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This Day in Baseball History
June 2nd

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35 Fact(s) Found
1883 Using 17 huge arc lights that provide 4,000 candle power each at Fort Wayne's League Park, the Quincys become the first professional team to play under the lights. The Northwestern League's club from Illinois beat the local Methodist College team, 19-11, in seven innings in front of 2,000 spectators who paid 25 cents to attend the game.
1891 Reds' right-hander Charley Radbourn earns his 300th victory, beating the Beaneaters at Boston's South End Grounds, 10-8. 'Old Hoss,' who will finish 484 of the 497 games he starts, will end his 11-year career this season with 309 victories.
1921 Reds' outfielder Pat Duncan hits the first over-the-fence home run at Cincinnati's Redland Field, a two-run drive that clears the 12-foot left-field wall over the Devere Electric Company sign. Eventually becoming a cozier Crosley Field, the once spacious ballpark debuted nine seasons ago in 1912.
1928 Les Bell collects 15 total bases, blasting three home runs and a triple at Braves Field. The Boston's third baseman's offensive output isn't enough when Boston bows to the Reds, 20-12.
1935 Braves outfielder Babe Ruth announces his retirement from baseball. The 40-year-old former Yankees slugger wanted to retire three weeks sooner but stayed when team owner Emil Fuchs persuaded him to continue to play because Boston hadn't played in every National League park.
1941 Upon their arrival in Detroit, the Yankees learned the sad news that their captain, Lou Gehrig, seventeen days before his 38th birthday, had died in his sleep due to ALS in his Riverdale home. On this day exactly 16 years ago, the 'Iron Horse' broke into the starting lineup of the Bronx Bombers.

NYT Lou Gehrig's New York Times Obituary

1949 In the 12-3 rout of the Reds at Shibe Park, the Phillies hit five home runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Andy Seminick [2], Del Ennis, Willie Jones, and Schoolboy Rowe go deep for Philadelphia.
1950 George Kell hits for the cycle when he doubles in the eighth inning of the Tigers' 16-5 rout of the A's. The Detroit third baseman had collected a home run, triple, and a single, respectively, in the first three frames in the Shibe Park contest.
1951 Due to the poor lighting during an Alabama-Florida League contest at Peanut Stadium in Headland (AL), Ottis Johnson of the Dothan Browns fails to avoid a fastball thrown by Jack Clifton. The 24-year-old Class D minor league outfielder undergoes surgery and spends eight days in the hospital before dying on June 10 due to being hit by the Dixie Runners hurler's pitch.
1951 During a contest against the Durham Bulls, Mike Romello hits umpire Emil Davidzuk after being called out for leaving third base early. A judge at the game arrests the visiting Danville's shortstop on the spot, and the infielder will later be fined $25 for his assault on the arbitrator.
1955 In his last game with the club, Red Sox's first baseman Harry Agganis goes 2-for-4 in a 4-2 loss to the White Sox at Comiskey Park. The Golden Greek, hospitalized after the game with pneumonia, will die of a pulmonary embolism on June 27, having fallen ill again in Kansas City two weeks after rejoining the team.
1957 Moe Drabowsky sets a National League record for the most hit batters in a single game when he plunks four Reds in the Cubs' 4-3 loss at Crosley Field. Cincinnati's right fielder Frank Robinson is drilled in consecutive innings by the right-hander, born in Ozanna, Poland.
1958 In the sixth inning, with Orioles on first and second, in an eventual 2-1 loss, Brooks Robinson lines into a triple play when Senator shortstop Rocky Bridges snares his hard-hit drive, steps on second, and then relays the ball to first baseman Julio Becquer. The triple killing is the first of four the future Hall of Fame third baseman will hit into, establishing a major league record.
1959 The White Sox ground crew rids the playing field of gnats using a smoke bomb attached to a postgame fireworks display. The Comiskey Park contest, delayed for half an hour because of the insects, will end with a 3-2 Oriole victory when the smoke clears.
1962 The Colt .45s capture their first doubleheader sweep in franchise history when they beat the Pirates twice at Forbes Field, 10-6 and 10-3. Outfielder Carl Warwick, recently acquired from St. Louis for Opening Day starter Bobby Shantz, contributes six hits in the twin bill victories.
1987 The Seattle Mariners select Ken Griffey, Jr using their number one pick overall in the draft. The signing of 'Junior,' the son of major leaguer Ken Griffey, will play a significant role in Seattle's success in the mid-1990s.

1989 The Orioles, known as the Browns when the club played in St. Louis, become the fifth franchise in baseball history to record their 3,000th victory. The other clubs which have reached the milestone include the Cubs, Giants, Pirates, and Yankees.
1990 Randy Johnson, blanking the Tigers, 2-0, becomes the first Mariner in franchise history to pitch a no-hitter. The southpaw strikes out eight while walking six in the first hitless game thrown in the 14-year existence of the Kingdome.

1994 Tom and Ben Grieve, both outfielders, become the first father-son combination to be chosen in the first round of the amateur draft when the A's select Ben as the team's first-round pick (2nd overall). Tom, presently the general manager of the Rangers, was chosen sixth overall by the Senators in 1966.
1995 After five no-decisions, Hideo Nomo picks up his first major league victory, giving up one run on two hits in 8+ innings when the Dodgers beat the Mets at Chavez Ravine, 2-1. Los Angeles signed the 26-year-old former Japanese All-Star to a minor league contract with a signing bonus of over $2 million in the off-season.

1995 The Expos pick Serra High School (San Mateo, CA) stand out Tom Brady in the 18th round, the 507th player selected in baseball's amateur draft. The tall, athletic 17-year-old catcher with a powerful left-handed swing and a rocket arm elects to play football at the University of Michigan before making his ten record-setting Super Bowl appearances as the quarterback for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
1995 Todd Helton, who will spend his 17-year career with the Rockies, is selected in the first round, eighth overall, by Colorado in the amateur draft. The University of Tennessee’s first baseman was the Vols' backup quarterback, playing behind Peyton Manning, the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLI in 2007.
1996 In St. Louis, Darryl Kile ties a major league record by hitting four batters. The Astros right-hander becomes the first National League player to do it since Moe Drabowsky accomplished the feat on the same date while toiling for the Cubs in 1957.
1999 In the first-year player's draft, the Devil Rays select Raleigh (NC) prep star Josh Hamilton as the team's top pick. Tampa Bay's selection marks the first time since 1993, when the Mariners chose Alex Rodriguez, that a high school player becomes the first overall pick.
2000 Cubs reliever Rick Aguilera pitches a perfect ninth inning for his 300th save to nail down Chicago's 2-0 win over the Tigers. The game marks Detroit's first visit to Wrigley Field for the first time since winning Game 7 of the 1945 World Series.
2000 Fred McGriff becomes the thirty-first player to hit 400 career homers. The Devil Rays' first baseman's milestone round-tripper comes off Glendon Rusch, a two-run drive in a 5-3 loss to the Mets at Shea Stadium.
2000 The Expos will wear Maurice Richard's uniform number (9) on their right sleeves this season to pay tribute to the late Montreal Canadiens star, who played 18 years in the National Hockey League. The uniform patch marks the first time a major league team has chosen to honor a hero from a different sport.

2005 In celebration of Rotary International's Centennial Year, The Player, a 13-foot tall bronze sculpture donated by the Denver Rotarians, is dedicated in front of Coors Field on the corner of 20th and Blake. A 24-inch version of the work of art, created by internationally prominent sculptor George Lundeen, is given annually to the recipient of the Branch Rickey Award, an honor given to a major leaguer in recognition of exceptional community service.

The Player

Photo by Daniel Humman
2008 Chase Utley goes yard for the fifth straight game with his major-league-leading 21st homer in a 5-4 victory over the Reds at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies' second baseman, who also homered in five consecutive games earlier in the season, ties his club record, which he shares with Bobby Abreu, Dick Allen, and Mike Schmidt.
2009 With a first-inning leadoff infield hit off David Hernandez in the Mariners' 8-2 victory over the Orioles at Safeco Field, Ichiro Suzuki sets a new team record by hitting safely in his 26th consecutive game. The 35-year-old outfielder extends the mark to 27 tomorrow, surpassing the franchise mark he established in 2007.

2010

"I feel that without enough occasional starts to be sharper coming off the bench, my continued presence as a player would be an unfair distraction to my teammates, and their success as a team is what the ultimate goal should be." - Ken Griffey, Jr., on his retirement.

After 22 seasons of compiling can't-miss Hall of Fame statistics, Mariner outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. unexpectedly issues a statement through the team announcing that he has decided to retire. Drafted #1 by the Mariners on this date in 1987, the now 40-year-old 'Kid" leaves the game fifth on the all-time career home run list with 630 round-trippers.

2010 Jim Joyce emphatically calls Jason Donald safe at first base after Tigers starter Armando Galarraga has retired 26 consecutive Cleveland batters, although the baserunner is clearly out. After seeing the replay, the first-base arbitrator tearfully admits his error, apologizing to the 28-year-old Venezuelan for his blown call that robbed the right-hander of pitching a perfect game.

2013 At PNC Park, Garrett Jones became only the second player and the first Pirate to hit a ball into Davy Jones' Locker on the fly when his two-run eighth-inning round-tripper ties the score in the Bucs' eventual 5-4 win over Cincinnati. In 2002, Houston's Daryle Ward launched a shot that also splashed into the waters of the Allegheny River.

2016 Trailing by ten runs after five frames, the Mariners stage the biggest comeback in franchise history when the team beats the Padres 16-13. Seattle tallies five times in the sixth, scoring nine more times in the seventh inning to take the lead for good in the Petco Park contest.
2021 On the date that marked the beginning of his streak in 1925 and his death of ALS 16 years later in 1941, MLB celebrates the inaugural Lou Gehrig Day, continuing a tradition that began a few seasons ago with the reading of his "I am the luckiest person on Earth" speech. In addition to raising money to find a cure for the dreaded disease, every team will display "4-ALS" logos highlighting the Hall of Famer's jersey number with players, managers, and coaches wearing a special commemorative patch on their uniforms.
35 Fact(s) Found