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This Day in Baseball History
June 11th

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34 Fact(s) Found
1904 After pitching 9â…“ innings of no-hit baseball, Cubs' hurler Bob Wicker settles for a 1-0, twelve-inning, one-hit victory over the Giants when Sam Mertes, for the second time in his career, breaks up an extra-inning no-hitter. The light-hitting outfielder also spoiled Indians right-hander Earl Moore's 1901 bid for a no-no when he started the game-winning rally for the White Sox with a one-out single in the top of the tenth inning.
1911 At Chicago's West Side Grounds, Heinie Zimmerman of the Cubs drives in nine runs to set a team record, tied by Sammy Sosa in 2002. The Windy City infielder hits two home runs, a triple, and two singles in the 20-2 rout of the Braves.
1915 At the Polo Grounds, in the Yankees' 10-9 victory over the White Sox, Ray Caldwell, batting left-handed, becomes the first major leaguer to hit a home run in consecutive pinch-hit appearances. The New York right-hander, an eventual 19-game winner this season, hit the first of his two round-trippers against Chicago as a pinch-hitter yesterday.


Yankee right-hander Ray Caldwell (1913)
Library of Congress - George Grantham Bain Collection

1938 In the first of his two consecutive no-hitters, Johnny Vander Meer keeps the Boston Bees hitless in Cincinnati's 3-0 victory at Crosley Field. The Reds' southpaw continues his no-no mojo four days later by beating the Dodgers, 6-0, without giving up a hit in the first night game in Brooklyn.
1952 At Wrigley Field, 35-year-old Hank Sauer, the NL's eventual MVP, hits three solo shots off Phillies southpaw Curt Simmons. The Cubs All-Star outfielder's trio of round-trippers accounts for all of Chicago's offense when the team beats the visiting Phillies, 3-2.
1957 The Dodgers' Roy Campanella surpasses former Cub and Giant backstop Gabby Hartnett to establish a new National League mark when he hits his 237th career round-tripper as a catcher. Campy's historic home run comes off Ray Crone in the seventh inning of Brooklyn's 7-2 loss to the Braves at Ebbets Field.
1961 In Game 1 of a twin bill at Tiger Stadium, Norm Cash becomes the first Detroit player to hit a fair ball over the right-field roof. The first baseman's prodigious poke off Joe McClain is to no avail when the Tigers lose to the Senators, 7-4.
1963 After the Cubs intentionally walked Brock Davis to load the bases, Colt .45s third baseman Bob Aspromonte blasts a tenth-inning walk-off grand slam off Lindy McDaniel, lifting the team to a 6-2 victory over the Cubs. Chicago had tied the Colt Stadium contest in the top of the ninth on a triple by Dick Bertell, a walk to Bob's brother Ken, and Don Landrum's RBI single.
1968 The Reds trade Milt Pappas, who had been feuding with former teammate and now team broadcaster Joe Nuxhall, along with Ted Davidson and Bob Johnson, to the Braves for Clay Carroll, Tony Cloninger, and Woody Woodward. The 2-5 right-hander became expendable after complaining the team was violating the contract by players not flying first-class and being critical of the front office's refusal to cancel the game on the day of assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy's funeral.
1969 The Cubs trade Adolfo Phillips and right-hander Jack Lamabe to the Expos for Paul Popovich, acquired today by Montreal, along with Ron Fairly from the Dodgers in exchange for Maury Wills and Manny Mota. Chicago's latest infielder, a solid switch-hitting utility player, will play a prominent role for his new team, filling in for injured second baseman Glenn Beckert and batting .312 overall in 60 games.
1972 LA outfielders Manny Mota and Willie Davis hit inside-the-park homers down the foul lines at Dodger Stadium off Bucs' starter Bruce Kison. Roberto Clemente's seventh-inning home run over the fence proves to be the difference in Pittsburgh's 7-5 victory, their 21st win in the last 26 games.
1972 Graig and Jim Nettles become the tenth different pair of brothers to homer in the same game when they go deep in the Cleveland Stadium contest. Graig's blast in the bottom of the seventh matches his younger brother, the Twin center fielder's solo shot in the top of the sixth inning of Minnesota's 5-3 victory over the Indians.

1981 The Mariners' 8-2 victory over the Orioles in the Kingdome will be the last game before the major league players strike over compensation for free agents. Baseball's fifth work stoppage will last fifty days, resulting in 713 canceled games. 
1985 At Veterans Stadium, Von Hayes becomes the first player to hit two home runs in the first inning of a game. The outfielder's leadoff homer and a grand slam in the Phillies' nine-run first frame contribute to Philadelphia's 26-7 rout of the Mets.

1988 Yankee skipper Billy Martin decides to use Rick Rhoden as his designated hitter due to a shortage of right-handed hitters to face southpaw Jeff Ballard, making him the first starting pitcher used at the position. In his two plate appearances, the right-handed hurler grounds out and hits a sacrifice fly before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning of the team's 8-6 victory over the Orioles. https://tinyurl.com/yankeeshistorytoday

1989 Dwight Evans plays in his 2,293rd game wearing a Red Sox uniform, surpassing Ted Williams' total to become second on the all-time list for games played with the team. Carl Yastrzemski holds the franchise mark, playing in 3,308 contests before he retired in 1983.
1990 At 43, Ranger Nolan Ryan no-hits the A's, 5-0, becoming the oldest player to throw a no-hitter, extending his major league record to six. The 'Ryan Express' becomes the first player to throw one in three separate decades, accomplishing the feat for three franchises.

1995 Mark McGwire ties a major league record by hitting five homers in back-to-back games, becoming the 15th player to accomplish the feat and the first American Leaguer to do it twice. Big Mac's three homers in consecutive at-bats, all solo shots against Zane Smith that cleared the Green Monster, helping the A's defeat the Red Sox at Fenway Park, 8-1.
1995 Angels' closer Lee Smith sets a major league record, nailing down his 16th consecutive save in 16 appearances in the team's 5-4 victory over the Orioles at Camden Yards. Doug Jones had previously set the mark in 1988, recording 15 straight saves in 15 appearances with the Indians.
1995 Yankee starting pitcher Mariano Rivera, allowing five runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings in the team's eventual 10-7 victory over Seattle, is sent back to the minor leagues. The Bombers' starting shortstop, a 20-year-old infielder named Derek Jeter, will also be demoted after the Bronx ballpark contest.
1997 After 11 straight wins starting on Opening Day, Roger Clemens gets beat for the first time wearing a Blue Jays uniform when the Mariners defeat Toronto at the Skydome, 5-1. The 34-year-old will lead the American League in victories with 21 en route to winning his fourth Cy Young Award.
1999 At County Stadium, Milwaukee retires Paul Molitor's uniform number 4. During the ceremony, the 21-year major league veteran, who also played with the Blue Jays and the Twins, announces if he goes into the Hall of Fame, he will do so as a Brewer, fulfilling a 2004 promise.
2002 In the top of the ninth inning during the Indians and Phillies interleague game at Jacobs Field, an explosive device thrown from the upper deck explodes in a lower-level smoking area, causing minor injuries to two people. The police hold three young men suspected of causing the blast heard throughout the ballpark on suspicion of felonious assault and aggravated arson.
2002 Rays' first baseman Jared Sandberg goes deep twice on the first pitch in his two at-bats in the fifth frame in the team's 11-2 victory over the Dodgers Tropicana Field. The 24-year-old rookie, the nephew of Hall of Fame second baseman Ryan Sandberg, becomes the 39th player in baseball history to hit two home runs in one inning, a feat his uncle never accomplished.

2003 For the first time since 1958, the Yankees are no-hit when the Astros keep them hitless with a record-setting six pitchers combining to stop the Bronx Bombers' streak of 6,980 games with at least one hit. Orioles' knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm was the last hurler to accomplish the feat, with a 1-0 victory in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.
2008 During a 6-2 Marlins victory over the Phillies at Dolphin Stadium, the best play of the night is made in Section 253 as a fan catches a foul ball in his beer cup. After removing the prized possession, the happy patron continues to drink his adult beverage.
2008 With the score knotted at two at Dolphin Stadium, Marlins' second baseman Dan Uggla hits a walk-off grand slam to beat the first-place Phillies, 6-2. It's the second time in franchise history a game has ended with a bases-loaded dinger, with Bobby Bonilla accomplishing the feat against the Rockies in 1997.
2009 At Winfield-Mount Union High School (IA), for a contest against West Burlington, umpire Don Briggs throws the entire crowd, approximately 100 fans in attendance, out of the game following his controversial call in the fifth inning. The incident occurs when the home team coach refuses to remove any unruly local fans, causing the ten-year veteran scholastic arbitrator to take action by borrowing a cell phone to call the police to help with the ejections. 
2010 Andy Pettitte joins lefty Whitey Ford (236) and right-hander Red Ruffing as the only Yankees hurlers to notch 200 victories. The 37-year-old southpaw, who also reaches the 3,000 career inning plateau in the game's first frame, gets his historic win when New York beats Houston, his former team, in an interleague contest in the Bronx, 4-3.
2013 In a much-anticipated major league debut, Gerrit Cole throws six scoreless innings in the Pirates' 8-2 victory over San Francisco at PNC Park. A larger-than-average Tuesday night crowd of 30,614, which includes over 10,000 walk-ups, is on hand to watch the overall 2011 First-Year Player Draft No. 1 selection earn his first big league career victory.

2014 The Royals become the first team since the 1980 Expos to score four runs in one game, all on sacrifice flies. Kansas City, the first winning team to accomplish the feat, beat the Indians, 4-1, with their quartet of long balls in the Kauffman Stadium’s afternoon contest.
2019 Yordan Alvarez becomes the twenty-third player since 1908 to hit a homer in his first two career games, going deep in the Astros' 10-8 victory over the Brewers at Minute Maid Park. The 21-year-old Astro freshman, who homered in his second major league at-bat two days ago, will be named the American League Rookie of the Year, finishing the season with 27 round-trippers while playing 87 games for the AL champs.

2021 At Great American Ball Park, the Reds become the eighth team, and the third to have a different player hit a home run in the first five innings of a game when the team beat the Rockies, 11-5. Kyle Freeland surrenders all the record-tying long balls, with Nick Castellanos, Scott Heineman, Joey Votto, Kyle Farmer, and Tyler Stephenson all going yard on the southpaw.
2022 Joining Christian Yelich and Eduardo Escobar, Jared Walsh becomes the third player to complete the cycle this season when he hits an eighth-inning triple. In addition to his three-bagger off Mets' reliever Trevor Williams, the 28-year-old Halo first baseman singled in the third frame, doubled in the fifth, and homered in the seventh, contributing to the team's 11-6 victory at Angel Stadium.
34 Fact(s) Found