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This Day in Baseball History
September 26th

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56 Fact(s) Found
1896 In the season finale played at Louisville's Eclipse Park, Cleveland Spider outfielder Jesse Burkett gets three hits in the team's 4-3 victory over the Colonels to finish the year with a .410 batting average. The future Hall of Famer called 'Crab' becomes the first player to hit .400 in consecutive campaigns, having batted .405 last season.
1905 When Doc White doesn't retire a batter in the first inning during the first game of a twin bill against Boston, the Game 2 starter Ed Walsh enters the contest without warming up and gives up five runs before blanking Boston the rest of the way en route to a 10-5 victory. The Meriden (CT) native wins his scheduled start in the South Side Park nightcap, 3-1, getting credit for two complete-game victories over the Americans.
1906 After setting a major league record of being shut out for 48 consecutive innings, the A's finally score a run thanks to Harry Davis' two-run double. The Mackmen, however, still lose to the Cleveland Naps, 5-3.
1908 Cubs right-hander Ed Reulbach pitches two shutouts on the same day, whitewashing the Brooklyn Superbas in the opener 5-0 on a five-hitter and 3-0 on three hits in the nightcap. The entire Washington Park doubleheader takes less than three hours to complete.
1926 On his final day in a Tiger uniform, Ty Cobb watches his replacement in centerfield get six hits in a twin bill against the Red Sox. Heinie Manush's perfect performance at the plate places him six points ahead of Yankee slugger Babe Ruth for the American League batting title, .378 to .372.
1926 On the last day of the season, the Browns beat the Yankees 6-1 and 6-2, needing only two hours and seven minutes to sweep the Bronx Bombers. The Sportsman's Park season finale takes only 55 minutes to complete after the teams finished the twin bill's first game in 72 minutes.
1944 At Fenway Park in front of 19,815 paid fans, the Boston Yanks lose their NFL debut, with BC Alumnus Teddy Williams scoring the squad's only touchdown in the 28-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Owner Ted Collins selected the name 'Yanks' because he initially thought the new franchise would represent New York and play their home games at Yankee Stadium before the football Giants refused to share the New York metropolitan area.
1947 On the final Friday of the season, team broadcaster Mel Allen asks a reluctant Larry MacPhail to appear at a ceremony in front of home plate with his players present before a game against the Senators. The Yankee owner receives a seven-piece silver tea service, a gift from his team with the inscription: TO LARRY MACPHAIL, greatest executive in baseball, whose zealous efforts were a major factor in our 19-game streak and the winning of the American League pennant. - From his Yankees, 1947.
1954 With three hits in the season finale, Willie Mays wins the batting title, finishing the campaign with a .345 average. The 'Say Hey Kid' goes third to first in batting average, with his performance passing teammate Don Mueller (.342) and Dodger center fielder Duke Snider (341).
1954 On the last day of the season against the Giants, Phillies outfielder Richie Ashburn plays in his 730th consecutive game to establish a franchise record. The streak, which began on June 7, 1950, ended on the Opening Day of 1955 due to an injury sustained in spring training.
1954 In the last game the franchise will play representing Philadelphia, the A's defeat the Bronx Bombers at Yankee Stadium, 8-6. After spending the first 54 years of existence in the City of Brotherly Love, Connie Mack's Athletics will play in Kansas City next season, after much legal wrangling, under the new ownership of Arnold Johnson.
1954 With the Yankees eight games behind Cleveland on the last day of the season, Casey Stengel fields a lineup of familiar faces in unfamiliar places in an 8-6 loss to the A's at the ballpark in the Bronx. In his only career game at third base, Yogi Berra handles two chances without a miscue, shortstop Mickey Mantle flawlessly fields eight grounders, and first baseman Bill Skowron makes just one error in his eight opportunities playing at second.
1959 Sam Jones holds the Cardinals hitless for seven innings before the game, with two outs in the top of the eighth, before the umps stop play. Although 'Toothpick' loses his bid for an 'official' no-hitter due to the rain-shortened game, the Giants' right-hander gets his career-high 21st win of the season with the Giants' 4-0 victory over the Redbirds at Busch Stadium.
1961 At Yankee Stadium, Roger Maris ties Babe Ruth's 34-year-old single-season record with his 60th home run of the year, a high drive down the right-field line off on a curveball thrown by Orioles right-hander Jack Fisher. The slugger's homer comes in the 159th game of the expanded season, keeping Ruth as the single-season home run leader according to Commissioner Ford Frick, who ruled for the mark to be shared or broken, the historic round-tripper had to come in the first 154 games of the season.

1961 With an 8-3 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the Reds clinch their first National League pennant since 1940. Cincinnati will lose the World Series to the Yankees, four games to 1.
1964 At RFK Stadium, Mel Stottlemyre limits the Senators to just two hits, throwing a complete game en route to a 7-0 shutout. In addition to his outstanding pitching performance, the 22-year-old rookie helps the Yankees win their 11th consecutive game with four singles and a double in five plate appearances.
1965 The Twins, who moved from the District of Columbia to Minnesota in 1961, win their first pennant since 1933, when the franchise represented Washington, DC. Jim Kaat goes the distance, beating the expansion Senators in the nation's capital, 2-1.
1969 Pirates skipper Larry Shepard is fired with five games to play and is replaced on an interim basis by Alex Grammas. Danny Murtaugh, the team's pilot next season, will win the National League Manager of the Year Award after his team finishes with 88 victories, just one more win than this year's squad.
1969 The Senators' 4-1 victory over Cleveland at RFK Stadium is the team's 82nd of the season, guaranteeing the 'expansion Senators' their first-ever winning record. Ted Williams' fourth-place team will finish the season with an 86-76 record, marking the first time Washington has had a winning campaign since the original Senators posted a 78-76 mark in 1952.
1971 Joining Oriole teammates Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, and Pat Dobson, sometimes referred to as the Four-leaf Clover rotation, Jim Palmer records his 20th victory of the season when he blanks the Tribe at Cleveland Stadium, 5-0. The right-hander's victory makes Baltimore the second team in major league history, along with the 1920 Chicago White Sox, to have four 20-game winners on its staff.
1973 Paul Splittorff becomes the first twenty-game winner in franchise history when the Royals beat Chicago, 6-2. The 26-year-old southpaw will retire in 1984 as the team's all-time leader in victories with 166.
1975 Burt Hooton sets a Dodger record for starting pitchers by winning his twelfth consecutive game. The 25-year-old right-hander, traded to LA in May for Eddie Solomon and Geoff Zahn, accomplishes the feat by beating J.R. Richard and the Astros at Dodger Stadium, 3-2.
1976 The Phillies beat the Expos in the first game of a Jarry Park doubleheader, 4-1, to clinch the National League East title. Dick Allen doesn't play in the nightcap, bolting from the team to protest Tony Taylor not being placed on the postseason roster.
1976 A doubleheader marks the last major league games played at Jarry Park, the home of the Expos, where the team has posted a 554-734 (.431) won-loss record since the team's inception in 1969. The Phillies beat Montreal, 4-1, to clinch the National League East title and then complete the sweep, in a game shortened to seven innings due to inclement weather, by taking the nightcap in the finale of Parc Jarry, 2-1, with the scheduled post-game fireworks displayed during the rain delay.
1978 Gary Alexander's home run with two outs in the ninth inning derails Oriole left-hander Mike Flanagan's potential no-hitter against Cleveland at Memorial Stadium. When the Baltimore starter gives up two additional singles, reliever Don Stanhouse puts out the fire and saves the 3-1 Orioles win.
1979 Frank White becomes the fourth player in the team's 11-year history to hit for the cycle when he triples in the ninth inning of the Royals' 4-0 victory over California at Anaheim Stadium. The Kansas City second baseman joins Freddie Patek (1971), John Mayberry (1977), and George Brett (1979), who also have completed the rare feat playing for the franchise.
1979 Braves knuckleballer Phil Niekro evens his record at 20-20 when he goes the distance for his 20th win of the season, beating Houston in Atlanta, 9-4. 'Knucksie' beats his brother, Joe, who earned his 20th victory four days ago against Cincinnati.
1981 Nolan Ryan becomes the first pitcher to throw five no-hitters when the Astros defeat the Dodgers at the Astrodome, 5-0. The Ryan Express, who will finish his 27-year major league career with a record seven no-hitters, previously has thrown hitless gems against the Royals (1973), Tigers (1973), Twins (1974), and Orioles (1975).

1983 Cardinal Bob Forsch retires the last 22 batters he faces en route to pitching his second career no-hitter when he beats the Expos at Busch Stadium, 3-0. In the same ballpark, the 33-year-old Redbird right-hander first accomplished the feat against Philadelphia in 1978.
1987 Padres' catcher Benito Santiago sets a major league record for rookies by hitting safely in his 28th consecutive contest, a streak the 21-year-old backstop will extend to 34 games. Pirates' third baseman Jimmy Williams had set the previous mark of 27 in 1899 with the Pirates.
1992 For the first time in the franchise's 30-year history, the Mets use a position player as a pitcher. Eighth-inning pinch-hitter Bill Pecota takes the mound in the bottom of the inning, and the infielder gives up only a home run to Andy Van Slyke when the Pirates pummel New York, 19-2.
1993 Randy Johnson becomes the 12th pitcher this century to strike out 300 batters in a season, whiffing 13 in 10 innings in the Mariners' 3-2 loss to Oakland at the Kingdome. The Seattle southpaw, en route to 4,875 career strikeouts, the most all-time for a lefthanded pitcher, second only to Nolan Ryan's 5,714, will also reach the milestone five additional times spanning the 1998-2002 seasons.
1995 Adam Sisk becomes the first player signed by the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The 19-year-old Edison Community College student, who was 24-2 at Riverdale Baptist High School, was drafted by San Diego last year; however, the right-hander chose to go to college, developing tendinitis in his right elbow after making just two appearances.
1997 Dodger slugger Mike Piazza, in the team's 10-4 win over the Rockies, hits the longest home run in the history of Coors Field. The 28-year-old catcher's sixth-inning blast off Darren Holmes travels 496 feet and hits the left-center field billboard between the scoreboard and the Rockpile.
1998 David Cone sets a new major league record for the most years between 20-win seasons when New York beats the Devil Rays at Yankee Stadium, 3-1. The 33-year-old Coney, who was 20-3 in 1988 with the Mets, surpasses the mark set by Jim Kaat, who won twenty in 1966 and 1974.
1998 Dennis Eckersley, making his final major league appearance, pitches in his 1,071st game, breaking Hoyt Wilhelm's major league mark for the most career pitching appearances. The 'Eck' finishes his 24-year career, tossing a one-run ninth inning in the Red Sox' 5-2 loss to Baltimore at Fenway Park.
1998 Rickey Henderson finishes the campaign with a league-leading 66 stolen bases, swiping second and third in the bottom of the third inning of the A's 4-3 victory over the Angels at Network Associates Coliseum. The 39-year-old 'Man of Steal' becomes the oldest player to lead the league in purloined bags.
2000 The Braves, who will finish the season with a 95-67 record, beat the second-place Mets at Shea Stadium, 7-1, to clinch the NL East title. Atlanta has captured a record nine-consecutive division crowns but will be swept in the NLDS by St. Louis.
2007 Albert Pujols becomes the first player in big-league history to hit 30 homers and have 100 RBIs in his first seven seasons when he drives in the first run of the Miller Park contest. The Cardinal first baseman's first-inning homer, his 32nd of the season, helps St. Louis beat the contending Brewers at Miller Park, 7-3.
2007 According to an internet poll conducted by Marc Ecko, who owns the record-breaking 756th home run ball belted by Barry Bonds, the Baseball Hall of Fame receives the historic horsehide as a donation branded with an asterisk. On the Today Show, the fashion designer reveals that 47% voted for the marked ball, with another 34% voting to donate it unchanged, and 19% elected to send the unique sphere into outer space.

2007 After a 50-homerless at-bat drought, Brandon Phillips hits his 30th home run of the season, becoming the 31st member of the 30-30 club that includes Mets third baseman David Wright and Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who also accomplished the feat this season. The 26-year-old infielder joins Alfonso Soriano (Yankees, 2002) as the only second baseman to reach the plateau and the third Reds player (Eric Davis, 1987, Barry Larkin, 1996) to hit 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season.
2007

"Well, you know, I've worried about that because I think given the Cubs' record -- which of course I hope it happens, but it could very well be a sign of the coming apocalypse were that ever to occur -- it would be so out of history that you'd have the Cubs versus the Yankees. Then, I'd be really in trouble. "- HILLARY CLINTON, commenting on the potential World Series with Cubs and Yankees as opponents.

At a Democratic candidate presidential debate at Dartmouth College, moderator Tim Russert asks junior New York Senator Hillary Clinton, a Chicago native, who she would root for in a potential Cubs vs. Yankees World Series. The presidential hopeful responds diplomatically, "I would probably have to alternate sides."

C-Span Clip from 2007 Democratic debate at Dartmouth
2007 Michael Young joins Wade Boggs and Ichiro Suzuki as the third players since 1940 to collect 200 hits in five consecutive seasons. The Ranger shortstop reaches the plateau with two singles among his three hits in the 16-2 rout of the Angels at Ameriquest Field.
2008 Although they suffer a 6-4 defeat to the Tigers, the Rays win their first American League East title when the Red Sox lose to the Yankees later in the evening. Skipper Joe Maddon and a few players remained in the Comerica Park clubhouse to watch the rain-delayed contest in Boston end, bringing the title to Tampa Bay.
2009 Bronx native Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court's newest member, throws the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium, a strike right down the middle of the plate, before watching her team defeat the Red Sox, 3-0. In 1995, as a U.S. District Judge, Justice Sotomayor issued an injunction that helped to end the nearly eight-month-long baseball strike.

2010 The Tigers beat Minnesota, 5-1, in the last game played in Detroit this season to establish a Comerica Park record with their 52nd victory at home, one more win than in the ballpark's inaugural season in 2000. However, the club cannot contend this year due to its poor performance on the road, presently 19 games below .500.
2011 Vladimir Guerrero, with a single up the middle, becomes the all-time career hit leader among players born in the Dominican Republic. The 36-year-old Orioles DH's 2,587th career hit puts him ahead of Hato Mayor del Rey native Julio Franco.
2012 David Wright, the franchise leader in doubles, extra-base hits, walks, RBIs, and runs scored, breaks the record for the most hits in Met history when he beats out a slow grounder down the third-base line for an infield single in the team's 6-0 victory over Pittsburgh at Citi Field. The 29-year-old third baseman's 1,419th career hit surpasses Ed Kranepool, a first baseman/outfielder, who played for New York from 1962-1979.
2012 After 63 years of doing play-by-play, Milo Hamilton calls his final game, painting the word picture of his Astros beating St. Louis at Minute Maid Park, 2-0. The Hall of Fame broadcaster, who also worked for the Browns, Cardinals, Cubs, White Sox, Braves, and Pirates before starting his 28-year tenure with Houston, gives an inspirational farewell speech during the seventh-inning stretch, receiving a standing ovation from the fans at the ballpark.
2013 Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, with two out in the ninth inning, emerge from the dugout to take out legendary closer Mariano Rivera, giving the sold-out crowd at Yankee Stadium one last chance to cheer their beloved reliever. The unexpected visit to the mound, the brainchild of manager Joe Girardi, who asked permission from the umpires to implement the unorthodox move, triggers an emotional encounter between the remaining Core Four teammates that renders Mo speechless as he weeps from the admiration of his friends and fans.

2013 Commissioner Bud Selig announces his intention to retire upon completing his contract at the end of next year. The 79-year-old chief executive of baseball has held the position since 1992, first on an interim basis, before being named to the post nearly six years later.
2014 The Royals clinch their first postseason berth in nearly three decades with a 3-1 win over the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. The Cinderella American League Wild Card team will win three postseason series, beating Oakland, Los Angeles, and Baltimore, to make it to the Fall Classic before losing to San Francisco in seven games.
2015 Unbeknownst to the Blue Jays at the time, the team technically clinched a postseason spot yesterday when the Toronto fans, crunching numbers, discover an oversight in the standings. The new math officially confirms the end of the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports, ending Toronto's 22-year absence from the postseason, with the team celebrating the accomplishment in a champagne-soaked clubhouse at the Roger Centre after today's 10-8 victory over Tampa Bay.
2015 The Mets clinch their first NL East title and first postseason berth since 2006, when the team routs Cincinnati at the Great American Ball Park, 10-2. New York, needing only an 88-67 record to capture the flag, took advantage of the heavily favored Nationals' season-long woes.
2016 The Marlins, each wearing the number 16, host the Mets in a game without any walk-up music, advertisements, or fan-interactive activities at a solemn ballpark in tribute to Miami right-hander Jose Fernandez, a victim of a tragic boating accident only 36 hours ago. Dee Gordon, a left-handed hitter, begins his at-bat from the right side wearing the late starter's helmet and weeps as he rounds the bases, pointing to the sky when he crosses the plate to honor his friend and teammate after hitting a leadoff home run to start the game.

2019 In their final game this season at Comerica Park, the Tigers drop a 10-4 decision to the Twins, tying the major league mark for the most home losses in baseball history. Detroit's 59th defeat in the Motor City matches the record set by the St. Louis Browns, who accomplished the dubious feat at Sportsman's Park in 1939.
56 Fact(s) Found