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This Day in Baseball History
September 19th

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51 Fact(s) Found
1883 John Reilly completes his second cycle in eight days when the National Association's Red Stockings beat Philadelphia, 12-3, at the Bank Street Grounds. Last week, the 24-year-old Cincinnati first baseman collected three singles, a double, a triple, and a homer in the 27-5 rout of Pittsburgh Alleghenys.
1925 In the nightcap of a twin bill at Griffith Stadium, White Sox right-hander Ted Lyons loses his no-hit bid when Bobby Veach hits safely with two outs in the ninth in the team's 17-0 rout of the Senators. 'Sunday Ted' gem halts Washington's outfielder Sam Rice's streak of nine consecutive hits.
1929 Joe Sewell sets a major league record by playing in his 115th consecutive game without striking out, dating back to May 16. The diminutive third baseman, wielding a 40-ounce bat in 578 at-bats, fans only four times while playing every game for the Indians this season.
1935 The Cubs win their 16th consecutive game as they beat Carl Hubbell, completing a four-game sweep of the Giants. The mark is the most since the 1924 Dodgers won 15 straight games.
1937 Tigers' first baseman Hank Greenberg becomes the first to hit a homer into the center field bleachers at Yankee Stadium. The area will become known as 'the black' when seats are covered in a dark color to serve as a batting eye.
1939 Elmer Gedeon, a September call-up, collects all three major league hits of his five-game career in the Senators' 10-9 victory over the Indians at Griffith Stadium. The Washington starting center fielder will become the first of two major leaguers killed in World War II when the enemy shot down his plane over France in 1944.
1949 With their 77th victory of the year, a 4-3 win in St. Louis, the Phillies will not have a losing season for the first time since 1932. The Pirates, who haven't won more than they've lost since 1993, surpass Philadelphia's 16-year record skid of playing under .500 in 2009.
1949 Pirates slugger Ralph Kiner hits his 50th home run of the year, taking Kirby Higbe deep in a 6-4 loss to the Giants at Forbes Field. The 26-year-old All-Star outfielder, having hit 54 round-trippers in his sophomore season of 1947, becomes the first National League player to accomplish the feat in two seasons.
1951 Indian Larry Doby walks five times in a 15-2 drubbing of the Red Sox when Early Wynn picks up his 20th victory. The intimidating right-hander, who will win exactly 300 games in a 23-year big league career, will post 20 or more wins in five of those seasons.
1955 In a 6-5 Cubs' extra-inning loss to the Cardinals, Ernie Banks hits his fifth grand slam of the season to establish a new major league mark, previously shared with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, among the others who also connected four times with bases full. The Chicago infielder hits his historic four-run homer off 19-year-old flamethrower Lindy McDaniel, making his first major league start after receiving a $50,000 bonus.
1955 After sitting on a flagpole since June 23, Bill Sherman leaves his perch after deciding he couldn't keep his promise to sit there until the Braves won seven straight games. Milwaukee will win six consecutive games on three occasions but can't get the elusive seventh victory during the 89 days.
1956 Orioles catcher Tom Gastall dies as the plane he is piloting crashes into the Chesapeake Bay. The 24-year-old backup backstop, who signed a $40,000 contract as a "bonus baby" with Baltimore after being drafted by the NFL's Detroit Lions, was the captain of Boston University's basketball and baseball teams in his senior year and played quarterback for the Terriers' football team.
1959 Richie Ashburn surpasses Ed Delahanty (1888-1901) to become the all-time franchise leader, collecting his 2,212th hit wearing a Phillies uniform. The historic knock is a ball that caroms off first base for a single in Philadelphia's 9-3 loss to the Braves at Connie Mack Stadium.
1962 Dick Donovan becomes the Indians' first 20-game winner since Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, and Herb Score hit the total in 1956. The memorable contest features a pair of back-to-back home runs hit in the first and seventh innings by Tribe teammates Walter Bond and Johnny Romano, who also had doubles, in the team's 10-9 victory at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium.
1964 Willie Davis steals home after singling, swiping second, and advancing to third on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 16th inning, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over Philadelphia. The fleet outfielder's theft of the plate occurs in the latest frame of a National League game, tying Hal Trosky's major league mark set in 1944.
1968 Denny McLain posts his 31st victory, the most in the American League since 1931 when Lefty Grove finished the season with a 31-4 with the Philadelphia A's. However, the fans will likely remember the Tiger Stadium contest for Mickey Mantle's 535th homer run that surpasses Jimmie Foxx on the all-time home-run list on a pitch allegedly 'grooved' by the Detroit starter.

1970 In an 11-3 rout of Washington at Fenway Park, the Conigliaro bothers each homer in the same game for the second time this season. Teammates Billy and Tony, who also accomplished the feat on July 4, go deep with solo shots in the fourth and seventh inning
1971 In their third year of existence, the Royals are assured of their first winning season when they beat Minnesota, 5-2, in the nightcap of a twin bill at Metropolitan Stadium for the team's 82nd victory this year. After ending the campaign with an 85-76 record, Kansas City finishes in second place, 16 games behind Oakland.
1973 In the fourth inning of the Braves' 4-1 loss at Dodger Stadium, Davey Johnson hits a solo shot off Andy Messersmith for his 43rd home run of the season, the 42nd as a second baseman. The round-tripper ties Cardinal infielder Rogers Hornsby's 1922 record for the most home runs by a second baseman.
1973 Astros' infielder Dave Campbell hits a first-inning two-run double against San Diego right-hander Clay Kirby to snap a 0-for-45 drought, tying a major league record set in 1909 by Bill Bergen, a catcher who played with Brooklyn. 'Soup,' who will become a respected national baseball broadcaster, endured the futility while playing for three teams, combining a 17-at-bat hitless streak with the Padres and another 21 at-bats hitless streak for the Cardinals before hitting the two-bagger in his eighth.
1976 Braves owner Ted Turner promotes Bill Lucas to vice president of player personnel, which assumes all the general manager's responsibilities, with the owner keeping the official title. The former minor leaguer becomes the first black to run a major league franchise nearly three decades after Jackie Robinson broke the color line.
1977 With two singles in his first two at-bats, Ted Cox ties and then breaks Senators Cecil Travis' 1933 record of five consecutive hits at the start of a career. The Red Sox rookie DH had gone 4-for-4 in Baltimore yesterday and is 6-for-6 in his first six major league appearances.
1980 In the Royals' 13-3 victory over the visiting A's, George Brett goes 2-for-4. The third baseman's two singles keep his batting average at .400, marking the latest date in the season since Ted Williams accomplished the feat in 1941.
1981 The Red Sox snap the Yankees' nine-game winning streak at Fenway Park, finally beating the Bronx Bombers at home, 8-5. Trailing for most of the game, Boston explodes for seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, including Rick Miller's three-run homer off New York reliever Dave LaRoche.
1982 Mariner rookie Orlando Mercado becomes the third player to hit a grand slam for his first major league hit. Bill Duggelby (1898 - first at-bat) and Bobby Bonds (1968 - third at-bat) were the other two players who accomplished the feat.
1986 Joe Cowley walks seven batters and gives up a run, but the White Sox right-hander no-hits the Angels at Anaheim Stadium, 7-1. The 28-year-old Kentuckian will become the first pitcher in major league history never to win another game after tossing a no-hitter when he is released by the Phillies next season.
1987 The Pirates retire the number 4 worn by Ralph Kiner, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975. The slugging outfielder, the owner of the single-season club record with 54 home runs, won or shared the NL home run title in each of his seven full seasons with Pittsburgh, going deep 301 times overall for the team.
1993 Tom Glavine notches his 20th victory at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium when the Braves beat the Mets, 11-2. The 27-year-old southpaw becomes the first National League hurler to win 20 games in three consecutive seasons since 1973, when Ferguson Jenkins accomplished the feat. 
1995 Ken Caminiti, in the Padres' 15-4 rout of the Rockies at Jack Murphy Stadium, becomes the first major leaguer to hit homers from both sides of the plate in the same game three times in one season, accomplishing the feat in just four contests. The San Diego third baseman also went yard facing a Cub right-hander and southpaw on September 16 and 17.
1997 In the first inning of the nightcap of a twin bill at Royals Stadium, Matt Williams tricks Jed Hansen with the rarely used hidden ball trick. The Kansas City rookie, deceived about the ball's location, is tagged out by the Indians' veteran infielder after taking a lead off third base in an eventual 6-2 Cleveland victory.
1997 Mark McGwire becomes the first major leaguer to hit twenty home runs for two different teams in the same season when he goes deep off in the Cardinals' 6-5 extra-inning victory over the Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium. 'Big Mac' had hit 34 with the A's before being traded on July 31 to St. Louis for Eric Ludwick, T.J. Mathews, and Blake Stein.
1998 In the Indians' 7-6 loss to the Royals at Jacobs Field, Manny Ramirez belts two homers, becoming only the second player in history to hit eight home runs in five games. Frank Howard, known as the Capital Punisher, accomplished the feat twice in 1968 en route to collecting a major league-leading 44 round-trippers for the Senators.
1998 Mariner shortstop Alex Rodriguez, in a 5-3 loss to the Angels at Edison International Field, hits his 40th home run of the season off Jack McDowell, becoming the first infielder and third player in major league history to have 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in the same season. Jose Canseco (A's - 1988) and Barry Bonds (Giants - 1996) are the other 40-40 club members.
2000 In addition to other court-ordered restrictions, the Dodgers ban an unruly fan from attending home games in Los Angeles for 18 months. The angry patron threw coffee in the face of a Mets fan cheering a grand slam hit by New York's catcher Todd Pratt.
2001 In the Cardinals' 8-2 victory over Milwaukee at Busch Stadium, Albert Pujols drives in three runs in his first two at-bats with a first-inning groundout and a two-run double in the fourth, breaking the National League rookie record with his 120th run batted in this season. The 21-year-old first baseman, who will finish the year with 130 RBIs, surpasses the mark established in 1930 by Wally Berger, who played for the Boston Braves.
2001 Roger Clemens becomes the first major league pitcher to start a season 20-1 when he goes 6⅓ innings in the Yankees' 6-3 victory over the White Sox at Comiskey Park. The eventual Cy Young Award winner, who has previously copped the award five times, has won his last 16 decisions for the Bronx Bombers but will drop the next two decisions, finishing the season with a 20-3 (.870) record.
2001 Major League Baseball and the Players Association announces the creation of the MLB-MLBPA Disaster Relief Fund. The organizations will each donate $10 million to aid the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
2002 In his major league debut, Twins' rookie Mike Ryan strokes two singles, tallies twice, and collects two RBIs in the nine-run first inning against the Tigers. Unfortunately, the game is rained out in the second inning, meaning none of the statistics will be official.
2006 In a game against Florida, Julio Franco starts at third base for the Mets, who clinched the NL East flag yesterday. The 48-year-old infielder has not played the hot corner since his rookie year in 1982, marking 24 years between starts at the position.
2006 Heritage Toronto commemorates the spot where Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run with a plaque at Canada's Hanlan's Point. The historic home run, the only one the Bambino would hit as a minor leaguer, came on September 5, 1914, when the visiting Providence Grays' hurler went deep against the Maple Leafs in the International League contest.

Babe Ruth's Plaque at Hanlan's Point

This photo is posted on Flickr by Paul Sherwood.

2007 The Devil Rays lose their 90th game in the tenth consecutive season. Tampa Bay is the only team in big-league history to lose as many as 90 games yearly for over a decade.
2007 Driving in Jose Reyes with a third-inning single, David Wright becomes the first Mets player in franchise history to collect 100 RBIs in three consecutive seasons. The 24-year-old third baseman will finish the season with 107 ribbies.
2008 In only his second appearance in the Marlins' starting lineup, Cameron Maybin equals a franchise record by getting on base in 10 consecutive plate appearances, matching the accomplishments of Derrek Lee and Juan Encarnacion. The 21-year-old outfielder's streak includes hits in eight straight at-bats, which also ties a team record shared by Preston Wilson and Gary Sheffield.
2008 The first reversal determined by baseball's new instant replay system occurs when Carlos Pena's two-run double becomes a three-run homer during the fourth inning in the Rays' 11-1 rout of the Twins at Tropicana Field. Umpire Mike DiMuro initially signaled fan interference but changed the call after reviewing the video of the Tampa Bay first baseman's line drive.
2009 In the Brewers' 7-2 victory over Houston, Prince Fielder sets the team's RBI mark with his eighth-inning sacrifice fly. The Milwaukee first baseman's league-leading 127 RBI total surpasses the 1983 club record established by Cecil Cooper, the Astros' manager who watches his record eclipsed from the opposing bench.
2010 Nationals Park hosts a simulcast of the Washington National Opera's production of Verdi's dramatic musical play, The Masked Ball, being performed at the Kennedy Center. The Opera in the Outfield, an annual free program, features special events, kids' activities, and prizes to introduce the genre to a broader audience, especially children.

2010 A piece of wood from Wellington Castillo's shattered maple bat punctures Tyler Colvin's chest, the runner on third base. The Cubs' rookie outfielder, who will not play another game this season, scores on his teammate's double but leaves the game in the bottom half of the inning to be taken to a hospital.
2011 In front of 40,045 fans at a Monday makeup game, the smallest crowd in the three-year history of the new Yankee Stadium, 41-year-old closer Mariano Rivera retires Trevor Plouffe, Michael Cuddyer, and Chris Parmelee to finish the team's 6-4 win over Minnesota. The 41-year-old Panamanian's 43rd save of the season is the 602nd in his career, surpassing Trevor Hoffman's major league record.

(Ed. Note: Rivera recorded 602 saves in 674 opportunities (89.3%), with Hoffman getting 601 in 677 tries (88.8%) -LP.)
2014 LA's Clayton Kershaw becomes the season's first 20-game winner when the team routs Chicago at a windy Wrigley Field, 14-5. The 26-year-old southpaw, who has compiled a 20-3 (.870) record and an ERA of 1.80, is the first Dodger hurler to reach the 20-win plateau twice since Claude Osteen accomplished the feat in 1969 and 1972.
2016 At Camden Yards, 40-year-old David Ortiz becomes the oldest player to hit 35 home runs in a season when he takes Dylan Bundy deep in the fifth inning of the Red Sox's 5-2 victory over the Orioles. The Boston DH ties Dave Kingman for the most round-trippers hit in a player's final year, a mark he'll surpass when he finishes the campaign with 37.
2017 At Rogers Centre, Royals outfielder Alex Gordon's 409-foot home run off Blue Jays' right-hander Ryan Tepera is baseball's 5,694th of the year, breaking the previous MLB single-season mark for most home runs established in the steroid-fueled 2000 campaign. The dramatic increase in round-trippers, finishing at 6,105 for an average record of 1.26 homers per game, fuels the speculation the ball is juiced, a claim major league baseball denies.
51 Fact(s) Found