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This Day in Baseball History
August 9th

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37 Fact(s) Found
1905

"COME AT ONCE STOP VERY SORRY STOP YOUR FATHER DEAD IN SHOOTING ACCIDENT STOP HURRY." - telegram sent to Ty Cobb by Joe Cunningham, a long-time hometown Royston friend.

Ty Cobb receives a telegram sent by his long-time hometown Royston friend Joe Cunningham informing him that his father, Professor W. H. Cobb, had been killed in a shooting accident the previous night. The incident will profoundly affect the life of the 18-year-old Augusta Tourist (South Atlantic League) outfielder, becoming a sordid affair after the police reveal that his mother pulled the trigger.

1906 Cubs right-hander Jack Taylor, who will amass a lifetime record of 152-139 and an ERA of 2.66, goes the distance, beating Brooklyn at Washington Park, 5-3. The victory will be the last of his 187 consecutive complete games, an amazing streak that began on June 20, 1901, with a 2-0 loss in Boston.
1916 The Philadelphia A's twenty-game losing streak ends when Joe Bush beats the Tigers, 7-1. The 20-80 club has won only three of their prior 43 contests, with lone victories during the stretch, snapping skids of twelve and nine consecutive defeats.
1939 Yankee third baseman Red Rolfe begins an eighteen-game scoring streak when he tallies twice in the team's 13-8 victory over the Senators at Giffith Stadium. The Penacook (NH) native will score thirty runs during this span, ending on August 25.
1946 Eight big league teams will play their scheduled games under the lights. MLB's version of Friday Night Lights marks the first time in major league history that every club will participate in an evening tilt on the same night.
1949 Dom DiMaggio, hitless in his first four at-bats against Yankee hurler Vic Raschi, sees his 34-game hitting streak end. The Red Sox outfielder's older brother Joe makes a shoestring catch in the eighth inning, taking his sibling's last chance to extend the streak.
1961 The Reds continue their domination of the hapless Phillies by winning their 16th straight game against the inept squad, which has won just one contest in its last 19 tries. Joey Jay's 5-0 whitewash is the 13th loss in a row for Philadelphia, the club's longest losing streak in 25 years.
1963 One loss shy of tying the major league record of 19 consecutive defeats, Roger Craig switches his uniform number to 13 to change his luck. The change of works when Jim Hickman lofts a short fly ball in the ninth inning with two outs and the bases full in a tie game that barely ticks the upper-deck overhang in left field at the Polo Grounds for a walk-off grand slam, giving the Mets an improbable 7-3 victory over the Cubs.
1963 Lindy McDaniel becomes the second pitcher in major league history to give up a pair of game-ending grand slams in the same season when Mets pinch-hitter Jim Hickman goes deep to give the Mets a dramatic 7-3 victory over the Cubs at the Polo Grounds. The Chicago right-hander, who allowed Houston's Bob Aspromonte to end a game with a base-full walk-off round-tripper in June, joins Satchel Paige (1952) in accomplishing the infamous deed.
1964 After throwing a perfect game on Father's Day against the Mets, Phillies right-hander Jim Bunning continues his mastery over New York, retiring 44 batters in a row. Joe Christopher beats out a two-out bunt in the fifth inning to finish the right-hander's perfection over the Amazins.
1969 Philadelphia infielder Dick Allen starts scratching messages for the fans in the dirt around the first base bag, beginning today with "Oct. 2", indicating the last day of the season when he would be "free" from the team. Some of his other notes, written during a span the slugger hits five home runs in six days, include "Coke," "Why," "No," "Mom," and "Boo," a word the Phillies fans fully embrace.
1975 At Shea Stadium, Davey Lopes steals his 32nd consecutive base without being caught, breaking Max Carey's 1922 record in the Dodgers' 2-0 victory over New York. In 1989, Vince Coleman will break the Dodger second baseman's mark.
1976 With his induction to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown as an umpire, Cal Hubbard becomes the first professional athlete elected into two Halls of Fame. In 1963, the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined the Missouri native due to his outstanding performance on the gridiron with the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers.
1976 John Candelaria becomes the first Pirate since 1907 to throw a no-hitter in Pittsburgh. Nick Maddox threw the first and only Buc home no-hitter until the 'Candyman' beat the Dodgers at Three Rivers Stadium.

(Ed. Note: There was never a no-hitter in the 61-year history of spacious Forbes Field. -LP)
1981 Major League Baseball returns from its in-season strike when 72,086 fans attend the belated All-Star Game, a 5-4 National League victory over the Junior Circuit at Cleveland Stadium. Giants southpaw Vida Blue becomes the first pitcher to win the Midsummer Classic for both leagues, with Expo backstop Gary Carter, who hits two home runs, named the MVP of the contest.
1988 After 5,687 consecutive contests occur during the day at the Chicago Northside ballpark dating back to 1914, the first official major league night game takes place at Wrigley Field, with the hometown Cubs taking a 6-4 decision from the Mets. Originally, last night's contest against the Phillies would have been the ballpark's first evening tilt, but rain washed out the scheduled historic event after the third inning.
1992

The Brewers retire #34 in tribute to Rollie Fingers, who won the 1981 AL Cy Young Award and AL Most Valuable Player Award in the first of his four seasons with the club. The handlebar-mustached All-Star closer, recently inducted into the Hall of Fame, will also be honored by the Oakland A's next season when he joins Catfish Hunter as the franchise's second player to have his jersey number retired.

1996 Cal Ripken records his 2,500th career hit with a single off White Sox right-hander Bill Simas in the Orioles' 4-3 loss to Chicago in 10 innings. The Baltimore infielder will end his 21-year career with 3,184 hits.
1998 The Expos draw 757 dogs during the team's Dog Day promotion. Montreal's 8-2 victory over Arizona featured a pregame parade of canines and their owners on the field.
1998 Dennis Eckersley, throwing a perfect eighth inning in the Red Sox' 14-8 victory over Texas, ties Kent Tekulve for second on the all-time list with 1,050 appearances by a pitcher. Hoyt Wilhelm is the overall leader with 1,070, a record the 'Eck' will surpass in his final major league game on September 26.
1998 With his 244th victory, Dennis Martinez surpasses Juan Marichal to become the winningest Latin American pitcher in major league baseball history. The Nicaraguan right-hander, known as 'El Presidente,' pitches a perfect eighth inning in the Braves' 7-5 victory over the Giants.
1999 A total of five grand slams occur on the same day for the first time in major league history. Cardinal Fernando Tatis, Expo Jose Vidro, Marlin Mike Lowell, Yankee Bernie Williams, and Mariner Jay Buhner connect to set the record.

(Ed. Note - Lowell, Williams, and Buhner all played for the Columbus Clippers - thanks to Steve Basford for this interesting aside. -LP)

1999 The Blue Jays collect 25 hits in a 19-4 rout of the Rangers at The Ballpark in Arlington. The total, which includes six doubles and four home runs, establishes a new franchise record for hits.
2001 Mike Hampton ties the National League record for pitchers with his seventh homer, going deep off Felix Heredia in the Rockies' 14-5 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Colorado southpaw equals the mark established by Dodger hurlers Don Drysdale (1958, 1965) and Don Newcombe (1955) and is two shy of the major league standard set by Wes Ferrell, who played for the Indians in 1931. 
2002 Barry Bonds joins Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron as the only players to hit 600 career home runs. The 38-year-old Giant left fielder hit the milestone homer in the sixth inning by lining a 2-1 pitch thrown by Pirates starter Kip Wells over the center-field wall at Pacific Bell Park.

2002 At 26 years and 182 days, Vladimir Guerrero hits his 200th career home run, tying the Expos right fielder with Ken Griffey, Jr. as the second-youngest player to hit 200 home runs. Alex Rodriguez is the youngest major leaguer to reach the 200-homer plateau, reaching the milestone 75 days shy of his 26th birthday.
2005 An arbitrator rules that MLB must reinstate Kenny Rogers, who has missed 13 games. The decision states that Bud Selig's punishment for shoving two camera operators went too far, suspending the Ranger pitcher for 20 games and levying an excessive $50,000 fine.
2006 Mike Piazza belts two home runs off Mets ace Pedro Martinez and nearly hits a third in the eighth inning during a 4-3 Padres loss in New York. The Big Apple fans give their former hometown hero an uncommon road curtain call after the round-tripper, but the second time the backstop goes deep, he hears boos and catcalls from the crowd.

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2008 Micah Hoffpauir ties a modern Pacific Coast League record by homering in his first four at-bats in the Iowa Cubs' 15-3 rout over the Round Rock Express. The 28-year-old slugging first baseman becomes the third player in the storied PCL history to go deep in four consecutive at-bats and the fifth to accomplish the feat in one game. 
2008 The team honors their greatest outfielders as part of the 50th-anniversary celebration commemorating the Giants' move to San Francisco. Barry Bonds, believed not to be in attendance, receives a standing ovation from the surprised fans when he is announced and takes part in the ceremony, telling the crowd, "It feels awful to me not to be in uniform, and the Dodgers are right here."
2009 In the eighth inning of a 5-2 victory over the Red Sox in the Bronx, Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira hit consecutive homers for the sixth time this season, the most ever for a pair of Yankees in one season. The teammates' accomplishments are remarkable, considering that the franchise featured the dynamic duos of Ruth and Gehrig and Mantle and Maris in its storied past. 
2010 Citing a lack of confidence in his manager, Mariner GM Jack Zduriencik fires Don Wakamatsu and three coaches. Triple-A Tacoma manager Daren Brown is named the interim pilot of the last-place club (42-70), becoming the team's fifth skipper in over three years.
2010 The front-running Reds obtain 40-year-old veteran Jim Edmonds from the Brewers in exchange for Chris Dickerson, a light-hitting, defensively talented outfielder. Dusty Baker will use his newest player, who hit .286 and eight homers in 73 games for Milwaukee, in a part-time role during the playoff chase.
2011 With the tying runs at the corners and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Curtis Granderson is picked off at first, ending the game as Mark Teixeira, the Yankees' leading home run hitter, stands at the plate. The last out of New York's 6-4 loss to the Angels results from the seldom effective fake to third, then throw to first, which easily catches the Bronx Bomber outfielder off the bag when he attempts to steal second base on a 1-6-3 play.
2013 Dan Haren becomes the thirteenth pitcher in history to record a victory over all 30 major league franchises when he hurls seven solid innings in the Nationals' 9-2 win over Philadelphia. The 32-year-old right-hander joins Al Leiter, Randy Johnson, Barry Zito, A.J. Burnett, Kevin Brown, Terry Mulholland, Curt Schilling, Woody Williams, Jamie Moyer, Javier Vazquez, Vicente Padilla, and Derek Lowe in accomplishing the feat.
2013 The Dodgers rally for four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, overcoming a six-run seventh-inning deficit, for their fifth walk-off victory this season. The team's 7-6 victory over Tampa Bay is their 11th consecutive win in one-run games, defeating ten different clubs. 
2014 Bill Lee, who threw a complete-game victory two seasons ago for the San Rafael Pacifics, breaks his record as the oldest player to win a professional baseball game when he hurls 5⅔ innings in the Sonoma Stompers' 6-3 victory at Arnold Field. The 67-year-old former major league hurler, a Red Sox Hall of Fame member, gives up six hits and three runs to the visiting Pittsburg Mettle of the independent Pacific Association.
37 Fact(s) Found