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This Day in Baseball History
May 9th

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28 Fact(s) Found
1871 Esteban Enrique 'Steve' Bellán becomes the first Hispanic player to appear in a major league game. The 21-year-old Cuban plays the infield for the Troy Haymakers of the National Association in a 9-5 loss to the Boston Red Stockings.
1888 Colonels' right-hander Elton 'Icebox' Chamberlain, a natural right-hander, throws left-handed for the final two innings during his complete-game victory against the visiting Kansas City Cowboys. Louisville wins the American Association contest in Eclipse Park, 18-6.
1901 Indians' rookie hurler Earl Moore holds the White Sox hitless for nine innings before giving up two hits in the tenth inning to lose, 4-2. 'Crossfire' will compile a 16-14 record in his first year in the big leagues.
1937 Reds' starter Peaches Davis gives up 15 hits but goes the distance in the Reds' 21-10 rout of Philadelphia. The right-hander's batterymate, Ernie Lombardi, goes 6-for-6 in the Baker Bowl ballgame, collecting five singles and a double.
1943 Due to the poor grade of rubber cement used to make baseballs because of wartime rubber shortages, a different type of ball is used today, with dramatic results. Players hit six home runs in eight games, compared to nine homers tallied in the season's first 72 games.
1947 Philadelphia manager Ben Chapman, admitting he had been 'kinda loud' leading his team in verbally abusing Jackie Robinson with racial slurs, asks to make amends by posing with the Dodger first baseman for the newspaper photographers. The orchestrated gesture, which Robinson agrees to, admitting later that it was one of the hardest things he ever had to make himself do, is prompted by the bad press created by the Phillies manager's intolerance and the wrath of Commissioner Chandler.

1950 In a 10-5 victory over Brooklyn at Forbes Field, Pirates slugger Ralph Kiner hits two home runs, including his second grand slam in four games. The future Hall of Famer, who will collect eight career homers with the bases juiced, also cleared the bases with a round-tripper on May 6 off Giants' right-hander Clint Hartung.
1961 In a 13-5 victory over the Twins, Jim Gentile becomes the fourth major leaguer to hit two grand slams in the same game. The Orioles' first baseman, the first to accomplish the feat in consecutive at-bats, goes deep in the first two innings of the contest.
1967 Wearing his familiar uniform #9, Roger Maris hits his first National League home run on the ninth day of the month in seat 9 of section 9. The right fielder's sixth-inning round-tripper off Woodie Fryman contributes to the Cardinals' 6-3 victory over Pittsburgh at Forbes Field.
1971 A gathering of 43,307 fans watches the Orioles drop a twin bill to the A's at Memorial Stadium, 6-2 and 2-1. The unscheduled doubleheader draws a record walk-in crowd of 31,626 (73%), the largest in Baltimore's history.
1973 Johnny Bench hits three homers off Steve Carlton for the second time in his career. The Reds' backstop's seven RBIs proves to be the difference when Cincinnati beat the Phillies, 9-7.
1977 At Exhibition Stadium, the Blue Jays beat the Mariners, 10-4, when the two new American League teams meet for the first time. Toronto will win their inaugural season series with Seattle, taking six of the ten games against their West Coast rival.
1979 Substitute umpire David Pallone ejects the entire Cardinal bench when the players throw helmets and bats onto the field to protest a call. Due to the umpire strike, the minor league arbitrator works second base in the Astrodome contest.
1984 The first eight-hour major league game, which started last night before being suspended in the 17th inning because of a curfew, finally ends when Harold Baines homers with one out in the 25th inning, giving the White Sox a 7-6 victory over the Brewers. Tom Seaver, the Game 2 starter, goes 8.1 innings and wins the Comiskey Park nightcap, 5-4, after getting the victory after pitching one inning of relief in the opener.
1986 The Phillies release 29-year-old Dave Stewart after the right-hander compiles a 6.57 ERA appearing in eight games as a reliever. At the end of the month, the free-agent signs with Oakland, where he'll average 21 victories each season from 1987 to 1990.

Amazon 1986 Dave Stewart Baseball Card
(Topps #689)

1987 Eddie Murray becomes the first major leaguer to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in consecutive games when he connects off left-handed Bob James in the sixth inning of the Orioles' 9-6 victory over Chicago at Comiskey Park. In yesterday's contest, the Baltimore first baseman also homered off southpaw Ray Searage and righty Jose DeLeon.
1988 With the White Sox' 3-0 victory over Baltimore at Memorial Stadium, 38-year-old Jerry Reuss becomes the 86th pitcher to record his 200th major league career win. The southpaw joins Milt Pappas as the only hurlers to reach the milestone without benefiting from a 20-win season.
1993 During the Cubs' 5-4 loss to the Padres at Wrigley Field, Mark Grace becomes the tenth play in franchise history to hit for the cycle. The 29-year-old first baseman, sometimes called Amazing by his teammates, accomplishes the feat when he blasts a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom ninth inning off Rich Rodriguez.

1995 The Indians tie a major league record by scoring eight runs in the first inning before making an out. All seven tallies result from home runs, including Kenny Lofton's leadoff round-tripper, Paul Sorrento's grand slam, and Carlos Baerga's two-run blast.
1999

In Florida State University's 26-2 win over the Maryland Terrapins, 22-year-old college junior Marshall McDougall hits six home runs in his next six at-bats after singling in the first inning. The Seminole's second baseman, who plays his brief 18-game major league career with the Rangers, finishes the College Park (MD) contest 7-for-7 with six homers, 16 RBIs, and 25 total bases, all NCAA single-game records.

1999 After 552 relief appearances, Mike Stanton starts a major league game, breaking Gary Lavelle's record for most appearances before starting a game. The southpaw shuts out Seattle for four innings, giving up two hits in New York's 6-1 victory at Yankee Stadium.
2002 Mariano Rivera establishes a new franchise record when he saves his 225th game, preserving the Yankees' 3-1 victory over the Devil Rays at Tropicana Field. The right-handed reliever hurls 1.1 innings to surpass the previous mark set in 1990 by Dave Righetti.
2006 After 1,914 games behind the plate, Ivan Rodriguez plays first base, making it the first time he is at a position other than catcher. Later in the season, 'Pudge' also appears at second base, filling in for injured Tiger infielder Placido Polanco.
2006 Delmon Young, the brother of Tiger star Dmitri Young, is suspended for fifty games by the International League for throwing a bat, which hit a replacement umpire in the chest. Baseball America selected the Devil Rays' top prospect as the 2005 minor league player of the year.
2010 Dallas Braden, recently made infamous due to his words with Alex Rodriguez when the Yankee third baseman cut across the diamond via the pitcher's mound, throws the 19th perfect game in baseball history, a 4-0 victory over the Rays in Oakland. In attendance for the 26-year-old left-hander's Mother's Day gem is his grandmother, who raised him after his mom died of melanoma during his senior year at Stagg High School in Stockton, California.

2011 Milton Bradley, who will still receive the remainder of his $13 million deal for this season, is cut by the Mariners, the eighth club he played for since his 2000 Expos debut. Seattle claims no one incident, that includes the outfielder being suspended one game after bumping an umpire, ejected from another for contesting a third strike, and a few days ago became the target of the Seattle fans' wrath for their perception of his lack of hustle, prompted the decision.
2015 With runners on second and third, the Pirates turn the first recorded 4-5-4 triple play in baseball history, recording all three outs entirely on the left side of the infield. The oddity occurs when Yadier Molina lines out to second baseman Neil Walker, who throws to third baseman Jung Ho Kang to double up Jhonny Peralta and then fields the third baseman's return throw to triple up Jason Heywood at second base.

2019 Albert Pujols, with a solo homer in the top of the third inning in the Angels' 13-3 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park, joins Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez in becoming just the third player in baseball history to record 2,000 career RBIs. Babe Ruth and Cap Anson also reached the plateau, but the runs batted in did not become an official statistic until 1920.

28 Fact(s) Found