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This Day in Baseball History
September 8th

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40 Fact(s) Found
1885 George H. Rawlings patents a close-fitting baseball glove that features padding made of felt and rubber in the fingers, thumb, and palm. The owner of a St. Louis sporting goods store invented the padded equipment to prevent players from bruising their hands when catching a ball.

1896 Baltimore sweeps a twin bill from 12th-place Louisville, beating their National League opponents at Oriole Park, 10-9 and 3-1. The Birds, who won all three games against the Colonels in yesterday's tripleheader, established the mark for the most victories in two consecutive days with their five wins.
1916 Twenty-three fans attending the game against the Yankees at soaked Shibe Park, the smallest crowd in American League history, witness A's switch-hitter Wally Schang become the first player in major league history to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game. The feat, which was not well-publicized because reporters thought the heavy rain would postpone the game and did not attend the contest, will not be accomplished again in the Junior Circuit until 1940.
1925 In the seventh inning of the nightcap of a doubleheader sweep, Babe Ruth belts his 300th career home run, the Sultan of Swat's 16th of the season. Southpaw Buster Ross allows the milestone solo blast in the Yankees' 7-4 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
1933 🇲🇽 In the second game of a doubleheader against Detroit, Red Sox outfielder Mel Almada makes his major league debut at Fenway Park. The 20-year-old Huatabampo native becomes the first Mexican to play in the major leagues.
1939 Bob Feller, with his 12-1 victory over the Browns in St. Louis, becomes the youngest modern-era player to win 20 games. The 20-year-old Indians' fireballer finishes the season 24-9 while posting a 2.85 ERA.
1940 Johnny Mize connects for his 38th, 39th, and 40th homers in the first game of a doubleheader, becoming the first player to hit three homers in one game four times in his career. Despite the Big Cat's heroics, the Cardinals drop a pair to the Pirates, 16-14 and 9-4.
1942 The first exhibition game between two Negro League teams is finally played in Boston when the Philadelphia Stars edge the Baltimore Elite Giants in a rain-shortened seven-inning game at Fenway Park, 8-7. Unlike many metropolitan areas in the East and South, the Cradle of Liberty did not have a Black team represent the city, nor did the community embrace the concept of hosting Negro League contests.
1945 Receiving an enthusiastic ovation from the near-capacity crowd, President Harry Truman, sworn in after FDR's death in April, becomes the first left-hander and oldest president to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a major league game. The Missourian shows no signs of favoritism when the St. Louis Browns, a team from his home state, drops a 4-1 decision to the Senators.
1949 Red Schoendienst steals the team’s last stolen base of the season when he takes second base in the Cardinals’ 8-0 victory over the Cubs at Sportsman's Park. The Redbird third baseman will lead the club with eight pilfered bags, accounting for more than half of the all-time National League low of 17 the entire club will swipe this season.
1954

"It's not a record, but being traded four times when there are only eight teams in the league tells you something. I thought I was modeling uniforms for the National League." - JOE GARAGIOLA, JOE GARAGIOLA, former major leaguer and television personality, reflecting on his nine-year baseball career.

The pennant-bound Giants select catcher Joe Garagiola, known more for his glove than his bat, off waivers from the second-division Cubs. The 28-year-old backstop will play only five games for New York before retiring at the end of the season, becoming a baseball broadcaster and colorful television personality that includes stints on The Today Show, Saturday Game of the Week for NBC, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

1955 The Dodgers clinch their eighth National League pennant with a 10-2 victory over the Braves at Milwaukee's County Stadium. Brooklyn's 17-game lead marks the earliest date a team has captured a flag in baseball history.
1957 Before their departure to play on the West Coast next season, the Dodgers and Giants face one another for the final time in New York. The Jints beat the Bums at the Polo Grounds, 3-2, to finish the intense 68-year-old storied rivalry with a 656-606 advantage over Brooklyn in the battle between the boroughs.
1958 At spacious Forbes Field, Roberto Clemente blasts three triples in the Pirates' 4-1 victory over the Redlegs. The 'Great One' becomes the first Pittsburgh player to accomplish the feat since 1952 when center fielder Carlos Bernier, batting leadoff, collected a trio of three-baggers in the same Cincinnati ballpark.
1963 At Connie Mack Stadium, Braves left-hander Warren Spahn tosses a complete game, edging Philadelphia, 3-2. The triumph is the southpaw's 20th victory and ties Christy Mathewson's record of thirteen seasons of twenty or more wins.
1964 The Mets announce the signing of 18-year-old right-hander Bill Denehy. The recent high school graduate, who struck out 151 batters in 81 innings, posted a 10-1 record for Woodrow Wilson High School in Middletown (CT) and won three tournament games en route to leading his team to the state championship.
1965 In a promotion to increase Kansas City's low attendance, Bert Campaneris becomes the first major leaguer to play all nine positions in a single game. After being involved in a collision at home plate in the ninth inning, Rene Lachemann replaces Campy as the team's catcher in the A's eventual 5-3, 13-inning victory over California.
1967 At the urging of their fans, the Mets honor former Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax, who retired last season when arthritis prematurely ended his career. The 31-year-old Brooklyn-born southpaw, who threw a no-hitter against New York in 1962, started twenty times against the Amazins, compiling a 17-2 record with 14 complete games and five shutouts.
1968 Ralph Garr steals the first of his 172 stolen bases, swiping home as a pinch-runner for Joe Torre in the Braves' 4-1 victory over Houston. In 1973, the 'Road Runner' will break Atlanta's record for stolen bases with 35, surpassing the franchise mark of 30 he established in 1971 during his sophomore season.
1973 Billy Martin, dismissed six days ago by the Tigers, signs a multi-year contract to manage the last-place Rangers. The fiery 45-year-old skipper, who was at the helm when Detroit won the American League East title last season, replaces Whitey Herzog, who was fired yesterday after compiling a 47-91 (.341) record in the first season of his Hall of Fame managerial career.
1977 Cubs' relief pitcher Bruce Sutter strikes out the first six batters he faces, including three men in the ninth on nine pitches. The future Hall of Famer will earn his sixth victory in seven decisions when the Cubs beat Montreal in 10 innings at Wrigley Field, 3-2.

(Ed. Note: Bruce Sutter tosses an immaculate inning when he retires Ellis Valentine, Gary Carter, and Larry Parrish on nine straight strikes. - LP)

1980 Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspends Ferguson Jenkins indefinitely due to the drug arrest in Toronto last month. The suspension will last only two weeks before independent arbiter Raymond Goetz surprisingly reinstates the Cubs right-hander.
1985 At Wrigley Field, Pete Rose gets two hits off Chicago hurler Reggie Patterson, including his historic single that ties Ty Cobb's career record of 4,191 hits. The game will be suspended due to darkness, enabling the Reds' player-manager to break the Georgia Peach's record at home.
1993 Retiring the final 17 batters in a row, 24-year-old right-hander Darryl Kile no-hits the Mets in a 7-1 Houston victory at the Astrodome. Jeff McKnight, who had walked, scores New York's lone run on a wild pitch after advancing to third base on an error.

Courtesy of the Houston Astros network
via Astrosdaily.com

1995 With a 3-2 victory over the Orioles at Jacobs Field, the Indians clinch the American League Central Division, reaching the postseason for the first time since 1954. Mike Hargrove's Tribe, which posts a 100-44 record, will win the division with the largest margin in baseball history, finishing 30 games ahead of the Royals.

1996 Mets catcher Todd Hundley joins Mickey Mantle as the only other switch hitter to hit 40 home runs in a season when he goes deep off Joe Borowski in the seventh inning of the team's 6-2 victory at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The 27-year-old backstop's round-tripper also breaks the club record for most homers in a year, established in 1988 by Darryl Strawberry.
1996 A Gary Sheffield fifth-inning round-tripper against the Expos' Pedro Martinez breaks the major league home run record for a season. In 1987, major leaguers went deep 4,458 times to establish the previous mark.
1998 Cardinal first baseman Mark McGwire connects off of Cub hurler Steve Trachsel and sends a 341-foot line-drive over the left-field fence for his historic 62nd home run, breaking the single-season home run record set in 1961 by Roger Maris. Big Mac's historic homer comes in the fourth inning of a nationally televised game.

2002 At Tropicana Field, Rafael Palmeiro's sixth-inning homer off Wilson Álvarez in the team's 6-3 loss to the Devil Rays Bay establishes a new major league record with a Ranger player hitting a home run in 26 consecutive games. The 1941 Yankees, the 1994 Tigers, and the 1998 Braves shared the previous mark.
2003 At Camden Yards, 64-year-old Steve Dalkowski throws the ceremonial first pitch to relief pitcher Buddy Groom before an Orioles game against Seattle. The Baltimore fireballing farmhand hurt his arm pitching in a 1963 exhibition game on the same day the team fitted him for a big-league uniform and never appeared in the major leagues.
2005 At Troy's Bruno Stadium, the Vermont Expos end the season by winning their seventh straight game, beating the Tri-City ValleyCats, 15-9. With the NY-Penn team changing its name next season, the game marks the last time the word Expos will appear on a uniform.
2007 Alex Rodriguez, hitting his 50th and 51st home runs, joins Babe Ruth (1920-54, 1921-59, 1927-60, 1928-54), Roger Maris (1961-61), and Mickey Mantle (1956-52, 1961-54) to become only the fourth player in Yankee history to hit 50 or more homers in a single season. The Yankee infielder's second homer breaks the major league mark of 49 homers hit by a third baseman, shared with Mike Schmidt (Phillies-1980) and Adrian Beltre (Dodgers-2004).
2008 The Red Sox break the Cleveland Indians' attendance record with their 456th consecutive regular-season sellout at Fenway Park. To commemorate the streak, which began on May 15, 2003, team owners, current players, and club icon Johnny Pesky greet and thank fans entering the ballpark before the game against the Rays.
2008 Mark Saccomanno, a lifelong fan of the team that just called him up a few hours before the start of the game, hits a home run on the first pitch he sees as a major leaguer, contributing to the Astros' 3-2 victory over the Pirates at Minute Maid Park. The 28-year-old Houston native, who will not connect for another round-tripper in his career, is the first to accomplish the feat as a pinch-hitter, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to homer in his initial big-league at-bat.

2008 Gary Sheffield's second home run of the game is the 250,000th round-tripper in major league history. The Tigers slugger, who needs only four more to reach a personal milestone of 500 homers, hit the round-tripper that set the record for the number of home runs in the major league in a season, bringing the total to 4,458 blasts.
2010 At Fenway Park, 44-year-old starter Tim Wakefield becomes the oldest player to win a game for the Red Sox since 1920 when he goes five innings in Boston's 11-5 victory over Tampa Bay. In 1998, Dennis Eckersley, at 43 years and 349 days old, was credited with the win after getting two outs in relief in a game against Baltimore.
2012 A healthy Stephen Strasburg makes his last 2012 appearance four days sooner than his much-debated scheduled season shutdown set by the Nationals. Washington put the 24-year-old power right-hander, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2010, on a strict innings limit, who will lose the NLDS to St. Louis after compiling the best record in major league baseball.
2012 Darwin Barney sets the National League record for consecutive errorless games by a second baseman with 124, surpassing Ryne Sandberg, another Cub infielder, who played his consecutive errorless streak at second between the 1989 and 1990 seasons. The major league mark for straight errorless games at second base is 186, established by Tiger infielder Placido Polanco from 2006-08.
2018 Ryne Stanek, facing one batter in the fifth inning of the Rays' 10-5 victory over the Orioles, becomes the first pitcher to start 25 games and make 25 relief appearances in the same season since Hugh Mulchy accomplished the feat in 1937 with the Phillies. The Tampa Bay right-hander, used as one of the team's "opening" starters, finishes the year compiling 66.1 innings, making 59 total appearances, including 29 starts.
2019 After striking out 14 Rays and doing it again against the Brewers five days later, Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole fans 15 Mariners in the team's 21-1 rout of Seattle at Minute Maid Park. The Astros ace becomes only the second major league hurler to record three straight starts of 14 or more strikeouts, joining Pedro Martinez, who accomplished the feat in 1999 with the Red Sox. 
40 Fact(s) Found