Happy birthday to Jordan Wicks*, Shota Imanaga, and other former Cubs.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.
“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly.
Today in baseball history:
- 1879 – Chicago beats Buffalo, 4-1, to briefly regain second place over Boston. (2)
- 1883 – Chicago scores 11 runs in the third inning en route to a 21-7 thrashing of Cleveland. Chicago collects nine doubles with Abner Dalrymple and Fred Pfeffer each getting four hits. (2)
- 1886 – Ed “Cannonball” Crane walks 14 and adds five wild pitches and an error in a 15-2 loss to Chicago. Formerly an OF‚ Crane has just been pressed into service as a pitcher for the last-place Nationals. He’ll emerge as a regular starter for the New York Giants next year. (2)
- 1902 – In today’s split of a doubleheader with the Phillies‚ Joe Tinker‚ Johnny Evers‚ and Frank Chance appear together in the Chicago Orphans lineup for the first time‚ but not in the positions that will earn them immortality. Evers‚ a New York State League rookie‚ starts at SS‚ with Tinker at 3B‚ Chance at 1B‚ and veteran Bobby Lowe at 2B. Philadelphia takes the opener‚ 11-3, behind Doc White‚ while Chicago is victorious in the nitecap‚ 6-1‚ behind Jack Taylor’s pitching. (1,2)
- 1907 – Cubs P Ed Reulbach‚ who will be 17-4 with a 1.69 ERA‚ goes into the ninth with a 2-0 lead over the Cardinals at Chicago. He gives up eight straight hits‚ seven runs‚ and loses the game. The nitecap is stopped after seven innings. (2)
- 1927 – The Pirates take over first place by beating the visiting Cubs‚ 4-3. Joe Harris has a double and home run to back the Bucs’ Lee Meadows. Both Waners (Paul and Lloyd) cut down runners with throws in the 2nd and 3rd innings. (2)
- 1928 – Sheriff Blake is red-hot for the Cubs‚ allowing just one hit‚ in besting the Reds’ Ray Kolp‚ 1-0. The lone Reds hit is a 5th-inning double by Long George Kelly. (2)
- 1939 – The Dodgers and Cubs use an open date to play a doubleheader of two rained-out games. The visiting Cubs take the opener‚ 6-2, behind Larry French‚ and the Dodgers take the nightcap‚ 3-1. In the second game‚ Gabby Hartnett sets a major league record for games caught of 1‚722. The old mark was held by Ray Schalk. (2)
- 1942 – A story in the Chicago Tribune reports that player-manager Parnell Woods of the Negro American League Cleveland Buckeyes‚ and two teammates have been invited to try out with the Indians at the start of the 1943 season. The two teammates are Gene Bremmer and Sam Jethroe‚ who is leading the league in hitting with a .450 average. (2)
- 1962 – Cubs 30-year-old rookie Cuno Barragan‚ sidelined since spring training when he broke his ankle‚ finally gets his first at bat and hits his only major league home run. His clout comes off Giants P Dick LeMay‚ but the Cubs lose, 4-3, in 14 innings. (2)
- 1964 – Southpaw relief P Masanori Murakami becomes the first major league player from Japan. He debuts in a 4-1 San Francisco loss at New York. His first 11 innings will be scoreless ones. (1,2)
- 1967 – The Cubs start a streak of four straight doubleheaders by beating the Mets‚ 8-2‚ behind Fergie Jenkins‘ 17th win. Former Cub Don Cardwell wins the nightcap‚ 3-0‚ striking out 11. (2)
- 1971 – At Wrigley Field‚ pitcher Fergie Jenkins leads the Cubs to a 5-2 win over Montreal by clouting two home runs and driving in three runs. Bill Stoneman takes the loss. (2)
- 1989 – Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti dies suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 51. (1,2)
- 1987 – Williamsport (Eastern League) Bills catcher Dave Bresnahan introduces a new wrinkle to baseball, the hidden potato. With a Reading runner, Rick Rudblad, on third base, Bresnahan returns from a time out with a shaved potato hidden in his mitt. On the next pitch he throws the potato wildly on a pickoff attempt. When the runner trots home, Bresnahan tags him out with the real ball. The umpire, unamused, rules the runner safe, gives the catcher an error, and fines him $50. He is released the following day. But that night, their last game of the season, the Bills admit any fan for $1 and a potato. On each potato, Bresnahan autographs, “This spud’s for you.” (1)
- 1993 – Terry Mulholland beats the Cubs‚ 4-1‚ the 149th game in a row in which the Phils have scored‚ one short of the National League record set by Pittsburgh in 1924–1925. (2)
- 1999 – Sammy Sosa hits his 56th homer‚ off Sterling Hitchcock‚ to give the Cubs a 1-0 win over San Diego. Steve Trachsel is the winner with seven shutout innings. Glenallen Hill‘s single is the only other Cub hit. (2)
- 2014 – Cole Hamels of the Phillies combines with three relievers, Jake Diekman, Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon, for a 7-0 no-hitter over the Braves. Hamels needs 108 pitches to get through the first six innings, allowing five walks and striking out seven, then each reliever pitches a perfect inning to complete the feat, with Giles striking out all three batters he faces in the 8th. (2)
- 2019 – Justin Verlander pitches the third no-hitter of his career as the Astros defeat the Blue Jays, 2-0. Verlander issues only one walk in pitching the complete game, and is only the sixth pitcher to have performed the feat three or more times. It is the second time that the Jays are his victims, making him only the third pitcher to no-hit the same team team twice. (2)
Cubs Birthdays: Joe Marty, Rico Carty, Kevin Orie,
Shota Imanaga, Jordan Wicks*.
Today in History:
- 1535 – French navigator Jacques Cartier reaches Hochelaga (Montreal).
- 1715 – King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years, the longest of any major European monarch.
- 1752 – Pennsylvania’s new State House bell (known today as the Liberty Bell) arrives in Philadelphia from Whitechapel Foundry in London, England.
- 1859 – Carrington Event: largest geomagnetic storm in recorded history. Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson make 1st observation of a solar flare.
- 1905 – Wilfrid Laurier oversees Alberta and Saskatchewan joining the Confederation of Canada as its 8th and 9th provinces, both separated from the Northwest Territories.
- 1913 – Zhang Xun’s Wuwei Corps captures Nanjing on behalf of Emperor Yuan Shikai in the Republic of China’s Second Revolution, ending Chinese independence and causing Sun Yat Sen to flee to Japan.
- 1914 – The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio.
Common sources:
- (1) — Today in Baseball History.
- (2) — Baseball Reference.
- (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
- (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
- (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
- (6) — Wikipedia.
- (7) — The British Museum.
- For world history.
*pictured.
Things are as near to the truth as we can get them. Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, so that we can correct the record, if need be, and have some record of why we did so.
