<< Yesterday

This Day in Baseball History
July 21st

Tomorrow>>
42 Fact(s) Found
1892 In a matchup of 300 game-winners at the Philadelphia Baseball Grounds, Phillies' submariner Tim Keefe sinks Jim "Pud" Galvin and the Browns, 2-0. The next time two National League pitchers with 300 or more victories will face each other will occur in 2005, when Greg Maddux of the Cubs beats Astros ace Roger Clemens at Minute Maid Park, 3-2.
1921 The Indians and Yankees combined to hit 16 doubles, establishing a new American League record. The Tribe, with nine of the two-baggers, beat the Bronx Bombers in Cleveland's League Park, 17-8. 
1930 Harvey Henrick's ninth-inning three-run round-tripper off the bench gives the Dodgers a dramatic 9-8 come-from-behind victory over St. Louis in the first game of a twin bill at Ebbets Field. Redbirds George Puccinelli, Jim Bottomley, and Brooklyn's Hal Lee all homer, appearing as pinch-hitters. 
1936 Joe Medwick collects his tenth consecutive hit to tie a National League record shared by Ed Konetchy, Kiki Cuyler, and Chick Hafey when he singles off Carl Hubbell in the sixth inning of the Cardinals' 2-1 loss to the Giants at the Polo Grounds. The 24-year-old Cardinals slugger, called Ducky by his teammates, had seven hits in his last seven at-bats in the Boston Bees' doubleheader sweep at Sportsman's Park before yesterday's off-day.
1945 At Philadelphia's Shibe Park, the A's and Tigers play the second-longest game in major league history, with the 24-inning contest ending in a 1-1 tie. Detroit right-hander Les Mueller pitches 19.2 innings in the four-hour and 48-minute marathon, the longest outing since 1921 when George Uhle tossed twenty innings to earn victory against losing pitcher Ted Lyons, who went the distance in the Indians' 6-5 win over the White Sox in the 21-innings contest.
1946 Lew Flick sets a professional baseball record when he collects nine consecutive hits in a single game before grounding out in his final at-bat in the 19-inning opener against Memphis. The Little Rock Travelers outfielder will get three more knocks off the Chicks' pitching staff in the nightcap, finishing the day 12-for-13 in the Southern Association (AA) doubleheader.
1947 Frankie Frisch (.316) becomes the first switch-hitter inducted into the Hall of Fame. Carl Hubbell, Mickey Cochrane, and Lefty Grove join the 'Fordham Flash' as the newest members enshrined at Cooperstown.
1953 Less than a month after signing with the Braves, 17-year-old Joey Jay makes his major league debut. The recent Middletown High School (CT) pitches two scoreless innings in relief, giving up two hits in Milwaukee's 10-0 loss to the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium.
1956 In a 13-6 defeat to the Cubs, Dodgers' shortstop Pee Wee Reese becomes one of five active players to collect 2000 hits, and teammate Junior Gilliam sets a major league record by handling 12 assists at second base.
1956 With the Reds' 4-3 complete-game loss to the Pirates at Crosley Field, right-hander Brooks Lawrence loses his first game this season, snapping a 13-game winning streak. Roberto Clemente's three-run homer in the ninth inning proves to be the decisive hit.
1959 Under intense public pressure and the Massachusetts Committee Against Discrimination investigation, the Red Sox become the last club to integrate. Fourteen years after Boston passed on Jackie Robinson despite a successful tryout in 1945, Elijah 'Pumpsie' Green pinch runs and plays shortstop to become the first black to play for the team.
1960 Phillies starter Robin Roberts pitches the third one-hitter of his career, and Candlestick Park's third one-hitter this season, when he goes the distance, beating the Giants in their new home, 3-0. Felipe Alou spoils Roberts' bid for a no-hitter, a feat the right-hander will not accomplish during his 19-year Hall of Fame career, with a fifth-inning infield hit, a hit third baseman Joe Morgan fields, but cannot throw the ball when he falls while making the play.
1961 With back-to-back homers in the top of the first at Fenway Park, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris continue their assault on Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. However, the game's decisive hit is a pinch-hit grand slam by Johnny Blanchard with two outs in the ninth inning, which propels the Bronx Bombers past the Red Sox, 11-8.
1962 After Marv Throneberry's fifth-inning error, which would have ended the frame, Vada Pinson hits a two-out, two-run homer, wasting Craig Anderson's complete-game effort against Cincinnati. The eventual 5-3 defeat at Crosley Field makes the right-hander the third consecutive Mets starter, following losing efforts by Jay Hook and Roger Craig, to pitch a complete game and not get a victory.
1963 Pirates outfielder Jerry Lynch pinch hits a three-run home run off Chicago's Lindy McDaniel in the ninth inning to tie the Forbes Field contest at five, a game in which the Bucs will eventually win 14 innings, 6-5. The heroic homer is the left-handed hitter's 14th career round-tripper off the bench, tying a major league mark established by former Cincinnati teammate George Crowe.
1963 The usually mild-mannered Dodger manager Walter Alston is thrown out of both games of a doubleheader when the Braves sweep a twin bill from Los Angeles for the first and only time in Milwaukee, 7-2 and 13-7. To make matters worse, the manager has beer thrown in his face by a hometown fan as he leaves the second game. (My thanks to Lee for sharing this entry. He attended the game at County Stadium as a ten-year-old. -LP)
1970 Ignoring Clay Kirby's bid for the Padres' first no-hitter in the 259th game of their existence, skipper Preston Gomez, with his club trailing the Mets, 1-0, in the eighth inning, decides to pinch hit for his starting pitcher. Reliever Jack Baldschun fails to keep New York hitless, yielding a leadoff hit to Bud Harrelson in San Diego's eventual 3-0 loss at Jack Murphy Stadium contest.

(Ed. Note: After 8,205 regular-season and 40 postseason games, the Padres remained the only franchise without a no-hitter until 2021, when Joe Musgrove kept the Rangers hitless on April 9. - LP)
1973 Braves slugger Hank Aaron becomes the second major leaguer to hit 700 career home runs when he goes deep off Phillies southpaw Ken Brett in the third inning of the team's 8-4 loss at Atlanta Stadium. Bronx Bomber Babe Ruth reached the milestone in 1934, homering off Detroit's Tommy Bridges at Briggs Stadium.
1975 In the Mets' 6-4 loss to the Astros at Shea Stadium, Joe Torre becomes the first player in National League history to hit into four straight double plays. Enjoying a 4-for-4 day singling in four consecutive at-bats, Felix Millan makes the third baseman's dubious mark possible.
1982 The Reds, 24 games below .500, fire manager John McNamara and ask third base coach Russ Nixon to manage the team. The new skipper will win only 27 of the 70 games left in the campaign, and Cincinnati will replace him after another last-place finish at the end of next season. 
1988 The Red Sox suspend Jim Rice for three days for shoving manager Joe Morgan. The Boston outfielder became upset when the skipper pinch-hit for him, using the light-hitting shortstop Spike Owen.
1988 The Yankees trade Jay Buhner, minor league prospect Rich Balabon, and a player to be named later (Troy Evers) to the Mariners in exchange for 33-year-old Ken Phelps. Frank Costanza will immortalize The one-sided deal on Seinfeld when George's dad laments the Bronx Bombers' poor judgment: "How could you have traded Buhner for Ken Phelps?" 

1990 In his first major league start, Ben McDonald, the Orioles' top pick in last year's June draft, blanks Chicago on four hits, 2-0. The 22-year-old right-hander from Louisiana State, the first American League pitcher to debut with a shutout in 15 years, retires the final 16 White Sox batters he faces after allowing Ron Kittle's fourth-inning single.
1993 Jose Uribe walks on a 3-2 count thanks to home umpire Harry Wendelstedt losing track of the pitches. The fifth-inning base-on-balls leads to a run when the Astros shortstop scores on Steve Finley's double in Houston's 5-3 victory over the Bucs at Three Rivers Stadium.
2000 The Orioles halt their 20-game Canadian losing streak, defeating the Blue Jays at the SkyDome, 9-5. Future Hall of Farmer Harold Blaine collects four hits in Baltimore's first victory north of the border since June 13, 1998.
2001 At Camden Yards, Troy Glaus becomes the fastest Angel player to reach the 100 career home run mark. The 24-year-old Halos' third baseman hits a pair of home runs in the team's 6-5 ten-inning victory over Baltimore.
2001 The Dodgers rout the Rockies, 22–7, scoring the most runs by the team since July 10, 1943, when the wartime Brooklyn club beat the Pirates at Ebbets Field, 23-6. The franchise mark for tallies in a contest is 25, first accomplished on May 20, 1896, then matched in 1901 on September 23rd.
2004 Thanks to an unusual play in the outfield, David Newhan hits a rare inside-the-park homer at Fenway. Inexplicably, Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez cuts off the relay throw from center fielder Johnny Damon, allowing two Orioles to score in Baltimore's 10-5 victory. 

2004 Mark Buehrle faces the minimum 27 batters as the White Sox rout the Indians, 14-0. The 25-year-old southpaw, throwing just ninety pitches, allows only two hits, with both runners erased due to a double play.
2004 At Wrigley Field, a club employee discovers another piece of concrete that fell from the park's upper deck. Two other chunks have also fallen recently in different sections of the 90-year-old stadium, prompting Mayor Richard Daley to say he would not hesitate to close parts of the facility to protect fans from potential harm.
2005 Hideki Matsui plays in his 395th consecutive game to start his career, breaking Al Simmons's 1926 American League record. The Japanese outfielder will also surpass Ernie Banks' NL mark of 424 en route to establishing the new major league record of 518 consecutive contests.
2006 Going deep in the third inning, 30-year-old Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez collects his 2,000th career hit and, at the same time, becomes the youngest player to reach the 450 home run plateau. Later in the day, Padres catcher Mike Piazza also becomes a member of the 2000-hit club with a second-inning double to left field at San Francisco's AT&T Park.
2006 After the All-Star break, as part of the scheduled "grand re-opening" of the ballpark, the Nationals stage the first live Presidents Race at the RFK Stadium, with George Washington taking first place in the inaugural competition among the Chief Executives. Although mascots Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln chalk up wins in the next two days, Teddy Roosevelt will not, thus beginning his infamous streak over more than 500 attempts before finally crossing the finish line first on the final day of the 2012 season.
2007 Willie Harris goes 6-for-6 with two triples, a steal, and six RBI to help the Braves top the Cardinals, 14 – 6. The outfielder from Cairo (GA) joins Felix Millan, who accomplished the feat 27 years earlier, as the second Atlanta player to get six hits in a game.
2007

The Pirates retire uniform number 11, once worn by Paul Waner, a right fielder who hit .340 during his 15-year tenure (1926-1940) in Pittsburgh. Big Poison's digits are the tenth to be retired in franchise history and the first in a decade.

2008 Diamondback left-hander Randy Johnson becomes the first major leaguer to collect 2,000 strikeouts for two teams. The Arizona southpaw, who fanned 2,162 batters pitching for the Mariners from 1989-98, whiffs Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez to earn the distinction.
2008 Jose Reyes' fourth-inning three-bagger in the Mets' 7-5 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park makes him the franchise leader in triples. The speedy shortstop's 11th three-base hit this season, the sixty-third of his career, all as a Met, puts the 25-year-old infielder one ahead of Mookie Wilson.
2008 Coming out of the bullpen in the eighth, Jimmy Gobble allows ten runs in two-thirds of an inning, setting a franchise record for the most runs allowed by a Royals reliever in a game. The 26-year-old southpaw, who will be placed on the 15-day disabled list the next day with a stiff lower back, gives up seven hits and walks four batters, facing 13 Tigers.
2010 🇺🇬 In a Middle East/Africa Regional contest played in Poland, Uganda becomes the first team to execute a triple play in a Little League tournament. The 1-2-3-5 triple-killing ends the game, giving the team a 9-3 victory over heavily favored Saudi Arabia. 
2012 At Cooperstown's Doubleday Field, the Hall of Fame honors Fox analyst Tim McCarver and Toronto Sun's Bob Elliott for their longtime contributions to covering baseball. The pair received the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting and the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for sports writing.
2013 In an on-field ceremony, former first baseman Carlos Delgado becomes the 10th member inducted on the Level of Excellence, an award bestowed by the Blue Jays to recognize an individual player's accomplishments for the team. Previous recipients of the prestigious award include Dave Stieb, George Bell, Joe Carter, Cito Gaston, Tony Fernandez, Pat Gillick, Tom Cheek, Roberto Alomar, and Paul Beeston.
2015 The lengthy investigation and prosecution of Barry Bonds for obstruction of justice ends when the Department of Justice reveals it is not challenging his felony conviction's reversal to the US Supreme Court. Baseball's career home run leader was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2011 for giving convoluted answers to a federal grand jury when probed about PED injections.
42 Fact(s) Found