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This Day in Baseball History
May 5th

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30 Fact(s) Found
1904 Cy Young tosses the first perfect game in American League history, defeating Rube Waddell and the Philadelphia A's, 3-0. The Red Sox right-hander's gem is the first perfect game thrown in the majors since the decision to increase the distance between the mound and plate from 45 feet to 60 feet, six inches in 1893.
1913 American League president Ban Johnson suspends George Stovall indefinitely after the Browns' manager spit tobacco juice into Charlie Ferguson's face after being ejected by the umpire two days ago in the team's 11-8 loss to the Naps at Sportsman's Park. The banishment will last 17 days and end on the condition that the controversial skipper sends the arbitrator a letter of apology. 
1917 Thanks to the St. Louis scorer's decision to turn Buck Weaver's first-inning questionable hit into an error, Browns' hurler Ernie Koob throws a no-hitter at Sportsman's Park. The southpaw beats Ed Cicotte and the White Sox, 1-0.
1925 At Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Ty Cobb establishes an American League record with 16 total bases, lasting until 2012 when Rangers' outfielder Josh Hamilton collects 18. The Georgia Peach's 6-for-6 performance, which includes three homers, two singles, and a double, helps the Tigers defeat the hometown Browns, 14-8.
1929 In the first Sunday home game the Braves ever play, Milt Gaston, with his brother Alex behind the plate, relieves Red Ruffing in the seventh inning to become the second pair of siblings in American League history to be batterymates. Tommy and Homer Thompson appeared in one game together for the Yankees in 1912 and were the first.
1930 The Red Sox trade Red Ruffing to the Yankees for $50,000 and Cedric Durst, who will hit .245 in 102 games during his only season in Boston. New York's new right-hander, a future Hall of Famer, will post a 231-124 (.651) record and an ERA of 3.47 during his 15 seasons with the Bronx ball club.
1953 In the second game of a twin bill at Milwaukee's County Stadium, Braves' hurler Max Surkont strikes out the hitter for the third out of the second inning and will continue to fan batters until there is one out in the fifth inning en route to a 10-3 victory over the Reds. The eight consecutive strikeouts establish a new major league record, surpassing the seven straight shared by Dazzy Vance (Robins/Dodgers, 1924) and Van Mungo (Dodgers, 1936).
1955 In his first major league start, Dodger rookie starter Tommy Lasorda ties a record, throwing three wild pitches in the first inning of the team's 4-3 victory over St. Louis at Ebbets Field. During his one inning of work, the future Dodgers' Hall of Fame skipper will be spiked by Wally Moon, covering a play at home plate after uncorking one of his errant pitches.
1955

When your luck is battin' zero
Get your chin up off the floor
Mister you can be a hero
You can open any door, there's nothin' to it but to do it
You've gotta have heart
- 'You Gotta to Have Heart' lyrics from Damn Yankees

The musical Damn Yankees, based on Douglass Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, opens on Broadway. The comedy, set in Washington, DC, during the Bronx Bombers' dominance in baseball in the 1950s, tells the tale of an aging Washington Senators fan's bargain with the devil to help his hapless team.

1958 Behind ten runs entering the final frame, the Giants score nine times in an unforgettable 11-10 loss to Pittsburgh. With the bases loaded, pinch-hitter Don Taussig pops out to end the game and San Francisco's remarkable comeback attempt at Seals Stadium.
1962 In his fourth big league start, Bo Belinsky throws the first hitless game in Angels history and the first ever tossed at Dodger Stadium, beating the Orioles 2-0. The 25-year-old southpaw is only the tenth rookie to throw a no-hitter.
1965 In a match-up of eventual Hall of Famers at Shea Stadium, Phillies right-hander Jim Bunning beats the Mets, 1-0, for his sixth straight complete-game victory over the New Yorkers. The Philadelphia starter provides the game's lone run with a sixth-inning lead-off solo homer run off southpaw Warren Spahn, who also goes the distance, giving up just four hits.
1978 At Riverfront Stadium, Pete Rose becomes the 13th player in major league history to collect his 3000th hit, a single to left field off Montreal right-hander Steve Rogers. The Reds' legend reaches the milestone in his 16th major league season, quicker than any of the other dozen players who have accomplished the feat.

1980 For pushing his glove in the face of umpire Jerry Crawford, Bill Madlock is suspended for 15 days and fined $5,000 by National League president Chub Feeney. The fiery Pirates' infielder, called Mad Dog by his teammates, became upset after being called out on strikes with the bases loaded in the fifth inning of the Bucs' 2-1 victory over Montreal four days ago.
1982 At  Candlestick Park, Mets catcher John Stearns goes deep off Greg Minton, becoming the first major leaguer to accomplish the feat in nearly four years. The Giant's 30-year-old right-handed reliever had faced 807 batters throughout 269 ½ innings without allowing a home run to establish a record that is unlikely to be broken. 
1995 Thirty-three years after Don Zimmer played third base in the franchise's first contest, Edgardo Alfonzo becomes the 100th player in Mets history to cover the 'hot corner.' Howard Johnson played the most games at the position, appearing in 835 games for New York in eight seasons.
1999 Beating the Cubs, 13-6, the Rockies become only the third team in the 1900s to score a run every inning. The 1964 Cardinals accomplished the feat against the Cubs, and the Giants scored in every frame against the Phillies in 1923.

2000 Cardinals' first baseman Mark McGwire hits the longest home run in the 30-year history of Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field, but the 473-foot shot isn't enough as Ken Griffey Jr.'s homer leads the Reds past St. Louis, 3-2.

2000 For the first time in team history, the Rangers overcome an eight-run deficit, beating Oakland, 17-16, thanks to Mike Lamb's ninth-inning pinch-hit single scoring Iván Rodríguez. In The Ballpark in Arlington contest, the teams tie an American League record when 18 different players scored, including every starter, first accomplished during a Reds/A's contest on June 29, 1950.
2000

"We came for the gold, and we got it." - TOMMY LASORDA, manager of the U.S. Olympic team.

Former big-league skipper Tommy Lasorda, 72, is named manager of the United States Olympic baseball team. The Hall of Fame pilot, who won four National League pennants and two World Series titles with the Dodgers, will add a Gold Medal to his accomplishments when Team USA beats heavily-favored Cuba in the contest known as the Miracle on Grass.

2004 Major League Baseball announces each team, based on the comfort level of the franchise, will promote the movie Spider-Man 2 during the first weekend of interleague play, June 11 to 13. The promotion, seen as an opportunity to market the game to younger fans, will include placing a Spider-Man logo on all the bases.

(Ed. Note: MLB reverses its decision to have red-and-yellow ads appear on bases due to adverse fan reaction and the Yankees' lack of enthusiasm for the promotion, allowing the ads only during batting practice for just one game. -LP)
2004 Mets backstop Mike Piazza passes Carlton Fisk for most home runs hit by a catcher when he hits his 352nd round-tripper as a catcher. The Morristown (PA) native's 405-foot opposite-field historic homer comes off Jerome Williams' 3-1 fastball during the first inning of the Mets' 8-2 victory at Shea Stadium.

2004 Roger Clemens moves ahead of Steve Carlton (4,136) into second place on the career strikeouts list when he gets Raul Mondesi swinging in the fifth inning of the Astros' 9-2 victory over Pittsburgh at Minute Maid Park. Nolan Ryan's all-time mark of 5,714 whiffs appears out of reach for the 41-year-old 'Rocket,' who would still need over 1500 to challenge the record.
2008 At Coors Field, Derek Lowe throws 43 pitches before he retires the first Rockies batter of the game. The Dodgers starting pitcher never recovers from the 50-pitch, three-run first inning, leaving after the fifth of a 7-2 eventual loss to Colorado.
2008 In the 4,000th game played at Dodger Stadium, Joe Torre's Dodgers beat the Mets, 5-1. The Los Angeles skipper also managed the 1,000th game at the Astrodome (Mets - 1977) and Coors Field (Yankees - 2007), the 2,000th at Busch Stadium (Cardinals - 1991), the 3,000th at Angel Stadium (Yankees - 2003), and the 6,000th at Yankee Stadium (Yankees -2001).
2009 The Dodgers tie the major league record of 12 consecutive wins at home to start the season with their 3-1 victory over Arizona. L.A.'s 12-0 start at home equals the mark set by the Tigers in 1911.
2010 Satellite provider DirecTV and the Yes Network announce their plans to televise the first major league baseball game in three dimensions. The July 10th Safeco Field telecast between the Yankees and Mariners will be available to viewers with 3-D television sets in New York, Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Montana, and Idaho.
2010 Boston honors their former All-Star shortstop Nomar Garciaparra with a special day before the Red Sox-Angels game at Fenway Park. During spring training, the two-time batting champ had signed a one-day contract to retire as a member of his original team.

2015 Mitch Harris becomes the first graduate of any military academy to earn a major league victory when the Cardinals beat the Cubs at Busch Stadium, 7-4. The 29-year-old Redbird rookie right-hander, the first Naval Academy midshipman in 94 years to appear in a big-league game, sails through a scoreless fourth inning in relief to notch the historic decision.
2021 John Means becomes the first individual Oriole hurler to throw a no-hitter since Jim Palmer accomplished the feat on Aug. 13, 1969. The lefty's gem, where he retires all 27 Mariners he faces, marks the first time a pitcher does not get credit for a perfect game due to the dropped-third-strike rule.

(Ed. Note: On July 13, 1991, Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson, and Gregg Olson threw a combined no-hitter in Baltimore. -LP)
30 Fact(s) Found