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Happy birthday to the Rajah and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history 1997, Ryne Sandberg breaks the major league record for most home runs by a second baseman, and other stories as well.
- 1902 – At Sportsman’s Park, Addie Joss of the Cleveland Bronchos pitches a one-hit shutout in his major league debut, beating the hometown St. Louis Browns, 3-0.
- 1931 – At Griffith Stadium, a walk to Lyn Lary is followed by a Lou Gehrig home run, a smash which clears the fence, but bounces back into the hands of Senators center fielder Harry Rice. The baserunner Lary thinks the ball has been caught on the fly for the third out and returns to the dugout without crossing home plate; Gehrig, running with his head down, is ruled out for passing a runner in front of him, costing the Yankees a possible victory (they lose by two runs), the 1931 home run crown (he ties Babe Ruth with 46) and two RBI to add to his record-setting 184 for the season.
- 1941 – Wrigley Field becomes the first ballpark to install an organ to entertain fans, with Roy Nelson manning the keyboard. But Nelson’s successful pregame serenade doesn’t help the Chicago Cubs as they fall to pitcher Max Lanier and the rival St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2.
- 1957 – Don Bessent‘s quick pitch vs. Roberto Clemente‘s quick wrists? No contest. The Bucs’ 7 – 1 trouncing of Brooklyn knocks the “Bums” out of first place and pulls Pittsburgh out of the cellar while Clemente’s 7th-inning double, which drives the final nail in the coffin, results from Bessent’s ill-advised attempt to quick-pitch the whippet-wristed Roberto, as he will later recall.
- 1961 – At Tiger Stadium, Roger Maris hits his first home run of the season off Paul Foytack, and Mickey Mantle adds home runs from both sides of the plate for the eighth time in his career as New York defeat Detroit, 13-10.
- 1980 – Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies sets a modern day National League record by pitching his sixth career one-hitter. Carlton shuts out his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-0.
- 1982 – Boston Red Sox rookie Wade Boggs collects his first major league hit when he singles against Rich Dotson of the Chicago White Sox. Boston wins, 3-2.
- 1990 – Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan ties Bob Feller‘s major league record by hurling his 12th career one-hitter. Ryan strikes out 16 batters in shutting down the Chicago White Sox, 1-0.
- 1992 MLB St. Louis Cardinals Ozzie Smith steals his 500th base.
- 1997 – Ryne Sandberg breaks the major league record for most home runs by a second baseman. His 267th career home run surpasses the old mark set by Joe Morgan from 1965 to 1984. The first five home runs came as Sandberg was a third baseman.
- 2006 – Mike Piazza hits his 400th career home run in San Diego’s 3-2 loss to Arizona at PETCO Park.
- 2009 – In St. Louis, birthday boy Kosuke Fukudome of the Cubs homers and drives in five runs in Chicago’s 10-3 win over St. Louis.
- 2009 – The Rangers lose, 8-5, to the Orioles. When Omar Vizquel comes in as a defensive substitute for Texas, he becomes the third player in major league history to play shortstop at age 42, following Luke Appling (1949) and Honus Wagner (1916).
- 2016 – The Chicago Cubs who improve to 15-5 with a 4-3 win over the Brewers. For the Cubs, it’s their best start since 1907, when they had begun the season by going 16-4 on their way to a World Series win.
- 2016 – Andrew McCutchen has the second three-homer game of his career to lead the Pirates to a 9-4 win over the Rockies. He’s only the fourth player in Bucs history with a pair of three-homer games; the others are Hall of Famers Ralph Kiner, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.
- 2019 – All eyes are turned on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who makes his major league debut with the Blue Jays against the Athletics. With his illustrious father, Vladimir Guerrero, watching from the stands, he starts the winning rally in the 9th by leading off the inning with a double off Yusmeiro Petit for his first major league hit.
Cubs Birthdays: Michael Rucker, Joey Gathright, Rogers Hornsby* HOF. Other notables, Enos Slaughter HOF.
Today in history:
- 1392 – Korean Confucian scholar and statesman Jeong Mong-ju is assassinated on the Sonjuk Bridge in Gaeseong (now North Korea). A brown spot on the bridge is still said to be his blood.
- 1859 – US Congressman Daniel E. Sickles is acquitted in the murder of Philip Barton Key on grounds of “temporary insanity,” the first time this defense is used successfully in the US.
- 1865 – Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders remaining forces to Union General William T. Sherman at Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina, ending the American Civil War.
- 1905 – Cubs Jack McCarthy becomes only major league player to throw out 3 runners at plate in 1 game, all were ends of a double play.
- 1954 – “Seven Samurai”, Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, is released
- 1954 – Mass trials of Jonas Salk‘s anti-polio vaccine begin; the first shot is delivered in Fairfax County, Virginia; more than 443,000 children receive shots over three months.
- 1986 – The world’s worst nuclear disaster occurs when the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union explodes, resulting in 31 deaths and radioactive contamination spreading to much of Western Europe.
- 2021 – US Census results shows its population growth second slowest in recorded history, population at 331,449,281 with only 7.4% increase on 2010.
*pictured.
