What is the story about?
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:
- 1866 – The first game of the East Coast championship between the Brooklyn Atlantics and Philadelphia Athletics in Philadelphia, PA is a victim of its own success. Newspapers estimate that the crowd gathered around the baseball grounds numbers close to 40,000. The host ball club is ill-prepared to handle the huge crowd, which soon invades the playing field and forces the cancellation of the game. However, the fiasco does prove that there is a large potential market for top-level professional baseball. (2)
- 1903 – The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Boston Americans, 7-3, in the first World Series game ever played, which takes place in front of more than 16,000 spectators at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, MA. Jimmy Sebring hits the first home run in the Series, as Deacon Phillippe is the winning pitcher and Cy Young the loser. (1,2)
- 1921 – Ray Schalk of the Chicago White Sox is the first catcher to make a putout at every single base. The feat has not been accomplished again since. (2)
- 1932 – Babe Ruth, as legend has it, calls his home run against Chicago Cubs pitcher Charlie Root in the 5th inning of Game 3 of the World Series, won by the New York Yankees, 7-5, at Wrigley Field. Ruth and Lou Gehrig each hit two homers for the Yankees. (1,2)
- 1946 – For the first time in major league history, a playoff series to determine a league’s championship is played, featuring the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers. St. Louis takes the first game, 4-2, as Howie Pollet holds the Dodgers to two hits, a home run and an RBI single by Howie Schultz. (2)
- 1961 – Roger Maris hits his 61st home run of the season against Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The homer eclipses Babe Ruth‘s 34-year-old single-season home run record. The Yankees win the game, 1-0. (1,2)
- 1973 – In the first game of a scheduled make-up doubleheader at Wrigley Field, a day after the regular season ended, the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-1, to capture the National League East flag. The Mets, who were 11.5 games behind and in last place on August 5th, by winning their 82nd game (the lowest number of victories ever to win a title), clinch the division, making the second game of the twin bill unnecessary. (2)
- 2008 – The Dodgers defeat the Cubs to take a 1-0 lead in the NLDS at Wrigley Field. James Loney hits a grand slam off a wild Ryan Dempster, who walks seven batters in 4.2 innings. Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin add solo homers to ice the 7-2 victory. (2)
- 2014 – Major League Baseball announces that it will test some new rules to speed up the flow of the game during this coming Arizona Fall League season. Hitters will no longer be allowed to step out of the batter’s box during an at-bat; pitchers will need to begin their pitching motion within 20 seconds of receiving the ball; a batter will take his base automatically when an intentional walk is called for, without the need for the pitcher to throw four pitches outside the strike zone; teams will be limited to three mound conferences, now called time-outs, per game; and there will be a set maximum time before the first pitch is delivered following a change of innings or a pitching change. Most of these changes will be be introduced at all levels of organized baseball, including the major leagues, in future years. (2)
Cubs Birthdays: Bill Bonham*, Vance Law, Chuck McElroy, Mitch Atkins. Also notable: Rod Carew HOF, Mark McGwire.
Today in History:
- 331 BC -Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
- 1273 – Count Rudolf van Habsburg becomes the first King of the Germans.
- 1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna redraws Europe’s political map after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte.
- 1864 – Cyclone strikes Calcutta, killing 70,000.
- 1879 – Cincinnati Enquirer publishes the first report on baseball’s reserve clause; rights to players are retained by the team upon the contract’s expiration; replaced by free agency.
- 1892 – University of Chicago opens.
- 1922 – Former Chicago Staleys play their first NFL game as the Chicago Bears and beat the Racine Legion 6-0 at Horlick Field in Racine, Wisconsin.
- 1949 – People’s Republic of China proclaimed by Mao Zedong (National Day).
- 1957 – First appearance of “In God We Trust” on US paper currency.
- 2024 – Claudia Sheinbaum is sworn in as Mexico’s first female president in over 200 years.
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.
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