Happy birthday to Candy Maldonado*, and other former Cubs.
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.
Today in baseball history:
- 1908 – Brooklyn’s Nap Rucker pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the Boston Braves at Washington Park. Rucker struck out fourteen and walked none. The Dodgers made three errors. (1,2)
- 1918 – At Comiskey Park, Babe Ruth of the Red Sox six-hits the Cubs in the opening game of the World Series, 1-0. The Fall Classic game, which starts almost a month earlier than usual due to World War I, is played at the White Sox home field rather than Weeghman Park (to be renamed Wrigley Field in 1926) due to the larger seating capacity. During the seventh-inning stretch, a military band plays “The Star Spangled Banner” and Fred Thomas, on leave from the Navy, snaps to attention. (1,2)
- 1921 – Walter Johnson breaks Cy Young‘s career strikeout mark by fanning seven Yankees to run his total to 2,287. (1,2)
- 1931 – In Cincinnati, the Cubs lose, 4-3, in ten innings. Hack Wilson, in the Cubs doghouse for drinking and not hitting, is left in the bullpen to warm up pitchers when manager Rogers Hornsby, short of outfielders, inserts pitcher Bud Teachout in left field. On the train back to Chicago that night, Wilson starts arguing with two writers. When Pat Malone wanders by, he joins in the argument and, with his encouragement, Wilson punches out both writers. Malone will be fined $500 for his actions while club president Bill L. Veeck will suspend Wilson without pay for the rest of the season. In 112 games, Wilson hit just .261 with 13 home runs, and the Cubs will send the slumping slugger to St. Louis over the winter. (2)
- 1962 – Ken Hubbs of the Cubs sets major league records at 2B for consecutive games without an error (78) and consecutive chances accepted (418) without an error. His streak ends with a 4th-inning throwing error as Cincinnati beats Chicago, 4-1. (2)
- 1964 – Ernie Banks belts a double and homer in the same inning, and the Cubs use the big score to beat the Cards, 8-5. Mike Cuellar takes the loss against Larry Jackson. (2)
- 1969 – Billy Williams has all four of Chicago’s hits, as the Cubs lose a 9-2 decision to Steve Blass and the Pirates. There’s nothing cheap about Billy’s hits – two doubles and two homers – as he sets a National League record for most hits in a game with no other hits, tying the major-league record of Kid Elberfeld (August 1, 1903). Blass helps his own cause with his only major league homer, a three-run blast, off Ken Holtzman, and three singles. The win is Pittsburgh’s first at Wrigley Field since July 5, 1968, a string of 13 losses. They’ll win the next two to sweep the series and drop the Cubs lead to two and a half games. (2)
- 1978 – The Expos beat the Cubs, 10-8, in a nine-inning game that sees a major-league record 45 players participate. (2)
- 1998 – Sammy Sosa hits home run No. 58 in Chicago’s 8-4 win over the Pirates, as the Cubs maintain their lead in the race for the wild card spot. (2)
Cubs Birthdays: Ed Stein, Lefty Leifield, Candy Maldonado*, Cliff Bartosh, Jeff Stevens. Also notable: Nap Lajoie HOF, Bill Mazeroski HOF.
Today in History:
- 1666 – Firebreaks finally bring the Great Fire of London under control, leaving 13,200 houses destroyed and eight dead.
- 1781 – American Revolutionary War: A French fleet of 24 ships under Comte de Grasse defeats British forces under Admiral Thomas Graves and Samuel Hood at the Battle of the Chesapeake (Battle of the Virginia Capes) and traps General Lord Charles Cornwallis.
- 1889 – German Christine Hardt patents the first modern brassiere.
- 1934 – American pilot Wiley Post discovers the jet stream while flying at high altitude near Chicago, Illinois.
- 1955 – WTTW-TV channel 11 in Chicago (PBS) begins broadcasting.
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 to correct the record, if need be.
