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36 Fact(s) Found
| 1876 | Three thousand fans attend the Philadelphia A's' 6-5 loss to the Boston Red Caps in the first game ever played in the National League. The Athletic Park contest becomes the new circuit's inaugural event by default when rain washes out the other scheduled games. |
| 1891 |
Exposition Park, which opened last year as the home of the Pittsburgh Burghers of the short-lived Players' League, hosts its first Pirates game, a National League contest that the Bucs lose to Chicago, 7-6. The ballpark, located on the north side of the Allegheny River, across from Pittsburgh's downtown area, will be the team's home until they move to Forbes Field in 1909.
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| 1898 | Today marks the first time two no-hitters occur on the same day when Orioles (NL) right-hander Jay Hughes and Reds southpaw Theodore Breitenstein keep their opponents hitless, beating the Beaneaters, 8-0, and the Pirates, 11-0, respectively. A double no-no on the same date will not happen again until June 29, 1990, when A's Dave Stewart and Dodger Fernando Valenzuela accomplish the feat with gems against the Blue Jays and Cardinals. |
| 1903 | In the first game of franchise history, the New York Highlanders (later to be renamed Yankees) lose their opener to Washington at American League Park, 3-1. Jack Chesbro takes the loss, but the 28-year-old right-hander will finish the season with a 21-15 record (.583) and an ERA of 2.77. |
| 1904 | At American League Park, the Senators remain winless since the start of the season when they lose their sixth game en route to dropping 13 decisions before winning their first game. Highlander right-hander Jack Chesbro blanks Washington, 2-0, posting the first of his record 41 victories this season. |
| 1912 |
Similar to the looks of the Pirates, the Highlanders' uniforms feature pinstripes for the first time. The Bronx Bombers will abandon the fashion statement for the next two seasons, returning to the style for good in 1915, changing the color from black to navy blue.
 1912 Baseball Card Portrait Library of Congress |
| 1914 | In his first pro game, Babe Ruth blanks Providence to give Baltimore a 6-0 International League victory. Eighteen of the 94 major league victories thrown by the future Sultan of Swat' will be shutouts. |
| 1922 | With George Sisler aboard each time, Browns' left fielder Ken Williams hits three home runs, becoming the first American League player to accomplish the feat in a game. The outfielder's three round-trippers lead St. Louis to a 10-7 victory over Chicago at Sportsman's Park. |
| 1925 | In their home opener against Cincinnati at Sportsman's Park, Branch Rickey's Cardinals collect 12 hits in the first frame to establish a National League mark. The batting barrage accounts for 11 runs crossing the plate in the inning en route to the Redbirds' 12-3 rout of the Reds. |
| 1947 | The Phillies players, encouraged by their Alabama-born racist skipper Ben Chapman, repeatedly shout racial epitaphs, throw beanballs, and intentionally spike Brooklyn's rookie first baseman, the first African-American to play major league baseball in the 20th century. The incident is so severe that Philadelphia's infielder Jeep Handley will later publicly apologize, and baseball commissioner Happy Chandler chastises the team's manager for his bigoted leadership. |
| 1956 | New York starter Don Larsen hits a grand slam off Frank Sullivan in the Yankees' 13-6 victory over Boston at Yankee Stadium. The 26-year-old right-hander, a good-hitting pitcher, will finish his 14-year career with 14 home runs and a .242 average. |
| 1957 | Entering the game as a pinch-runner, John Kennedy becomes the first black to play with the Phillies, the last National League team to integrate. The former shortstop for the Birmingham Black Barons and Kansas City Monarchs will bat only twice in the major leagues, striking out and reaching on an error. |
| 1959 | Although it takes extra innings, Whitey Ford ties the Yankees' record for strikeouts, fanning 15 batters when he beats the Senators in 14 innings, 1-0. 'Slick' equals the mark established by Bob Shawkey in 1919, when the right-hander defeated Philadelphia in a nine-inning game, 9-2. |
| 1959 | Bill Skowron homers to deep left field off Chuck Stobbs in the top of the 14th inning, accounting for the lone run in the Yankees' victory over the Senators at Griffith Stadium. Whitey Ford goes the distance for the win in the longest American League 1-0 game to be decided by a home run. |
| 1959 | In the seventh inning of a 20-6 rout of Kansas City, the White Sox score 11 runs on just one hit. The other Municipal Stadium baserunners get on thanks to two errors, ten walks, and one hit batsman. |
| 1969 | Rollie Fingers, best known as a reliever with the Athletics, Padres, and Brewers, throws a complete-game shutout in his third major league mound appearance, the first as a starter. The 22-year-old future Hall of Fame right-hander, who will compile two shutouts and have four complete games in 37 career starts, limits the Twins to five hits in the A's 7-0 victory at Metropolitan Stadium. |
| 1970 |
On the same day MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson Day, Chadwick Boseman, the actor who portrayed the Brooklyn Dodgers star in the 2013 movie 42, dies of colon cancer. The 43-year-old actor, best known for the title role in Marvel's blockbuster Black Panther, played music legend James Brown and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshal on the big screen.
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| 1973 | Designated hitter Ron Lolich, Mickey's cousin, hits the third of his four career home runs, a two-out walk-off grand slam, giving the Indians an 8-7 comeback victory. Boston had scored three runs in the top of the ninth to break a 4-4 deadlock. |
| 1976 | Taking two days to accomplish the feat, Tim Foli becomes the first Expo to hit for the cycle when he homers in the eighth inning of a suspended game. Before the umps halted the Wrigley Field contest yesterday because of darkness, the Montreal shortstop had stroked a single, double, and triple in the club's eventual 12-6 victory over Chicago, in that order, for a rare 'natural cycle.' |
| 1988 | Two weeks into the season, the World Champion Twins deal their reliable right fielder Tom Brunansky to the Cardinals for second baseman Tommy Herr. Minnesota had hoped their newly acquired switch-hitting infielder would be an ideal No. 2 hitter in front of Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek, but the 32-year-old will hit .263, playing in only 86 games due to injuries. |
| 1991 | During the first night game in the new ballpark, Frank Thomas hits the first White Sox home run in Comiskey Park, contributing to Chicago's 8-7 victory over Baltimore. In the south-side stadium debut three days ago, Jack McDowell surrendered the park's first homer to Cecil Fielder in a 16-0 rout of the home team by Detroit. |
| 1993 |
Mariner right-hander Chris Bosio walks the first two batters he faces in the Kingdome but is perfect after that, throwing the second no-hitter in franchise history when he beats the Red Sox, 7-0. The 30-year-old Seattle's no-no is kept intact by several outstanding plays from his infielders, including shortstop Omar Vizquel's barehanded play on a chopper hit by Ernest Riles for the game's final out.
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| 1996 | The Mariners surpass the 1984 White Sox record for home runs hit by a team in April with their 39th round-tripper when Alex Diaz takes Paul Quantrill deep in the team's 11-7 loss at the Kingdome. Seattle will extend the major league mark for the season's first full month to 44 homers. |
| 1996 | Although he participates in four of the five team's double plays, Shawon Dunston commits four errors in San Francisco's 11-8 loss to the Astros at 3Com Park. The 33-year-old shortstop's miscues, including an errant throw, are the most by a Giants fielder since Bob Brenly's infamous game at the hot corner in 1986. |
| 2000 | After being hit by a pitch thrown by White Sox starter Jim Parque, Dean Palmer charges the mound, beginning a series of brawls that continue to erupt during the beanball-filled game at Comiskey Park. When the dust settles in Chicago's 14-6 victory over the Tigers, Frank Robinson, baseball's new disciplinary czar, suspends 16 individuals for 82 games, fining 24 different players, coaches, and managers for their roles in the brawl. |
| 2000 | Homers by Mark McGwire and Fernando Tatis help establish a National League record for the most team home runs in April when the Cardinals go yard 42 times. The Braves hit 41 home runs in April of 1998. |
| 2000 | Angels Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon, and Troy Glaus all go deep in the fourth inning against Devil Rays' hurler Dwight Gooden, and then they again all homer off Roberto Hernandez in the ninth. It is the first time in major league history that the same three players homered in the same inning twice in a game. |
| 2001 |
A new number, 455, will be added with 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 21, and 42 on the second deck in right field. The three-digit number will join the other previously Indian retired numbers to honor the fans for setting a sellout streak record, which lasted 455 games over five years at Jacobs Field.
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| 2006 | Bill Hall, Damian Miller, Brady Clark, J.J. Hardy, and Prince Fielder all go deep in the bottom of the fourth frame at Miller Park, making the Brewers the fifth team to hit five home runs in one inning. Milwaukee joins the 1966 Twins, 1939 Yankees, 1949 Phillies, and the 1961 Giants to establish the major league mark. |
| 2007 |
The Red Sox become the fifth big-league team to hit four consecutive homers in an inning when Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek go deep with two outs in the third inning at Fenway off Yankee starter Chase Wright. J.D. Drew was also part of the quartet of the 2006 Dodgers, who were the fourth major league team to connect for four straight round-trippers in one frame.
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| 2008 | In a scheduling oddity, both New York big-league teams play in Chicago, with the Mets playing the Cubs in a matinee and the Yankees taking on the White Sox in an evening tilt. This unusual occurrence marks the first time in 11+ years that two teams from one city have played as visitors in the same town on the same date, a quirk necessitated due to the Pope's appearance at Yankee Stadium two days ago. |
| 2008 | Striking out Nationals second baseman Felipe Lopez on his signature split-finger fastball, John Smoltz becomes the 16th pitcher in big league history to achieve 3,000 career strikeouts. In the 6-0 Braves loss to Washington at Turner Field, the Atlanta ace fans ten batters for the 45th time in his 20-year career. |
| 2010 | At Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the Yankees turn their first triple play in 42 years when Alex Rodriguez steps on third to start a 5-4-3 around-the-horn play, resulting in three outs in the team's 4-2 loss to the A's. The team's last triple killing occurred in June of 1968, on a 1-5-3 ground ball hit by Minnesota's John Roseboro, a play started by pitcher Dooley Womack, continued by third baseman Bobby Cox, and finished by Mickey Mantle, who was playing first base. |
| 2010 |
The Brewers, with a 20-0 rout at PNC Park, hand the Pirates their most-lopsided loss in the 124-year history of the franchise. The victory completes a three-game sweep of the Bucs in which the Brew Crew outscored their opponents, 36-1.
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| 2014 | Albert Pujols blasts his 500th career homer after hitting his 499th, both off right-hander Taylor Jordan, to become the 26th and third-youngest major leaguer, trailing only Alex Rodriguez and Jimmie Foxx, to reach the milestone. The LA slugger's offensive outburst, which drives five runs, contributes to the Angels' 7-2 victory over Washington at Nationals Park. |
| 2018 |
Brandon Belt works the most extended at-bat in major league history, seeing 21 first-inning pitches from LA's Jaime Barria in the Giants' 4-2 victory at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. The San Francisco first baseman's 12-minute and 45-second plate appearance, where he fouls off 16 balls, including 10 in a row, surpasses the 1998 duel between Indians right-hander Bartolo Colon and Astro infielder Ricky Gutierrez by one pitch.
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36 Fact(s) Found