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Happy birthday to Munenori Kawasaki, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1995 – Pedro Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitches nine perfect innings against San Diego before giving up a leadoff double to Bip Roberts in the 10th inning of the Expos’ 1-0 win. Martinez becomes the second pitcher in history, after Harvey Haddix
, to have a perfect game broken up in extra innings, and other stories as well.Today in baseball history:
- 1911 – Chicago Cubs slugger Frank Schulte hits a grand slam off Rube Marquard to beat the New York Giants, 8-4. Schulte will slam four this season, a record tied by Babe Ruth in 1919 and topped by Ernie Banks‘ five in 1955.
- 1925 – MLB Chicago White Sox baseball player-manager Eddie Collins becomes the sixth to collect 3,000 hits.
- 1932 – Lou Gehrig hits four consecutive home runs and narrowly misses a fifth, and Tony Lazzeri hits for the cycle as the Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 20-13.
- 1937 – Josh Gibson hits a home run just two feet below the rim of Yankee Stadium (estimated 580-foot drive).
- 1969 – Hit No. 2,417 for Roberto Clemente? A game-tying three-run homer which pushes him past two Hall of Famers on Pittsburgh’s hit list – Max Carey and Pie Traynor.
- 1971 – Ken Holtzman of the Chicago Cubs pitches his second career no-hitter, defeating the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0.
- 2008 – Randy Johnson moves into second place on the all-time major league strikeout leaderboard. He strikes out eight in 6.1 innings, most importantly getting Mike Cameron in the 1st to pass Roger Clemens for second place with 4,673. The 44-year-old “Big Unit” trails only Nolan Ryan but will not catch him.
- 2012 – Carlos Zambrano hits his 24th career homer as the Marlins beat the Phillies, 5-1. That ties him with Bob Gibson for second-most dingers by a pitcher in the post-1962 era, still nine behind leader Earl Wilson.
Cubs Birthdays:
Munenori Kawasaki*, Steve Smyth, José Molina, Robert Machado, John Dobbs.
Today in history:
- 1539 – Spanish conquistador Hernando De Soto claims Florida for Spain.
- 1871 – Jesse James & his gang robs Obocock Bank (Corydon Iowa), of $15,000.
- 1943 – A mob of 60 from the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory beats up everyone perceived to be Hispanic, starting the week-long Zoot Suit Riots.
- 1946 – First bikini bathing suit is displayed in Paris.
- 1961 – American President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev meet in Vienna.
- 1989 – Beginning of the Tiananmen Square Massacre as Chinese troops open fire on pro-democracy supporters in Beijing.
- 1991 – Thomas Hearns captures WBA light heavyweight title.
- 1993 – 66th National Spelling Bee: Geoff Hooper wins spelling kamikaze.
- 2017 – The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum opens in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Today in Music History:
- 1967 – Aretha Franklin‘s cover of the Otis Redding song “Respect” reaches No. 1.
- 1970 – Ray Davies of The Kinks travels round trip NY-London to change one word in “Lola,” (Coca-Cola to Cherry Cola) because of a BBC commercial reference ban.
- 1972 – “Hot Rod Lincoln” by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen hits No. 9.
- 1976 – Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” goes Gold.
- 1992 – “MTV Unplugged” broadcasts singer-songwriter Paul Simon and 11 of his band members performing in Queens, NYC.
- 2013 – New Zealand teenage singer-songwriter Lorde releases her debut single “Royals”.
- 2019 – Jay-Z named the world’s first billionaire rapper by Forbes magazine.
- 2023 – Ed Sheeran concert with 77,900 concertgoers breaks attendance record at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
*pictured.
