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This Day in Baseball History
August 21st

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44 Fact(s) Found
1883 In a National League game played at the Messer Street Grounds, the Providence Grays, behind the complete-game performance of Old Hoss Radbourn, pound the visiting Philadelphia Quakers, 28-0. The 19th-century contest's final score remains the largest shutout margin in major league history.
1901 After a heated confrontation with Tom Connolly, Orioles' right-hander Joe McGinnity spits tobacco juice in the home plate umpire's face, leading to his arrest and a lifetime suspension. After Iron Man Mike apologizes, American League president Ban Johnson reinstatesthe popular hurler 12 days later.
1908 After over a dozen attempts, Senator backstop Gabby Street catches a baseball dropped by journalist Preston Gibson atop the 555-foot Washington Monument. Scientists estimate the ball traveled with a force of between 200 and 300 pounds.
1919 Phillies catcher Bert Adams has a stellar day behind the plate, recording ten putouts and five assists. The weak-hitting backstop's outstanding defense doesn't prevent Philadelphia from dropping a 5-1 decision to Chicago at the Baker Bowl.
1926 At Fenway Park, White Sox right-hander Ted Lyons throws a no-hitter against the hometown Red Sox, 6-0. The future Hall of Famer's gem takes only 67 minutes to complete.


Ted Lyons (1930)
Chicago Daily News
1931 Babe Ruth becomes the first major leaguer to hit 600 career home runs when the Yankees defeat the Browns, 11-7. The 36-year-old slugger hit the milestone round-tripper off right-hander George Blaeholder.
1932 Defeating the Senators, 11-5, at Washington's Griffith Stadium, Indians' hurler Wes Ferrell becomes the first pitcher in this century to win 20 or more games in each of his first four seasons. The Greensboro, NC native, who will post a 23-12 record this season, won 21, 25, and 22 games for Cleveland during the past three years.
1935 At Braves Field, Cardinals' first baseman Ripper Collins does not make a putout during the team's 13-3 nine-inning loss in Boston. The St. Louis infielder, who will also not make a putout playing first for the Cubs in a game against Brooklyn in 1937, is the only player who accomplished the rare feat twice in the major leagues.
1947 Williamsport (PA) hosts the first Little League World Series tourney. With a .625 team batting average, the hometown Maynard Midgets easily win the tournament, 16-7.
1948 Cleveland's streak of victories (8), shutouts (4), and scoreless innings (47) ends in the ninth inning when Bob Lemon walks Pat Seerey and yields home runs to Aaron Robinson and Dave Philley in a 3-2 loss to the White Sox.
1949 With the home team trailing 4-2 with one out in the top of the ninth inning, the visiting Giants are awarded a 9-0 forfeit by umpire Al Barlick when the Phillies fans launch a pop bottle and paper barrage at Shibe Park. The Philadelphia patrons display displeasure after first base ump George Barr rules center fielder Richie Ashburn had trapped the ball hit by Joe Lafata, a call vehemently protested by the outfielder and his teammates.
1951 President Harry Truman nixes the selection of Major General Emmett O'Donnell as Commissioner of Baseball, stating the officer needs to remain in his post as commander of bombers in Korea. The owners, who had unanimously elected the military man to succeed Happy Chandler, will choose National League president Ford Frick to fill the position.
1963 At Wrigley Field, Jerry Lynch leads off the top of the ninth with a pinch-hit home run off Lindy McDaniel, which proves to be the difference in the Pirates' 7-6 victory over Chicago. The historic homer is the southpaw slugger's 15th career homer coming off the bench, establishing a new major league record previously shared with former Cincinnati teammate George Crowe.
1971 The Connie Mack statue, a fixture in front of the North Philadelphia ballpark since 1957, is rededicated at the corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue in front of the Phillies' new home, Veterans Stadium. The team added a plaque to the monument's pedestal, listing the A's players chosen between 1978 and 2003 for the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.

Mack Plaque small

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1972 In a complete-game effort at Veterans Stadium, Steve Carlton's consecutive victory streak ends at 15 when the Phillies drop a 2-1 decision to Atlanta and Phil Niekro, who also goes the distance. Dusty Baker, who started the 11th-inning rally with a two-out double, scores the eventual winning run on Mike Lum's broken-bat flare over the shortstop's head.
1975 At Wrigley Field, the Reuschel brothers of the Cubs join forces to blank the Dodgers, 7-0. Rick goes 6⅓ innings, and Paul finishes the game for the first shutout thrown by siblings.
1977 In his first appearance at Shea Stadium since being traded, Tom Seaver throws a six-hitter against his former teammates and strikes out 11, helping the Reds defeat the Mets, 5-1. In addition to his work on the mound, 'Tom Terrific' hits a double and scores two runs.
1977 Orioles' third baseman Brooks Robinson, retaining his coaching duties with the team, announces his retirement as an active player before the game against the Twins to make room on the roster for catcher Rick Dempsey, returning from the disabled list. The 40-year-old future Hall of Famer, nicknamed the Human Vacuum Cleaner due to his outstanding defensive prowess, won 16 consecutive Gold Glove Awards, playing his 23-year career with Baltimore.
1980 At a news conference, owner Charlie Finley announces the sale of the A's to Walter A. Haas, Jr., the Levi Strauss clothing empire board chairman, Hass's son Walter J., and son-in-law Roy Eisenhardt for $12.7 million. The sale to the San Francisco executives, effective in November, keeps the team in Oakland, thwarting oilman Marvin Davis's plan to move the team to Denver.
1982 Rollie Fingers becomes the first player in major league history to record 300 career saves. The Brewers' right-handed reliever reaches the milestone, pitching the final two innings of the team's 3-2 victory over the Mariners at the Kingdome.
1983 On the same day, two minor leaguers, Vince Coleman and Donnell Nixon, break Rickey Henderson's single-season record by stealing their 131st base.
1986 In the Red Sox's 24-5 rout of the Indians, Spike Owen ties a major league mark, becoming the first major leaguer to score six runs in a game since Johnny Pesky, also playing for Boston, accomplished the feat in 1946. The light-hitting shortstop and center fielder Dave Henderson were obtained three days ago from the Mariners in exchange for Rey Quinones and cash.
1989 Orioles southpaw Jeff Ballard, throwing 112 pitches while scattering seven hits, hurls a shutout without issuing a walk or recording a strikeout when he whitewashes Milwaukee at Memorial Stadium, 5-0. The unusual feat of a no walk/no strikeout complete-game shutout will not occur again until Rick Porcello, an eight-month-old infant when Ballard throws his gem, blanks Oakland in 2014.
1990 The Phillies overcome an eight-run deficit, scoring nine runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk's pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game, and two batters later, Carmelo Martinez's double plates Rod Booker with the eventual winning run in the Chavez Ravine contest.

1999 At Camden Yards, Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson becomes only the third player in major league history to lead off each game of a doubleheader with a home run. The pair of round-trippers doesn't help when Baltimore drops both ends of the twin bill to the White Sox, 4-3 and 8-5.
1999 Joining Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr., and Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa becomes the fourth player to hit 50 home runs in consecutive seasons. The Cubs' right fielder, who hit 66 dingers last season, blasts his major league-leading 50th and 51st home runs in an 8-6 victory over the Rockies at Wrigley Field.
2001 The International League's Triple-A game between the Rochester Red Wings (Orioles) and Ottawa Lynx (Expos) features Tim Raines and his son Tim Jr. as opponents. The contest marks the first time a dad and his son oppose each other during the regular season on the professional level.
2002 The Expos' first selection, fifth overall, in the amateur draft, Clint Everts, signs a deal with Montreal, which gives him a $2.5 million signing bonus. The Houston Cypress Falls High School's right-hander, named the top prospect in the Montreal organization despite never having thrown a pitch in a pro game by Baseball America and teammate left-hander Scott Kazmir (Mets), only the fourth pair of high school players selected in the same draft round.
2002 In the longest game ever played in Little League World Series history, Louisville (KY) beats Fort Worth (TX) in the US semifinal in 11 innings, 2-1. A record-setting 49 batters strike out when Fort Worth's Walker Kelly whiffs 21 in nine two-hit innings, and Louisville's Aaron Alvey fans 19 opponents over nine no-hit innings.
2003 Miguel Tejeda starts his 559th consecutive game to establish a team record. The A's shortstop, who has the longest active streak in the majors, last missed a game on May 1, 2000.
2003 Much to the delight of the Fenway Faithful and the embarrassment of their first baseman, a video of Kevin Millar (aka 'Rally Karaoke Guy'), as an LA City College freshman doing an impersonation of Bruce Springsteen singing "Born in the USA," appears on the scoreboard. The tape first played at a clubhouse meeting in Texas as a prank by a college friend, who is now an FBI agent, appears to be Boston's answer to the Rally Monkey of Anaheim when the Red Sox win their first game in seven days, beating the A's, 14-5.  

2003 At Dodger Stadium, Vladimir Guerrero hit his 226th career home run, breaking Andre Dawson's club record. The Expos' right fielder hits his milestone round-tripper off Odalis Perez, a 454-foot blast over the left-field wall.
2005 Mike Jacobs hits a three-run home run in his first major league at-bat as a pinch-hitter using teammate Cliff Floyd's bat in the fifth inning of the Mets' 7-4 loss to the Nationals Shea Stadium. The left-handed-hitting first baseman becomes the fourth rookie in franchise history to go deep in his big league debut, joining Benny Ayala (1974), Mike Fitzgerald (1983), and Kaz Matsui (2004).
2005 Florida suspends their batboy for six games after the 11-year-old accepts former Marlin and current Dodger hurler Brad Penny's $500 dare to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. The sixth grader who drinks the quantity in the allotted time but cannot keep it down will be offered by the Milk Processor Education Program a promise to pay off the dare and cover the lost wages resulting from the suspension if he agrees to drink three glasses every 24 hours.
2006 Cory Lidle, recently obtained from the Phillies along with Bobby Abreu in a trade-deadline deal, throws six scoreless innings to get the 2-1 win as the Yankees complete a five-game sweep of the Red Sox at Fenway Park, increasing their lead over Boston to 6½ games. Dubbed the "Boston Massacre II," the lopsided series reminds fans of the rivalry of a similar meltdown in Boston in 1978.

(Ed. Note: The series marks the first time since 1943 that the Yankees have swept a five-game set at Fenway. - LP)

2006 After seeing his starting pitcher give back seven runs of an 8-0 lead, John Gibbons goes to the mound in the third inning to remove Ted Lilly, who argues with the Blue Jay manager and refuses to give up the ball. The incident escalates in the clubhouse tunnel, resulting in a bloody nose for the Toronto skipper.
2007 With a grand slam, three-run homer, two-run, and a pair of one-run doubles during an 18-9 rout of the Yankees, Garret Anderson drives in a franchise-record ten runs with his four hits. The Angels' left fielder, one RBI shy of setting the American League mark, becomes the 12th player to collect 10 RBIs in one contest in big-league history.

2007 Mark Reynolds ties a major league record, held by five other non-pitchers, including Bo Jackson of the Royals in 1988, by striking out in nine consecutive plate appearances. The dubious streak ends when Dave Bush hits the Diamondbacks' third baseman with a pitch in the sixth inning in a 7-4 Brewer victory at Chase Field.
2007 Matt Murphy, 21, reluctantly decides to sell the ball Barry Bonds hit to break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, citing he would be heavily taxed on the historically significant souvenir if he were to hold onto it. The August 7th AT&T Park home run ball, valued at an estimated $500,000, will be available from August 28 through September 15 through a Sotheby's/SCP online auction.
2010 After being heckled by Philadelphia fans between innings, Nyjer Morgan throws a ball into the Citizens Bank Park outfield seats, hitting a fan in the head. The Nationals outfielder will receive a seven-game suspension for his serious lapse of judgment, with his victim, a 37-year-old male, surprised by the punishment, wishing his assailant good luck with the appeal of the penalty.
2010 Matt Stairs sets the career record for pinch-hit home runs when he goes deep off Ernesto Frieri in the eighth inning of a 6-5 loss in Milwaukee. The two-run shot over the Miller Park right-field fence, his twenty-first round-tripper coming off the bench, moves the premier pinch-hitter ahead of Cliff Johnson. 
2011 The Padres retire Trevor Hoffman's No. 51 in a post-game ceremony to honor baseball's all-time saves leader, who retired in the off-season after playing 18 big league seasons, 16 with San Diego. After the team acquired him in a five-player deal in 1993, the right-handed reliever compiled 552 of his 601 saves for the Friars
2013 Ichiro Suzuki collects his 4,000th career hit, joining Ty Cobb and Pete Rose as the third professional baseball player to accomplish the feat. The Yankee right fielder, who has compiled more hits during his 13 seasons in the major leagues than any other player within the same amount of playing time, started his career with the Orix BlueWave in Japan, where he had a total of 1,278 hits before joining the Mariners in 2001.
2022 The Rays' nine-batter starting lineup against the Royals features players from eight countries, a major league first. Baseball's version of the League of Nations includes nationalities from the United States, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, and Taiwan.
44 Fact(s) Found