August 16

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Stats of players who were born this day
Stats of players who died on this day
Standings on this day
Permanent link to Today's Entry
Sources
Baseball Library Chronology
Today in Baseball History

Events, births and deaths that occurred on August 16.

Events

• 1870 - Young pitcher Fred Goldsmith demonstrates at a public exhibition at the Capitoline Grounds in Brooklyn, NY that the curve ball is a real pitch and not simply an optical illusion, as he manages to make a ball bend around three parallel stakes placed in the ground. Henry Chadwick is among those in attendance and reports on the event in the next day's paper. Goldsmith's claim to have invented the pitch will be disputed by Candy Cummings, however.
• 1902 - The Athletics move into first place to stay as 18,675 see them beat Chicago, 2 - 1.
• 1903 - Toledo native George Mullin, pitching for the Tigers, helps the attendance today (6,000) as the Tigers take on New York in a Sunday game in Toledo. Mullin is racked for eight runs, but Detroit scores 12, led by the hitting of Sam Crawford, who is 5 for 6.
• 1904 - The Pirates disappoint 23,000 fans at the Polo Grounds by sweeping two from the Giants, 7 - 2 and 4 - 1. The Bucs jump on Christy Mathewson for five runs in two innings of the opener. It's the first doubleheader loss for New York this year.
• 1907 - The Washington Post reports that Browns SS Bobby Wallace is the highest-paid player in either league at a salary of $6,500.
• 1908 - The Cardinals deal a blow to the Giants' pennant hopes by defeating them twice in St. Louis. With Christy Mathewson refusing to pitch on Sundays, Red Ames and Joe McGinnity take the losses.
• 1909:
  • New York and Pittsburgh play to a 2 - 2 tie, stopped after eight innings because of a drenching downpour. Off Christy Mathewson, Ham Hyatt hits his third pinch triple of the year, a record that won't be matched till 1970. Outfielder Red Murray prevents a loss for Matty with one of the greatest catches ever seen at Forbes Field. With two outs and two on, Dots Miller belts a long line drive off Matty into the growing darkness. With everyone straining to follow the ball, a bolt of lightning flashes and Murray is seen making a bare-handed grab on the dead run to end the inning. Bill Klem then calls the game.
  • The A's jump on Walter Johnson, scoring six runs in five innings, before relief comes in. Before exiting, Johnson hits his first major league homer, off Harry Krause, who will lead the AL in ERA with a sparkling 1.39.
• 1910 - The Tigers top the Senators, 8 - 3, with Ty Cobb stealing home for the second time in his career. It comes in the 4th inning with Bob Groom on the mound.
• 1911:
  • At Brooklyn, Honus Wagner suffers a serious ankle injury rounding first in the 1st inning. He will miss 13 games, play one at first base, then miss another 12. With Wagner out, the Pirates will lose eight of 13 and drop out of the race.
  • In the 4th inning, Wildfire Schulte busts his record fourth grand slam of the season to help the Cubs maul the Boston Rustlers, 13 - 6. Pitching, it's Brown over Brown as Mordecai tops Buster.
  • Philadelphia OF Sherry Magee is reinstated, following his suspension for attacking umpire Bill Finneran several weeks earlier.
  • At the Polo Grounds, it takes Christy Mathewson just 92 pitches to top the Reds, 6 - 1. Big Six allows just two Cincy hits in beating George Suggs. It is Matty's 22nd straight win over the Ohioans.
• 1912:
  • Behind Earl Hamilton's seven-hitter, the lowly Browns beat the front-running Red Sox, 3 - 2. Hamilton gives up six hits to beat O'Brien.
  • In Chicago, the Giants score twice in the opening frame off Jimmy Lavender to knock out the would-be Giant-killer and go on to win, 7 - 4. Fred Merkle and Larry Doyle pull off a double steal in the inning, with Doyle on the front end. Jeff Tesreau puzzles the locals and the Cubs drop six games behind the Giants.
  • Walter Johnson and Joe Wood are in pursuit of Rube Marquard's 19-game win streak. Johnson picks on the White Sox for his 14th straight, a two-hitter, tying Jack Chesbro's 1904 mark. The Washingtonians win, 2 - 0, beating "our meatball expert" (Chicago Record-Herald) Joe Benz with eight hits. A week later Joe Wood will win number 13 in a row.
• 1913 - For the second time in two weeks, a Brooklyn player hits two inside-the-park homers. This time it is Bob Fisher in a nitecap 14 - 5 win at St. Louis. Brooklyn also beats the Cards in the opener, 1 - 0.
• 1914 - In what was his second career start in the big leagues, George LeClair registers a Game Score of -56 in a 21 - 6 loss by the Pittsburgh Rebels against the Indianapolis Hoosiers. LeClair gives up 24 hits (18 singles, 4 doubles, and 2 triples), 21 runs, 20 earned runs, eight walks and no strikeouts in an eight-inning complete game. The 20 earned runs are the most given up in a game by a pitcher in the American League, National League or Federal League since 1901. LeClair is forced to pitch all game because Pittsburgh has only four healthy pitchers at the time.
• 1915:
  • In the second game of a doubleheader, Tiger rookie Bernie Boland no-hits Cleveland through 26 batters before Ben Paschal singles, his first and only hit of the year. Boland wins, 3 - 1.
  • In the Federal League, Alex Main of Kansas City pitches a 5 - 0 no-hitter versus Buffalo.
  • At Boston, Smoky Joe Wood fires a 1 - 0 shutout over Washington. The Nationals have lost all 11 games at Fenway Park this year.
• 1919 - The Browns set an American League record with 53 total chances against the A's, but lose, 7 - 4. The Browns have 26 assists and St. Louis 1B George Sisler has 17 putouts. With no putouts, the St. Louis outfielders have the day off.
• 1920 - Cleveland SS Ray Chapman, 29, is beaned by a Carl Mays pitch. A righthanded batter who crowds the plate, Chapman freezes and fails to get out of the way of the submarine delivery. He is carried from the field and dies the next day from a fractured skull. Mays, a surly, unpopular pitcher, is the target of fans' and players' outrage. Chapman, a Cleveland favorite since breaking in in 1912, had been married the previous year. In October his wife will receive a full World Series share, $3,986.34. The incident has no effect on Mays' pitching. One week later he will blank Detroit, 10 - 0, and go on to win 26 and lose 11. Joe Sewell will be called up to take Chapman's place, and for 14 years he will be the hardest man to strike out in the Major Leagues.
• 1921 - The Braves' Walton Cruise connects off the Cubs' Pete Alexander for the second home run hit out of mammoth Braves Field. The first home run, also to right field, was hit by Cruise in 1917. There will be 38 home runs in Braves Field this year: 34 inside the park, three bounce home runs, and Cruise's missile. Braves pitcher Dana Fillingim is the beneficiary of the offense as he beats Alexander, 8 - 6.
• 1922:
  • In Pittsburgh, trailing, 7 - 6, the Pirates load the bases with two outs before Walter Schmidt drives a ball to deep left center. Giants LF Casey Stengel makes a dramatic catch on the dead run to preserve the New York win.
  • The Browns beat Walter Johnson and the Senators again, 11 - 2. Brownie star George Sisler is 1 for 5 with a run scored.
• 1927 - Teeing off on a Tommy Thomas pitch, Babe Ruth becomes the first player to homer over the roof of Chicago's Comiskey Park.
• 1930:
  • Lefty Grove (20-4) wins his sixth in a row, beating the Browns in Philadelphia, 4 - 2. Grove drives in the first two runs in the 2nd off Dick Coffman, who gives up nine hits in the loss. The Browns net ten hits off Grove.
  • At Wrigley Field, the league-leading Cubs nip the Phillies, 10 - 9, in the first game of a doubleheader, then play to a 3 - 3 tie in 11 innings before darkness intervenes. In the first game, the Phils score eight runs in the 7th to take a 9 - 8 lead, but Gabby Hartnett's drive wins the game for Chicago. Hack Wilson hits his 41st homer in the opener. The Phils manage just two hits in the nitecap, but take a 3 - 0 lead into the 9th. Chicago comes back when Riggs Stephenson scores on a balk, then Woody English cracks a two-run homer to tie. Meanwhile, second-place Brooklyn splits with the Pirates, 7 - 5 and 2 - 6.
• 1939 - The Giants suspend 2B Burgess Whitehead, who will show up the next day in full uniform at Yankee Stadium and ask to work out. Yankee manager Joe McCarthy refuses. Whitehead rejoins the Giants a few days later, but he will be suspended again in mid-September after leaving the team.
• 1940 - Jimmie Foxx smashes two homers to help the Red Sox beat the Senators. The two round trippers move him ahead of Lou Gehrig on the all-time list with a total of 495.
• 1942 - In the first 1942 East-West Game, the East wins yet again, 5 - 2. Leon Day retires all seven batters he faces, five of them by strikeout for the East, while Satchel Paige bombs for the West.
• 1947 - Ralph Kiner hits three successive home runs for the host Pittsburgh Pirates, in a 12 - 7 win over the Cardinals in a game in which the two clubs bang out a major-league record ten homers (since topped). Two other Bucs, Hank Greenberg and Billy Cox, and one Cardinal, Whitey Kurowski, each contribute two home runs to set a major-league record for most players with two or more homers in a game. Kiner matches the major league mark of seven home runs in four games, six in three games, five in two games, and four in consecutive at bats. By the end of the month, Big Ralph will still trail Johnny Mize 39 to 43 in a head-to-head home run competition that will only be matched by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961. Starters Roger Wolff and the Cards' Ken Burkhart both exit in the 1st inning.
• 1948 - Babe Ruth dies of throat cancer at age 53 in New York. He will lie in state at Yankee Stadium and be viewed by more than 100,000 mourners.
• 1950:
  • At the Polo Grounds, Hank Thompson hits two inside-the-park home runs as the Giants drub the Dodgers, 16 - 7.
  • Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers denies news reports that Jackie Robinson, last year's MVP, will be traded. The latest tempest was started by the second baseman's comments after he was removed from the lineup on August 12th by Burt Shotton after making an error. "I wouldn't be surprised if I was traded," Jackie was quoted as saying.
  • The Phils polish off the second-place Braves, 5 - 1, on Robin Roberts' three-hitter. The Phils score four in the 4th off Vern Bickford, concluding the scoring with Del Ennis' 26th homer.
• 1951:
  • The Cards score six runs in the 7th inning to defeat the Pirates, 9 - 6. Murry Dickson, trying for his 17th win, takes the loss. Stan Musial hits a three-run homer in the 6th to start the scoring for St. Louis. His inside-the-park homer is his first hit in 13 at bats, and his second one in four days.
  • The Browns end the Indians' win streak at 13 when Tommy Byrne pitches and bats St. Louis to a 4 - 0 win. Byrne allows two hits in seven innings and drives in all the runs before retiring with back spasms. Mike Garcia loses to drop the Indians' lead to 1 1/2 games over the Yankees.
  • Sal Maglie outpitches Don Newcombe, 2 - 1, to cut the Dodger lead over the Giants to 9 1/2 games. Maglie allows four hits, including Billy Cox's 300-foot homer, in winning his 17th. The Giants score the winner in the 7th when Bobby Thomson scores on a wild pitch. Pee Wee Reese goes hitless, ending his 22-game hitting streak.
  • At Elmira, NY, minor leaguer Don Zimmer marries Jean Carol Bauerle at home plate. Teammate Ed Roebuck is supposed to make it a double wedding, but opts for a church instead.
• 1954 - In a throwing contest between Jimmy Piersall and Willie Mays before a Red Sox-Giants charity game in Boston, Piersall hurts his arm. He starts the game but leaves midway. He wakes up the following morning with a sore arm that stays with him a year, and he will never throw quite as well again.
• 1958 - Pirate Frank Thomas clouts three consecutive home runs in a 13 - 4 pasting of the Redlegs. Pittsburgh is now seven games behind Milwaukee.
• 1960 - Following three straight bunt singles by Pittsburgh to start off the 9th, a visibly rattled Robin Roberts administers an utterly unintentional four-pitch free pass to Roberto Clemente, who, despite his free-swinging and prideful reputation, is evidently not entirely inflexible in his determination to accept no handouts. Thus is broken the 3 - 3 tie produced by Clemente's 6th-inning RBI single. Making his 50th appearance of the year, reliever Elroy Face makes the one-run lead stand up, retiring Philly in order in the 9th.
• 1961:
  • Cincinnati takes the National League lead for good with a shutout sweep, 6 - 0 and 8 - 0, at Los Angeles before 72,140, a record crowd for a NL doubleheader. Bob Purkey gives up four hits and Jim O'Toole just two in handing the Dodgers their first twinbill whitewash since July 18, 1935.
  • Roger Maris ties an American League record with his seventh home run in his sixth consecutive game with a long ball, as New York beats Chicago, 5 - 4, in the 9th inning. His two blasts off Billy Pierce give him 48, three more than teammate Mickey Mantle.
  • Just five outs shy of career shutout No. 53, Milwaukee starter Warren Spahn is denied when Dick Stuart delivers an RBI single, thus bringing home the bullet Spahn has just dodged. That bullet came off the bat of Roberto Clemente, a loud double just a few feet shy of clearing Milwaukee County Stadium's left centerfield fence. Disappointed but undaunted, Spahn will settle for career win No. 301 – a complete-game 2 - 1 decision over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• 1962 - For the second night in a row, Frank Robinson clouts two homers to power the Reds to a 7 - 1 win over the Braves. Robby now has nine homers in eight games, and 11 in the last 12. Lee Maye's home run off Jim Maloney is the only Braves score.
• 1964 - Sandy Koufax pitches a 3 - 0 shutout win against St. Louis, but he will miss the rest of the season because of an elbow injury suffered when he slid into second base against Milwaukee back on August 8th. In the nightcap, Curt Simmons matches Koufax with a 4 - 0 shutout of the Dodgers. Card CF Curt Flood has eight straight hits in the doubleheader split.
• 1965 - At Fenway Park, Earl Wilson is all the Boston offense as he bangs a pair of two-run home runs. But the righty still takes the loss to the White Sox, 5 - 4.
• 1966 - Willie Mays hits his 534th home run, matching Jimmie Foxx's record for right-handed batters, as Gaylord Perry beats the Cardinals, 3 - 1.
• 1967 - Reds P Jim Maloney retires all 19 batters he faces, but has to leave the game with one out in the 7th when he steps in a hole and injures his ankle. Reliever Billy McCool allows two hits and the Reds win, 2 - 0, in Pittsburgh.
• 1968:
  • Philadelphia's Richie Allen ties a National League record by drawing five bases on balls in one game, but the Dodgers win, 7 - 5.
  • Detroit's Denny McLain is 16-0 on the road after blanking the Red Sox, 4 - 0, in Boston. Tigers catcher Bill Freehan is hit by a pitch in three consecutive plate appearances, painfully tying a major league record. He will be hit a record-tying 24 times this season.
• 1969:
  • The Phillies rack up their fourth straight shutout victory when Rick Wise pitches a four-hitter to defeat the Astros, 7 - 0. The Phils set a modern club record with the streak. Dick Allen hits a homer and Wise joins in with a homer and a single.
  • In an 8 - 1 win in Atlanta, St. Louis P Bob Gibson reaches 200 strikeouts (en route to 269) for the seventh season, a National League record.
  • Seattle's Sicks Stadium shakes when 250-pound Boog Powell legs out an inside-the-park homer in the 9th against ex-teammate Steve Barber. It really isn't that vital, as Baltimore romps, 15 - 3.
• 1970:
  • In a 5 - 3 Montreal win over the Astros, Bob Bailey hits one of the longest home runs in Astrodome history.
  • Down 3 - 0 in the 8th, the Brewers score four runs, three of them on a Danny Walton bases-loaded double, to beat the Indians, 4 - 3. Gus Gil's single drives in the last run. The biggest crowd of the season, 44,387, is on hand for bat day, allowing Bernie Brewer to leave his perch in right field after 40 days. Bernie had vowed to stay there until the crowd topped 40,000, and when the attendance is announced, Bernie slides down his slide.
• 1971 - Harmon Killebrew, who has a higher percentage of his hits (28.6%) go for home runs than any other player, collects his annual triple in a 11 - 2 win over the Indians. It marks his eighth season when he will hit exactly one three-bagger.
• 1975 - In a 9 - 1 win over Cleveland, the Twins set a major league mark with nine batters getting two or more hits. Jim Hughes is the recipient of the largesse.
• 1976:
  • With the help of three picked-off Oakland runners at first base, the first such occurrence in the American League since 1910, the Brewers beat Oakland, 4 - 3. Another oddity happens when Oakland's Billy Williams is called out on strikes after refusing to enter the batter's box. He is then thrown out of the game.
  • Lou Brock collects five hits in a losing cause as the Cardinals fall to the Padres, 11 - 7.
• 1977:
  • At Yankee Stadium, New York blows a 9 - 4 lead in the top of the 9th when Chicago scores six runs, but a two-run homer by Chris Chambliss in the bottom of the inning gives the Yankees an 11 - 10 win.
  • At Montreal, the Phillies win their 13th straight, a 20th century club record, beating the Expos, 7 - 5. Warren Brusstar is the winner over Joe Kerrigan.
• 1978 - Boston's Luis Tiant wins his 200th major league game, beating Nolan Ryan and the Angels, 4 - 2. Jim Rice's two-run home run is the difference.
• 1982 - Richie Hebner returns to the Pirates, who buy the veteran from the Tigers.
• 1986 - Dale Holman, of the International League's Richmond Braves becomes the first professional player ever to play for two teams in one game. The game was suspended because of rain on June 16th when he was in the lineup for Syracuse. By the time the game is completed today, Holman had been traded to Richmond and is in the lineup for the other side.
• 1987:
  • The wind is blowing out at Wrigley Field as the Mets pound the Cubs, 23 - 10, setting a club record for runs scored in a game.
  • Tim Raines goes 5 for 5 and hits for the cycle to lead the Expos to a 10 - 7 win over Pittsburgh.
• 1988 - The Dodgers trade Pedro Guerrero to the Cardinals for pitcher John Tudor, whose 2.29 ERA is leading the National League.
• 1989:
  • Yankees OF Luis Polonia is arrested in his hotel room for having sex with a 15-year-old girl. He will be sentenced to 60 days in jail after the season.
  • Lefty Tom Drees, 26, pitches his third no-hitter of the season for AAA Vancouver, beating Las Vegas, 5 - 0, in the seven-inning opener of a doubleheader. He fired consecutive 1 - 0 no-hitters, beating Calgary in nine innings (May 23rd) and Edmonton in seven (May 28th). Drees, now 12-11, will pitch 7+ innings for the White Sox in 1991 for his only major league action.
• 1990 - In a 7 - 5 loss to the Indians, the Twins' Kirby Puckett starts off in RF and then moves to SS, 3B, and 2B in the 8th inning. Al Newman switches from 3B to SS back to 3B in the frame. Cleveland fails to score.
• 1991 - The Red Sox obtain P Dan Petry from the Braves in exchange for a player to be named later.
• 1992 - Greg Maddux allows four hits as the Cubs beat Houston, 1 - 0. Maddux goes the route, winning his 15th, beating Brian Williams.
• 1996:
  • Trailing, 2 - 0, the Orioles score 14 runs over the final three innings to defeat the Athletics, 14 - 3, in the first game of a doubleheader. Rafael Palmeiro drives home six runs for Baltimore, and each member of the starting lineup, with the exception of leadoff man Roberto Alomar, gets at least two hits. The Orioles stroke 19 hits for the second day in a row off Oakland pitching. Baltimore also takes the nightcap, 5 - 4 in ten innings.
  • San Diego OF Steve Finley homers in the Padres game against the Mets in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. By doing so, he becomes the first major league player to have homered in three different countries, having previously hit four-baggers in the USA and Canada. The Padres win the first regular-season game to be played outside of the US or Canada, 15 - 10, belting four homers. Leadoff batter Tony Gwynn is 3 for 5 and will repeat it tomorrow in the 7 - 3 loss to the Mets.
  • Playing for his seventh team in six years, Mark Whiten hits a pinch hit homer in his first at bat for Seattle to help beat the Yanks. In his last at-bat for the Braves before being traded for farmhand Roger Blanco, Whiten belted a three-run pinch homer to beat the Phils, 5 - 2. Whiten is the 45th player used by Seattle this season.
• 1998:
  • The Padres defeat the Brewers, 4 - 0, in the first game of a doubleheader behind Kevin Brown's one-hitter. Brown fans 11 and allows only a single to OF Jeromy Burnitz. The Brewers bounce back to take the nightcap, 4 - 2.
  • Baltimore OF Eric Davis has his 30-game hitting streak snapped in a 5 - 3 loss to the Indians.
• 1999:
  • The Indians obtain 2B Carlos Baerga from the Padres in exchange for a player to be named later.
  • The Reds' Juan Guzman has to leave his start in Pittsburgh after seven innings because his shoes are too small. After he was traded to the Reds, he arrived with only his size 10 1/2 orange and black Orioles shoes. Puma sent him a size 9 1/2 in red which he wears today until blisters develop. The Reds still win, 9 - 2.
  • Alex Rodriguez homers for the fifth straight game to pace the Mariners to a 7 - 5 win over Toronto. He'll go homerless tomorrow.
• 2000:
  • The Rangers shut out the Yankees, 5 - 0, as P Brian Sikorski hurls scoreless ball into the 8th inning in his major league debut. Texas OF Gabe Kapler goes hitless in the game, ending his 28-game hitting streak. During the streak, Kapler batted .375 (42 for 112) and his average jumped from .241 to .289. The outfielder's streak is the tenth of at least 28 games in the American League since 1950.
  • The Astros defeat the Pirates, 11 - 10, hitting six home runs in a game for the second time in four days. Houston has now hit a National League-record 18 homers in its last four contests.
• 2001:
  • After piloting the team to 13 games above .500 in spite of numerous injuries to key players, manager Jimy Williams is fired by the Red Sox. The ousted skipper is replaced by the club's well-respected pitching coach, Joe Kerrigan, but will fade completely down the stretch.
  • Barry Bonds' second home run of the game and 53rd of the season breaks the franchise record established by his godfather, Willie Mays. With his first homer, the left fielder eclipses the National League record for home runs by a left-handed batter established in 1947 by another Giant, Johnny Mize.
  • The Padres defeat the Mets, 6 - 5. San Diego rookie P Jeremy Fikac gets the win in his major league debut as he strikes out the side in his only inning. In 2004, he will also get a win his final major league appearance in an otherwise unremarkable career.
• 2002:
  • The Twins down the Red Sox, 5 - 0, in the process ending Pedro Martinez's scoreless inning streak at 35. It is the longest such streak in the majors since 2000.
  • After four days of delaying the decision, the executive board of the Major League Baseball Players Association votes 57-0 to set an August 30th strike date. All eight previous negotiations since 1972 have resulted in work stoppages in the national pastime.
  • During opening ceremonies of the Little League World Series at Volunteer Stadium, the 1955 Little League Team from Charleston, SC, is honored. The fourteen boys from the Cannon Street YMCA team, who were banned from their own state's post-season tournament 47 years ago due their skin color, were invited to Williamsport at the time as guests after the other 61 South Carolina all-white leagues were told by Little League officials the winner of their state finals would not be permitted to participate in the tournament because they refused to play a duly-franchised league.
• 2006 - Bruce Froemming umpires in his 5,000th game, becoming the second major league umpire to ever reach that figure. Bill Klem was the first.
• 2007:
  • The World Youth Championship is canceled by the International Baseball Federation after Venezuela refuses to issue visas to Taiwan's entry. Australia and the Netherlands had backed out due to security concerns. The Championship is held anyway, but without IBAF sponsorship.
  • The Puerto Rican Winter League's 2007-2008 season is canceled due to financial concerns. It is the first time since the league's founding in 1939 that it will not hold a season.
  • Trevor Hoffman saves his 30th game of the season for the Padres. It gives him a record 12 consecutive 30-save campaigns.
• 2008:
  • In the Olympics, Cuba improves to 4-0 with a 1 - 0 win over Taiwan. Elier Sánchez and Norberto González combine on the whitewash while Frederich Cepeda homers off of Cheng-Chang Lee.
  • South Korea edges Japan, 5 - 3, in a duel of melting bullpens. Hitoki Iwase allows three runs in the 9th while South Korean closer Ki-joo Han allows a triple and double to two of the three batters he faces. Dae-ho Lee and Takahiro Arai both hit two-run homers in the Asian showdown.
  • Team USA rallies to beat Team Canada, 5 - 4, and avoid falling to 1-3. Brian Duensing provides fine relief after replacing Brett Anderson while Canadian veterans Chris Reitsma and Rhéal Cormier allow the tying and losing runs.
  • The Netherlands beats host China, 6 - 4, thanks to home runs from Sharnol Adriana, Sidney de Jong and Bryan Engelhardt. This ensures that for the fifth straight Olympics (all of those in which baseball has been a Medal event) no team will go 0-7.
  • For the first time in Arizona Diamondbacks history, the team gets two grand slams in a game. Both Miguel Montero and Chris Young hit the first grand slam of their careers in the 11 - 5 win over the Astros.
• 2009:
  • The Angels score nine runs in the 13th inning against Baltimore, in a 17 - 8 victory marking Torii Hunter's return after more than a month spent on the disabled list. Hunter lines into a bases-loaded double play in the 11th, but redeems himself in the 13th with a dribbler up the middle in the same situation which opens the floodgates. Juan Rivera hits a three-run home to cap the onslaught.
  • Derek Jeter hits an RBI double off Seattle's Doug Fister in the 3rd for his 2,674th hit as a shortstop, surpassing Luis Aparicio's all-time leading total for the position. The Yankees lose the game, however, 10 - 3, as Fister records his first win in the majors.
  • One day after being hit in the head by a pitch, the Rangers' Ian Kinsler homers and drives in two runs in Texas's 4 - 3 win over Boston. Dustin Nippert is the winner and Frank Francisco records the save in a game that pushes Texas a half-game ahead of Boston in the American League wild card race.
• 2010:
  • On the final deadline for signing players selected in this year's amateur draft, the Nationals agree to a last-minute major league contract worth $9.9 million with first overall pick Bryce Harper. A number of other top draftees sign as well, leaving only three of the top 32 picks unsigned.
  • The Saraperos de Saltillo win the 2010 Mexican League pennant, topping the Pericos de Puebla, four games to one, in the finals. Today's Game 5 is a 21 - 2 rout. Refugio Cervantes drives in five, scores four and homers twice while 42-year-old Noé Muñoz (15 years since his last major league appearance) goes 3 for 4 with two doubles and four runs. Jose Mercedes goes the distance, throwing 90 of 120 pitches for strikes, for the win, while Guadalupe Perez takes the loss.
  • Shaun Marcum only allows a 7th-inning homer to Conor Jackson in beating the Oakland Athletics, 3 - 1, pitching a one-hitter for the first complete game of his career. He joins Blue Jays teammate Brandon Morrow who pitched a one-hitter on August 8th. All the Jays' runs come on homers: a solo shot by José Bautista that is originally ruled an inside-the-park homer before the umpires state that it had in fact hit the foul pole, and a two-run shot by Edwin Encarnacion.
  • Jonathan Albaladejo earns his 39th save of the season for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in a 7 - 4 win over Toledo, breaking the International League single-season mark held by Matt Whiteside since 2004.
  • Bobby Thomson, who hit what is arguably the most famous home run in baseball history - the Shot Heard 'Round the World - dies at home in Savannah, GA. The memorable walk-off homer off Brooklyn's Ralph Branca on October 3, 1951, sent the New York Giants to the 1951 World Series. Thomson was a star outfielder mostly with the Giants and Milwaukee Braves during the 1950s.
• 2012:
  • Major League Baseball approves the sale of the San Diego Padres from John Moores to a group headed by local businessman Ron Fowler, which also includes former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley and pro golfer Phil Mickelson. The sale is for $800 million. In the game that follows, the Padres are shut out by Kris Medlen of the Braves, 6 - 0, as Chipper Jones hits a pair of homers.
  • Garrett Jones homers twice, both three-run shots, to lead Pittsburgh to a 10 - 6 win over the Dodgers. A.J. Burnett wins his 15th game, over Joe Blanton, who is ejected in the 5th inning. Also being shown the door for Los Angeles are Matt Kemp tossed in the 2nd inning by Angel Campos for uttering words while teammate Andre Ethier is at bat, and manager Don Mattingly, who gets the thumb from crew chief Tim Tschida for coming to his star centerfielder's defense. For his part, Blanton is already on his way out of the game after giving up eight runs in 4 1/3 inning when Campos throws him out too.
• 2013 - The Phillies fire manager Charlie Manuel and replace him with Hall of Fame 2B Ryne Sandberg. The Phillies have lost 19 of their last 24 games, and lose again in Sandberg's debut, being blanked, 4 - 0, by Zack Greinke and the Dodgers.
• 2015 - Madison Bumgarner does it all as he throws a three-hit shutout to defeat the Nationals, 5 - 0. The Giants ace has 14 strikeouts, matching a career best, and also doubles and homers, his fourth long ball of the season, to improve to 14-6. For the Nats, it is a sixth straight loss, and they fall below .500 for the first time since May 6th, when they were 14-15.
• 2016:
  • Playing his first game in Philadelphia after being traded by the Phillies almost a year ago, Chase Utley has one of the best games of his career, homering twice including a grand slam in leading the Dodgers to a 15 - 5 win.
  • The Blue Jays score eight runs in the 8th to mount a come-from-behind 12 - 6 win over the Yankees and take over first place from Baltimore in a tightly-fought AL East race. C Russell Martin's second homer of the contest puts the Jays ahead to stay. His counterpart for New York, Gary Sanchez, also homers twice, making it the first time in American League history that both starting catchers have done so. Troy Tulowitzki has four hits and also homers for Toronto, while Scott Feldman earns his first win since being acquired in a mid-season trade.
• 2017 - Short of infielders because of injuries, the Mets start catcher Travis d'Arnaud at third base in their game against the Yankees. However, as d'Arnaud has never played the position professionally, manager Terry Collins decides to switch him and starting second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera every time a right-handed batter comes up, in order to minimize the chance of a ball actually being hit towards the improvized infielder. The two end up exchanging positions 18 times as the Yankees prevail, 5 - 3, making for an unusual boxscore that reads "Cabrera 2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b" and "d'Arnaud 3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b-2b-3b".
• 2018:
  • Just two weeks after suffering a 25 - 4 loss, the worst in team history, the Mets turn around and defeat the Phillies, 24 - 4, in the first game of a doubleheader, setting team records for runs and hits (25). Coming on the back of a 16 - 5 win over the Orioles the day before, the win also marks the first time they score at least 15 runs in back-to-back games. Jose Bautista, who does not even start the game, leads the offense with a grand slam and seven RBIs. However, the Mets return to form in the nitecap, losing 9 - 6.
  • The Rangers turn an extremely rare triple play in their 8 - 6 win over the Angels. It goes 5-4, i.e. from 3B Jurickson Profar to 2B Rougned Odor, and all three outs are baserunners - not the batter - something not seen since 1912. With the bases loaded, David Fletcher smokes a liner to Profar, who fields it on a short hop, steps on the bag then tags Taylor Ward, who is returning to the bag, thinking the ball has been caught on the fly. Profar then throws to Odor to force Kole Calhoun and complete the triple killing.
• 2019 - Mike Yastrzemski continues his excellent rookie season for the Giants with the first three-homer game of his career, coming in a 10 - 9 win over the Diamondbacks. The two teams combine to hit 12 homers, one shy of the major league record and only the second time that many have been hit in a game. Yaz's last blast in the 11th inning provides the winning margin for San Francisco. Kevin Pillar also goes deep twice, his second giving the Giants a 9 - 7 lead in the 10th, but Wilmer Flores, also with his second of the game, and Nick Ahmed reply with solo shots to extend the contest.
• 2020:
  • With an 8 - 5 win over the Tigers, the Indians have now beaten their division rivals 20 straight times, dating back to April 2019. It is the second longest winning streak against one opponent since at least 1901, with only the Baltimore Orioles defeating the Kansas City Royals in the first 23 games played between the two teams in 1969 and 1970 having gone longer.
  • The White Sox blast four consecutive home runs in the 5th inning of their 7 - 2 win over the Cardinals, only the tenth time the feat has been accomplished in major league history. Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, José Abreu and Eloy Jimenez all homer off Roel Ramirez, who has a rough big league debut, with Moncada's being a three-run shot. It's also the first time three Cuban-born players - Moncada, Grandal and Abreu - have hit consecutive homers.
• 2021 - By hitting a triple for the Mets, Pete Alonso ends a record streak of 68 games without the team getting a three-base hit.
• 2023 - Ian Lewis of the Jupiter Hammerheads in the Class A Florida State League steals five bases without getting a single hit. Such a rare feat has only been accomplished once in the majors since 1901, by Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, in 1989, although it is more common in the minors. Lewis steals all three bases after reaching on an error in the 5th, his second time getting on base that way, and the final theft comes on the back end of a double steal after drawing a walk in the 7th.

Births

• 1851 - James Sumner, umpire (d. 1881)
• 1854 - Doc Landis, pitcher (d. 1908)
• 1855 - Hick Carpenter, infielder (d. 1937)
• 1862 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, college coach (d. 1965)
• 1865 - Ed Mayer, infielder (d. 1946)
• 1870 - Willie Clark, infielder (d. 1932)
• 1872 - Gene Steere, infielder (d. 1942)
• 1876 - Philip Bartelme, minor league executive (d. 1954)
• 1879 - A.J. Hamilton, minor league pitcher (d. ????)
• 1884 - Joe Hovlik, pitcher (d. 1951)
• 1885 - Hub Northen, outfielder (d. 1947)
• 1889 - Hank Robinson, pitcher (d. 1965)
• 1890 - Charlie Carroll, college coach (d. 1961)
• 1890 - Baby Doll Jacobson, outfielder (d. 1977)
• 1890 - Thurman Jennings, infielder/outfielder (d. 1978)
• 1890 - Gifford McDonald, pitcher (d. 1976)
• 1892 - Bill Keen, infielder (d. 1947)
• 1893 - Cy Wright, infielder (d. 1947)
• 1895 - Fred Bailey, outfielder (d. 1972)
• 1897 - Bob Fothergill, outfielder (d. 1938)
• 1899 - Willie Ware, infielder (d. ????)
• 1900 - Billy Rhiel, infielder (d. 1946)
• 1900 - George Scales, infielder, manager; All-Star (d. 1976)
• 1901 - Mahlon Higbee, outfielder (d. 1968)
• 1902 - Zearlee Maxwell, infielder (d. 1957)
• 1903 - Eddie Wall, pitcher (d. 1960)
• 1905 - Hi Simmons, college coach (d. 1995)
• 1908 - Andy Bednar, pitcher (d. 1937)
• 1910 - Norman Cross, pitcher (d. 1982)
• 1910 - Fermín Valdés, infielder (d. ????)
• 1911 - Herman Besse, pitcher (d. 1972)
• 1913 - Tiny Bonham, pitcher; All-Star (d. 1949)
• 1913 - Lew Carpenter, pitcher (d. 1979)
• 1914 - Jesse Warren, infielder (d. 2003)
• 1915 - Tsunesuke Sasaki, NPB outfielder (d. ????)
• 1916 - Brennan King, pitcher (d. 1978)
• 1919 - Alcibíades Colón, minor league outfielder (d. 2016)
• 1922 - Gene Woodling, outfielder; All-Star (d. 2001)
• 1923 - Sherwood Brewer, infielder (d. 2003)
• 1924 - Inez Voyce, AAGPBL infielder (d. 2022)
• 1925 - Willie Jones, infielder; All-Star (d. 1983)
• 1927 - Roque Contreras, minor league pitcher
• 1928 - Don Dahlke, minor league infielder (d. 2021)
• 1929 - Keith Little, minor league infielder (d. 2008)
• 1929 - Curt Roberts, infielder (d. 1969)
• 1931 - Don Rudolph, pitcher (d. 1968)
• 1934 - Ray Young, college coach
• 1935 - David Garcia, minor league infielder and manager
• 1938 - Jürgen Helmig, German national team player; German Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1938 - Buck Rodgers, catcher, manager
• 1940 - Gabriel Acosta, minor league pitcher (d. 2014)
• 1940 - Federico Soldi, Serie A1 outfielder
• 1941 - Gene Brabender, pitcher (d. 1996)
• 1941 - Bill Edgerton, pitcher
• 1941 - Larry Loughlin, pitcher (d. 1999)
• 1942 - Tom DeLong, minor league outfielder (d. 2011)
• 1945 - Jan Dukes, pitcher
• 1946 - Chia-Hsiang Lin, CPBL manager; Taiwan Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1948 - Mike Jorgensen, infielder, manager
• 1950 - Rocky Roe, umpire
• 1952 - Al Holland, pitcher; All-Star
• 1953 - Nick Leyva, manager
• 1955 - Dean Towill, Australian national team outfielder
• 1956 - Armando Quijada, minor league pitcher
• 1958 - Jim Maler, infielder
• 1960 - Bill Mooneyham, pitcher
• 1961 - Greg Jelks, infielder (d. 2017)
• 1961 - Donnie Scott, catcher
• 1961 - Mike Yastrzemski, minor league outfielder (d. 2004)
• 1963 - Kenny Clark, minor league infielder
• 1963 - Alexander Krupenchenkov, USSR national team outfielder
• 1963 - Rob Thomson, manager
• 1964 - Rick Reed, pitcher; All-Star
• 1965 - Xavier Hernandez, pitcher
• 1965 - Frank Jäger, Bundesliga pitcher-infielder
• 1965 - Jim LeMasters, minor league pitcher
• 1965 - Rex Peters, college coach
• 1966 - Steve Foster, pitcher
• 1966 - Terry Shumpert, infielder
• 1967 - Bret Barberie, infielder
• 1968 - Aaron Acosta, minor league pitcher
• 1968 - Chun-Nan Ou, CPBL outfielder
• 1970 - Miguel Flores, minor league infielder and manager
• 1970 - Steve Maddock, minor league pitcher and manager
• 1970 - Quinton McCracken, outfielder
• 1970 - Craig McDonald, Swedish national team infielder
• 1971 - Fausto Peña, Dominican national team outfielder
• 1971 - Rafael Pina, minor league pitcher
• 1973 - Darold Brown, scout
• 1973 - Damian Jackson, infielder
• 1974 - Roger Cedeno, outfielder
• 1974 - Masahiro Kimura, NPB pitcher
• 1974 - John Snyder, pitcher
• 1975 - Jin Ho Cho, pitcher
• 1975 - Michael Coleman, outfielder
• 1976 - Jeff Alfano, minor league catcher
• 1976 - Nelson Abreu, minor league infielder
• 1976 - Tim Meyer, Bundesliga player
• 1977 - Olaf Dreesen, Bundesliga infielder
• 1977 - Pat Gorman, minor league pitcher
• 1978 - Greg Belson, minor league pitcher
• 1978 - Ernesto Binarao, Philippines national team pitcher
• 1978 - Henry Bonilla, minor league pitcher
• 1978 - Ruben Castillo, minor league infielder
• 1978 - Brian Gordon, pitcher
• 1978 - Tony Jaramillo, coach
• 1978 - Wen-Chuan Lan, TML infielder
• 1980 - Ryan Hanigan, catcher
• 1980 - T.J. Hendricks, minor league pitcher
• 1980 - Ben Kozlowski, pitcher
• 1981 - Ryan Childs, minor league pitcher
• 1982 - Rick Guarno, minor league catcher
• 1982 - Edgardo Lebron, minor league infielder
• 1982 - Freddy Sandoval, infielder
• 1983 - Chris Mobley, minor league pitcher
• 1983 - Matt Stocco, minor league catcher
• 1984 - Matt Betsill, minor league infielder
• 1984 - Fernando Ozuna, Guatemalan national team infielder
• 1984 - Isaiah Stanback, drafted player
• 1985 - Manauris Baez, minor league pitcher
• 1985 - Daric Barton, infielder
• 1985 - Karl Bolt, minor league infielder
• 1986 - Yu Darvish, pitcher; All-Star
• 1986 - Shooter Hunt, minor league pitcher
• 1986 - Mike Kenney, minor league pitcher
• 1986 - Martin Maldonado, catcher
• 1987 - David Berner, minor league pitcher
• 1987 - Jake Shaffer, minor league outfielder
• 1988 - Justin Grimm, pitcher
• 1988 - J.C. Ramirez, pitcher
• 1989 - Wei-Ting Lin, CPBL infielder
• 1990 - Adrian Sanchez, infielder
• 1990 - Zak Sinclair, drafted pitcher
• 1992 - Delino DeShields Jr., outfielder
• 1992 - Connor Joe, infielder
• 1992 - Sung-Hsun Wu, Taiwan national team catcher
• 1993 - Carlos Muñoz, Philippines national team outfielder-pitcher
• 1993 - Kenny Peoples-Walls, minor league infielder
• 1994 - Yuta Kuroki, NPB pitcher
• 1994 - Luis Heredia, minor league pitcher
• 1995 - Trey Hannam, minor league coach
• 1996 - Brady Aiken, minor league pitcher
• 1996 - Peter Solomon, pitcher
• 1996 - Tyler Stephenson, catcher
• 1997 - Dominic Canzone, outfielder
• 1998 - Akil Baddoo, outfielder
• 1999 - Rafael Monsion, minor league pitcher
• 2001 - Chris Burke, minor league outfielder
• 2002 - Jaden Rudd, minor league outfielder

Deaths

• 1906 - Tom Carey, infielder, manager (b. 1846)
• 1919 - Ed McKean, infielder (b. 1864)
• 1923 - Bill Day, pitcher (b. 1867)
• 1923 - Jim Scoggins, pitcher (b. 1891)
• 1927 - J. Ogden Armour, owner (b. 1863)
• 1927 - Jerry Denny, infielder (b. 1859)
• 1931 - Nemesio Romaguera, Cuban baseball player and pioneer (b. ~1847)
• 1937 - Bunk Congalton, outfielder (b. 1875)
• 1943 - Beals Becker, outfielder (b. 1886)
• 1944 - Tom Sullivan, catcher (b. 1906)
• 1946 - Billy Rhiel, infielder (b. 1900)
• 1948 - Babe Ruth, outfielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer (b. 1895)
• 1953 - Wyman Smith, outfielder (b. 1898)
• 1953 - Ty Tyson, outfielder (b. 1892)
• 1970 - Kurt Krieger, pitcher (b. 1926)
• 1971 - Walter Mueller, outfielder (b. 1894)
• 1972 - Fred Bailey, outfielder (b. 1895)
• 1976 - George Aiton, outfielder (b. 1890)
• 1977 - Charlie Barnabe, pitcher (b. 1900)
• 1977 - Al Javery, pitcher; All-Star (b. 1918)
• 1977 - Joe Kelly, outfielder (b. 1886)
• 1983 - Earl Averill, outfielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer (b. 1902)
• 1984 - Tommie Aaron, infielder (b. 1939)
• 1984 - Fred Hahn, pitcher (b. 1929)
• 1985 - Dick Drott, pitcher (b. 1936)
• 1993 - Bama Rowell, infielder (b. 1916)
• 2002 - Johnny Roseboro, catcher; All-Star (b. 1933)
• 2003 - Leigh Neuage, minor league pitcher (b. 1983)
• 2007 - Chico Garcia, infielder; Salón de la Fama (b. 1924)
• 2010 - Bobby Thomson, outfielder; All-Star (b. 1923)
• 2011 - Leo Rodriguez, minor league infielder; Salon de la Fama member (b. 1929)
• 2017 - Gene Bennett, scout (b. 1928)
• 2017 - Tommy Hawkins, executive (b. 1936)