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Today in Baseball History
May 18th

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25 Fact(s) Found
1875 In a match-up of undefeated teams, the visiting Boston Red Stockings (16-0) beat the Dark Blues (12-0) at the Hartford Ball Club Grounds, 10-5. The record crowd of 10,000 fans attends the National Association contest, including Mark Twain, who will later offer a five dollar reward for the return of his English-made brown silk umbrella pilfered at the game by a small boy when the famous writer stood up to cheer for the hometown team.
1912 As a replacement player, Allan Travers, a St. Joseph's College pitcher, takes the mound for the Tigers, who are fielding an amateur team to avoid a $5,000 fine due to the team's refusal to play the A's in support of a suspended teammate Ty Cobb. In what will be his only major league appearance, the collegiate hurler goes the distance giving up 24 runs, 14 earned runs, 26 hits, seven walks, but does strike out one as Philadelphia routs Detroit at Shibe Park, 24-2.
1929 In the first game of a twin bill, the Dodgers rout the Phillies, 16-0. Johnny Frederick scores five times giving the Brooklyn center fielder a major league record of tallying eight runs in two games.
1929 At the Baker Bowl, the Phillies split a doubleheader with Brooklyn, 16-20 and 8-6. The 50 runs scored is a major league record for tallies scored in a twin bill.
1931 Dodgers' outfielder Babe Herman hits for the cycle for the first of two times this season. In 1933, as a member of the Cubs, he will again hit for the cycle, making him and Bob Meusel the only major leaguers to have accomplished the feat three times since 1900.
1942 Night games in New York are banned for the duration of WW II, leaving fans in the dark about the status of the All-Star game scheduled to be played at the Polo Grounds on the evening of Monday, July 6. The prohibition of nighttime tilts, announced by NYC Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine, will change the starting times for 28 contests involving the Dodgers and Giants. (The first night game at Yankee Stadium will be played in 1946)
1958 On his 25th birthday, Carroll Hardy, pinch-hitting for Roger Maris, blasts a three-run home run giving the Indians a 7-4 walk-off victory. The 11th inning round-tripper off Chicago's Billy Pierce is the Cleveland rookie's first major league homer.
1969 César Tovar and Rod Carew combine to set a major league record for most steals by teammates in one inning swiping five bases against the Tigers' battery of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan. During the third inning, Tovar, the Twins' leadoff hitter, steals third base and home followed by Carew, who pilfers second and third base and home plate in the 8-2 loss at Metropolitan Stadium.
1976 In a 5-3 victory at Tiger Stadium, Carl Yastrzemski plays in his 2,293rd game wearing a Red Sox uniform, surpassing Ted Williams's team record. The Boston legend will extend the franchise mark to 3,308 contests before he retires in 1983.
1988 In the year of the 'Year of the Balk', Dave Stewart breaks a major league record committing his twelfth balk of the season. The A's right-hander will extend the single-season record to 16 thanks to the strict interpretation of umpires on a minor rule change.
1990 Cubs' second baseman Ryan Sandberg's errorless game streak comes to an end after 123 games and 584 chances. Joe Morgan had held the previous record of 91 games.
1992 WQAM becomes the voice of the Marlins signing a four-year deal as the flagship radio station of the team. Listeners in Miami and southern Florida will be able to pick up the play-by-play action of the new National League expansion team at 560 am on their radio dial.
1998 Due to drastic payroll cuts reducing the World Champions' effectiveness, two class-action lawsuits are filed against the Marlins - one for breach of contract and the other accusing the team of false advertising.
1998 With a 6-3 victory over the Orioles, the Devil Rays become only the second expansion team in major league history to sweep an away four-game series. The 1993 Colorado Rockies, who did it against the Dodgers, is the other team to accomplish this feat.
1999 Diamondbacks' outfielder Luis Gonzalez homers in his first at bat extending his hitting streak to 30 games, tying three other players for the longest streak in the decade.
1999 After missing the team's first 36 games, Joe Torre returns to the Yankee dugout, two months after undergoing successful surgery for prostate cancer. Prior to the 6-3 loss to the Red Sox, the 58-year old skipper receives a two-minute standing ovation from the Fenway Park crowd when the scoreboard welcomes him back.
2000 In a 6-2 loss to the Padres, the Marlins steal 10 bases which is one shy of the National League record. Luis Castillo (3), Cliff Floyd (3), Preston Wilson (2), and Mark Kotsay (2), the top four batters in the Fish lineup, are responsible for the grand theft.
2000 Mark McGwire passes Mickey Mantle into eighth place on the all-time home run career list with 539. 'Big Mac' goes deep three times as the Cardinals beat the Phillies, 7-2.
2002 At Fenway Park, Pedro Martinez becomes the 11th pitcher in American League history to record an immaculate inning when he strikes out the side on nine pitches in the first frame. The Red Sox right-hander fans Ichiro Suzuki, Mark McLemore, and Ruben Sierra to begin Boston's eventual 4-1 victory over Seattle.
2004 At the age of 40, southpaw Randy Johnson becomes the oldest pitcher to ever throw a perfect game when the Diamondbacks beat the Braves, 2-0. The ‘Big Unit’ joins Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Hideo Nomo and Nolan Ryan as the only hurlers to throw no-hitters in both leagues and creates the longest time span between no-no’s having first accomplished the feat against the Tigers in June of 1990.
2008 It takes a pitchout and a perfect throw by Brewers catcher Jason Kendall, but Jacoby Ellsbury is finally caught stealing after swiping 25 consecutive stolen bases to start his big league career. The Red Sox outfielder is second all time to Tim Raines who recorded 27 straight thefts with the Expos before being caught in 1981.
2008 With his seventh stolen base in the last two games, Marlins' second baseman Luis Castillo is one theft shy of tying a National League mark. The record of 8 pilfered bags in consecutive games was set by Walt Wilmont of the Chicago Colts (Cubs) in 1894.
2009 Jason Kendall collects his 2000th career hit when he singles in the Brewers' 8-4 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The 34-year old backstop becomes the 254th player, but only the eighth to be primarily a catcher to reach that milestone.
2012 Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander just misses pitching his third career no-hitter when he allows a single to Josh Harrison with one out in the top of the ninth inning. The reigning MVP and Cy Young winner completes the one-hitter beating Pittsburgh, 6-0, in front of a very enthusiastic Friday night crowd at Detroit's Comerica Park.
2012 Kerry Wood ends his major league career on his own terms when he strikes out the one batter he faces before walking off the mound into an embrace from his 6-year-old son in front of the Wrigley Field dugout. The 35 year-old much-injured Cubs' right-hander, an All-star as both a starter and closer, believes today's final strike-out to be the most significant and the most memorable moment of his 14-year career.
25 Fact(s) Found