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Happy birthday to Jacob Turner*, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, 1930 – In Philadelphia, the Yankees and the Athletics continue the home run barrage as the Yankees take both games of a second straight doubleheader, 10-1 and 20-13. Babe Ruth hits a pair of home runs in the opener, as does Ben Chapman and winning pitcher George Pipgras. The Yanks score nine runs in the first two innings of the second game, but the A’s come back to tie
it at 12 apiece. The Yanks win the assault, 20 – 13, as Tony Lazzeri is 4 for 4, scores five runs, and knocks in four. Ruth hits another in the scond game, while Lou Gehrig powers three round trippers to drive in eight runs. On the A’s side, Jimmie Foxx has two homers to drive in six runs. For the afternoon, the teams combine to hit 14 round trippers, a then-record ten in the nitecap.
Also today in baseball history, in 1963 – At Yankee Stadium, New York blows a 7-0 lead and allows Kansas City to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Mickey Mantle, leading off the 11th, is fooled by Bill Fischer on a slow curve, then cannons a 2-2 pitch that almost clears the right field roof. “The hardest ball I ever hit,” Mantle later comments, a ball that, by some accounts, is still rising when it strikes a foot below the top. It is conservatively estimated by Dr. James McDonald, a physicist who studies long-ball trajectories, that the ball would have traveled 620 feet if it had not struck the façade. “That was the only homer I ever hit that the bat actually bent in my hands,”Mantle tells Dale Long, from whom he borrowed the bat.
Today in baseball history:
- 1880 – Pud Galvin makes his first appearance of the season for Buffalo, beating Cincinnati, 2-1. Galvin had difficulty leaving California, where he was forced to walk 36 miles at one point to avoid local detectives who were trying to hold him to his California League contract.
- 1912 – The Giants complete a western trip in first place, beating the Reds today, 6-1. Christy Mathewson is in total control, giving up three hits in the first three innings, and then retiring the next 18 batters.
- 1923 – Babe Ruth breaks a 1 – 1 tie between the Yanks and White Sox by clouting a two-run homer in the 15th inning. The blow breaks up a tense pitching duel between little Mike Cvengros and Herb Pennock, who goes all the way giving up just four hits.
- 1931 – Dazzy Vance is knocked cold by a line drive while leading the Phillies, 3-2, with two outs in the 9th inning. Jack Quinn gets the last out for Brooklyn.
- 1933 – Joe Sewell of the Yankees fans for the first time this season, a 3-0 win behind Lefty Gomez over Cleveland. Sewell will strike out only three more times in 524 at bats this year.
- 1934 – The Indians stop the Yankees, 5-1, with Lou Gehrig driving in the lone run for New York. For the second time in his career, Lou has driven in at least one run a game for ten straight games.
- 1936 – Collecting 17 hits, including eight doubles, the Cards overwhelm the Pirates, 11-4. Dizzy Dean breezes to his sixth win and the Cards increase their lead to 1.5 games. Pepper Martin scores in his 13th consecutive game, but will go runless tomorrow.
- 1937 – Facing Wes Ferrell in Boston, Hank Greenberg hits a long centerfield home run out of Fenway Park. It exits to the right of the flag pole and is called the longest home run ever hit at Fenway.
- 1938 – White Sox pitcher Ted Lyons records his 200th career win, beating the Senators, 9-2.
- 1941 – A smart play by the Reds’ Lonny Frey helps Cincy to a 6-4 win over the Giants. With one out and the sacks full in the 1st, Chuck Aleno hits a double play grounder to short. Frey, running from second base, allows the ball to hit him for an out, stopping play and putting Aleno on first base. Ernie Lombardi then hits a grand slam. Frank McCormick adds a two-run home run in the 3rd.
- 1946 – Josh Gibson‘s tape-measure home run helps the defending Negro National League Champion Homestead Grays prevail against the New York Black Yankees. Gibson hits one of the longest home runs ever poled at Forbes Field, 450 feet over the left-center wall, according to a very conservative estimate in the next day’s papers.
- 1946 – With the score tied 1-1 in the 10th inning at Ebbets Field, Cubs SS Lennie Merullo and Dodgers 2B Eddie Stanky start punching each other, precipitating a brawl between the two teams. Claude Passeau rips off Leo Durocher‘s jersey before calm is restored. The Dodgers win, 2-1, in 13 innings, collecting 11 hits off Johnny Schmitz, who goes the distance. Joe Hatten gives up four hits in 12 innings, with Kirby Higbe pitching the last round.
- 1954 – At Yankee Stadium, Allie Reynolds tosses a seven-hit shutout over the Red Sox to win, 7-0. Mickey Mantle is the offense, going 4 for 5 with four RBIs. Mick will knock in ten runs in the three-game series against the Red Sox.
- 1957 – The Red Sox set an American League record by smashing four home runs in the sixth inning in an 11-0 win over Cleveland. Gene Mauch, Ted Williams, Dick Gernert and Frank Malzone do the honors. All of these come on the first 16 pitches from Cal McLish. Williams had set the record with Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin and Jim Tabor in 1940.
- 1958 – Ted Williams hits his 16th career grand slam to provide the Red Sox with the margin in an 8-5 win over the A’s. Ted’s fourth-inning blast, off Jack Urban, ties him with Babe Ruth for second place on the career slam list, behind only Lou Gehrig.
- 1959 – Baltimore’s Hoyt Wilhelm one-hits the Yankees, 5-0, with Jerry Lumpe‘s single in the eighth the spoiler. Switch-hitter Mickey Mantle hits righty against Wilhelm and does no better than he has been lefty. On May 28th, Wilhelm will beat the Yankees again, 5-0.
- 1968 – At Wrigley Field, Pirates slugger Willie Stargell hits three home runs and just misses a fourth in a 13-6 rout over the Cubs. “Pops” also hits a single and a double which bounces off the railing in left field fence back onto the playing field.
- 1990 – Andre Dawson sets a major-league record when he is intentionally walked five times during a 16-inning, 2-1 Cubs win over the Reds. Cincinnati issues seven intentional passes altogether to tie a major-league record set by Houston in 1984.
- 1991 – Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley picks off Toronto pinch-runner Kenny Williams in the 9th inning of a 2-1 A’s victory. Eck’s last pick-off occurred four years ago when, on June 29, 1987, he picked off a White Sox runner, none other than Kenny Williams.
- 1997 – San Diego pitcher Joey Hamilton homers and Tony Gwynn has three hits off Hideo Nomo as the San Diego Padres top the Dodgers, 4-1. It is the Pads’ seventh straight win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gwynn goes 3 for 4 to raise his average to .387.
- 1998 – The Mets acquire catcher Mike Piazza from the Marlins in exchange for OF Preston Wilson, P Ed Yarnall and a player to be named. Piazza has barely spent a week with Florida, following a trade from the Dodgers.
- 2008 – Ken Griffey Jr. hits his 200th home run as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. He becomes the fourth player in major league history to hit 300 for one team and 200 with another. Preceding him are Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Jimmie Foxx.
Cubs Birthdays: Jacob Turner, Bob Molinaro, Moe Thacker, El Tappe, Dick Ward, Carl Spongberg. Also notable: Bobby Cox HOF. Earl Averill HOF.
Today in history:
- 1819 – The SS Savannah sets sail from Savanah Harbor in Georgia on an historic journey to become the 1st steam propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic.
- 1849 – Abraham Lincoln receives a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions.
- 1900 – American inventor Edwin S. Votey receives a patent for the pneumatic piano player.
- 1906 – Wright Brothers are granted a patent for their “flying machine,” having applied for one 3 years earlier (patent no. 821,393).
- 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, only mountain other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century.
- 1959 – Benjamin O Davis Jr becomes 1st black major general in US Air Force.
- 1977 – Final European scheduled run of the Orient Express (after 94 years).
*pictured.
