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This Day in Baseball History
May 21st

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40 Fact(s) Found
1907 After the Giants' 3-0 loss to the Cubs that drops New York out of first place, the players need to form a protective ring around umpires Hank O'Day and Bob Emslie. Pinkerton guards fire shots in the air to disperse unruly fans who have spilled onto the Polo Grounds field.
1919 The Giants trade outfielder Jim Thorpe to the Braves for hurler Pat Ragan, who will pitch in only seven games for New York. The former Olympian, who appeared in only two games with his former team this year, will play 60 games for Boston before retiring at the end of the campaign, compiling a career .252 batting average during his six seasons in the major leagues.


Jim Thorpe (1913)
Library of Congress - George Grantham Bain Collection
1925 At Navin Field, the Tigers and Senators tie a nine-inning major league record, turning a combined nine double plays. Washington puts their four twin killings to better use, beating Detroit, 6-2.
1926 Earl Sheely ties a big-league record with seven consecutive extra-base hits. After doubling in his last three at-bats at Fenway Park yesterday, the White Sox first baseman collected three doubles and a home run in today's 8-7 loss to Boston.
1927 For the second consecutive day, an umpire at Ebbets Field is the target of fan abuse. Arbitrator Frank Wilson needs a police escort after the Robins (Dodgers) drop a twin bill to Cubs.
1930 Babe Ruth hits three home runs, connecting in the first, third, and eighth inning of the Yankees' 15-7 loss to the A's at Shibe Park. The trio of round-trippers marks the first time the 35-year-old 'Sultan of Swat' has gone yard three times in a regular-season game, having accomplished the feat in the 1926 and 1928 World Series.
1943 At Comiskey Park, it takes only one hour and twenty-nine minutes for the White Sox to defeat the Senators, 1-0. The 89-minute contest is the quickest nine-inning game ever played in the American League.
1947 Yankee GM Larry MacPhail fines Joe DiMaggio $100 and penalizes four teammates to a lesser degree for not fulfilling contract requirements to do promotional duties. The New York outfielder had reneged on a promise to pose for a Signal Corps photograph featuring soldiers wearing new Army uniforms.
1952 The Dodgers score a major league record fifteen first-inning runs en route to a 19-1 rout over the Reds at Ebbets Field. After Ewell Blackwell retired the first batter, the next 19 Brooklyn batters reached base (10 hits, seven walks, and two HBP), including Captain Pee Wee Reese getting to first base three times during the frame.
1952 Joe Nuxhall, best known for signing with Cincinnati in 1944 after obtaining his parents and high school principal's permission, returns to the Reds seven years after pitching two-thirds of an inning in his major league debut as a 15-year-old. The southpaw gives up just one hit in the final three frames of the team's 19-1 loss to Brooklyn at Ebbets Field.
1956 The White Sox trade future Hall of Fame third baseman George Kell with right-handers Mike Fornieles and Connie Johnson and left fielder Bob Nieman to the Orioles for first baseman/outfielder Dave Philley and hurler Jim Wilson. The deal pays immediate dividends for Baltimore when Kell and Nieman become part of the team's everyday lineup, and Johnson steps into the Birds’ starting rotation.
1957 Reaffirming their decision to bar females from Fenway Park's male-only press box, Boston baseball writers deny a seat to Doris O'Donnell, a feature writer following the Indians.
1959 In the face of growing pressure to expand, baseball owners declined to add new teams to the major leagues at a meeting at John Galbreath's Ohio farm. Given the lack of expansion plans, Commissioner Ford Frick, at a later date, will announce that MLB will "favorably consider an application for major league status within the present baseball structure by an acceptable group of eight clubs which would qualify under ten specifications."
1962 On the day New York releases him, right-hander Robin Roberts will pitch two scoreless innings for the Orioles at Cleveland Stadium after signing as a free agent with the Birds. The 35-year-old future Hall of Famer, who never appeared in a game wearing a Yankee uniform, will compile a 42-36 record during his four seasons with the Birds.
1963 Jim Maloney ties a major league record shared by Max Surkont (1953 Braves) and Johnny Podres (1962 Dodgers) when he strikes out eight consecutive batters, beginning with the last out in the first inning of the Reds' 2-0 victory over Milwaukee at County Stadium. The Cincinnati right-hander also equals the franchise mark with 16 strikeouts in one game, established by Noodles Hahn in 1901.
1969 The Mets are at .500 at the latest point of the season in team history. Tom Seaver throws a three-hitter, blanking the Braves at Atlanta Stadium, 5-0, improving the team's win-loss record to 18-18.

1981 In the first round of the NE Regional in the NCAA Tournament at New Haven's Yale Field, future major leaguers Ron Darling and St. John's Frank Viola hook up in possibly the greatest college baseball game ever played. After being held hitless for eleven innings by the Bulldogs, the Redmen scored the contest's lone run on a double steal in the top of the 12th inning after both hurlers had thrown 11 scoreless innings.
1986 Rafael Ramirez strokes four doubles in seven trips to the plate. The infielder's quartet of two-baggers helps the Braves edge the Cubs in 13 innings at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, 9-8.
1988 Bobby Doerr, often referred to as the silent captain of the team by teammate Ted Williams, has his jersey #1 retired by the Red Sox, the organization he spent 14 years as a player and for many seasons after his retirement in 1951 for which he served as a coach and scout. The nine-time All-Star second baseman became the first player in club history to hit for the cycle twice (1944, 1947) and led the team in his only World Series appearance, hitting .409 (9-for-22) against the Cardinals in the 1946 Fall Classic.
1992 Manager Buck Rodgers and eleven others are injured when the Angels' team bus goes out of control on the New Jersey Turnpike and crashes into trees. The 53-year-old skipper is seriously injured and will miss nearly 90 games.
1996 In a 12-10 defeat of the Pirates, Larry Walker sets a Rockies' club record with 13 total bases. The right fielder drives in six runs with a pair of two-run homers, a triple, and a double.
1997 Roger Clemens, en route to 354 career victories, picks up his 200th win when he tosses eight innings in the Blue Jays' 4-1 win at Yankee Stadium. The 34-year-old ‘Rocket’ becomes the first player to reach the milestone wearing a Blue Jays uniform.
1997 Cleveland slugger Jim Thome, not known for his speed, steals his only base of the season. The Indians' first baseman's swipe of home plate in the top of the fourth inning will prove to be the game's only run in the Tribe's 1-0 victory over Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium
1998 Professional baseball returns to Bridgeport (CT) for the first time in nearly half a century when the hometown Bluefish beat the Newport Bears in front of a sold-out crowd in their new Ballpark at Harbors Yards. The Atlantic League club is the first pro team to play in the Park City since the Bees of Colonial League suspended play after the 1950 season.

2000 Major League Baseball has its first six grand-slam day in less than a year after establishing the mark with five, with Garret Anderson (Angels), J.T. Snow (Giants), Brian Hunter (Phillies), Jason Giambi (A's), and Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green (Dodgers) all contributing to the record. The NL also set a league record, blasting four base-loaded homers.
2004 In a 5-3 Tampa Bay victory over Cleveland at Tropicana Field, Jose Cruz Jr. ties a franchise record, accumulating ten total bases. The Devil Rays' right fielder's 4-for-4 performance includes three doubles and a home run.
2004 In his return to Texas, Alex Rodriguez is roundly booed by the patrons when he comes to bat in the first inning at the Ballpark in Arlington. The Ranger fans continue showing displeasure when the Yankees' third baseman drives Joaquin Benoit's 2-1 pitch over the fence.
2005 At the Ballpark in Arlington, the Rangers establish two team records when the club hits four homers in one inning and eight times altogether, routing the Astros, 18-3, in a Lone Star interleague game. Rod Barajas, Hank Blalock, Laynce Nix, and Mark Teixeira go deep in the team's eight-run second inning, with Kevin Mench, Richard Hidalgo, and David Dellucci, who connects twice, also contributing to the franchise mark.
2005 Before their interleague game with the Athletics, the Giants pay tribute to Juan Marichal by dedicating a nine-foot bronze statue outside SBC Park. The 'Dominican Dandy,' a San Francisco hurler from 1960 to 1973, joins Willie Mays and Willie McCovey as the third player to be honored

Statue of Juan Marichal by Leo Panetta
2005 When Dae-Sung Koo bats against Randy Johnson, Mike Piazza confides to David Wright in the dugout, "If he gets a hit, I'll donate a million dollars to charity." The Korean reliever, who was afraid to stand in the batter's box in a previous game, promptly hits a 91-mph fastball to the wall in center for a double, causing the Mets catcher to remark that he'll be making a significant donation to a charity over the next 20 years.

2008

"It's been a lot of negative stuff going on around here and I've been feeling some of that and I was just expressing how I felt at the time, but it wasn't anything to do with race. I wasn't trying to bring race into it. I probably should have thought more about what I was going to say." - WILLIE RANDOLPH, former Mets manager.

Willie Randolph apologizes for his negative remarks concerning SNY's coverage of him as the Mets skipper. The first black major league manager hired in New York brought up race when asked the team's TV network portrayed him.

2009 The Twins enjoy a six-run and a seven-run inning when they trounce the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, 20-1. Joe Mauer leads the Minnesota offense with a grand slam and two doubles, driving in a career-high six runs.
2009 Albert Pujols's first-inning blast off Sean Marshall in the Cardinals' 3-1 victory over the Cubs knocks out the letter "I" on the Big Mac Land sign at Busch Stadium. During any game, if a Cardinal player hits a home run into Big Mac Land, built in the left-field stands (section 272) as a tribute to Mark McGwire, everyone at the game is entitled to redeem their ticket for a free Big Mac at all participating restaurants in the fast-food chain.
2009 During a five-hour rain delay at Bright House Field in Clearwater (FL), UConn and South Florida players entertain the fans and mostly themselves with an impromptu dance-off. When the play resumes tomorrow, sixth-seeded Connecticut will advance to the semifinal round of the Big East Championship with a 4-2 victory over the No. 2-ranked USF Bulls.

2012 Caleb Lloyd catches both home run balls hit in consecutive at-bats, just three pitches apart, by starter Mike Leake and shortstop Zack Cozart during the fourth inning of the Reds' 4-1 victory over Atlanta at Great American Ball Park. The 20-year-old college junior keeps neither giving the infielder's ball to a friend who helped get the tickets to the game and, at the request of the Reds, gives the pitcher, who hit his first career round-tripper, the other in exchange for a tour of the clubhouse and an autographed bat and ball.

2012 Rockies starter Jamie Moyer extends his major league record when he starts at the newly opened Marlins Park, having pitched in 50 major league ballparks. The 49-year-old southpaw started his career with a victory for Philadelphia at Wrigley Field in 1986.
2013 Mike Trout becomes the youngest player in American League history to hit for the cycle when he goes 4-for-5 in the Angels' 12-0 rout of the Mariners. The 21-year-old 'Millville Meteor' beats out an infield single in the third, triples in the fourth, doubles in the sixth, and goes deep in the eighth, becoming the sixth player in franchise history to accomplish the feat.

2014 The A's manage only one hit, Brandon Moss' fourth-inning solo shot, but the homer proves to be the difference in their 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field. Oakland is the first American League team to win with a home run as its only hit since Jim Thome's solo shot in 2006 gave the White Sox a 1-0 victory over the Cardinals at U.S. Cellular Field.
2021 With White Sox runners on first and second and no outs in the top of the ninth inning, Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman induces Andrew Vaughn to hit into an inning-ending 5-4-3 triple play, keeping the score knotted at 1-1. Gleyber Torres, accounting for New York's only run with a seventh-inning homer, ends the game in the bottom of the frame with a walk-off single, plating Aaron Judge.

2022 In the Rockies' 11-3 nightcap victory over the Mets at Coors Field, Brian Serven becomes the first major leaguer to have multi-run home runs in the same game for his first two career hits. With his second and sixth-inning two-run round-trippers, the 27-year-old Colorado catcher also joins Trevor Story as the second player in franchise history to homer for each of his first two MLB hits.
40 Fact(s) Found