May 7
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Today in Baseball History |
Events, births and deaths that occurred on May 7.
Events[edit]
- 1917 - Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox allows only two hits as he outpitches Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, 1 - 0, at Griffith Stadium. Ruth helps himself by driving in the winning run with a sacrifice fly.
- 1922 - Jesse Barnes of the New York Giants pitches the only no-hitter of the year, beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 6 - 0, at the Polo Grounds.
- 1925 - At Forbes Field, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Glenn Wright turns an unassisted triple play in the 9th inning against the St. Louis Cardinals when he catches Jim Bottomley's line drive, steps on second base to double Jimmy Cooney, and tags Rogers Hornsby coming from first. Despite Wright's effort, the Cardinals win, 10 - 9.
- 1940 - The Brooklyn Dodgers become the first National League team to fly when they travel by air to Chicago from St. Louis.
- 1957 - Cleveland Indians pitcher Herb Score is hit on the right eye by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees' Gil McDougald in the 1st inning. The ball breaks Score's nose and damages his eye. He had won 20 games the prior year and led the league in strikeouts the last two seasons, but will miss the rest of the season and will never be as effective again.
- 1959 - A crowd of 93,103 comes to the Los Angeles Coliseum on "Roy Campanella Night" to show their affection for the paralyzed former Dodger catcher. The Dodgers are beaten by the New York Yankees, 6 - 2, in an exhibition game that follows the ceremonies. The crowd sets a record for a baseball game that will not be broken until the Dodgers return to the Coliseum for another exhibition contest on March 29, 2008.
- 1960 - Norm Sherry, a back-up catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hits a walk-off home run in the 11th inning to give his brother, relief pitcher Larry Sherry, a 3 - 2 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
- 1966 - After only four victories in the first twenty games, New York Yankees manager Johnny Keane is fired and replaced by the team's general manager and former skipper, Ralph Houk.
- 1970 - Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker completes the cycle by hitting a triple in the 10th inning to beat the New York Mets, 7 - 4, at Shea Stadium. Parker becomes the first Dodger to hit for the cycle since Gil Hodges did it with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949.
- 1975 - The Atlanta Braves trade holdout first baseman Dick Allen and catcher Johnny Oates to the Philadelphia Phillies for catcher Jim Essian, outfielder Barry Bonnell, and cash. Allen had refused to report to the Braves after being acquired in an off-season deal with the Chicago White Sox.
- 1986 - Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Garry Maddox announces his retirement at the age of 36. Properly nicknamed "Secretary of Defense", the slick-fielding Maddox won eight Gold Gloves.
- 1995 - Former All-Star outfielder Gus Bell dies at the age of 66. As the patriarch of a three-generation baseball family, Bell reached the 100-RBI mark four times while starring for the Cincinnati Reds. His son, Buddy, and his grandsons, David and Mike, later played in the major leagues.
- 1997:
- The Montreal Expos score 13 runs to set a National League record for runs in a 6th inning during their 19 - 3 win over the San Francisco Giants. Montreal adds five runs in the 5th to set a National League record for runs in consecutive innings with 18.
- The Seibu Lions break a 51-year-old Nippon Pro Baseball record by banging out 29 hits in a 21 - 0 rout of the Daiei Hawks.
- 1999:
- Carlos Lee becomes the first player in Chicago White Sox history to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat in the Sox's 7 - 1 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
- In the biggest comeback in Jacobs Field history, the Cleveland Indians score 18 runs in the final three innings to overcome a 9 - 1 deficit and beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 20 - 11. Tampa Bay's first baseman Fred McGriff sets a major league record by homering in his 34th major league ballpark.
- Rookie Bruce Aven hits the first pinch-hit grand slam in Florida Marlins history, helping his team to beat the Dodgers, 6 - 3.
- Hideki Irabu of the New York Yankees opposes Mac Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners in the first match-up of Japanese starting pitchers in major league history.
- Larry Walker hits a two-out home run in the 1st inning as the Colorado Rockies tie a National League record by scoring in 14 consecutive innings. The mark was established by the 1894 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1949 New York Giants. The major league mark is 17 set by the Boston Americans in 1903.
- 2003 - Seventy-nine-year-old Wayne Terwilliger becomes the oldest manager in minor league history. Terwilliger, who has managed 12 minor league teams, will lead the Fort Worth Cats to the Central Baseball League championship in 2005. He will retire after the season with a record of 1,224 wins and 1,089 losses. Only Connie Mack (at 87) is ahead of Terwilliger in being the oldest manager ever in professional baseball.
- 2005 - Julio Franco of the Atlanta Braves goes 3 for 4, including his first home run of the season, in a 4 - 1 victory over the Houston Astros. Franco, who turns 47 on August 23rd, becomes the second-oldest player in major league history to homer at 46 years, 257 days. Jack Quinn, a pitcher who accomplished the feat when he was 100 days older, hit a home run for the Philadelphia Athletics on June 27, 1930; Franco will eventually pass him as well.
- 2008:
- In a 13 - 1 win by the Twins, Carlos Gomez hits for the cycle, the first Twins player to do so since Kirby Puckett in 1986. Gomez homers off Mark Buehrle in the 1st, triples in the 5th, doubles in the 6th and singles in the 9th, driving in runs on each of the first three hits.
- Rookie Joey Votto becomes the 23rd member of the Cincinnati Reds to hit three home runs in a game. Votto, who starred for Canada in the 2005 Baseball World Cup, goes deep off Jon Lieber, Sean Marshall and Sean Gallagher in a 9 - 0 win over the Cubs. The Reds still have the worst record in their division, however.
- The Pirates top the Giants, 3 - 1, as Phil Dumatrait gets his first major league win. Barry Zito falls to 0-7, the first Giants hurler since Bill Clarkson in 1927 to reach such depths in just seven starts.
- 2009:
- The Dodgers' star outfielder, Manny Ramirez, is suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance. He is the most prominent player yet caught under Major League Baseball's PED policy implemented in 2005.
- The Red Sox score 12 runs in the 6th inning before recording an out in their 13 - 3 win over Cleveland. Jason Bay drives in four of the runs with a double and a three-run homer in the record-tying scoring spree.
- Arizona fires manager Bob Melvin after losing, 4 - 3, to the Padres in ten innings. The D-Backs have started the year 12-17 and are already 8 1/2 games back of Los Angeles.
- 2010:
- Starlin Castro, the youngest shortstop in Chicago Cubs history at age 20, makes a memorable major league debut. Just called up from AA, he hits a three-run homer in his first major league at-bat and adds a bases-loaded triple as the Cubs top the Reds, 14 - 7. The long ball off Homer Bailey makes him the sixth player in Cub history to go deep in his first at-bat; his six RBI are a modern record for a player in his debut game. He is also the first player born in the 1990s to play in the major leagues.
- On the other side of the age scale, Jamie Moyer still baffles opposing hitters at age 47. He tosses a two-hit shutout as the Phillies defeat the Braves, 7 - 0. He is the oldest pitcher to record a shutout in major league history; the mark was held by Hall of Famer Phil Niekro who was 46 at the time of his last whitewash on October 6, 1985. He also becomes the first hurler to toss shutouts in four different decades.
- The Minnesota Twins suffer their first rainout at home since 1980, being forced by weather to re-schedule today's game against the Orioles as part of a day-night doubleheader on May 8th. The Twins played indoors at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome from 1982 to 2009, before moving to outdoors Target Field this year.
- 2011:
- Justin Verlander pitches the second no-hitter in the majors in less than a week, following Francisco Liriano's gem on May 1st, when the Tigers shut down the Blue Jays, 9 - 0. Only an 8th-inning walk to J.P. Arencibia, who is then erased in a double play, keeps Verlander from a perfect game. Verlander becomes the 28th pitcher in major league history with two no-hitters.
- Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers also makes a bid to join the no-hitter club until giving up a single to Daniel Descalso in the 8th inning. He ends up combining with John Axford for a 4 - 0 one-hitter over the Cardinals that snaps a seven-game losing streak for the Brew Crew.
- Andre Ethier's 30-game hitting streak ends in a 4 - 2 Dodgers loss to the Mets. Ethier, who goes 0 for 4, ends up one game short of the franchise record of 31 games held by Willie Davis since 1969.
- 2012:
- Carlos Zambrano records his first win as a Miami Marlin, shutting out the Astros, 4 - 0, on a three-hitter. It is Miami's seventh straight win. Giancarlo Stanton hits a two-run homer, his sixth long ball in ten games.
- The Twins would be happy if they never again face Jered Weaver; in his first start since no-hitting Minnesota, the Angels' ace gives up only three hits over six innings to lead Los Angeles to an 8 - 3 win, improving his record to 5-0.
- Jordany Valdespin makes his first major league hit count, with a 9th-inning three-run pinch homer off Philadelphia's Jonathan Papelbon to give the Mets a 5 - 2 win.
- 2013:
- Toronto's 6 - 4 win over the Rays is overshadowed by a scary accident suffered by starting pitcher J.A. Happ. In the 2nd inning, Desmond Jennings lines a pitch that strikes the side of his head and caroms into the outfield. Happ lies motionless on the ground, as teammates are unsure whether to rush to attend their stricken teammate, or play the ball which ends up as a two-run triple. The bloodied Happ is removed on a stretcher after lying prone for ten minutes; his injuries will turn out to include a skull fracture and a sprained knee suffered when he fell to the ground, but he will be back on the mound by August.
- The legend of Matt Harvey keeps growing. The Mets' sophomore starter is perfect against the White Sox before allowing a two-out single to Alex Rios in the 7th. He is removed after allowing only that hit through nine innings, but with the game still scoreless, having fanned a career-high 12 opponents. Pinch-hitter Mike Baxter lines an RBI single off Nate Jones in the 10th for a 1 - 0 Mets victory, credited to reliever Bobby Parnell. It is the second time Harvey has taken a no-hitter into the 7th inning this year and he is 4-0 with a 1.28 ERA. It is just the third game in history in which a team allows only one baserunner in an extra-inning game according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
- 2014:
- Nolan Arenado of the Rockies matches a team record by extending his hitting streak to 27 games when he goes 3 for 5 in a 9 - 2 win over the Rangers; Michael Cuddyer had set the record only a year ago. Arenado does not have to wait long as he hits a two-run double off Colby Lewis in the 1st. In the game, Adrian Beltre hits his 100th homer as a member of the Rangers; he is only the fifth player to hit 100 or more homers with three different teams, having previously done so with the Dodgers and Mariners; the four others are Darrell Evans, Reggie Jackson, Alex Rodriguez and Jim Thome.
- The Clinton Lumber Kings trail the Burlington Bees, 17 - 1, at one point of their Midwest League game, but they come back to win, 20 - 17, in extra innings. Justin Seager drives in the go-ahead run in the 12th inning, after which pinch-hitter Lonnie Kauppila hits a two-run single for some insurance. When the smoke clears, Clinton has scored 19 unanswered runs. After Burlington fails to score in its half of the 12th, the wild contest ends.
- 2016:
- Aaron Hill has a three-homer game, the last one being a grand slam in a seven-run 10th inning, as Milwaukee defeats the Reds, 13 - 7. Hill matches a team record with seven RBIs in the game.
- At 42, P Bartolo Colon of the Mets, already known for his wildly entertaining at-bats, becomes the oldest player to hit his first career home run when he deposits a ball into the left field stands at Petco Park against James Shields of the Padres. Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, whose first homer came when he had just turned 40, was the previous record holder.
- 2017 - In a nationally televised Sunday night game, the Yankees defeat the Cubs, 5 - 4, in 18 innings at Wrigley Field. The longest interleague game in history features a record 48 strikeouts - 26 by Yankees pitchers, and 22 by the Cubs. New York seems on its way to a victory with a 4 - 1 lead in the 9th, but Aroldis Chapman allows three runs, the last on a bases-loaded hit by pitch of Anthony Rizzo. There is no more scoring until the top of the 18th, when Aaron Hicks, who has struck out four times in the game, leads off with a bunt single off Pedro Strop and moves to second on C Willson Contreras' throw, which ends up in right field. After moving to third, he scores on Starlin Castro's infield grounder when SS Addison Russell's throw home is wide of the mark. Chasen Shreve pitches three scoreless innings for the win, which he ends by striking out P Kyle Hendricks, used as a pinch-hitter with runners on first and second.
- 2018 - George Springer ties an Astros team record by going 6 for 6 in a 16 - 2 win over the Athletics. He has a double, homer and single by the end of the 4th inning, but fails in his next three at-bats to get the triple that would have completed the cycle as he hits a single each time. Hall of Famer Joe Morgan is the only other player to collect six hits in a game for Houston, doing so on July 8, 1965, but in a 12-inning game.
- 2019 - Mike Fiers pitches his second career no-hitter as the Athletics defeat the Reds, 2 - 0. A two-run homer by Jurickson Profar accounts for all the runs in a game delayed by over an hour and a half by a malfunctioning bank of lights in left field at the Oakland Coliseum. Fiers, who heads into the contest with an ERA of 6.81, has pitched both of his no-nos in interleague games.
- 2021 - Two years exactly after the Cincinnati Reds had been no-hit in an interleague game, Wade Miley turns the tables by throwing what is already the fourth no-hitter of the young season as the Reds defeat the Indians, 3 - 0, also in an interleague contest. It comes only two days after John Means accomplished the feat, and the growing total does not even take into account a seven-inning unofficial no-no by Madison Bumgarner last month.
- 2022 - Less than two weeks after getting his 3,000th hit, Miguel Cabrera reaches another milestone with his 600th career double, only the 18th player to that total. Only two others - Hank Aaron and Albert Pujols - have compiled his combination of 3,000 hits, 600 doubles and 500 home runs.
- 2023 - Paul Goldschmidt provides a rare highlight for a Cardinals team that has been badly underperforming this season, sporting the worst record in the National League and reeling from an eight-game losing streak. Goldschsmidt bang three homers to lead the Cards to a 12 - 6 win over Detroit, ending the skid. He is the first Cards player with a three-homer game at home since Albert Pujols did it in 2006.
- 2024 - Catcher Willson Contreras of the Cardinals, the team's best hitter in the early going, suffers a broken left forearm when hit by the bat of J.D. Martinez of the Mets, putting him out of action for a prolonged period. Contreras is charged with catcher's interference on the play, a direct result of the team asking him to take a position closer to the batter in order to improve his pitch framing. This is a trend arund baseball, as catcher's interference calls have in creased significantly this season.
Births[edit]
- 1863 - Sam Shaw, pitcher (d. 1947)
- 1866 - Joe Neale, pitcher (d. 1913)
- 1868 - Masao Matsukata, NPB executive; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (d. 1942)
- 1874 - Case Patten, pitcher (d. 1935)
- 1880 - Mickey Doolan, infielder (d. 1951)
- 1887 - Henri Rondeau, outfielder (d. 1943)
- 1888 - Paul Smith, outfielder (d. 1958)
- 1888 - Gus Williams, outfielder (d. 1964)
- 1889 - Wilson Collins, outfielder (d. 1941)
- 1892 - Allan Travers, pitcher (d. 1968)
- 1893 - Bill Hobbs, infielder (d. 1945)
- 1896 - Tom Zachary, pitcher (d. 1969)
- 1898 - Gabriel Atristain, minor league umpire (d. 1990)
- 1898 - Mike Morrow, minor league pitcher and college coach (d. 1973)
- 1899 - Eddie Pick, infielder (d. 1967)
- 1902 - Sal Gliatto, pitcher (d. 1995)
- 1905 - Dave Barbee, outfielder (d. 1968)
- 1906 - Syd Cohen, pitcher (d. 1988)
- 1908 - Harry Davis, infielder (d. 1997)
- 1908 - Art McDougall, minor league pitcher (d. 1981)
- 1909 - Ed Heusser, pitcher (d. 1956)
- 1911 - Steve Wylie, pitcher (d. 1993)
- 1913 - Art Doll, pitcher (d. 1978)
- 1913 - Otto Sterman, Hoofdklasse player (d. 1997)
- 1914 - Alvin Gipson, pitcher; All-Star (d. 1987)
- 1917 - Al Papai, pitcher (d. 1995)
- 1918 - Al Epperly, pitcher (d. 2003)
- 1921 - Tokuji Kawasaki, NPB pitcher and manager (d. 2006)
- 1923 - Willis Chamness, minor league pitcher (d. 1959)
- 1924 - Al Cihocki, infielder (d. 2014)
- 1929 - Dick Williams, infielder, manager, Hall of Fame (d. 2011)
- 1930 - Jim Gilbert, scout (d. 2012)
- 1932 - Pete Domenici, minor league pitcher (d. 2017)
- 1933 - Franco Verlezza, Italian Baseball League infielder (d. 2022)
- 1937 - Claude Raymond, pitcher; All-Star
- 1940 - Mike Gillespie, college coach (d. 2020)
- 1942 - John Flavin, pitcher
- 1943 - Steve Whitaker, outfielder
- 1944 - Bill Murphy, outfielder (d. 2024)
- 1946 - Piet Burg, Hoofdklasse infielder (d. 2020)
- 1948 - Ken Hottman, outfielder (d. 2018)
- 1952 - Wilmer Aaron, minor league outfielder
- 1952 - Miguel Solano, minor league infielder
- 1955 - David DiMarco, Italian Baseball League infielder
- 1955 - Bob Ferris, pitcher
- 1958 - Tim Painton, college coach
- 1961 - Manny Hernandez, pitcher
- 1964 - Rod Tafoya, minor league pitcher and manager
- 1969 - Masahito Kohiyama, NPB pitcher
- 1970 - Brook Fordyce, catcher
- 1970 - Mark Smith, outfielder
- 1971 - Orlando Muñoz, minor league infielder and manager
- 1976 - Derrick Lewis, minor league pitcher
- 1977 - Donny León, minor league infielder
- 1977 - Casey Smith, minor league infielder
- 1978 - Masato Kawano, NPB pitcher (d. 2017)
- 1979 - Gus Panagotacos, Greek national team outfielder
- 1979 - Ryan Prahm, minor league player
- 1979 - Jim Ed Warden, minor league pitcher
- 1981 - J.D. Foust, minor league outfielder
- 1981 - Chin-Ping Lin, CPBL infielder
- 1982 - Conor Jackson, infielder
- 1982 - Luis Jimenez, infielder
- 1983 - Chia-Min Tseng, CPBL pitcher
- 1984 - James Loney, infielder
- 1984 - Chris Salamida, minor league pitcher
- 1985 - James Barksdale, minor league outfielder
- 1985 - Linoy Croes, Hoofdklasse outfielder
- 1985 - Ryan Martinez, Guam national team outfielder
- 1986 - Phil Bando, minor league infielder
- 1986 - Angel Rosario, minor league catcher and manager
- 1986 - Keun-young Yoon, KBO pitcher
- 1987 - Kyle Conley, minor league outfielder
- 1988 - Sam Dyson, pitcher
- 1988 - Osvaldo Martínez, infielder
- 1988 - Diana Tovar, Venezuelan women's national team pitcher
- 1988 - Isaias Velasquez, minor league infielder
- 1989 - Tim Stanford, minor league pitcher
- 1990 - Keon Broxton, outfielder
- 1990 - Yin-Lun Lan, CPBL outfielder
- 1990 - Saad Ahmad Mansoor, Pakistani national team infielder
- 1990 - Kazuki Mishima, NPB pitcher
- 1991 - Emilio Pagan, pitcher
- 1992 - Témesh Lourens, Hoofdklasse pitcher
- 1992 - Tsun-Wai Yung, Bundesliga outfielder
- 1993 - Jose Diaz, minor league pitcher
- 1994 - Brittany Chan, Canadian women's national team pitcher
- 1994 - Angel Perdomo, pitcher
- 1996 - Diva Reza Fabil, Indonesian national team infielder
- 1996 - Luis Paz, minor league infielder
- 1997 - Sean Hjelle, pitcher
- 1997 - Yun Lu, China Baseball League infielder
- 1998 - Nolan Jones, outfielder
- 2000 - Alexander Canario, outfielder
- 2001 - Po-Chun Chen, CPBL pitcher
Deaths[edit]
- 1905 - Al Mays, pitcher (b. 1865)
- 1912 - Gus Alberts, infielder (b. 1860)
- 1929 - Ollie Byrd, infielder (b. 1896)
- 1935 - Sid Farrar, infielder (b. 1859)
- 1943 - Bill Coughlin, infielder (b. 1878)
- 1946 - Walter Cazen, minor league outfielder (b. 1911)
- 1946 - Bill Fincher, pitcher (b. 1894)
- 1946 - Bill Fox, infielder (b. 1872)
- 1947 - Mike McDermott, pitcher (b. 1864)
- 1948 - Hi Ladd, outfielder (b. 1870)
- 1949 - John Durham, pitcher (b. 1881)
- 1951 - Leroy Grant, infielder (b. 1889)
- 1951 - Ezra Lincoln, pitcher (b. 1868)
- 1952 - Red Bluhm, pinch hitter (b. 1894)
- 1956 - Tommy Atkins, pitcher (b. 1887)
- 1964 - Clyde Goodwin, pitcher (b. 1881)
- 1966 - Bing Miller, outfielder (b. 1894)
- 1969 - Ray Mack, infielder; All-Star (b. 1916)
- 1973 - Ralph Miller, pitcher, oldest living player (b. 1873)
- 1974 - Fred Kelly, USA national team outfielder (b. 1891)
- 1979 - Johnny Berger, catcher (b. 1901)
- 1979 - Marty McHale, pitcher (b. 1886)
- 1982 - George Provens, infielder (b. 1918)
- 1987 - Boom-Boom Beck, pitcher (b. 1904)
- 1989 - Howie Moss, outfielder (b. 1919)
- 1993 - Thurman Tucker, outfielder; All-Star (b. 1917)
- 1995 - Gus Bell, outfielder; All-Star (b. 1928)
- 1995 - Rocco Ippolito, minor league outfielder (b. 1928)
- 2001 - Dick Kimble, infielder (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Red Bass, catcher (b. 1918)
- 2006 - Bob Bellizzi, college coach (b. ~1949)
- 2009 - Danny Ozark, manager (b. 1923)
- 2011 - Lewis Hull, minor league outfielder (b. 1931)
- 2011 - Mark Koeth, minor league pitcher (b. 1978)
- 2012 - Gene Visich, AAGPBL player (b. 1926)
- 2014 - Dick Welteroth, pitcher (b. 1927)
- 2015 - Danny Danielson, college coach (b. 1919)
- 2020 - Henk Hendriks, Hoofdklasse infielder and manager (b. 1934)
- 2022 - Mike Adamson, pitcher (b. 1947)
- 2023 - Larry Foster, pitcher (b. 1937)
- 2023 - Deacon Jones, infielder (b. 1934)
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