted them
1986 - Bo Jackson, college football's Heisman Trophy winner in 1985 and the first pick (by Tampa Bay) in the NFL draft, stuns observers nationwide by signing with the Kansas City Royals instead.
1986 - Give him an 'A' for effort. San Francisco second baseman Robby Thompson is caught stealing four times in the Giants' 7-6, 12-inning win over the Reds, establishing a new major league record. Thompson was thrown out by Bo Diaz in the fourth, sixth, ninth and 11th innings.
1988 - Alarmed by the White Sox' threatened move to St. Petersburg, Florida, lawmakers in Illinois grant state subsidies for a new stadium to replace venerable but decaying Comiskey Park.
1988 - George Steinbrenner fires Billy Martin for the fifth time, replacing him with Lou Piniella. In 1985, Piniella was fired and replaced by Martin. In 1985, Martin was fired and replaced by Piniella. New York's 40-28 record is the fourth best in the big leagues, but the Yankees had just completed a 2-7 road trip.
1988 - Yankees designated hitter Rick Rhoden hits a sacrifice fly in New York's 8-6 win over Baltimore. He is the first pitcher to start a game as a DH since the rule was adopted in 1973.
1989 - After taking a 10-0 lead in the top of the first inning (Pittsburgh's best inning since 1942), the Pirates lose to the Phillies 15-11. After the season, Pirates broadcaster Jim Rooker will conduct a charity walk from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh as a result of his on-air promise to walk home if the Pirates blew their early lead.
1989 - Cardinals outfielder Vince Coleman steals his 39th and 40th consecutive bases in a 5-2 loss to the Pirates to break the major-league record set by Davey Lopes in 1975. Coleman has not been caught stealing since September 15, 1988.
1989 - Rick Wolff, 37, writing an article on minor-league baseball for Sports Illustrated, finishes a three-day stint playing second base for the South Bend White Sox (Midwest League). He replaces Cesar Bernhardt and goes 4-for-7 against the Burlington Braves. Wolff will finish the year with the highest average of any Chicago White Sox farmhand.
1989 - The Mets' defense does not record a single assist in a 5-1 win over Philadelphia, tying the major-league record set by the Indians in 1945. New York pitchers retire the Phillies on 13 strikeouts, 12 fly outs, and two ground balls to first base.
1990 - Oakland's Dave Stewart and the Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela both throw no-hitters. Stewart blanks the Blue Jays 5-0, and a few hours later Valenzuela beats the Cardinals 6-0.
1990 - Seattle's Randy Johnson, at six feet ten inches the tallest pitcher in major-league history, pitches the first Mariners' no-hitter, a 2-0 win over the Tigers. He walks six and strikes out eight.
1990 - The last-place Braves fire manager Russ Nixon and replace him with general manager Bobby Cox, who last managed Toronto in 1985, he would remain the Braves manager thru the 2010 season.
1990 - The N.L. announces plans to expand from 12 to 14 teams for the 1993 season. The price of admission for each expansion franchise is $95 million.
1991 - Albert Belle is shipped to the minors for not running out a ground ball in Cleveland's 2-1 loss to the White Sox.
1992 - Eddie Murray of the Mets becomes the all-time leader in RBI by a switch-hitter. He passes Mickey Mantle with his 1,510th RBI.
1992 - San Jose voters tell the Giants they don't want them by rejecting a plan to build a new stadium in their town
1994 - Replays show that A's pitcher Bobby Witt beat Kansas City's Greg Gagne to first base in the sixth inning, but umpire Gary Cedarstrom sees it differently. The infield hit is the only blemish on what otherwise would have been a perfect game.
1995 - Giants infielder Mike Benjamin goes 6-for-7 in a 13-inning 4-3 win over the Cubs. It caps a three-day binge in which Benjamin, a career .186 hitter in his first six seasons, sets a major league record with 14 hits in three games. Benjamin was 14-for-18 in that stretch.
1995 - Orioles third baseman Jeff Manto, who had four home runs in his first three years in the major leagues, homers in his fourth consecutive at-bat. In all, he homers five times in six at-bats in three games.
1995 - Rockies first baseman Andres Galarraga becomes the fourth player to homer in three consecutive innings in an 11-3 win over the Padres. Galarraga, who had seven RBI in the game, went deep in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and was on deck when the Rockies were retired in the ninth.
1997 - Kevin Brown pitches the first no-hitter of the season and the second no-hitter in Marlins history in a 9-0 win over the Giants in San Francisco. Brown has a perfect game going until he hits pinch-hitter Marvin Benard with a 1-2 pitch with two outs in the eighth inning. Benard is the only Giants player to reach base. San Francisco starter William Van Landingham also had a no-hitter for six innings before Charles Johnson's home run in the seventh breaks up the bid and triggers a Florida offensive explosion.
1997 - Tony Gwynn of the Padres breaks a seventh-inning tie with an inside-the-park grand slam as San Diego beats Los Angeles, 9-7. The opposite-field hit not only puts Gwynn back over the .400 mark, but is also the first N.L. inside-the-park grand slam in six years.
2003 - Eric Byrnes hit for the cycle and matched a franchise record with five hits in Oakland's 5-2 win over San Francisco.