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This Day in Baseball History
July 23rd

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39 Fact(s) Found
1925 Lou Gehrig's four-run home run is the difference in the Yankees' 11-7 victory over the Senators. The New York first baseman's bases-full homer is the first of a record 23 grand slams he will hit during his 17-year career in the Bronx, a mark Alex Rodriguez surpasses in 2013.
1928 In a Class C Western Association game, future major league player and manager Paul Richards of the Muskogee Chiefs uses both hands when summoned from his shortstop position to pitch in his brief appearance on the mound. An unusual confrontation with a switch-hitter briefly results in both the pitcher and the batter continually swapping hands and batter's boxes, respectively, until the ambidextrous hurler becomes a left-hander and right-hander on alternate pitches, regardless of where the hitter places himself.
1930 Pirates third baseman Pie Traynor hits the eventual game-winning homers in both ends of a doubleheader. The future Hall Famer's ninth-inning home run beats Philadelphia in the opener, 2-1, and the Massachusetts native also provides the winning margin in the nightcap with a three-run round-tripper in the top of the 13th inning in the team's 16-15 victory over the A's at the Baker Bowl.
1939 The Cardinals beat the Dodgers 5-2 at Sportsman's Park using yellow-dyed balls. The experiment with the colored sphere, designed to make the ball easier to see for the players and the fans, started in Brooklyn last week and will be tested once more in a September game played at Wrigley Field.
1939 At Briggs Stadium, A's catcher Harry O'Neill appears in his only major league game, replacing Frankie Hayes behind the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning with the team trailing the Tigers, 15-3. In 1945, the 27-year-old third-string backstop will die as a result of enemy sniper fire on Iwo Jima, becoming the second player to die in World War II, joining Elmer Gedeon, who lost his life when the Germans shot down his B-26B Marauder attempting to bomb a Nazi target in France.


A's catcher Harry O'Neill
1941 White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes becomes the first to employ the defensive alignment against the Red Sox outfielder, who foils the plan when he goes 2-for-5, including a double, in Boston's 10-4 loss to the Pale Hose at Fenway Park. The Chicago skipper will abandon the strategy when 'the Kid' collects four hits in ten at-bats in the two-game series.

(Ed. Note: Lou Boudreau is often credited for implementing the shift on Ted Williams. -LP)

1944 In the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Giants manager Mel Ott orders pitcher Andy Hansen to issue an intentional walk with the bases loaded to Bill Nicholson. The free pass to Swish, who has hit four home runs in the twin bill, doesn't work when the Cubs score three runs to tie the game.
1957 Mickey Mantle collects his only cycle and the twelfth in franchise history With a single, fluke double, game-changing triple, and a prodigious poke. The switch-hitter's massive home run that nearly clears Yankee Stadium stirs the crowd, but his seventh-inning triple with the bases loaded proves to be the decisive blow in the Yankees' 10-6 victory over the White Sox.
1960 A's outfielder Whitey Herzog lines into a triple play when Pedro Ramos snags his line drive, then tosses the ball to first to double up the runner, with the third out made with a relay to shortstop Jose Valdivielso getting the runner returning to second base. The three outs in the 8-3 loss to the Senators mark the first all-Cuban triple-killing in major league history.
1960 Umpires eject Indians center fielder Jimmy Piersall for the sixth time this season after he ignores home plate ump's Eddie Hurley warning to stop running around the outfield with his arms raised during Ted Williams' plate appearance. The Waterbury (CT) native, restrained by teammates when he charges the arbitrator, is guilty of trying to distract the batter from the field, a tactic forbidden by the rule book.
1962 In his first year of eligibility, Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Indians' fireballer Bob Feller, NL veteran manager Bill McKechnie, and outfielder Edd Roush, mostly remembered for his days with the Reds, join the Dodger infielder in the Cooperstown ceremony. 

1962 The first telecast of a major league via satellite includes a portion of the Cubs' 4-3 victory over the Phillies from Wrigley Field. Chicago broadcaster Jack Brickhouse provides the play-by-play of the Telstar Communications transmission.
1964 Kansas City's Bert Campaneris homers off the Twins' southpaw Jim Kaat on the first major league pitch he sees. The A's rookie shortstop homers again in the seventh, knotting the score with a two-run round-tripper in the team's eventual 4-3 victory in 11 innings at Metropolitan Stadium.
1965 Mickey Lolich loses his tenth straight game, setting a Tigers' record for consecutive defeats when Detroit drops a 4-2 decision to the Yankees at Tiger Stadium. After the contest, the 26-year-old southpaw, who will win nine of his next ten starts for the pennant contenders, is called up to the mobilized 191st National Guard unit to help quell riots near the ballpark.

(Ed. note - Nineteen ballparks because both Los Angeles teams, the Angels and Dodgers, share the ballpark in Chavez Ravine. - LP)
1967 Mickey Lolich loses his tenth straight game, setting a Tigers' record for consecutive defeats when Detroit drops a 4-2 decision to the Yankees at Tiger Stadium. After the contest, the 26-year-old southpaw, who will win nine of his next ten starts for the pennant contenders, is called up to the mobilized 191st National Guard unit to help quell riots near the ballpark.
1969 At Washington's RFK Stadium, the National League scores early and often to coast to a comfortable 9-3 victory over the AL in the 40th All-Star Game. Cardinals southpaw Steve Carlton, the starting and winning pitcher, hits a double in the third inning off Blue Moon Odom to become the last hurler to get an extra-base hit in a Midsummer Classic contest.
1970 Allowing four hits, Cubs right-hander Milt Pappas shuts out the Reds, 1-0, thanks to an eighth-inning unearned run that scores Don Kessinger on a wild throw. The Wrigley Field loss will be the only time Cincinnati fails to score a run this season, tying a National League record.
1974 At Three Rivers Stadium, Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey, a write-in All-Star starter, singles and doubles to help the National League beat the Junior Circuit, 7-2. Mike Schmidt, also chosen by the fans, plays in his first Midsummer Classic thanks to radio intern Howard Eskin's on-air campaign, which urged Phillies fans to stuff the ballot box for their young third baseman.
1974 After indicating that he had no interest in the position, Hank Aaron publicly states he would accept an offer to manage the Braves "simply because there are no black managers in baseball." The superstar's comments create an awkward situation the next day when Atlanta announces that the organization hired Clyde King to replace the recently dismissed Eddie Mathews.
1975 Frank Taveras is tagged out at first base at Three Rivers Stadium in an unusual play. After taking a big lead to get a good jump on a sac bunt, the Pirates shortstop gets picked off when the catcher throws the ball to first base with the Phillies' right fielder Jay Johnstone covering the bag, completing the 2-9 play.
1976 Sadaharu Oh, joining Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, becomes the third professional to hit 700 home runs. The 33-year-old Yomiuri Giants slugger, who will finish his career with 868 career homers, is the first player to accomplish the feat in Japan.
1976 Orioles outfielder Reggie Jackson, tying an American League record shared by five players, hits a home run in his sixth consecutive game. The 13th-inning round-tripper off Danny Frisella did not help in the Birds' 4-3 loss to the Brewers, who scored two runs in the top of the frame in the Memorial Stadium contest.
1985 Oddibe McDowell becomes the first Ranger player to hit for the cycle. His seventh-inning home run completes the unique event, but the center fielder adds another round-tripper in the next frame when Texas beats the Indians at Arlington Stadium, 8-4.
2000 Reds third baseman Mike Bell, joining his grandfather and father, becomes part of the first three-generation family to play for the same team. Gus played for Cincinnati from 1953 to 1961, and his son, Buddy, Mike's dad, spent the 1987-88 seasons in the Queen City.
2000 The Astros hit four homers in one inning off Cardinal hurler Andy Benes, tying the major league record for round-trippers allowed by one pitcher in a single frame. The second-inning uprising helps Houston set a team record for homers in one inning and ties a team record with six big flies.
2000 After rejecting a trade to the Mets, 36-year-old Barry Larkin agrees to a three-year, $27 million contract extension to continue to play for the Reds. The deal will keep the former Rookie of the Year (1986), NL's MVP (1995), and 11-time All-Star shortstop in Cincinnati until 2003.
2000 The Big Red Machine rolls into Cooperstown, delivering first baseman Tony Perez, manager Sparky Anderson, and Reds announcer Marty Brennaman into the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with 1975 Red Sox World Series rival Carlton Fisk. Also enshrined are 19th-century Cincinnati second baseman Bid McPhee and Negro League star 'Turkey' Stearnes.
2002 Hitting three homers in Boston's 22-4 rout of the Devil Rays, Nomar Garciaparra, on his 29th birthday, ties the major league record, becoming the 26th player to hit five home runs in two games. The contest marks the Red Sox shortstop's second three-homer game, having accomplished the feat against the Mariners in 1999.

(Ed. Note: Nomar Garciaparra establishes the record for consecutive home runs in the shortest time in terms of innings, homering three times in two frames: a pair of two-run homers in the second and a grand slam in the third - LP)

2005

At SBC Park, uniform #36 is added to the second deck of the left-field bleachers, joining nine others when the Giants honor Gaylord Perry. The Hall of Famer, who won 134 of his 314 career victories with San Francisco, remembers his 37-year-old son, Jack, who died last month of complications from leukemia.

2006 In a 3-1 victory over the Indians at Jacobs Field, Francisco Liriano and four Twins relievers establish a club record with 17 strikeouts in a nine-inning game. The Minnesota starter reached double-digit whiffs (10) for the third time this season, with Pat Neshek, Dennys Reyes, Juan Rincon, and Joe Nathan adding seven more punchouts over the last four innings.
2006 Adrian Beltre hits the first inside-the-park home run in the eight-year history of Safeco Field. The eighth-inning blast to centerfield comes off Mike Timlin in the Mariners' 9-8 victory over Boston.

2008 In a slugfest at Angel Stadium, Los Angeles collects a season-high 19 hits, beating the Indians, 14-11. The hit parade is led by Howie Kendrick (4), Jeff Mathis (4), and Casey Kotchman (5), making it the first time in franchise history three different players have had four or more hits in the same game.
2009 Thanks to a spectacular grab by defensive replacement DeWayne Wise of Gabe Kapler's bid for a leadoff home run in the ninth inning, Mark Buehrle tosses the 18th perfect game in major league history, a 5-0 gem over the Rays at U.S. Cellular Field. The 30-year-old southpaw, who received a congratulatory call from President Obama, a big White Sox fan, becomes the second pitcher in franchise history to throw two hitless games for the team, matching Frank Smith's accomplishment against the 1905 Tigers and the 1908 A's.

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2010 With a bases-empty homer in the first, a ground-rule double in the fifth, a two-run triple in the sixth, and a single in the eighth inning of the Diamondbacks' 7-4 loss to San Francisco at Chase Field, Kelly Johnson becomes the fourth player in franchise history to complete a cycle. The Arizona second baseman joins Luis Gonzalez (2000), Greg Colbrunn (2002), and Stephen Drew (2008) to accomplish the feat with the D-Backs.
2011 For the first time in the 50-year history of the franchise, the Mets compile a 50-50 won-loss record after playing one hundred games. New York achieves the dubious distinction when they lose in Florida, 8-5.


BaseballReference
2011 The Mariners tie the 1992 franchise record for consecutive defeats by losing to the Red Sox at Fenway Park, 3-1. Seattle's 14th straight loss results in Boston's skipper Terry Francona's 1,000th win as a major league manager.
2013 Wearing their home whites and batting in the bottom of the innings, the visiting Reds drop a 5-3 decision to the Giants in the second game of the twin bill at San Francisco's AT&T Park. The makeup game on the road sets up the possibility that an away team could produce a walk-off win for the first time in major league history.
2019 Washington shortstop Trea Turner collects his second career cycle when he doubles in the eight-run seventh inning of the team's 11-1 victory over the Rockies at Nationals Park. The 26-year-old infielder becomes the 26th player to complete the deed more than once and the third against the same opponent.

2021 The team called the Indians since 1915 will be known as the Guardians when the season ends due to complaints from Native American groups and MLB. The new moniker, one of nearly 1,200 suggestions, including the Buckeyes, Spiders, and Walleye, was introduced at a news conference with a moving video narrated by Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, a super Indians fan.
39 Fact(s) Found