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Happy birthday to Tim Federowicz, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1921 – KDKA radio station provides its listeners with the first-ever broadcast of a major league game. Harold Arlin becomes baseball’s first play-by-play announcer as he details the action as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Phillies at Forbes Field, 8-5, and other stories as well.
Today in baseball history:
- 1922 – Tommy McCarthy, a top outfielder in the 1890s, dies at 58. He will enter the Hall of Fame in 1946. On the 14th, an all-star team will beat the Red Sox in a benefit game that raises more than $5,000 for his family.
- 1959 – Willie McCovey hits two home runs and Willie Mays another as the Giants whip the Braves’ Bob Buhl, 4 – 1, to move into first place.
- 1969 – Willie Stargell becomes the first player to hit a home run completely out of Dodger Stadium. The 512-foot, seventh-inning, bases-empty blast breaks a 3-3 tie, helping the Pirates defeat Los Angeles, 11-3. The 2,500th career hit of Roberto Clemente and a two-run homer from Bill Mazeroski figure prominently in Pittsburgh’s seven-run ninth inning. Taking a no-decision in what will prove to be his final Major League appearance is Dodger starter Don Drysdale, pitching with a torn rotator cuff, which, despite assurances that it is “something I’m going to have to learn to pitch with,” will lead to his retirement within less than a week.
- 1973 – Braves knuckleballer Phil Niekro no-hits the Padres, 9-0, and improves his record to 11-4. He walks three and strikes out four in recording the first no-hitter by the franchise in Atlanta.
- 1994 – Atlanta 1B Fred McGriff hits a home run in the Braves’ 16-6 win over Cincinnati, making him only the ninth major leaguer in history to hit 30 or more homers in seven consecutive seasons.
- 2005 – Albert Pujols becomes the first player to connect for 30 home runs in each of his first five big league seasons. The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman has hit 190 homers during this five-year span from the start of his career, equaling Eddie Mathews‘ total (1952–1956) and with 25 fewer than Ralph Kiner (1946–1950).
- 2007 – Tom Glavine becomes the 23rd pitcher and fifth left-hander to win 300 games in the major leagues with an 8-3 victory over the Cubs.
- 2009 – Jim Thome hits two homers, including a three-run blast off Darren Oliver in the sixth, to pace the White Sox to a 6-2 win over the Angels. It is the 44th multi-homer game of Thome’s career; with 561 round-trippers, he is only two behind Reggie Jackson for 12th place on the all-time list.
Today in Cubs history:
- 1911 – Cubs manager Frank Chance suspends Joe Tinker and fines him $150 for indifferent play. He is reinstated the next day.
- 1922 – Rogers Hornsby sets a new National League single-season home run record with his 28th, eclipsing a 38-year-old mark set by Ed Williamson of the Chicago White Stockings in 1884.
- 1931 – The Cubs edge the Reds, 3-2 at Wrigley Field, when Leo Durocher boots a ground ball hit by Kiki Cuyler. It ends a string of 251 errorless chances in 53 games for Durocher.
- 1945 – The Cubs bang out 22 hits in the first game of a pair to overwhelm the Reds, 12-5. Stan Hack has three doubles and a single, and Phil Cavarretta has four hits. The Cubs take the nightcap, 2-1, behind Claude Passeau‘s six-hitter. Chicago has won 17 of their last 18 games.
- 1979 – In pre-game ceremonies at Wrigley Field, announcer Jack Brickhouse is honored. Today’s broadcast is his 5,000th television broadcast of a game.
- 2000 – Sammy Sosa becomes the first Cubs player to reach 100 RBIs six consecutive times. Hack Wilson did it for five straight seasons from 1926 to 1930.
- 2014 – Highly touted prospect Javier Báez homers in his major league debut for the Cubs, leading off the 12th inning against Boone Logan of the Rockies, to lead his team to a 6-5 win.
Cubs Birthdays: Tim Federowicz*, Tony Jacobs,
Rube Novotney.
Today in history:
- 1864 – Battle of Mobile Bay won by the Union Navy, led by Rear Admiral David Farragut with the cry “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”
- 1926 – Harry Houdini stays in a coffin underwater for 1½ hours before escaping.
- 1932 – Clyde Barrow and two associates kill Sheriff C.G. Maxwell and his deputy, Eugene C. Moore, in the first instance of the Barrow gang killing a lawman.
- 1936 – American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 200 m in a world record time of 20.7 seconds, his third gold medal of the Berlin Olympics.
- 1992 – Four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, previously acquitted on charges of beating Rodney King, are indicted on federal civil rights charges.
- 2012 – Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt wins the 100 m at the London Olympics in 9.63 seconds, breaking the record he set in the 2008 Olympics.
Today in music history:
- 1966 – The Beatles release their “Revolver” album in the UK,
- 1967 – Bobby Gentry releases her hit “Ode to Billie Joe”.
- 1972 – The Moody Blues reissue their 1967 single “Nights in White Satin,” and it reaches #2 on the US charts, higher than the initial release..
- 1974 – Joan Jett forms her rock group, The Runaways, in the United States.
- 2021 – Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (80) announces he will be unable to accompany the band on its 2021 U.S. tour based on medical advice, with American Steve Jordan tapped to fill in.
*pictured.
