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This Day in Baseball History
May 4th

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47 Fact(s) Found
1871 Bill Lennon becomes the first catcher to throw a runner out trying to steal second. The National Association's Fort Wayne (IN) Kekiongas backstop accomplishes the feat in the seventh inning of the first major league game ever played.
1901 Fred Brown makes his major league debut, the first appearance of a brief nine-game career, all for the Boston Beaneaters over two seasons. The 22-year-old outfielder, who goes 4-for-20 at the plate without making an error in the field, will enjoy a far more extensive career as a politician, winning a Senate seat as a Democrat in then-conservative New Hampshire in 1932 after serving as the state's governor.
1910 President William Taft leaves Robison Park, where the Cardinals are routing the Reds, to catch a great pitching duel between the Naps' Cy Young and the Browns' Joe Lake at Sportsman's Park. The chief executive will stay to the last out of the American League contest, which ends in a three-to-three tie after 14 innings of play.


President Taft at a Ballgame (1910)
Library of Congress - George Grantham Bain Collection
1919 An SRO crowd attends the first-ever major league game on a Sunday in Brooklyn. The Ebbets Field contest, in which the Dodgers beat the Braves, 6-2, was made possible when the New York Legislature passed the Sunday Baseball Bill.
1931 To put less strain on Babe Ruth's leg, the Yankees have him play first base, moving Lou Gehrig to right field. The 'Iron Horse' makes an error in the outfield, helping the Senators beat the Yankees, 7-3.

1939 In his first-ever at-bat in Detroit, Boston rookie Ted Williams becomes the first player to hit a homer that clears the right-field seats at Briggs Stadium. The 20-year-old's prodigious poke proves to be the difference when the Red Sox edge the Tigers, 7-6.
1944 For the first time in the city's history, blacks can purchase grandstand seats in St. Louis. The Browns and Cardinals are the last major league teams to integrate fan seating, restricting the minority to the bleachers in previous years.
1954 The Phillies and Cardinals set a major league record by using 42 players in one game, including future Hall of Famers Richie Ashburn (1995), Robin Roberts(1976), Red Schoendienst (1989), and StanMusial (1969). Philadelphia wins the eleventh-inning contest at Busch Stadium, 14-10, collecting three singles, a double, and two bases-on-balls in the final frame.
1954 In a contest delayed 12 minutes by snow, the Braves move out of last place thanks to Warren Spahn's six-hitter when the team beats the Pirates and former teammate Max Surkont, 6-1. The reported temperature in Milwaukee dropped to 37 degrees during the game.
1956 Boston manager Pinky Higgins accepts a Red Sox schedule printed in braille from Francis B. Ierardi, the founder and manager of the National Braille Press. The slate of games, which will appear in the May 7th publication of the Weekly News, marks the first time a baseball schedule has been available for the blind.

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1963 In a 7-5 loss to Chicago at County Stadium, Bob Shaw commits five balks to establish a new major league mark. The Braves right-hander balks three times after walking Billy Williams in the third inning, allowing a run to score.
1963 The first reported use of the familiar refrain "Let's Go Mets" is heard at the Polo Grounds in the bottom of the ninth inning during a rout by San Francisco. Trailing by 13 runs and down to their last out with bases empty, the rallying cry begins to be chanted by some of the 'New Breed,' an affectionate name given to the National League expansion team fans.
1966 In a 6-1 victory over the Dodgers at Candlestick Park, Willie Mays becomes the all-time National League home run leader when he strokes his 512th career round-tripper off LA's starter Claude Osteen. The San Francisco center fielder passes another Giant, breaking the mark established by Mel Ott in 1946.
1968 The Simon and Garfunkel tune "Mrs. Robinson" debuts on Billboard's Top 40 survey. The song's lyrics include a memorable question for the Yankees' former center fielder, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

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1969 At Anaheim Stadium, Royals' center fielder Bob Oliver collects six hits in the expansion team's 15-1 rout of the Angels, including a double and home run. The 26-year-old rookie accomplishes the rare event in the franchise's 24th game.
1969 At the Astrodome, Houston sets a National League record by turning seven double plays against the Giants, with first baseman Curt Blefary taking part in all of them. The abundance of twin killings helps the Astros win the game, 3-1.
1970 With his third-inning RBI single in the Braves' 5-3 victory over Pittsburgh, Rico Carty establishes an Atlanta team record by getting a hit in his 23rd consecutive game. The 30-year-old left fielder, who hasn't had a hitless game since Opening Day, will win the National League batting title with a .366 average.
1975 In the team's 8-6 loss to the Giants at Candlestick Park, the Astros' Bob Watson scores the major league's one-millionth run, winning $10,000 and one million Tootsie Rolls provided by the event's sponsor. The Houston first baseman crosses the plate on Milt May's homer just seconds ahead of the Reds' Dave Concepcion to earn the distinction, thanks to a teammate's awareness of the situation from a clubhouse TV, alerting the trotting baserunner to run home at full speed.
1976 Illinois Eugene F. Schlickman, a co-author of the House of Representative Resolution 747 declaring today as Rick Monday Day, will be in attendance when Los Angeles' GM Al Campanis presents Rick Monday with the flag about to be burned in the outfield at Dodger Stadium. Last month, the former Marine reservist ran in from his position, swiping the 'Stars and Stripes' away from a father and a son who intended to set the Stars and Stripes on fire.
1981 In the first inning, Jose Cruz's three-run home run proves to be the difference in the Astros' 5-4 win over Chicago. The Houston left fielder's brother, Hector, homers for the Cubs in the sixth frame of the Wrigley Field contest, making the natives of Arroyo (PR) the tenth different pair of siblings to go deep in the same game.
1981 Ron Davis establishes a major league mark for consecutive strikeouts by a reliever when he fans eight straight Angel batters in the Yankees' 4-2 victory over California. The right-handed reliever, entering the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, gets Don Baylor to pop up, and then he proceeds to strike out all of the other hitters he faces en route to his second save of the season.
1984 Dave Kingman's 180-foot pop-up enters a drainage valve located in the Metrodome roof, and much to the surprise of the Twins infielders waiting to make the catch, the ball doesn't fall into play. The A's slugger goes to second base with a ground-rule double, with the will ball staying in the dome's lining until tomorrow.
1985 Baltimore's Cal Ripken, en route to baseball's all-time mark for consecutive games, breaks Brooks Robinson's club record when he plays in his 464th straight contest. The Orioles shortstop marks the occasion by hitting a double and a home run in the Birds' 8-6 loss to the Twins at the Metrodome.
1989 Junior Felix becomes the 53rd player in major league history to hit a home run in his first at-bat. The Blue Jay rookie's initial blast comes off California's Kirk McCaskill in a 10-inning loss to the Angels, 3-2.
1989 At Arlington Stadium, before the Rangers' 11-7 loss to the Yankees, Barbara Bush, wife of the 41st president of the United States, becomes the first First Lady to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a regular-season major league game. George's spouse, the mother of George W., the team's managing general partner, does the honors after promoting her literacy program.

1991 At Shea Stadium, Mackey Sasser and Mark Carreon, the first two batters in the ninth inning, go deep as pinch-hitters off Jeff Brantley to knot the score at two runs apiece in the Mets' eventual 4-2 victory over San Francisco in 12 innings. It is the first time in the 30-year history of the franchise that two pinch-hitters have hit back-to-back round-trippers.
1991 Chris James establishes the club record for RBIs in a game by driving in nine runs with a pair of homers and two singles, helping the Indians crush the A's, 20-6. The first baseman's offensive output will account for 22% of the 41 runs he will drive in for Cleveland this season.
1996 A fifth-inning home run by Mark Lewis is the only hit Ranger right-hander Roger Pavlik yields in his 3-1 complete-game victory over Detroit. Teammate Ken Hill, who retired the last 26 batters he faced yesterday, also allowed only one hit, making Texas the first American League club in 79 years to have one-hitters thrown in consecutive games.
1999 After 6,136 at-bats without a bases-loaded homer, Mark Grace hits his first career grand slam in the Cubs' 12-11 victory over Colorado at Wrigley Field. The Chicago first baseman's accomplishment now leaves Reds' shortstop Barry Larkin as the only active player with the longest drought with the bases juiced, spanning 5,817 at-bats.
2000 Doug Glanville collects five hits in a game for the second time in his career in the Phillies' 14-1 pounding of Cincinnati at Veterans Stadium. The Philadelphia outfielder's first hit, a lead-off two-bagger, is the first of four consecutive doubles hit in the bottom of the first frame to start the game, tying a major league record.
2001 En route to a Blue Jays 8-3 victory over Seattle, Raul Mondesi strokes four extra-base hits, collecting 12 total bases. The outfielder's 4-for-4 performance includes two home runs, a pair of doubles, and six RBIs.
2005 The fifth pair of 300-game winners face off against each other when Cubs starter Greg Maddux (305) bests Roger Clemens (329) and the Astros at Minute Maid Park, 3-2. The other pair of milestone moundsmen includes Don Sutton vs. Steve Carlton (1987), Don Sutton vs. Phil Niekro (1987), Don Sutton vs. Tom Seaver (1986), and Tim Keefe vs. Jim 'Pud' Galvin (1892).
2006 In its May 8 issue, Forbes Magazine estimates the New York Yankees are the first baseball team worth more than $1 billion. At the opposite end of the economic study are the $209 million Devil Rays, valued the least among the 30 major league teams.
2006 On the first pitch he sees in his first major league at-bat, Mike Napoli hits a home run at Detroit's Comerica Park. The Angels catcher becomes the third player in franchise history to make such a dramatic debut, joining Don Rose (1972) and Dave Machemer (1978), who also accomplished the feat.

2006 The Nationals' new owners are on hand for the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Washington ballpark, a venue they hope will be ready at the start of the 2008 season. Theodore Lerner, head of the ownership group chosen by MLB yesterday to buy the team, has already thought of changes for the $611 million neighborhood ballpark.
2007 Except for Nick Altrock's 1933 at-bat against the A's Rube Walberg, the second-inning Chase Field matchup of Mets first baseman Julio Franco against Diamondback fireballer Randy Johnson marks the oldest hitter-pitcher confrontation in big-league history. With a mere 92+ years of age between them, the nearly 49-year-old goes deep off the southpaw, who is four months shy of 44, extending his record as the oldest player to homer, and continues to be the most senior to steal a base with his ninth-inning swipe of second.

(Ed. Note: The oldest matchup in MLB history occurred on the season's final day when 57-year-old pinch-hitter Nick Altrock, in his only plate appearance in 1933, faced Rube Walberg, 37, for a combined age of 94 years - 80 days. Our thanks to frequent contributor D. Karpinski for correcting the original entry. -LP)
2008 Yogi Berra is among the 15 inaugural honorees inducted into the newly conceived New Jersey Hall of Fame. Although the Yankee legend considers fellow inductee Albert Einstein to be "a pretty smart guy," he is not convinced the Nobel Prize winner for physics would have made a good manager.
2009 With their 7-2 win over Arizona, the Dodgers establish a National League record for consecutive victories to open a season at home. Their 11-0 start surpasses the NL mark shared by the 1918 Giants, 1970 Cubs, and 1983 Braves and is one shy of the major-league record set by the Tigers in 1911.
2009 Ryan Howard's grand slam powers the Phillies past St. Louis at Busch Stadium, 6-1. The slugging first baseman's seventh career grand salami ties Mike Schmidt's franchise record.
2009 In the bottom of the second inning, with two runners aboard at Dodger Stadium, the Diamondbacks pull off their second triple play in franchise history. The 6-4-3 triple killing starts with shortstop Josh Wilson's backhanded grab of Casey Blake's scorching line drive (1), with his throw to Felipe Lopez doubling off Russell Marin at second (2), and Matt Kemp becoming the third out when the relay easily beats him back to first base (3).

2010 The Phillies announce the team is discussing with the Philadelphia Police Department the appropriateness of using a stun gun at Citizens Bank Park. Yesterday, a city police officer tasered a 17-year-old when the young fan jumped onto the playing field of Citizens Bank Park.
2010 During the seventh-inning stretch in a game against Detroit, the fans honor Ernie Harwell with a standing ovation upon hearing the broadcasting icon's death. In September, the 92-year-old Hall of Fame announcer, who started his major league career with Brooklyn in 1948 and spent 42 years broadcasting Tiger games, publicly shared his diagnosis of inoperable bile duct cancer.
2010

"He brings out the best in his players and exemplifies what the sport of baseball is supposed to be about - hustle, grit, loyalty, and determination." - U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), praising Braves manager Bobby Cox.

At the United States Capitol, Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) present Bobby Cox with framed copies of statements they submitted to the Congressional Record on April 20, honoring the Braves' skipper. The 68-year-old skipper has announced he will be retiring at the end of the season after 51 seasons in professional baseball.

Text of remarks on the Congressional Record made by
Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
2012 A winning bid made at Heritage Auctions of items from the collection of LA songwriter Seth Swirsky includes an anonymous buyer paying $418,250 for the baseball hit by Mookie Wilson that rolled through the legs of Bill Buckner in Games of the 1986 World Series. Reggie Jackson's third home run ball from Game 6 of the 1977 Fall Classic ($65,725), the Ranger cap that Jose Canseco was wearing in 1993 when a ball bounced off his head over the wall for a homer ($11,950), and a 1965 baseball signed by the Beatles from the Shea Stadium concert ($65,725) also fetch record amounts.

2013 En route to his first major league win, Marlin rookie right-hander Jose Fernandez hurls one-hit ball, striking out nine in the team's 2-0 victory over Philadelphia. Mike Dunn's perfect eighth and closer Steve Cishek's save follows the 20-year-old's superb seven-inning outing to preserve the one-hitter at Citizens Bank Park.
2018 Angels first baseman Albert Pujols records his 3,000th career hit when he singles off Mike Leake in the fifth inning of the team's 5-0 victory over the Mariners at Safeco Field. The historic base hit ties the ten-time All-Star for 31st on baseball's all-time hit list with Roberto Clemente, whom he will pass with his second hit later in the contest.

2019 After retiring the first eight batters of the game, White Sox southpaw Manny Banuelos gives up ten consecutive hits in a nine-run third inning of the team's 15-2 defeat to the Red Sox at Chicago's Guaranteed Rate Field. The Chicago starter's string, which includes giving up four singles, three singles, and three home runs, falls short of the record of 11 straight hits established in 2010 by the Rockies against the Cubs during a 17-2 victory at Coors Field.
47 Fact(s) Found