September 9

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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 September 9.

Events

• 1901 - The White Sox sweep a doubleheader - and the four-game series - with Boston by scores of 4 - 3 and 6 - 4. Boston's Buck Freeman belts his 12th homer of the year.
• 1902:
  • John T. Brush sells the Cincinnati Reds to Julius and Max Fleischmann, George B. Cox, and August "Garry" Herrmann for $150,000. Brush then buys control of the Giants from Andrew Freedman.
  • In Philadelphia, 17,291 see the Athletics beat Baltimore twice, while 172 watch the Phils play Pittsburgh. With the A's 1902 attendance almost four times that of the Phillies, and the American League planning to oppose the weak Giants in New York, pressure mounts among National League directors for peace talks.
• 1904 - Cold weather keeps the crowd to 1,844 in New York as Joe McGinnity allows 12 Phillies hits but wins his 31st. The nitecap is called after five innings and no score.
• 1907:
  • The Giants play their fifth doubleheader in a week, splitting shutouts with Boston. New York takes the opener, 10 - 0, then Irv Young outpitches Christy Mathewson, 1 - 0, in the seven-inning nitecap.
  • Boston's Cy Young and the A's Rube Waddell battle to a 13-inning scoreless tie. Neither pitcher walks a batter.
• 1908 - In a 7 - 3 New York win, the Giants steal nine bases off Brooklyn's Billy Maloney, an outfielder pressed into service as a catcher. That's enough to make him quit the game. Following the game John McGraw makes his stage debut in a show at the Hippodrome. He has a small part in the show "Sporting Days".
• 1909:
  • Bill Dinneen, winner of three games in the first World Series, is released by the St. Louis Browns and becomes an American League umpire, a position he will hold through 1937.
  • George Gibson of Pittsburgh catches his 112th consecutive game, breaking Chief Zimmer's 1890 record. His streak will end at 140.
• 1912 - At the Polo Grounds, the Giants sweep two from Brooklyn, 2 - 1 and 7 - 2. Jeff Tesreau takes the opener and Christy Mathewson the nitecap.
• 1914 - Boston Braves' hurler George Davis no-hits the Phillies, 7 - 0 .
• 1915:
  • Sporting goods manufacturer Al Spalding, one of the original players, managers, and executives of the National League, dies at 65 in San Diego, CA.
  • Boston's Lefty Tyler allows just one Brooklyn hit, but loses, 1 - 0. Jeff Pfeffer is nearly as perfect, allowing two hits for the win. Brooklyn scores the lone run on a walk by Hy Myers, Gus Getz's single, a double steal, and a sac fly.
• 1916:
  • New York Giant Pol Perritt beats the Phillies twice, winning 3 - 1 and 3 - 0.
  • Hippo Vaughn and Jimmy Lavender shut out the Pirates, 3 - 0 and 2 - 0, for a Cubs doubleheader victory.
  • In Washington, Boston's Babe Ruth tops the Senators and Walter Johnson, 2 - 1. Ruth gives up four hits while Johnson allows eight. It is the Babe's fourth win this season versus Johnson. Washington wins the nitecap, 4 - 3, in ten innings.
• 1917:
  • In Chicago, with the score tied 3 - 3 in the 10th inning between the Sox and the Indians, umpire Brick Owens forfeits the game to Chicago, 9 - 0, because of the "dilatory tactics" of the Tribe. Chicago now leads the American League by seven games. The Cleveland players protest Owens' ruling in the 10th when, with two on and no outs, he calls Jack Graney out on a close play. The ensuing argument delays the game ten minutes with several Indians rolling on the ground and tossing their mitts. When Chicago's first hitter, pitcher Dave Danforth, strikes out to open the bottom of the inning, Indian catcher Steve O'Neill fires the ball into center field, whereupon Owens calls the forfeit.
  • Grover Alexander beats New York's Jeff Tesreau, 4 - 1. Ferdie Schupp takes the nitecap, 2 - 1, for New York, beating the Phils' Eppa Rixey.
• 1918:
  • Finners Quinlan, an OF who last played in 1915, is wounded fighting in a battle at Argonne Wood, France. He loses an eye and his right leg.
  • In Game 4 of the World Series, Babe Ruth bats in two runs on a triple in the 4th and pitches seven scoreless innings before the Cubs tie it in the 8th, ending Ruth's World Series record of 29 2/3 scoreless innings. Phil Douglas relieves Lefty Tyler for Chicago in the last of the 8th and throws away the game, first by a wild pitch, then with an error. Ruth is the winning pitcher, but Carl Mays relieves with two on and no out in the 9th.
• 1921 - An American League record for total runs and hits is made when Chicago beats Detroit, 20 - 15. Each team has 20 hits.
• 1922:
  • Baby Doll Jacobson collects three triples to lead the Browns to a 16 - 0 whitewash of the Tigers. The victory, the most lopsided in Browns history, goes to pitcher Elam Vangilder. St. Louis totals 20 hits with Ken Williams hitting a homer in his fifth straight game, his 37th of the year. George Sisler has three hits to keep his hitting streak alive, as the Browns keep pace with New York, winners in ten innings against Washington.
  • Danville's Otto Pahlman (Three-I League) has his 50-game hitting streak stopped. Now in second place, he'll end the century with the fourth longest streak ever in the minors.
• 1923 - In an International League game, the Syracuse Stars are leading 3 - 2 in the 7th and final inning when umpire George Magerkurth calls a Baltimore runner safe, giving the Orioles a last chance at bat. Stars manager Frank Shaughnessy protests and the fans agree with him by pouring out onto the field, and the ump awards the forfeit win to the O's.
• 1924 - At the Polo Grounds, Brooklyn ace Dazzy Vance wins his 13th in a row, beating the Giants and pulling the Robins within a half game of the top.
• 1926 - Trailing 6 - 3 at the end of eight innings, Brooklyn then makes nine hits and adds two walks to win going away, 12 - 6. A National League record five Brooklyn pinch hitters all deliver, including Dick Cox, who gets two hits, scores twice, and has two RBI in a nine-run 9th inning. Pinch hitter Moose Clabaugh also bats twice in the 9th, collecting a hit: the six pinch hits set a major-league record and the three pinch runners scoring ties a mark set in 1900. The Phils use a record-tying five pitchers in the 9th with Wayland Dean taking the loss. The Phils are again paced by Cy Williams, who clubs two homers in his first two at-bats (three in a row), before striking out in his next.
• 1928:
  • At Ebbets Field, the Robins come from behind to edge the Giants, 3 - 2, behind Dazzy Vance. Harvey Hendrick dinks a two-run homer in the 8th, off Larry Benton, to tie, and Jake Flowers singles with two out in the 9th to drive home the winner. The ecstatic fans respond by covering the field with straw hats.
  • A total of 85,265 jam Yankee Stadium to watch the Yankees sweep two from the A's, 3 - 0 and 7 - 3, to move back into first place to stay. George Pipgras is the winner in the first game while the Yankee star of the nitecap is Bob Meusel, who takes an Ed Rommel knuckler out of the park for a grand slam in the 8th. Waite Hoyt is the winner.
  • At age 37, Yankee P Urban Shocker dies of pneumonia in Denver, CO, where he had gone for his health. Only now does it become known that he had suffered from an enlarged heart and was unable to sleep lying down for two years. Shocker, who never had a losing season, was 18-6 in 1927 but appeared in only one game in 1928.
  • Chicago's Alex Metzler breaks up a pitching duel between Ted Lyons and Willis Hudlin by cracking an 8th-inning pinch homer to tie Cleveland, 1 - 1. The Sox get one more, then explode for eight runs in the 9th inning to coast, 10 - 1. This is Metzler's third and last roundtripper of the year and he will tie Bill Barrett for the team lead. His 55 RBIs will be second on the Sox.
  • The Cards blow a 7 - 3 lead and lose to Pittsburgh, 8 - 7. Their lead is cut to 2 1/2 games. Pete Alexander blows the lead, but the loss goes to reliever Art Reinhart. Chick Hafey and Jim Bottomley homer for the Cards, but the Bucs answer with the seven hits from the Waners. Paul, leading the National League with a .381 batting average, has four of them.
• 1931 - To raise funds to help the unemployed in the Depression, the Yankees, Giants, and Robins agree to a series of benefit games. Sixty thousand fans, paying regular prices, raise $59,000 in the first match-up, as Babe Ruth homers and the Yankees beat the Giants, 7 - 2.
• 1932 - The Tigers beat the Yankees, 14 - 13, in a 14-inning game in which Lou Gehrig hits a grand slam and drives in eight runs. He has reached this RBI feat twice before. Frankie Crosetti strikes out four times in the game, including twice in one inning. Detroit also tops the Yanks, 4 - 1, in five innings to finally complete the protested game of August 1st, and the tie of yesterday. The Yanks score their lone run in the 3rd inning off Buck Marrow with their only two hits of the game.
• 1933 - Joe Hauser, of Minneapolis (American Association), hits two home runs to set all-time record of 69. Hauser also set the International League record mark at 63, with Baltimore in 1930.
• 1934 - In one of the most memorable games in Negro League history, the Pittsburgh Crawfords' Satchel Paige duels the Philadelphia Stars' Slim Jones to a 1 - 1 stalemate, called after nine innings due to darkness. Paige strikes out 12, and Jones, 9, before 30,000 at Yankee Stadium.
• 1935 - With the Cardinals' Phil Collins losing to Curt Davis and the Phils, 4 - 3, the Cubs win their fifth and sixth straight games. Chicago tops the Braves, 5 - 1 and 2 - 1, behind the pitching of Larry French and Tex Carleton, cutting the Cardinal lead to a single game.
• 1936 - The Yankees sweep the Indians, 11 - 3 and 12 - 9, to clinch the pennant on the earliest date yet.
• 1938 - Lou Gehrig plays his 2,100th consecutive game and has four hits to bring his average over .300.
• 1939 - Jimmie Foxx is operated on for appendicitis, and will be out for the rest of the season. His 35 home runs will still win the title.
• 1945 - In the second game of the a doubleheader, Philadelphia A's Dick Fowler tosses a 1 - 0 no-hitter against the Browns.
• 1948 - At the Polo Grounds, Dodger Rex Barney no-hits the Giants, 2 - 0.
• 1949 - Despite terrorizing the National League with his bat and baserunning during the season, Jackie Robinson is picked off base by Dave Koslo, the fourth time this year Giants pitchers have nabbed him.
• 1950:
  • Sal Maglie of the Giants hurls his fourth consecutive shutout, tying a major-league record, and beats the Dodgers, 2 - 0. Alvin Dark's two homers provide the runs.
  • The Red Sox advance to within a half-game of the second-place Yankees by walloping the A's, 8 - 3 and 11 - 3. All the Boston runs in the opener are unearned. In the second game, a seven-run 2nd inning allows Walt Masterson to win. Dom DiMaggio steals his 15th: this will be the most in the American League, the lowest league-leading total in history.
  • The Tigers and White Sox finally finish a game that started in April. The game was originally scheduled as the nitecap of a doubleheader on April 30th, but was halted by darkness after nine innings deadlocked at 7 - 7. Rescheduled for August 10th, the contest was halted in the 7th with the score 1 - 1. Art Houtteman finally settles it with a 1 - 0, 12-inning win. Hoot Evers triples and scores on a single by Johnny Groth. The league leaders fail to cash in by losing the nitecap, 5 - 4, cutting their lead to a half game over New York and a game ahead of Boston.
• 1951:
  • Sal Maglie wins his 20th game to give the Giants a 2 - 1 win over the Dodgers' Ralph Branca. Monte Irvin's two-run homer in the 4th gives New York all its scoring, The Dodgers score in the 8th on a double by Duke Snider and a triple by Jackie Robinson. But 3B Bobby Thomson snags a ground ball, tags Robby, and throws to first for a double play.
  • The Indians use three 9th-inning bunts to edge the Browns, 4 - 3. Jim Hegan leads off with a bunt that rolls foul, but then drives a single past the pulled-in 3B Jack Maguire. Two more bunts and a sac fly give Mike Garcia his 19th win. Reliever Satchel Paige takes the loss.
  • The Yanks hit five homers - four off the Nats' Dick Starr - to win, 7 - 5. Mickey Mantle's leadoff homer on the first pitch, which starts the scoring, slams against the bottom of the flag holder on the top of the right field stands. Vic Raschi then wins the nitecap, 2 - 0, in a game called after the 6th inning because of darkness. Though Yankee Stadium has lights, unlike the National League, these cannot be used on Sunday. The Yankees (88-49) remain virtually tied with the Indians (88-51).
• 1952 - The Cardinals' Stan Musial gets his 2,000th hit, off Curt Simmons, as the Cardinals lose, 4 - 2.
• 1953 - Mickey Mantle's two-run home run off Chicago's Billy Pierce caps a seven-run 5th inning, as New York wins, 9 - 3, at Yankee Stadium. Returning to CF after the 5th, Mantle is photographed blowing a huge bubble with a wad of gum. Manager Stengel will publicly rebuke the Mick, who will apologize for the indiscretion. However, Mantle does get an endorsement fee from the Bowman Gum company
• 1955 - After losing the opener to the Cubs, the Dodgers win the nitecap, 16 - 9, as pitcher Clem Labine gets his third home run of the year. Labine has just three hits all year, but all three are homers.
• 1958:
  • The Cardinals beat the Cubs, 8 - 7, with Jim Brosnan earning the win over his old team. Don Elston takes the loss. Ernie Banks hits his first home run in St. Louis in two years while Eddie Kasko cracks a grand slam.
  • Athletics 1B Preston Ward hits three home runs in a row in an 8 - 6 win against Baltimore.
• 1961 - On Whitey Ford Day at Yankee Stadium, Roger Maris hits his 56th homer, off Cleveland's Mudcat Grant, as the Yanks come from behind to win, 8 - 7, New York scores four in the 9th to enable Luis Arroyo to pick up his 12th relief win in a row.
• 1962 - Boston's Lou Clinton makes four stellar grabs in the outfield and adds a homer, triple and single as the Red Sox trip the Yankees, 9 - 3, in 16 innings at Yankee Stadium. Dick Radatz takes over for Hal Kolstad and pitches nine innings of relief before leaving in the 16th for a pinch hitter.
• 1964 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Cleveland GM Gabe Paul has requested economic surveys of the Seattle, WA market in anticipation of a possible Indians move to the Northwest.
• 1965:
  • The Angels waive Lou Clinton and both the Indians and the Athletics claim him. Since the rule on waivers is that the team lowest in the standings gets first dibs, Clinton joins the Athletics. He arrives in mid-game and appears as a pinch-hitter, striking out, as California beats the A's, 7 - 2. He and the Athletics then learn after the game that Clinton has been awarded to the Indians because the Athletics' claim was filed after the 24-hour claiming period had expired. Charlie Finley knew this before Clinton reported to the Athletics, but manager Haywood Sullivan, fed up with Finley's second-guessing, didn't answer the telephone during the game, and therefore didn't find out.
  • Sandy Koufax's perfect game against the Cubs bests Bob Hendley's one-hit effort, 1 - 0. It is the Dodgers southpaw's record fourth no-hitter.
• 1967 - White Sox starter Gary Peters takes a 3 - 0 lead into the 9th inning, but a seven-run frame keeps Detroit tied for first place with the Twins with a 7 - 3 win at Chicago. Chicago is now in fourth place, two games back, with the Red Sox in third place just a half-game behind.
• 1968 - Joe Gordon is hired to manage the expansion Kansas City Royals in 1969.
• 1969:
  • Atlanta's Phil Niekro joins the 20-win circle for the first time with a 2 - 1 defeat of the Dodgers. The victory pulls the Braves into third place, one and a half games from the National League West lead.
  • With a 3 - 2 win, Tom Seaver hands Chicago its sixth straight loss, giving the Mets a sweep of two games. New York now trails the Cubs by one half game.
• 1970:
  • Pitching in his second major league game, Reds rookie Milt Wilcox pitches a 5 - 0 shutout over the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
  • Bowie Kuhn hands Denny McLain his third suspension of the year, this one for carrying a gun, plus other unspecified charges, and ends McLain's season with a 3-5 record.
  • California's Alex Johnson becomes the third player in history to put one into the center field bleachers at Comiskey Park when he connects in the 6th against Chicago's Billy Wynne in a 2 - 1 loss in eight innings. The Sox also win the opener, 11 - 4, to break their eight-game losing streak. Bill Melton leads the five-homer offense with a pair and five RBIs.
• 1974 - At Fenway Park, the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 6 - 3, for their first win in Boston since July 31st of last year. The Yankees have won two of 24 games at Fenway since 1972.
• 1975 - The Cubs' Bill Madlock suffers an "incomplete fracture" of his right thumb when hit by a Bruce Kison pitch in a 6 - 5 win over the Pirates. He will be out for two weeks but will return and win his first batting title, finishing at .354.
• 1976:
  • At Texas, Rod Carew hits a pinch grand slam in the 7th for the Twins, as Minnesota wins, 6 - 0. It is Carew's third grand slam of the year. Dave Goltz twirls the shutout.
  • George Brett is 5 for 5 to lead the Royals to a 6 - 5 win over the Angels in ten innings.
• 1977 - In the second game of a doubleheader loss in Boston, Tiger rookies Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell debut together. They will hold down the 2B and SS jobs in Detroit for a record 19 years. Boston prevails today, 5 - 1 and 8 - 6.
• 1978 - Ron Guidry (21-2) gives up two singles in the 1st inning and that's it. New York sends 12 runners to the plate and scores seven runs in the 4th inning to win, 7 - 0, against Dennis Eckersley and cut Boston's lead to a single game. For Guidry, it is his seventh shutout of the year, and the first lefty shutout in Fenway Park since Ken Holtzman fired one on August 5, 1974.
• 1979 - The first-place Orioles romp to their seventh win in a row, larruping the Red Sox, 16 - 4. Rick Dempsey hits a grand slam for the Birds in their six-run 6th, and Al Bumbry adds a home run in the same frame. Jim Rice homers for the Bosox. Sox C Bob Montgomery is 1 for 2 in his last major league game. He is the last big league batter to wear a hard liner in his cap instead of a batting helmet.
• 1980 - Reds fireballer Mario Soto strikes out 15 Braves in a 7 - 1 Reds win in Atlanta.
• 1983:
  • Oakland's first two batters, Rickey Henderson and Mike Davis, line homers off Toronto's Jim Clancy. It turns out to be the margin of difference in a 7 - 5 win.
  • White Sox Britt Burns pitches a one-hit, 11 - 0, win over the Angels. California's sole hit is Mike Brown's single with two out in the 7th. Sox teammates Carlton Fisk, Tom Paciorek, and Greg Luzinski make it easy for Britt by clouting consecutive homers in the 1st inning.
• 1987 - Striking out 12 of the final 13 hitters and a total of 16, Nolan Ryan beats the Giants, 4 - 2. The "Ryan Express" whiffs Mike Aldrete to end the 7th inning notching his 4,500th career strikeout.
• 1988 - Bruce Sutter joins Rollie Fingers and Rich Gossage as the only pitchers to save 300 games as Atlanta beats San Diego, 5 - 4, in 11 innings.
• 1989:
  • California's Devon White steals four bases including second base, third base, and home in the same inning in the Angels' 8 - 5 win over Boston. The Angels score three in the 8th to break a tie.
  • The Cubs' Luis Salazar singles in the tying run in 8th, then doubles in the winner in the 10th to give Chicago a 3 - 2 win over St. Louis. The Cubs now lead the Cards by one and a half games. Yesterday, the Cubs blew a 7 - 2 lead to lose 9 - 8 to the Cards.
• 1990:
  • Tiger RF Scott Lusader loses the battle to bright sun and soggy turf and makes three errors (two fielding and one throwing) in the 1st inning against the White Sox. It's a first in the American League since 1925. The Sox score seven runs in the inning and coast home, 13 - 3, snapping the Tigers' seven-game winning streak.
  • Oakland beats New York, 7 - 3, to complete a twelve-game sweep of the Yankees this year. The season sweep is a first for the Yankees.
  • Seattle's Matt Young strikes out four batters in the 1st inning of a 3 - 1 win over the Red Sox. He's the second pitcher this year to K four batters in an inning.
• 1991 - At Cleveland, Eric Bell debuts for the Indians with three innings of scoreless relief, and leaves in the 8th with the score, 3 - 3. The Sox score a run and win, 4 - 3.
• 1992:
  • With the score tied, 7 - 7, in the bottom of the 6th, with two on, one out and first base open, the Cubs elect not to pitch to the red-hot Barry Bonds. Its the 28th intentional pass this season for Pittsburgh's left fielder, thus breaking the Bucs' single-season record, set in 1968 by Roberto Clemente. By season's end, Bonds will extend his record total to 32. Today, however, the strategy in question will prove an absolute and instantaneous bust when Jeff King hits the first pitch following Bonds' freebie over the left-field wall for his second career grand slam.
  • Philadelphia P Curt Schilling tosses a one-hit, 2 - 1 victory over the Mets. The lone hit is a home run by Bobby Bonilla in the 5th inning.
  • Milwaukee OF Robin Yount gets the 3,000th hit of his career in his team's 5 - 4 loss to the Indians. He also becomes only the second player in history to record 200 home runs, 200 stolen bases and 100 triples, duplicating Willie Mays' feat.
  • Following the resignation of Fay Vincent yesterday, Brewers owner Bud Selig is selected by the owners to serve as acting baseball commissioner until a permanent successor can be found. It will take nearly six years to name a permanent commissioner - and it will be Selig himself.
• 1993 - The major leagues vote to divide each league into three divisions, and add another round of postseason featuring one wild card team in each league.
• 1995 - In the Japanese Central League, the visiting Yakult Swallows beat the Yomiuri Giants behind Terry Bross's no-hitter. Bross becomes only the second foreign-born pitcher to pitch a no-hitter.
• 1997:
  • Boston loses to the Yankees, 8 - 6, despite two RBIs for Nomar Garciaparra. The ribbies give Garciaparra 87 on the year, for a new major league record for leadoff men. Harvey Kuenn held the old mark with 85 in 1956 for Detroit.
  • Detroit P Scott Sanders hurls a one-hit, 4 - 0 shutout over the Rangers. 2B Domingo Cedeno's single is the only Texas safety.
  • Hall of Fame member Richie Ashburn passes away of an apparent heart attack in his New York hotel room following broadcasting a Mets-Phillies game last night. The former Phillies Whiz Kid was an excellent contact hitter who once fouled off 14 pitches in one at-bat.
• 1998:
  • In Toronto's 6 - 3 loss to the Indians in 13 innings, the Jays' Alex Gonzalez strikes out six times. Tribe starter Dwight Gooden K's him the first three times, while three relievers add strikeouts.
  • By defeating Boston, 7 - 5, the Yankees move 20 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Red Sox and clinch the American League East title. It ties the earliest date in American League history in which a flag has been captured.
• 1999:
  • In Baltimore's 6 - 5 win over the Twins, Albert Belle drives in his 100th run, the ninth season in a row he's had 100+ RBIs. On the minus side, Cal Ripken, Jr. grounds into his 324th double play to top Carl Yastrzemski for the all-time lead.
  • The Padres defeat the Expos, 10 - 3, in a game in which they are nearly allowed four outs in the 7th inning. When San Diego's Reggie Sanders strikes out for the third out, the umpires don't notice and the players do not leave the field. Phil Nevin comes to the plate and runs the count to 2-1 against Expos P Ted Lilly before someone in the Montreal dugout points out the problem to home plate umpire Jerry Layne.
  • In the Cubs' 5 - 3 loss to the Reds, Sammy Sosa hits his 59th homer. Sosa has more homers than the Cubs have wins: 56. They've lost 31 of their last 39 games.
  • Baseball makes its debut in the All Africa Games. The host South African national team begins its cruise through the competition with a 43 - 0 romp over Lesotho. Braydon Bartle fans ten and allows one hit (a Rethabile Mosotho single) in five innings in the mercy rule win, Ian Holness goes deep four times and Carl Randall hits for the cycle. In the other game, Nigeria rallies for a 12 - 11 win over Zimbabwe as Michael Oguwuche gets the win with seven innings of relief and also raps three hits.
• 2000 - The Astros kick the Cubs, 14 - 4, hitting a team-record seven home runs in the process. Richard Hidalgo, Lance Berkman and Tim Bogar each hit a pair, with Daryle Ward adding another.
• 2001 - The Giants squeak by the Rockies, 9 - 4, in 11 innings. Barry Bonds hits three home runs in a game for the second time this season, giving him 63 for the year, besting Roger Maris' mark of 61 for lefthanded hitters.
• 2002:
  • The Diamondbacks beat the Padres, 5 - 2, as Randy Johnson reaches 300 strikeouts for the fifth consecutive season, extending his major league record.
  • Barry Bonds' 610th career home run is the longest dinger ever hit in the three-year history of Pac Bell Park. The 491-foot blast sails over fans heads who are waiting in a food line in the center field bleachers.
• 2007:
  • The Brewers become the third team in major league history to open a game with three homers in a row. Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun connect against Phil Dumatrait in a 10 - 5 win over the Reds.
  • Todd Helton hits his 35th double of the season, this one against Joe Thatcher, in a 4 - 2 Rockies win. It makes him the first major leaguer ever to hit 35 or more doubles ten years in a row; even the legendary Tris Speaker had only had nine such consecutive seasons.
  • Curtis Granderson of the Tigers steals his 20th base after hitting his 20th home run yesterday. That gives him 20 or more doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases on the season. The only prior players to do that in major league history were Frank Schulte (1911) and Willie Mays (1957). He will be joined by the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins in a few days.
• 2009:
  • The 2009 Baseball World Cup begins. In the opener, Australia toasts the Czech national team, 17 - 4, as Tim Kennelly homers twice and Stefan Welch hits two doubles, a triple and a home run. Spain beats South Africa, 15 - 0, behind the pitching of Eric Gonzalez and a fine offense. Germany defeats China, 14 - 1, with Dominik Wulf leading the offense and Enorbel Marquez doing the mound work in a crucial match for their second-round hopes. Finally, the Netherlands Antilles edge Sweden, 10 - 8, with each team scoring six runs in an exciting 9th inning.
  • Derek Jeter ties the New York Yankees franchise record for hits held by Lou Gehrig, with his 2,721st hit in the 7th against the Rays. He will pass Gehrig in two days. In the game, Jorge Posada belts a three-run pinch homer in the 8th to give the Yanks a 4 - 2 win. The Rays, the AL East champions last year, have now lost eight straight and are almost out of the playoff race.
  • The Red Sox beat the Orioles, 7 - 5. Baltimore's Brian Roberts hits his 50th double, becoming the fourth major leaguer to reach 50 three times, following Tris Speaker, Paul Waner and Stan Musial.
• 2010 - In Game 3 of the 2010 Holland Series, two records are broken and one tied as Neptunus tops the Amsterdam Pirates, 3 - 0. Amsterdam becomes the first team to lose a Holland Series game despite outhitting their opponents by six (9 to 3), while Neptunus sets a record for fewest hits by a Holland Series victor. Neptunus leadoff man Eugène Kingsale ties a Series record with four walks in one game.
• 2011 - The Tampa Bay Rays continue their late charge for a postseason berth by beating the Red Sox, 7 - 2, behind a complete game by Wade Davis. The Rays are now five and a half games behind Boston in the Wild Card race; the Red Sox, beset by injuries, have lost five of six and eight of 11.
• 2012:
  • B.J. Upton hits three home runs to back the pitching of James Shields as Tampa Bay shuts out Texas, 6 - 0. With the Yankees beating the Orioles, 13 - 3, the standings in the AL East have New York one game in front of Baltimore, and two ahead of Tampa Bay.
  • The Angels complete a three-game sweep of the Tigers with a 3 - 2 win. Rookie OF Mike Trout hits a lead-off homer for the second straight game and Zack Greinke pitches a five-hitter. After winning 15 of their last 18 games, the Angels have inserted themselves back into the playoff picture as they are now even with Tampa Bay, and one game behind Baltimore and Oakland.
  • The Czech national team, entering at 0-2, pulls off a stunning upset over the Netherlands, who had outscored their first two opponents 32-0, at the 2012 European Championship, winning, 3 - 2, in ten innings. Jakub Malik and Jan Drábek both drive in runs in the 10th off AAA hurler Loek van Mil, while Phillies minor leaguer Marek Minarik gets the victory. The star of the day, though, is 20-year-old Michal Sobotka, who holds the Netherlands to one unearned run in eight innings in a duel with Reds prospect Juan Carlos Sulbaran.
• 2013 - In a rare highlight for the Nationals this season, Gio Gonzalez pitches a one-hitter and is backed by five homers as the team rolls to an easy 9 - 0 win over the Mets. The Nats start off with a bang as Denard Span and Ryan Zimmerman greet Mets starter Carlos Torres with back-to-back long balls. Pinch-hitter Zach Lutz has the Mets' only hit, a soft single that lands on the first base foul line to open the 7th.
• 2014:
  • The Tigers are again even with the Royals in the AL Central following a 4 - 2 win over their rivals. Max Scherzer is the winner while J.D. Martinez and Rajai Davis both go deep. In the 9th, Tigers closer Joe Nathan escapes a two-on, none out jam with two strikeouts around picking Jarrod Dyson off second base.
  • Cubs 3B prospect Kris Bryant is named the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year after leading the minor leagues with 43 homers and a .661 slugging percentage between the AA Tennessee Smokies and AAA Iowa Cubs.
• 2016 - Rick Porcello of the Red Sox becomes the first twenty-game winner in the majors this season as he defeats the Blue Jays, 13 - 3. He is the first pitcher to reach the total for the Red Sox since Josh Beckett in 2007, and the win puts Boston two games ahead of Toronto in the AL East.
• 2017 - Jose Abreu hits for the cycle in the White Sox's 13 -1 rout of the Giants in an interleague game pitting the holders of the worst record in each league. Abreu starts things off by homering off Jeff Samardzija in the 1st, the first of six Chicago players to go deep in the game as James Shields wins for only the third time this year.
• 2019
  • Following a 10 - 6 loss to the Yankees but less than a year after winning the World Series, the Red Sox fire President and General Manager Dave Dombrowski, the architect of that World Series triumph. He has received significant criticism for the large contracts handed out before the season to pitchers Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Sale, who have both failed to deliver, and for not re-signing closer Craig Kimbrel or even looking for an adequate replacement.
  • The Astros continue to pulverize opponents. One day after a 21 - 1 win over the Mariners, they hit a record six homers in the first two innings on their way to a 15 - 0 takedown of the Athletics. Rookie sensation Yordan Alvarez hits two of the homers, the second one landing in the upper deck, 416 feet away in right field at Minute Maid Park. He is only the second player to park a ball in that location, after Jeromy Burnitz who had done it in 2000. They add another homer later in the game to match the team record of seven set on this day in 2000. Scoring 36 runs while allowing only one over a two-game span is also a record.
  • Infielder Gavin Lux is named the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year after hitting a combined .347 with 26 homers, 99 runs and 76 RBIs in 113 games between the AA Tulsa Drillers and AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers.
• 2020:
  • At the urging of Roberto Clemente's family, Major League Baseball pays tribute to its first Latin American superstar by allowing Puerto Rican players and others to wear his uniform number, 21, in his honor, on this day. This is akin to the wearing of #42 on Jackie Robinson Day. In addition, all members of the Pirates, Clemente's former team, wear the number, the first time it has been worn by a team member since Clemente's passing 48 years earlier.
  • It's a day of high scoring games as the Braves set a team record by scoring 29 runs in a 29 - 9 win over the Marlins; the total is also the highest by a National League team since the start of the 20th Century. Adam Duvall leads the charge with his second three-homer game in a week, driving in nine runs. Also today, the Brewers shut out the Tigers, 19 - 0, slugging a team record 13 extra-base hits while Corbin Burnes limits the Bengals to one hit and no walks while striking out 11 in seven innings.
• 2021 - The Blue Jays complete a four-game sweep of the Yankees at New Yankee Stadium with a 6 - 4 win, pulling within a half-game of their division rivals in the race for the final wild card slot. The two teams are going in different directions, as the Jays have now won nine in a row, while the Yankees, who had put together a 13-game winning streak a couple of weeks ago, have lost six straight. Worse for them, they never held a lead even once in the four games, something no Yankees team had done in a four-game series since 1908, when they were still known as the "Highlanders".
• 2022 - Major League Baseball announces the adoption of a number of changes to the rules to be introduced at the start of the 2023 season. They include a pitch clock, limits on defensive shifts, and larger bases. All of these changes have already been successfully tested in minor league games and aim to improve pace of play, reduce injuries and create more in-game action. They will be a resounding success.
• 2023:
  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws his second career no-hitter, the 100th in NPB annals, blanking the Chiba Lotte Marines, 4 - 0.
  • The Rättvik Butchers sweep the Elitserien finals in three games over the Stockholm Monarchs to repeat as Elitserien champs. The finale is a breeze as Joel Johnson and Sam Börjes hold Stockholm to one run while the Butchers score 11. Oskar Jerfsten finishes a triple shy of the cycle and drives in four.
• 2024 - The Pericos de Puebla complete a sweep of the Diablos Rojos del México in the Mexican League finals. Brooks Hall allows two hits in seven innings in the 4-2 win (none in the first five), with Tomohiro Anraku saving it. MVP José Marmolejos's 3-run homer off Julio Teherán is the big blow.

Births

• 1856 - Ernie Burch, outfielder (d. 1892)
• 1857 - Abner Dalrymple, outfielder (d. 1939)
• 1872 - John Eubank, pitcher (d. 1958)
• 1877 - Frank Chance, infielder, manager; Hall of Famer (d. 1924)
• 1880 - Ambrose Puttmann, pitcher (d. 1936)
• 1886 - Al Kellogg, pitcher (d. 1953)
• 1886 - Dots Miller, infielder (d. 1923)
• 1887 - Doc Johnston, infielder (d. 1961)
• 1887 - Mike Wilson (d. 1962)
• 1889 - Harry Thompson, pitcher (d. 1951)
• 1891 - Dan Costello, outfielder (d. 1936)
• 1892 - Tiny Graham, infielder (d. 1962)
• 1893 - Walt Kinney, pitcher (d. 1971)
• 1897 - Frankie Frisch, infielder, manager; All-Star, Hall of Famer (d. 1973)
• 1898 - Bill Engeln, umpire (d. 1968)
• 1898 - Stan Keyes, minor league outfielder (d. 1976)
• 1899 - Waite Hoyt, pitcher; Hall of Famer (d. 1984)
• 1899 - Winfield Welch, outfielder, manager (d. 1980)
• 1905 - Charlie Perkins, pitcher (d. 1988)
• 1907 - Sug Jones, infielder (d. 1982)
• 1909 - Harry Daughtry, minor league infielder and manager (d. 1985)
• 1909 - Johnny Marcum, pitcher (d. 1984)
• 1910 - Bud Thomas, pitcher (d. 2001)
• 1912 - Johnny Lazor, outfielder (d. 2002)
• 1913 - Hugh Mulcahy, pitcher; All-Star (d. 2001)
• 1918 - Woody Crowson, pitcher (d. 1947)
• 1919 - Gabe Patterson, outfielder (d. 1991)
• 1926 - Ed Mickelson, infielder
• 1926 - Elvin Stabelfeld, minor league pitcher (d. 2009)
• 1927 - Donald Spencer, minor league infielder (d. 2011)
• 1928 - Harold Danielson, minor league catcher
• 1930 - Larry Delo, minor league pitcher (d. 2006)
• 1931 - Earl Averill, catcher (d. 2015)
• 1931 - Pete Naton, catcher (d. 2013)
• 1935 - Jim Proctor, pitcher
• 1937 - June Raines, college coach
• 1938 - Don DiChiara, minor league infielder
• 1938 - Jay Ward, infielder (d. 2012)
• 1942 - Ron Stone, outfielder
• 1942 - Paul Roof, minor league pitcher
• 1943 - Hans Augustinus, Hoofdklasse catcher
• 1945 - Willem Broertjes, Hoofdklasse umpire (d. 2023)
• 1946 - Kerry Wither, Australian national team infielder
• 1949 - Reggie Sanders, infielder (d. 2002)
• 1952 - John Bedard, minor league pitcher
• 1952 - Jerry Mumphrey, outfielder; All-Star
• 1952 - Hae-chong Park, KBO catcher
• 1952 - Garry Williams, Australian national team infielder
• 1953 - Steve Ratzer, pitcher
• 1956 - Peter Gahan, scout
• 1956 - Lung-Cheng Hsia, Hong Kong national team coach
• 1956 - Yukihiro Murakami, NPB pitcher
• 1958 - Lázaro Junco, Cuban league outfielder
• 1959 - Tom Foley, infielder
• 1959 - Kenji Miyamoto, NPB pitcher
• 1959 - Mike Pittman, minor league pitcher
• 1960 - Alvin Davis, infielder; All-Star
• 1960 - Alonso Téllez, minor league outfielder; Salon de la Fama
• 1961 - Mike Carnegie, Canadian national team pitcher
• 1961 - Jim Corsi, pitcher (d. 2022)
• 1962 - Joe Strong, pitcher
• 1964 - Greg Vella, minor league infielder
• 1965 - Wayne Davis, minor league outfielder
• 1965 - Chris Pinder, minor league pitcher
• 1965 - Todd Zeile, infielder
• 1966 - Chuck Carter, minor league pitcher (d. 2009)
• 1966 - Rob Flippo, minor league catcher
• 1967 - Kazutoshi Higuchi, NPB infielder
• 1967 - Dave Rypien, Canadian national team catcher
• 1969 - Hiroki Nobayashi, NPB infielder
• 1970 - Don Garvey, minor league infielder
• 1970 - Joey Hamilton, pitcher
• 1970 - André Lachance, Canadian women's national team manager
• 1970 - Dan Miceli, pitcher
• 1971 - Robinson Checo, pitcher
• 1971 - Rich Lemons, minor league player
• 1972 - Fredy Corea, Nicaraguan national team pitcher
• 1972 - Melvin Cuevas, CPBL pitcher
• 1972 - Mike Hampton, pitcher; All-Star
• 1972 - Felix Rodriguez, pitcher
• 1973 - Kazuhisa Ishii, pitcher
• 1973 - Yuji Nerei, minor league outfielder
• 1974 - Larry Rodríguez, minor league pitcher
• 1975 - Jeff Andra, minor league pitcher
• 1975 - Akio Shimizu, NPB pitcher
• 1976 - Roderick Simon, Hoofdklasse infielder
• 1977 - Kyle Snyder, pitcher
• 1978 - Kurt Ainsworth, pitcher
• 1980 - Todd Coffey, pitcher
• 1981 - Ryo Kawashima, NPB pitcher
• 1982 - Pedro Diaz, minor league pitcher
• 1982 - Llewellyn Gerber, South African national team pitcher
• 1983 - Jason Benetti, broadcaster
• 1983 - Alberto Bicet, Cuban league pitcher
• 1983 - Mike Costanzo, infielder
• 1983 - Kyle Davies, pitcher
• 1983 - Jacobo Garrido, Division de Honor infielder
• 1983 - Rhyne Hughes, infielder
• 1983 - Edwin Jackson, pitcher; All-Star
• 1983 - Ta-Yuan Kuan, CPBL pitcher
• 1983 - Alex Romero, outfielder
• 1983 - Go Yamaoka, Japanese national team catcher
• 1984 - Brett Pill, infielder
• 1985 - Nick Derba, minor league catcher and college coach
• 1985 - Hirofumi Yamanaka, NPB pitcher
• 1986 - Michael Bowden, pitcher
• 1986 - Gustavo Espinoza, minor league pitcher
• 1986 - Tyler Kuhn, minor league player
• 1986 - Evan LeBlanc, minor league outfielder
• 1986 - Curt Smith, minor league infielder
• 1986 - Lei Yu, China Baseball League pitcher
• 1987 - Quintin De Cuba, minor league infielder
• 1987 - Moon-hong Kim, South Korean national team infielder
• 1987 - Shu-Nin Tang, Hong Kong national team outfielder
• 1988 - David Kaye, drafted pitcher
• 1988 - Will Middlebrooks, infielder
• 1988 - Brandon Short, minor league outfielder
• 1988 - Angelo Songco, minor league infielder
• 1988 - Joey Terdoslavich, outfielder
• 1988 - Yuki Yamauchi, Japanese national team catcher
• 1989 - Jonathan Balentina, Netherlands Antilles national team pitcher
• 1989 - Virgil Hill, minor league outfielder
• 1989 - Anthony Ranaudo, pitcher
• 1989 - Dusty Robinson, minor league outfielder
• 1989 - Euclides Viloria, minor league pitcher
• 1989 - Reggie Williams, minor league outfielder
• 1990 - Billy Hamilton, outfielder
• 1990 - Tsuyoshi Ishizaki, NPB pitcher
• 1990 - Jordan Lucas, Bundesliga pitcher
• 1991 - Jake McGuiggan, minor league infielder
• 1992 - Pat Valaika, infielder
• 1992 - Alberto Varin, Italian Baseball League catcher
• 1992 - Sachiya Yamasaki, NPB pitcher
• 1993 - Hsiao-Yun Chen, Taiwanese national team outfielder
• 1993 - Shane Dawson, minor league pitcher
• 1993 - Jimmy Herget, pitcher
• 1993 - Po-Jung Wang, NPB outfielder
• 1993 - Alex Young, pitcher
• 1994 - Wil Crowe, pitcher
• 1996 - JoJo Romero, pitcher
• 1997 - Simon Andersson, Elitserien pitcher
• 1998 - Alex Kachler, minor league outfielder
• 1998 - Hakeem Yatim, Indonesian national team infielder
• 1999 - Ben Brown, pitcher
• 2000 - Christoph Vanas, Austrian national team pitcher
• 2001 - Troy Taylor, pitcher
• 2002 - Benny Montgomery, minor league outfielder

Deaths

• 1889 - Jack Gorman, infielder (b. 1859)
• 1914 - Willie Garoni, pitcher (b. 1877)
• 1915 - Al Spalding, pitcher, manager; Hall of Famer (b. 1850)
• 1923 - George Keerl, infielder (b. 1847)
• 1926 - Dick Conway, pitcher (b. 1865)
• 1927 - Bill McCaffrey, pitcher (b. 1862)
• 1928 - Urban Shocker, pitcher (b. 1890)
• 1934 - John Dobbs, outfielder (b. 1875)
• 1936 - Bill Betts, umpire (b. 1865)
• 1944 - Orlin Collier, pitcher (b. 1907)
• 1944 - Frank Shugart, infielder (b. 1866)
• 1949 - Len Madden, pitcher (b. 1890)
• 1949 - Hal Neubauer, pitcher (b. 1902)
• 1950 - Dad Risley, minor league infielder and manager (b. 1870)
• 1951 - Chappie Snodgrass, outfielder (b. 1870)
• 1957 - Ed Karger, pitcher (b. 1883)
• 1959 - Terry Lyons, infielder (b. 1908)
• 1961 - Jesse Barnes, pitcher (b. 1892)
• 1961 - Rube Oldring, outfielder (b. 1884)
• 1964 - Herschel Bennett, outfielder (b. 1896)
• 1964 - George Stueland, pitcher (b. 1899)
• 1972 - Will Jackman, pitcher (b. 1895)
• 1975 - Ken Jungels, pitcher (b. 1916)
• 1981 - Ernie Alten, pitcher (b. 1894)
• 1981 - Willie Haynes, pitcher (b. 1901)
• 1990 - Doc Cramer, outfielder; All-Star (b. 1905)
• 1991 - Les Rock, infielder (b. 1912)
• 1996 - Harry Hanebrink, infielder (b. 1927)
• 1996 - Johnny Pramesa, catcher (b. 1925)
• 1997 - Richie Ashburn, outfielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer (b. 1927)
• 1998 - Jerry Zimmerman, catcher (b. 1934)
• 1999 - Catfish Hunter, pitcher; All-Star, Hall of Famer (b. 1946)
• 2004 - Rose Gacioch, AAGPBL outfielder (b. 1915)
• 2007 - Robert Pascal, minor league infielder (b. 1930)
• 2009 - Bob Flori, minor league catcher and manager (b. 1929)
• 2010 - Eddie Phillips, pinch runner (b. 1930)
• 2011 - Lefty Gilday, minor league pitcher (b. 1928)
• 2013 - Dale Powell, minor league infielder (b. 1927)
• 2014 - Louis-Philippe Grenier, Quebec Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1946)
• 2014 - Pablo Morales, IBAF executive (b. 1932)
• 2016 - Les Hall, college coach (b. 1935)
• 2016 - Carl Miles, pitcher (b. 1918)
• 2016 - Alonso Pérez, IBAF executive (b. ~1944)
• 2017 - Jim Donohue, pitcher (b. 1937)
• 2018 - Paul Stuffel, pitcher (b. 1927)
• 2019 - Jim Archer, pitcher (b. 1932)
• 2019 - Jim Greengrass, outfielder (b. 1927)
• 2019 - Joe Keough, outfielder (b. 1946)
• 2022 - Ray Rippelmeyer, pitcher (b. 1933)
• 2023 - Mitsuyasu Hirano, NPB outfielder (b. 1949)
• 2024 - James Earl Jones, actor (b. 1931)
• 2024 - Minnie Mendoza, infielder (b. 1934)