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This Day in Baseball History
September 12th

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39 Fact(s) Found
1883 In an American Association contest, John Reilly hits for the cycle, collecting three singles, a double, triple, and home run in the Red Stockings' 27-5 rout of the visiting Pittsburgh Alleghenys at the Bank Street Grounds. Next week, the 24-year-old Cincinnati first baseman will accomplish the feat for the second time at the same ballpark when the team beats the first-place Philadelphia Athletics, 12-3.
1930 At Ebbets Field, Dodger catcher Al Lopez hits the last major league bounced home run in National League history. The Senior Circuit joins the American League, which had enacted the rule change in 1929, awarding a ground-rule double to the player who hits the ball over the wall on a bounce.
1932 In the bottom of the ninth, Johnny Frederick hits his major league record-setting sixth pinch-homer of the season, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the Cubs. The Brooklyn outfielder's major league mark remains for 68 years until another Dodger, Dave Hansen, strokes seven round-trippers coming off the bench in 2000.
1936 At 61, Kid Elberfeld, the team's skipper, grounds out to third when he pinch-hits for the Fulton (KY) Eagles in the Class D Kitty League. The Tabasco Kid, known for his combative style as a major leaguer, finishes his minor league managerial career at the end of the season after spending 30 years as a manager, coach, scout, mentor, and instructor for many aspiring ballplayers.
1947 Ralph Kiner hits a record eight home runs in four games, surpassing Tony Lazzeri, who had hit seven round-trippers in four games with the Yankees in 1936. The Pirates outfielder will finish the season with a major-league-leading 51 round-trippers, tied with Giants first baseman Johnny Mize.
1953 At County Stadium, Carl Erskine goes the distance in The Dodgers' 5-2 victory over the Braves, giving the team a 13-game lead with 12 left to play. Brooklyn clinches a pennant at the earliest date ever in baseball history and marks the first time the club wins consecutive titles in franchise history.
1958 At Connie Mack Stadium, Giants' leadoff hitter Jim Davenport singles and hits a three-run inside-the-park home run during an eight-run first inning. Johnny Antonelli pitches a complete game for his 15th victory when San Francisco routs the Phillies, 19-2.
1959 En route to a 21-15 season with the Giants, 33-year-old Toothpick Sam Jones throws a four-hitter against Philadelphia to become the second black major leaguer to win twenty games. In 1955, the right-hander from Ohio lost twenty games pitching for the Cubs.
1961 Frank Lary wins his 20th game of the season, the second time he has accomplished the feat when he goes the distance in the Tigers' 3-1 victory over Kansas City. The 31-year-old right-hander will finish the season with a 23-9 record, including a league-leading 22 complete games.
1962 Tom Cheney sets a major league mark for K's in a single game by striking out 21 batters, throwing all 16 innings in the Senators' 2-1 victory over the Orioles. The 27-year-old right-handed fireballer tosses 228 pitches in the three-hour and 59-minute Memorial Stadium contest.
1962 With the game behind the front-running Dodgers, the Giants lose their All-Star center fielder when Willie Mays enters a hospital for nervous exhaustion. The City by the Bay team will drop six games in a row but will recover along with 'Say Hey Kid' in time to beat Los Angeles in a playoff to win the National League pennant.
1963

"I look up into the stands, and it looks like Ebbets Field. The Mets are wonderful, but you can’t take the Dodger out of Brooklyn." - DUKE SNIDER, addressing the Mets fans on his special night at the Polo Grounds.

Former Dodgers teammates Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella join the Mets in honoring Duke Snider on the day that marks the last time the Giants, now located in San Francisco, will play at the Polo Grounds, once their long-time home. The 'Silver Fox,' obtained by the last-place expansion team in April, has recently requested to be traded to a contender.

1964 Orioles southpaw Frank Bertaina records his first major league victory when he tosses a one-hitter to beat the A's at Memorial Stadium, 1-0. The losing pitcher, Bob Meyer, who yields the game's lone run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, also gives up just one hit in his complete-game effort in the seventh double one-hitter in baseball history.
1965 Mets rookie Dick Selma, in his second major league start, establishes a franchise mark when he strikes out 13 batters. The 21-year-old right-hander goes the distance in New York's ten-inning, 1-0 victory over Milwaukee at Shea Stadium.
1967 At Atlanta Stadium, Michael Ken-Wai Lum becomes the first American of Japanese ancestry to appear in the major leagues when he singles off Jack Fischer as a pinch-hitter in the Braves 4-3 win against the Mets. The 21-year-old Of/1bm will also play for the Reds and Cubs before ending his professional career in 1982 with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales.
1969 The Mets sweep a doubleheader against the Pirates when Jerry Koosman and Don Cardwell go the distance in 1-0 victories. Both starters drive in the only run scored in both ends of the twin bill.
1972 In his final appearance, 29-year-old right-hander Denny McLain, who will finish his ten-year career with a 131-92 record, loses when he gives up three runs in the ninth inning without retiring a batter in the Braves' 7-5 loss to Cincinnati at Atlanta Stadium. The last batter the one-time 30-game winner, rumored to have been involved with gambling and bookmaking, will face is Pete Rose, who will receive a lifetime ban from the game for wagering on the game.
1974 Mike Schmidt hits an eighth-inning three-run bomb, his 36th home run and final one this season, off Jerry Reuss in Philadelphia's 6-4 comeback victory over the Pirates at Veterans Stadium. The 24-year-old third baseman becomes the first Phillies player to lead the league in home runs since Chuck Klein hit 28 round-trippers in 1933.
1976 At age 53, Minnie Minoso becomes the oldest player to get a hit in a regular-season game as he singles in three at-bats as the designated hitter for the White Sox. Angels' southpaw Sid Monge gives up the historic safety.
1979 In a 9-2 Red Sox victory over the Yankees, Carl Yastrzemski collects his 3000th hit, an eighth-inning single off Jim Beattie at Fenway Park. After Captain Carl's milestone marker, the game pauses for a lengthy on-field celebration of the historic moment.

1984 Mets right-hander Dwight Gooden breaks the season strikeout record for a rookie when he whiffs Marvell Wynne in the sixth inning of his 2-0 complete-game victory over the Pirates at Shea Stadium. By whiffing 16 Bucs, Doc's total of 251 is six more than Herb Score's 1955 mark.

1985 Both New York teams host their rivals in close pennant races, thanks to a rare oddity of scheduling with the clubs playing at home on the same day. On Baseball Thursday in the Big Apple, the Mets go into first place with a 7-6 victory over the Cardinals at Shea Stadium, and the second-place Yankees beat the Blue Jays in the ballpark in the Bronx, 7-5, cutting Toronto's lead to a game and half.
1987 Eddie Murray, passing Boog Powell, becomes the Orioles' all-time home run leader when he hits his 304th round-tripper for Baltimore in a 4-3 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Cal Ripken will move past his buddy for first-place honors, hitting his 334th four-bagger in 1996.
1995 During a WGN pregame radio broadcast at Wrigley Field, Harry Caray remarks to the team's skipper Jim Riggleman, "Well, my eyes are slanty enough, how 'bout yours?" referring to Hideo Nomo, the Japanese rookie hurler scheduled to start for the Dodgers. The veteran announcer, known for not backing off his on-the-air off-handed comments, does issue an apology, calling the incident "unfortunate."
1996 Alex Rodriguez, in an 8-5 win over the Royals, sets a major league shortstop record with his 88th extra-base hit. The Mariners infielder's first-inning double off Chris Haney in the Kauffman Stadium contest establishes the new mark.
1996 Bernie Williams drives in eight runs with two homers and a single, helping the Bronx Bombers defeat Detroit, 12-3. The Yankee center fielder will celebrate his 28th birthday tomorrow, hitting .305 for the eventual World Champs.
1998 Cubs' slugger Sammy Sosa becomes the fourth major leaguer to hit 60 home runs in a season when he blasts a seventh-inning three-run shot off Milwaukee's Valerio de Los Santos in a 15-12 victorious slugfest at Wrigley Field. The Chicago right-fielder joins Babe Ruth (1927 Yankees), Roger Maris (1961 Yankees), and Mark McGwire (1998 Cardinals) in reaching one of baseball's most cherished milestones.
2000 Dave Hansen breaks the 1932 record for pinch-hit home runs in a single season with his seventh round-tripper coming off the bench on the same date Johnny Frederick established the mark sixty-eight years ago. The Dodger pinch-hitter's historic homer, a seventh-inning three-run blast off Diamondback right-hander Curt Schilling, isn't enough to prevent the team's 5-4 loss to Arizona at Bank One Ballpark.
2002 A jury, not a judge or umpires, will decide whether Alex Popov controlled Barry Bonds' record-setting 73rd home run in his glove. Popov, who lost possession of the ball valued at approximately $1 million after being mobbed by fans, claims the historic horsehide should belong to him, not Patrick Hayashi, who ended up with the valuable souvenir.
2005 Making his season debut with just 20 games left in the regular schedule, Barry Bonds returns to the Giants lineup with a bang, lining a double in his first at-bat and barely missing hitting his 704th career homer. The 41-year-old slugger spent time on the disabled list due to an infection following knee surgery.
2006 The Braves are mathematically eliminated from the division race when the Mets beat the Marlins, 6-4. The New York victory ends Atlanta's streak of fourteen straight division titles, the longest run for any professional sport.
2006 Luis Gonzalez becomes the oldest player at 39 years and nine days old to hit 50 doubles in one season. The Diamondbacks outfielder, who also holds the club's record for two-baggers, surpasses Hall of Famer Tris Speaker, who was 38 years and 107 days old when he last legged a hit to second.
2008 In the 2-1 victory over the Nationals, Jorge Cantu goes deep in the fourth inning, making the Marlins the first team in big league history to have four infielders hit 25 home runs in the same season. The Florida third baseman joins first baseman Mike Jacobs (32), second baseman Dan Uggla (30), and shortstop Hanley Ramirez (29) in accounting for 116 of the Fish's 188 big flies this year.
2015 Atlanta loses its 11th consecutive home game, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Mets at Turner Field. The defeat matches a franchise mark established in 1931 when the team played at Braves Field in Boston.
2015 After hitting a homer in the first inning, nine-time All-Star David Ortiz goes deep again in the fifth frame to become the 27th member of the 500 home run club. The Red Sox 39-year-old designated hitter's two round-trippers, both off Matt Moore, contributed to the team's 10-4 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field.

2017 The Twins set a Target Field record for most homers in a game in the eight-year-old ballpark, going deep seven times in the team's 16-0 pounding of the Padres. The septet of round-trippers blasted by Brian Dozier, Jorge Polanco, Jason Castro (2), Eddie Rosario, Eduardo Escobar, and Kennys Vargas marks the first time in history that a team hits a home run in each of the first seven innings.
2017 Behind Corey Kluber's complete-game performance, the Indians extended their winning streak to 20, beating the Tigers at Progressive Field, 2-0. The Tribe's winning ways, which began on August 24th against the Red Sox in Boston, tie the American League record mark the team now shares with 2002 A's.
2019 Kyle Lewis becomes just the second player in baseball history to homer in his first three games when he goes deep off Lucas Sims in the Mariners' 11-5 loss to the Reds at T-Mobile Park. The Seattle outfielder joins Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, who accomplished the feat at the start of the 2016 season.
2021 Max Scherzer becomes the 19th player to reach the 3,000-strikeout plateau with a fifth-inning punch out of Eric Hosmer, who will break up the right-hander's bid for a perfect game with a one-out double in the eighth of LA's 8-0 victory over the Padres. The three-time Cy Young Award winner whiffs nine batters in the Dodger Stadium gem, including his third career immaculate inning, tying a major league mark shared by Sandy Koufax and Chris Sale.
39 Fact(s) Found