<< Yesterday

This Day in Baseball History
August 7th

Tomorrow>>
43 Fact(s) Found
1907 Senators' hurler Walter Johnson wins his first major league game, beating the Indians, 7-2. The 19-year-old right-hander will compile a 417-279 (.599) record, along with an ERA of 2.17, during his 21-year career.
1923 Indian first baseman Frank Brower goes 6-for-6, collecting a double and five singles. The 30-year-old infielder's offensive output helps Cleveland rout the Senators at Griffith Stadium, 22-2.
1943 The Giants tie a National League record when they leave eighteen players on base. The team strands two baserunners in each inning in their 9-6 loss to the Phillies at the Polo Grounds.
1950 At Rickwood Field, the Birmingham police bar three white players of the Chicago American Giants from playing in a Negro American League doubleheader against the Birmingham Black Barons. The local officers met Ted Radcliffe at the gate, informing the visiting manager that his 'non-black' players would have to watch the game from the 'whites only' grandstand due to the city's segregation laws.
1951 A crowd of 57,000 at the Orange Bowl, the largest ever to attend a minor league game, watches an ageless 51-year-old Satchel Paige hit a double and get the win when the Miami Marlins beat the Columbus Jets in International League action, 6-2.
1962 The Mets' 7-5 loss to Los Angeles in Chavez Ravine mathematically eliminates the 29-81 team from finishing in first place. After the game, New York manager Casey Stengel calls a meeting and jokes with his players that they can loosen up and relax now that they are out of the pennant race, which they promptly do, winning just eleven more games during the last two months of the season.
1963 At the Polo Grounds, Jim Hickman becomes the first Met in franchise history to hit for the cycle, accomplishing the feat in the rare natural order. The New York leadoff batter's single in the first inning, double in the second, fourth-frame triple, and a sixth-inning solo shot contributes to the Amazins' 7-3 victory over St. Louis.
1968 In his major league debut, A's Joe Keough hits a home run in his first at-bat. The rookie goes deep off Lindy McDaniel as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, tying the score at 3-to-3 in Oakland's eventual 4-3 extra-inning victory at Yankee Stadium.
1969 At a hastily called news conference, Phillies' manager Bob Skinner resigns, citing a lack of support from the front office in his efforts to discipline Dick Allen, the team's temperamental superstar. Third-base coach George Myatt replaces the 37-year-old skipper, inheriting the fifth-place club with a 44-64 record.
1971 A's southpaw Vida Blue, en route to a 24-8 record in his first full year in the major leagues, becomes a 20-game winner when he goes the distance, blanking the White Sox, 1-0. The only run in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum contest scores on a sixth-inning balk committed by Joe Horlen.
1972 The Hall of Fame inducts pitchers Sandy Koufax (1st yr, 86.9%), the author of four no-hitters, and three hundred game winner Early Wynn (4th yr, 76.0%). Yogi Berra (2nd yr, 85.6%), who retired as the AL leader for catcher putouts with 8,723, is also enshrined in Cooperstown.

(Ed. Note: Thirty-six-year-old Sandy Koufax, named on 344 of 396 ballots, becomes the youngest player to be enshrined. - LP)

1973 An ambulance rushes Oakland owner Charlie Finley to Chicago's Northwestern University Hospital after collapsing due to a heart attack. During the meddlesome owner's absence, the A's flourish, winning 13 of 14 games, including nine consecutive victories, to go into first place, a position they will not relinquish.
1976 A strike away from throwing a no-hitter, Steve Luebber gives up a single to Roy Howell, who advances to third base on an error in center field by Lyman Bostock. The 27-year-old right-hander will yield another hit and a run before being replaced on the mound by reliever Bill Campbell in the Twins' 3-1 victory over the Rangers at Arlington Stadium.
1978 Mel Allen and Red Barber become the Ford C. Frick Broadcasting Award's first recipients. The Hall of Fame voters, unable to choose between the two legendary voices, select each Yankee announcer to receive the honor, recognizing excellence among baseball broadcasters.
1982 Jim Rice climbs into the Fenway Park stands from the dugout to assist a young boy hit by a savage line drive off the bat of Dave Stapleton. The Red Sox slugger's quick response of picking up the four-year-old boy and running through the dugout to a waiting ambulance possibly saved the child's life.
1983 The team honors Bobby Murcer by giving him a day at Yankee Stadium. The popular Oklahoman, who will become a long-time team broadcaster, played 13 seasons for the Bronx Bombers, compiling a .278 batting average while in pinstripes.
1985 A five-year agreement between the union and owners, which includes salary arbitration eligibility increasing from two to three years, ends the two-day midseason players' strike. The season will resume tomorrow, with the 25 games scheduled for yesterday and today made up later.
1987 Bill Mazeroski's uniform jersey #9 is officially retired from active service by the Pirates. The 1960 World Series hero joins Billy Meyer (1), Willie Stargell (8), Pie Traynor (20), Roberto Clemente (21), Honus Wagner (33), and Danny Murtaugh (40) to be honored by Pittsburgh in this manner.
1988 The Mariners establish a major league record with five sacrifice flies in their 12-7 victory over Oakland. Alvin Davis, Rey Quinones, Jay Buhner, Darnell Coles, and Jim Presley drive in a run with a long fly ball out in the Oakland Coliseum contest.
1993 In his first major league appearance since being involved in a tragic accident during spring training, Indian pitcher Bobby Ojeda receives a warm reception from the Orioles fans attending the Camden Yards contest. In March, the veteran southpaw sustained severe injuries at Little Lake Nellie in Clermont (FL) in a motorboat accident that claimed the lives of two teammates, relievers Tim Crews and Steve Olin.
1999 A major leaguer gets his 3000th hit for the second consecutive day when Wade Boggs homers in the sixth off Indian Chris Haney. The Devil Rays' third baseman, the first player to reach the milestone with a home run, rounds the bases, pointing skyward and blowing a kiss in memory of his mom, and gets down on his knees to kiss home plate.

1999 The Royals honor George Brett's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame with an on-field ceremony before the game against Minnesota. The former third baseman played his entire 21-year career in Kansas City, compiling a .305 lifetime batting average.
2000 The Yankees claim Jose Canseco off waivers from the Devil Rays. The 35-year-old slugger will appear in just 37 games for the Bronx Bombers, primarily as a designated hitter, hitting .247 in 111 at-bats.
2001 Home plate umpire Angel Hernandez ejects Steve 'Mongo' McMichael from Wrigley Field when the former Chicago Bear football player is about to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch. Presently a pro wrestler, McMichael tells the crowd over the P.A. system, "he'll have a talk with the ump" concerning a close call made by Hernandez earlier in the game, bows and blows a kiss toward the ump.
2001 Black Betsy, Shoeless Joe Jackson's 40-ounce warped hickory bat, becomes available in a ten-day eBay auction. A 30-year-old businessman, Rob Mitchell, places the winning bid of $577,610, believed to be the largest amount ever paid for a baseball bat.
2001 Passing the mark of 68 established by Christy Mathewson (Giants - 1913) and Randy Jones (Padres - 1976), Braves right-hander Greg Maddux sets the NL record for consecutive innings without allowing a walk, pitching six innings without giving up a base on balls to extend the record to 70.1 innings. The major league record is 84.1 innings without a free pass, established in 1962 by A's sinker-slider hurler Bill Fischer.
2002 Major leaguers agree to be checked randomly for illegal steroids starting next year. The proposal ends the players' decades-old opposition to mandatory drug testing, a major issue in the current contract talks.
2002 The Rockies give Clint Hurdle a two-year contract extension after he pilots the team to a 45-45 record as the interim skipper. The club's former hitting coach replaced Buddy Bell, who Colorado fired near the end of April.
2003 Albert Pujols joins Jose Canseco (A's, 1986-1988) as the only other player in major league history to hit 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs during his first three seasons. The Cardinals left fielder accomplished the feat with a run-scoring double in the first inning off Josh Beckett in the team's 3-0 victory over Florida at Busch Stadium.
2003 Fireballer Eric Gagne ties the single-season record for consecutive saves to start a season, established in 1995 by Jose Mesa of the Indians. The Dodger closer strikes out the Reds' side in the ninth inning for his 38th save this season and 46th consecutive regular-season save overall.
2004 In less than a masterful performance, Greg Maddux pitches five innings to register his 300th victory when the Cubs beat the Giants, 8-4. The 38-year-old is the 22nd pitcher to reach the plateau, and many believe he may be the last to achieve this coveted milestone.
2005 In the battle of the Zambranos, the Mets' Victor is victorious when he defeats Carlos and the Cubs at Shea Stadium, 6-1. In addition to sharing the same last name, the two unrelated Venezuelan pitchers wear the same number (38), enter the game with the same amount of career wins (41), play for teams that started the series with the same record (54-54), and both switch hit and throw right-handed.
2005 On the left-left concourse at U.S. Cellular Field, the White Sox unveiled a life-sized bronze statue of Carlton Fisk. The Hall of Fame catcher, who played for the ChiSox from 1981 to the end of his career in 1993, joins team founder Charles A. Comiskey and Cuban legend Minnie Minoso, also honored with statues in the Chicago ballpark.
2006 The Diamondbacks trade pitching prospects Matt Chico and Garrett Mock to the Nationals for veteran right-hander Livan Hernandez (9-8, 5.34). Washington had put the 31-year-old Cuban on waivers, hoping to make a deal with any team, but Arizona blocked that option, trying to stay in the NL West hunt.
2007 In front of a very supportive home crowd at AT&T Park, Barry Bonds surpasses Hank Aaron as the all-time home run leader when he connects on a 3-2 pitch for #756 off southpaw Mike Bacsik of the Nationals. During the 10-minute celebration following the historic homer, a surprise video message on the scoreboard shows Hammerin' Hank congratulating the Giants' left fielder for breaking the 31-year-old record.
2010 Chris Young becomes the sixth major leaguer to lead off and end a game with a round-tripper, hitting a pair of solo home runs in the Diamondbacks' 6-5 victory over the Padres at Chase Field. In the first frame, the Arizona center fielder connected off Clayton Richard, hitting his walk-off blast to deep left field off Luke Gregerson, leading off the ninth inning. 
2010 James Shields ties a major league record for dingers allowed in one game when he gives up six round-trippers in the Rays' 17-11 loss to Toronto at the Rogers Centre. 'Big Fly James,' in his four innings of work, yields homers to Aaron Hill (2), Edwin Encarnacion, Adam Lind, Jose Bautista, and J.P. Arencibia.
2010 In a 17-11 slugfest against Tampa Bay at the Rogers Centre, J.P. Arencibia becomes the 28th player to hit a home run on the first pitch he sees as a major leaguer. The Blue Jays rookie catcher will also hit a double, a single, and another home run, finishing the contest just a triple shy of completing the cycle. 

2014 The Mets freshman Jacob deGrom establishes a franchise mark for rookies when he throws 67⅓ innings in 10 games without allowing a home run. The 26-year-old right-hander's streak ends when Ian Desmond takes him deep in the second inning of the team's 5-3 loss to Washington at Nationals Park.
2016 The first triple play in Petco Park history takes place in the bottom of the seventh inning when Jabari Blash, with runners on first and second, hits a grounder to Phillies' third baseman Maikel Franco, who steps on the bag to begin 5-4-3 around-the-horn triple killing. The last triple play Philadelphia pulled off was accomplished single-handedly by Eric Bruntlett, who retired three Mets in a 2009 contest at Citi Field.
2016 Ichiro Suzuki becomes the 30th major leaguer to collect 3,000 hits when he legs out a seventh-inning triple in the Marlins' 10-7 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field. The 42-year-old center fielder joins Paul Molitor as the only player to reach the milestone with a three-bagger.

2016

"Of course I think I can play baseball. You always think you have one more hit in you. That wasn't in the cards. That was the Yankees' decision and I'm at peace with it." - ALEX RODRIGUEZ, announcing his retirement.

At a crowded news conference, Yankee 3B/DH Alex Rodriguez announces he will play his final major league game against the Rays in the Bronx on August 12th before becoming a special adviser and instructor with the team. The 41-year-old A-Rod, currently hitting .204, will end his career with 696 home runs, fourth on the all-time list, trailing only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), and Babe Ruth (714).

2017 On his 26th birthday, Mike Trout collects his 1,000th career hit, a line-drive double into the left-field corner off Dylan Bundy in the Halos' 6-2 loss to the Orioles at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. The Millville Meteor becomes the tenth American Leaguer to reach the milestone before his age-26 season.
43 Fact(s) Found