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Happy birthday to David Weathers, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1974 – In a revolutionary surgical operation, Dr. Frank Jobe repairs Tommy John‘s damaged ulnar collateral ligament by replacing the elbow tendon of the pitching arm with a tendon from the right wrist. The procedure, now known as Tommy John surgery, will give the southpaw, who was unlikely to ever be able to pitch again, an opportunity to post an additional 164 victories,
and other stories as well.
Today in baseball history:
- 1920 – Behind Shoeless Joe Jackson’s homer and two doubles and the pitching of Claude Williams, the White Sox beat host Cleveland, 5-1, to shave the Indians’ lead down to a half game. Jackson is hitting .387.
- 1926 – The Yankees take two from the Browns to nail down the American League flag, winning the opener, 10-2, behind Herb Pennock. Babe Ruth‘s grand slam is the big blow. In the nightcap, Lou Gehrig homers in the third inning, off Milt Gaston, while Ruth matches him with a two-run home run in the sixth off Win Ballou. Ruth adds a solo shot in the 9th, his 46th, off Joe Giard to seal Waite Hoyt‘s 10-4 victory. Despite the score, the game is played in a new AL record 55 minutes.
- 1932 – Jimmie Foxx hits his 58th home run in the last game of the season to finish two short of Babe Ruth‘s 1927 record of 60. Foxx adds two singles but the A’s lose, 2-1, to the Senators’ Alvin Crowder.
- 1932 – Paul Waner sets a new National League record with his 62nd double, as the Pirates defeat the Cardinals 7-1.
- 1936 – Joe Medwick sets a still-standing National League record with his 64th double.
- 1955 – Detroit OF Al Kaline becomes the youngest batting champ in history, as he takes the American League crown at age 20.
- 1965 – Sandy Koufax blanks the Cardinals, 2-0. He fans 12 along the way, raising his record season total to 356.
- 1965 – At age 34, Willie Mays becomes the oldest player to slug 50 home runs in a season. The Giants center fielder was also the youngest to accomplish the feat, hitting 51 homers in 1955.
- 1984 – At Shea Stadium, the Mets’ Rusty Staub homers to become the second player to homer as a teenager and also at the age of 40. Ty Cobb is the only other, and Gary Sheffield will match the feat in 2009.
- 1986 – Houston’s Mike Scott pitches a 2-0 no-hitter against the Giants at the Astrodome, clinching the National League West title for the Astros. It is the first time a pennant has ever been decided by a no-hitter, and the third consecutive game in which Astros pitchers have allowed two hits or less.
- 1989 – Boston’s Wade Boggs goes 4 for 5 in a 7-4 win over the Yankees to become the first player in major league history to achieve both 200 hits and 100 walks in four consecutive seasons. It is Boggs’s seventh straight 200-hit season overall, extending his own modern major league record.
- 1998 – Ken Griffey, Jr. hits his league-leading 56th homer of the season and 350th of his career becoming the youngest player ever to reach the 350 mark.
Today in Cubs history:
- 1935 – In a showdown series in St. Louis, the Cubs edge the second-place Cardinals, 1-0. Paul Dean strikes out the first four Cub batters before young Phil Cavarretta drives a home run on top of the roof in right field for the only score of the game. Lon Warneke gives up just two hits and walks none in winning his 20th game. It is the Cubs’ 19th straight win, and they are now assured of at least a tie for the pennant.
- 1966 – In a matchup of Jewish pitchers, the Cubs’ Ken Holtzman outduels Sandy Koufax to win, 2-1. The Dodgers go hitless over the first eight innings. Holtzman, who spent much of the season in military service, will finish the year at 9-0, the first pitcher since Howie Krist (10-0) in 1940 to win that many without a loss.
- 1985 – With the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Davey Lopes walks, steals second and third base, and scores on a pinch single by Chris Speier as the Cubs beat the Mets, 5-4. Gary Carter‘s grand slam accounts for all the Mets’ scoring. Lopes has three steals in the game to give him 47 (in just 275 at bats) and he sets the record for most stolen bases by a player over 40. The record was set by Honus Wagner in 1914 with 23. Lopes is officially recorded at 39 but when he signed at age 22 he was afraid he was too old so he set his age back a year.
- 1989 – At Montreal, the Cubs blow a chance to clinch a tie in the National League East, losing, 4-3 in 10 innings, but back into the tie anyway when St. Louis loses later on. Andre Dawson homers twice off Bryn Smith, his second a bizarre inside-the-park blow that gives the Cubs a 3-2 lead. Dawson flies deep to CF Dave Martinez, who catches the ball but suffers a painful muscle pull doing so and drops to the ground. Dawson keeps running as Martinez’s teammates surround him. The ball is finally thrown in after Dawson touches home plate. Although at no time did the ball touch the ground or the fence, the umpires award Dawson a homer over howls of protest. Martinez misses the remainder of the series.
- 1995 – Cubs P Frank Castillo one-hits the Cardinals, winning by a score of 7-0. Castillo strikes out 13, walks two, and allows only a triple to OF Bernard Gilkey.
- 2003 – Sammy Sosa becomes the first National Leaguer to have at least 100 RBI nine seasons in a row. The Cubs right fielder surpasses Mel Ott and Willie Mays who had accomplished the feat eight straight seasons, and joins Rafael Palmeiro and Jimmie Foxx as the only players in major league history to hit 35 home runs and 100 RBI for nine consecutive seasons.
Cubs Birthdays: Matt Swarmer, Kyle Ryan, Tony Womack, David Weathers*, Ed Putman, Pat Malone, Dave Robertson, Dick Harley. Also notable: Phil Rizzuto HOF.
Today in history:
- 1780 – American army officer Benedict Arnold defects to the British.
- 1789 – The First U.S. Congress proposes the Bill of Rights, a set of amendments to the constitution guaranteeing essential liberties, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to peaceful assembly.
- 1875 – Billy the Kid escapes jail in Silver City, New Mexico, by climbing out of a chimney and becomes a fugitive.
- 1962 – Challenger Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson at 2:06 of round 1 at Comiskey Park, Chicago, to win the world heavyweight boxing title.
- 1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the first female US Supreme Court Justice.
- 1988 American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner wins the women’s 100m in an Olympic record of 10.54 seconds, beating teammate Evelyn Ashford by 0.29 seconds; first leg of the sprint double at the Seoul Games.
- 1988 – Americans sweep the medals in the long jump at the Seoul Olympics as Carl Lewis wins his second gold of the Games with a leap of 8.72 m, ahead of teammates Mike Powell and Larry Myricks.
- 2000 – American basketball player Vince Carter steals the ball and jumps over 7 foot 2 inch Frédéric Weis at the 2000 Summer Olympics, known in France as “le dunk de la mort” (the dunk of death).
Today in music history:
- 1976 – Bono, David Evans, his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton respond to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band, which becomes U2.
- 1981 – The Rolling Stones begin their sixth US tour at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
- 1995 – Virgin Records releases David Bowie‘s 20th studio album “Outside”.
- 2007 – Hear Music/Universal Records release “Shine,” Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell‘s 19th studio album.
- 2017 – American rockers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers end their 40th Anniversary Tour with a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California, in what becomes Tom Petty’s final performance; the last song played is their early hit “American Girl.”
*pictured.
