Happy birthday to Casey Wise, 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. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.
“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.
Today in baseball history:
- 1905 – Pittsburgh tallies 15 hits and eight walks against the Reds, but the Pirates leave a still-standing National League record 18 men on base. The Reds win, 8-3. (1,2)
- 1908 – The Pirates set a major league fielding record against the Cardinals by making only two assists, both by 2B Charlie Starr. The Bucs win, 2-0, with Honus Wagner driving in both runs. (1,2)
- 1908 – Christy Mathewson‘s 30th win is a gem — an 11-inning 1-0 win over the Superbas’ Nap Rucker. A single by Al Bridwell drives home Cy Seymour with the winning tally. New York stays a half-game ahead of Pittsburgh. (2)
- 1939 – Twenty-year-old Bob Feller becomes the youngest 20th-century pitcher to win 20 games, as Cleveland beats St. Louis 12-1. (1,2)
- 1947 – Starting P Ox Miller of the Cubs hits a game-winning grand slam in a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, but does not go the required five innings to gain the win. (2)
- 1963 – Braves pitcher Warren Spahn ties Christy Mathewson with his thirteenth 20-win season by notching a 3-2 victory in Philadelphia. At forty-two, Spahn becomes the oldest twenty-game winner. (1,2)
- 1965 – Against the Angels, A’s Bert Campaneris becomes the first major leaguer to play all nine positions in a single game. (2)
- 1969 – At Shea Stadium, the Mets top the Cubs, 3-2, on Tommie Agee‘s two-run home run. Jerry Koosman beats Bill Hands and strikes out 13 Cubs batters. Chicago has now lost five in a row and leads the Mets by one and a half games. (2)
- 1972 – Fergie Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3, for his 20th victory of the season. It was the sixth straight year that Jenkins won at least twenty games. This ties the Cubs club record set by Three Finger Brown, from 1906 to 1911. Billy Williams‘ two-run home run in the sixth ties it at 3-3, and a pair of doubles in the eighth wins it. (1,2)
- 1977 – Cubs relief pitcher Bruce Sutter strikes out the first six batters he faces including three men in the 9th on nine pitches. (2)
- 1980 – Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspends Ferguson Jenkins as a result of the pitcher’s drug arrest on August 25th. On September 22nd, the suspension will be overturned by arbitrator Raymond Goetz, the first time ever a commissioner’s decision is overruled by an arbitrator. (1,2)
- 1985 – At Wrigley Field, off Cubs hurler Reggie Patterson, Pete Rose gets two hits, including a historic single to tie Ty Cobb‘s career record of 4,191 hits. The game is suspended due to darkness, which will enable the Reds’ player-manager to break the record at home. (1,2)
- 1987 – With the Cubs in fifth place in the National League East (68-68, 13 games behind), the club fires manager Gene Michael and replaces him with Frank Lucchesi. (2)
- 1988 – National League president Bart Giamatti is unanimously elected baseball’s seventh commissioner, and will succeed Peter Ueberroth next season.
- 1993 – Houston’s Darryl Kile no-hits the Mets, winning by a score of 7-1. He fans nine and walks one. Mets 3B Butch Huskey becomes the third player in history to make his major league debut on the losing end of a no-hitter. Byron Browne and Don Young of the Cubs did so in Sandy Koufax‘s perfect game in 1965. (2)
- 1998 – Mark McGwire breaks Roger Maris‘ single-season home run mark by clouting his 62nd of the year off Steve Trachsel in the fourth inning of the Cardinals’ 6-3 win over the Cubs in St. Louis. (1,2)
- 2000 – The Astros defeat the Cubs, 13-10, as Houston 2B Julio Lugo has the first five-hit game of his career. (2)
Cubs Birthdays: Al Demaree, Johnny Schulte, Casey Wise. Also notable:
Buck Leonard HOF.
Today in History:
- 1276 – John XXI [Peter Juliani] is elected Pope, the only Portuguese Pope.
- 1504 – Michelangelo’s statue of David is unveiled in Florence.
- 1565 – First permanent European settlement in the US is founded in St. Augustine, Florida.
- 1855 – British and French troops capture Sevastopol from the Russians, effectively ending the Crimean War.
- 1974 – US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon of all federal crimes.
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 help update the records and have documentation of why.
