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This Day in Baseball History
June 4th

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38 Fact(s) Found
1890 Submariner Tim Keefe of the New York Giants franchise of the Players League defeats the Boston Reds, 9-4, to record his 300th victory. 'Sir Timothy,' who won 19 straight decisions in 1888, will finish his 14-year career with 342 victories.
1911 In a 26-3 win over the Braves at the Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati, thirteen Reds players cross home plate. It is the highest number of different players from one team to score in a single game in major league history.
1937 Gus Suhr establishes a new National League record when he plays in his 822nd consecutive game. The Pirates first baseman's streak ends the following day when he attends his mother's funeral in San Francisco.
1940 The Braves sign South Park High School (Buffalo, NY) standout Warren Spahn, who will make his major league debut in 1942 when he appears in two games as a 20-year-old for Boston before serving three years in the Army during World War II. In 1946, the Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient will return to the National League to win the first game of his career at the age of 25 en route to becoming the winningest southpaw in the game's history with 363 victories.
1940 The Cardinals play their first night game at home, losing to Brooklyn, 10-1, despite Joe Medwick's 5-for-5 performance that included three doubles. The honor of hosting the first evening tilt in St. Louis, which took place on May 24, was given to the Browns after the two teams finally agreed to split the $150,000 cost of installing lights at Sportsman's Park, the ballpark they share.
1940 Pittsburgh routs the Boston Bees, 14-2, in the first night game played in the Steel City. Joe Bowman, the Pirates' starter, tosses a five-hitter, with rookies Bob Elliott and Maurice Van Robays providing the offense with timely extra-base hits.
1951 Pirates outfielder Gus Bell hits for the cycle in Philadelphia as the Bucs beat the Phillies, 12-4. In 2004, his grandson David, whose dad Buddy also played in the major leagues, also collects a single, double, triple, and home run in a game, marking the first time a grandfather-grandson combination has accomplished the feat.

1953 As part of a ten-player swap, the Pirates deal Ralph Kiner, Joe Garagiola, George Metkovich, and Howie Pollet to the Cubs for Bob Addis, Toby Atwell, George Freese, Gene Hermanski, Bob Schultz, Preston Ward, and $150,000. Frank Thomas, who will hit 30 home runs and collect 102 RBIs to establish new rookie records for the Bucs, replaces Kiner, a perennial All-Star outfielder.
1957 At a seventy-five-minute meeting at City Hall with Walter O'Malley and Horace Stoneham, presidents of the Dodgers and Giants, respectively, tell Mayor Robert Wagner neither club committed to moving out of New York - and none to stay in the Big Apple. After the National League's permission for the teams to explore the possibility of moving their franchises to the West Coast, His Honor assures them that the city will be of assistance in replacing the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, the aging ballparks the clubs call home.
1964 At Connie Mack Stadium, Sandy Koufax throws his third no-hitter in three years, blanking the Phillies 3-0. The Dodgers' southpaw, who will add a perfect game to his resume next season, joins Larry Corcoran, Cy Young, and Bob Feller as the only other major leaguers to pitch three career hitless games.
1967 At Busch Stadium, Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood's errorless streak of 227 games and 568 chances ends when he drops Rich Nye's fifth-inning fly ball. The muff leads to an unearned run, but St. Louis still beats Chicago, 4-3.
1968 At the Ambassador Hotel, Robert Kennedy tells his followers in the ballroom, giving his victory speech in the California primary before being fatally shot, "I like to express my high regard to Don Drysdale, who pitched his sixth straight shutout tonight. And I hope we can have as good fortune in our campaign." At nearby Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers right-hander had blanked the Bucs, 6-0, extending his scoreless streak to 54 innings.
1968 Don Drysdale, pitching his sixth consecutive shutout, defeats the Pirates, 5-0. The Dodger right-hander will extend his major league record scoreless streak to 58.2 innings before yielding a run in his next start.
1972 The Dodgers retire Roy Campanella's uniform number 39. Campy, who won the MVP three times, catching for Brooklyn in the fifties, joins Jackie Robinson (42) and Sandy Koufax (32) to be honored in this manner.
1974 On Ten-Cent Beer Night, home plate ump Nestor Chylak stops play with the score tied at five in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Rangers the forfeited victory over the Indians at Cleveland Stadium. The promotion, which sells an estimated 60,000 cups of brew to a crowd of 25,134 fans, becomes unmanageable when drunken Cleveland fans attacked Texas outfielder Jeff Burroughs and the umpires.

1976 Mets right fielder Dave Kingman hits three home runs in the team's 11-0 victory at Dodger Stadium. Sky King's two-run dinger and two three-run round-trippers drive in eight runs, a new club record.
1980 Mets right-hander Pat Zachry (7) and Neil Allen (3) combine to throw a three-hitter against the Cardinals at Shea Stadium. Unfortunately for the Mets, the third Redbird hit is a home run by Ken Reitz leading off the tenth inning of the team's eventual 1-0 loss to St. Louis.
1980 At Shea Stadium, Jim Kaat, recently traded from the Yankees, goes the distance when the Cardinal left-hander blanks the Mets in 10 innings, 1-0. The 41-year-old hurler, who didn't start a game last season, gets the victory thanks to third baseman Ken Reitz's extra-inning solo home run.
1986 In a 12-3 rout of the Braves, Pirates rookie outfielder Barry Bonds hits his first major league home run, facing Craig McMurtry. Bobby's son will become the all-time career home run leader, hitting 762 during his 22-year career playing for Pittsburgh and the San Francisco Giants.
1989 After trailing 10-0 after six innings, the Blue Jays rally to beat the Red Sox, 13-11. Junior Felix's two-run home run in the top of the 12th inning is the decisive blow in the Fenway Park contest.
1990 En route to a 6-0 complete-game victory, 22-year-old Dodger right-hander Ramon Martinez limits Atlanta to three hits. Pedro's older brother, who will finish the season with a 20-6 record, strikes out 18 batters during the contest.
1996 Jacksonville Suns' (Tigers - AA) reliever Pamela Davis throws one scoreless inning of relief to earn the win in a minor league exhibition game against the Australian Olympic team, becoming the first woman to pitch for a major league farm club.
1996 Paul Wilder is selected as the Devil Rays' first-ever draft pick when the team participates in the June free-agent amateur draft. The 18-year-old outfielder-first baseman, who tops the list of 97 players chosen by Tampa Bay, will spend four years in the minor leagues without appearing in a major league game.
1998 The Dodgers trade the 1995 National League Rookie of the Year Hideo Nomo (2-7 with a 5.05 ERA) and reliever Brad Clontz to the Mets for pitchers Dave Mlicki and Greg McMichael.
1998 The Indians become the first publicly traded major league team when they raise $60 million by selling all four million shares of common stock at a purchase price of $15. Although the shares sold to the public each carry a single vote, Mr. Jacobs will still control the club, owning most of the 2.3 million Class B shares that count as 10,000 votes each.
2000 At Shea Stadium, Esteban Yan becomes the 14th player to hit a home run on the first pitch thrown to him in a major league game. In addition to his historic homer, the Devil Rays starter, giving up three runs in five innings, picks up the victory when Tampa Bay routs the Mets in an inter-league contest, 15-5.
2001 After falling behind in the count, 3-0, Little League pitcher Robert Knight strikes out the final batter to complete a perfect game in which all 18 batters struck out. The 5-foot-3 twelve-year-old also had three hits as the Tigers beat the Giants, 7-0.
2001 In front of the team store at Miller Park, the Brewers unveil a bronze sculpture of Robin Yount, the two-time American League Most Valuable Player who played his entire 20-year career with the team. The work created by sculptor Brian Maughan depicts an older player in mid-swing but is called "The Kid," a nickname given to the future Hall of Famer as an 18-year-old in his rookie season in 1974.

The Kid
Photo courtesy of Steve Schar

2003 Although his bat may have contained cork in yesterday's game, all five of Sammy Sosa's historic bats housed at the Hall of Fame and the 76 confiscated from his locker by major league baseball revealed no signs of tampering. X-rays and CT scans clear the Cubs slugger's remaining lumber.
2003 At Puerto Rico's Hiram Bithorn Stadium, Jeff DaVanon of the Angels joins Lee May (1969, Reds), Frank Thomas (1962, Mets), and Gus Zernial (1951, A's) as the fourth player to have three consecutive multi-homer games. At the same time, the Anaheim outfielder also becomes the third player to do it from both sides of the plate in two back-to-back contests, matching Ken Caminiti (1995, Padres) and Eddie Murray (1987, Orioles).
2006 After going 1-for-11 in his first four games, Lastings Milledge collects three hits, including his first big league dinger. The two-run home run off Giants All-Star closer Armando Benitez, which ties the game in the tenth, sparks controversy when the Mets rookie, on his way to his position in right field in the 11th inning, high fives some of the Shea Stadium fans in the front row, much to the displeasure to many players in both dugouts.
2009 In the opener of a twin bill, Randy Johnson gives a solid six-inning performance in the Giants' 5-1 victory over the Nationals to earn his 300th victory. The 'Big Unit' becomes the 24th pitcher to accomplish the feat and the first to reach the milestone on his first attempt since Tom Seaver beat the Yankees in 1985.
2010 The Brevard County Manatees announce they will stop taking 'BP' to protest the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the company with the same initials. The Florida State League team, a farm club of the Brewers, plans to refer to batting practice as hitting rehearsal, to become better known as 'HR.'
2010 The Orioles, the team with the worst record in the major leagues, fire manager Dave Trembley after his club comes home from a 0-6 road trip. Third base coach Juan Samuel is appointed the interim skipper of the 15-39 last-place Birds.
2012 🇵🇷 With the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball draft, the Astros take Carlos Correa, making him the first player from Puerto Rico to be selected number one overall. Before choosing the 17-year-old shortstop from Velázquez, former major league catcher Ramon Castro had previously been the highest-drafted player out of the Commonwealth when Houston picked him #17 overall by 1994.
2013 After tying the game in the tenth inning with a home run off Steve Cishek, John Mayberry Jr. hits his first career bases-full round-tripper with two outs at the bottom of the 11th, giving the Phillies a 7-3 walk-off victory over Miami at Citizens Bank Park. The Philadelphia outfielder, who entered the contest in the seventh frame as a pinch-hitter, ties a major league record shared by five other players for the most round-trippers hit in extra innings in one game.
2018 Aaron Judge becomes the first major leaguer with eight strikeouts in a doubleheader when he earns a platinum sombrero in the Yankees' 4-2 nightcap loss to the Tigers. In the opener at Comerica Park, the Bronx right fielder whiffed in his first three at-bats, facing Detroit starter Mike Fiers.
2020 Before their game against the New York Mets, the Dodgers retire their 11th uniform number, honoring Gil Hodges (#14), an eight-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove first baseman who batted .274 and hit 361 home runs during his 16 seasons with the team. Next month, the legendary Boy of Summer will be inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame, joining his late Brooklyn teammates Roy Campanella (1969), Pee Wee Reese (1984), Jackie Robinson (1962), and Duke Snider (1980) in Cooperstown.

(Ed. Note: In 1973, the Mets retired also Gil Hodges' number 14 as a tribute to their late manager, who died of a heart attack just before the start of the season. In addition to piloting the team to a World Championship in 1969, he also hit the first home run in franchise history, a solo shot in 1962. - LP)

38 Fact(s) Found