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Happy birthday to Eric Young Sr., and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1897, Bill Joyce hits four triples to lead the New York Giants to an 11-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Exposition Park. This is the last time this feat has been accomplished in major league history. Previously, George Strief of the American Association Philadelphia Athletics hit four triples in a game on June 25, 1885. , and other stories as well.
Today in
baseball history:
- 1930 – George Pipgras tosses his third shutout of the season as the New York Yankees support his pitching by bombing the host Boston Red Sox, 11-0. Babe Ruth hits an Ed Morris pitch over the right field bleachers, for one of the longest home runs ever at Fenway Park.
- 1935 – Bucky Walters of the Philadelphia Phillies shuts out the Chicago Cubs for ten innings and bats a RBI single to win the game, 1-0.
- 1945 – Luis Olmo of the Brooklyn Dodgers hits a triple and home run, each with the bases loaded, in the Dodgers’ 15-12 victory over the Chicago Cubs. No major league player has done that since. Olmo adds a double for good measure.
- 1950 – At the Polo Grounds, Rube Walker hits a grand slam in the sixth inning for the Chicago Cubs. In the bottom of the inning, Monte Irvin also hits a grand slam for the New York Giants. It is the first time in major league history that each team hit a grand slam in the same inning. The game is called on account of rain after six innings, and the Giants win, 10-4.
- 1951 – Boston Braves catcher Walker Cooper goes 5 for 5 in a 12-3 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Max Surkont wins his fifth game, scattering ten hits and giving up home runs to Ralph Kiner and Wally Westlake in the late innings.
- 1956 – Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hits home runs from both sides of the plate for the third time in his career, setting a major league record. Mantle includes a perfect 4-for-4 day, helping New York to an 8-7 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
- 1958 – Cleveland Indians outfielder Carroll Hardy pinch-hits for Roger Maris and responds with his first major league home run, a three-run shot off Billy Pierce, to give Cleveland a 7-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. With the Boston Red Sox, Hardy will pinch-hit for Ted Williams on September 20, 1960, and will also pinch-hit for rookie Carl Yastrzemski on May 31, 1961, making him the only player to go in for both future Hall of Famers.
- 1961 – Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ryne Duren posts four strikeouts in the 7th inning against the Chicago White Sox. He strikes out Minnie Miñoso, Roy Sievers, J.C. Martin, and Sammy Esposito to tie a major league record, in the 6-4 loss to the White Sox.
- 1968 – Detroit’s Al Kaline hits his 307th HR, surpassing Hank Greenberg for the most HRs as a Tiger
- 1969 – Rod Carew of the Minnesota Twins steals second base, third, and home plate during the 3rd inning of an 8-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Carew pulls off the trifecta against the battery of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan. Carew becomes the first player in 28 years to steal three bases in sequence in the same inning. Cesar Tovar also steals two bases in the game.
- 1990 – Chicago Cubs Ryne Sandberg‘s errorless game streak at second base comes to an end after 123 games and 584 chances. Joe Morgan of the Cincinnati Reds had held the previous record of 91 games.
- 1999 – Edgar Martinez hits three home runs, tying a major league record with five homers in two games, to give the Seattle Mariners a 10-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Martinez homered twice in the opener of the series.
- 1999 – Mark Grace hits a three-run home run in the 11th inning to give the Chicago Cubs a 4-1 victory over the Florida Marlins. Alex Gonzalez has all three of Florida’s hits.
- 2001 – The Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the Chicago Cubs, 4-0, as Randy Johnson (five innings), Byung-Hyun Kim (three innings), and Bret Prinz (one inning) combine on a one-hitter.
- 2002 – After sitting through a two-hour rain delay, the Boston Red Sox defeat the Seattle Mariners, 4-1, behind the pitching of Pedro Martinez. Martinez strikes out the side in the 1st inning on nine pitches, the 17th immaculate inning since 1970. Martinez is now 10-0 with a 0.93 ERA against the Mariners.
- 2004 – At the age of 40, Randy Johnson becomes the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game, retiring all 27 hitters to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Atlanta Braves, 2-0. It is the 17th perfect game in major league history and the first since David Cone of the Yankees did it against Montreal on July 18, 1999. Johnson also joins Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Hideo Nomo and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers to throw no-hitters in both leagues, and creates the longest time span between no-no’s, having first accomplished the feat against the Detroit Tigers in June of 1990.
- 2010 – Carlos Silva improves his record to 5-0 as the Cubs beat the Rockies, 6-2. A huge disappointment for the Seattle Mariners the last two seasons, Silva has found his old form with Chicago, forcing manager Lou Piniella to make a difficult decision: who will be bumped from the starting rotation to make room for Carlos Zambrano, set to return after an unconvincing stint in the bullpen.
Cubs Birthdays: Randy Rosario, David Patton, Rich Garcés, Eric Young Sr.,* Jim Sundberg, Chris Ward. Also notable: Reggie Jackson HOF. Brooks Robinson HOF.
Today in history:
- 1830 – Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for the manufacture of his invention, a lawn mower. Saturdays are destroyed forever.
- 1863 – US General Ulysses S. Grant begins siege on Vicksburg, Mississippi; after 47 days of battle siege, Confederate Lt. General John C. Pemberton’s troops surrender.
- 1896 – US Supreme court affirms legitimacy of racial separation (Plessy v Ferguson), a doctrine that came to be known as “separate but equal”.
- 1897 – Herbert Henry Dow founds Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan.
- 1952 – Professor Willard Libby says England’s prehistoric monument of Stonehenge dates back to 1848 BC.
- 1965 – American engineer Ray Dolby founds Dolby Laboratories in London, England.
- 1980 – Eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state triggers the largest landslide in history, killing 57 people and causing over $1 billion in damage.
- 2002 – Micky Ward beats Arturo Gatti by majority decision in a junior welterweight boxing bout in Uncasville, Connecticut; ‘The Ring’ Fight of the Year; first fight in their legendary trilogy.
- 2024 – 706 people called Kyle gather in Kyle, Texas, attempting to break the record for a gathering of people with the same name (record is 2,325 Ivans 2017).
Special Music-related stories on this date:
- 1959 “Castin’ My Spell” by The Johnny Otis Show hits #52.
- 1959 “Judy” by David Seville hits #86.
- 1959 “Russian Band Stand” by Spencer & Spencer hits #91.
- 1963 “If You Wanna Be Happy” by Jimmy Soul hits #1.
- 1964 David Frost interviews Paul McCartney on BBC-TV.
- 1970 Beatles’ last released LP, “Let It Be”, released in US.
- 1972 American pop rock band Looking Glass release their single “Brandy”.
- 1974 Novelty song “The Streak” by Ray Stevens hits #1.
- 1985 Murray Head’s “One Night In Bangkok” single (written by Tim Rice, and Abba‘s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus) hits #3 in US.
- 1999 “Millennium” 3rd studio album by the Backstreet Boys is released – one of the best-selling albums of all time with over 30 million copies sold.
- 2018 K-pop boy band BTS release their album “Love Yourself: Tear”, sells 135,000 first week (This is for you K-pop boy bands).
- 2025 English rock band “The Who” announce the resignation of Zak Starkey, their drummer since 1996; Starkey claims that he did not quit, but was fired – later revising that he instead “had been retired”.
*pictured.
