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This Day in Baseball History
July 22nd

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44 Fact(s) Found
1905 In the first game of a doubleheader, A's pitcher Weldon Henley no-hits the Browns, 6-0. The Georgia native will compile a 32-43 won-loss record during his four-year big league career.
1906 Bob Ewing beats the Phillies, 10-3, without a single assist registered by his Cincinnati teammates. 'Long Bob' will post a stellar 2.38 ERA this season, but he will finish with a 13-14 record for the sixth-place Reds.
1909 In the first game of a doubleheader, A's pitcher Weldon Henley no-hits the Browns, 6-0. The Georgia native will compile a 32-43 won-loss record during his four-year big league career.
1913 In a game against the Superbas (Dodgers), Slim Sallee becomes the first pitcher in Cardinal history to steal home. In the third inning, the Redbird southpaw scores the first run in St. Louis's 3-1 victory over Brooklyn at Ebbets Field.
1923 At League Park, the Indians complete a 31-game homestand in which every American League team pays a visit. After a slow start, the Tribe finishes with a 16-15 record during their month at home.
1923 At Cleveland's Dunn Field, Walter Johnson fans the Tribe's Stan Coveleski to become the first pitcher in major league history to strike out 3,000 batters. The Senator legend's milestone will remain unmatched until 1974 when Cardinals right-hander Bob Gibson whiffs Reds leadoff man Cesar Geronimo to reach the plateau at Busch Stadium.
1926 Four triples help the Reds score 11 runs in the second inning en route to their 13-1 victory over the Braves. Curt Walker hits two triples in the frame, tying a National League record for most triples in an inning.
1926 At Long Island's Mitchell Field, with the media well represented, Babe Ruth, wearing an Army uniform, catches the last of seven baseballs, traveling 100 mph from a height of about 250 to 300 feet above the ground, dropped from a plane piloted by Captain Harold McClelland. Major Benjamin Foulois arranged the publicity stunt to bring more attention to the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) and the Citizens Military Training Camp.
1932 Mickey Cochrane completes a cycle with a seventh-inning single when the A's beat the Senators at Griffith Stadium, 7-4. Additionally, the Philadelphia catcher's triple in the first, homer in the third, and double in the sixth, all off General Crowder, drives in four runs, with the backstop crossing the plate three times. 
1935 The Red Sox end a game for the second consecutive day with Wes Ferrell hitting a walk-off home run. As a pinch-hitter yesterday, his round-tripper beat the Tigers, 7-6, and today, as a starter, his game-ending homer gives Boston a 2-1 victory against the Browns.
1941 Dick Wakefield becomes baseball's first 'bonus baby' when he signs with the Tigers for $52,000 and a new car. The University of Michigan standout will get one hit in seven at-bats (.143) this season.
1945 In front of a sellout crowd at Fenway Park, Red Sox right-hander Dave Ferriss, known as Boo, goes the distance, beating the Browns, 3-2. The 23-year-old rookie improves his record to 17-2 en route to finishing the season with a 21-10 (.677) mark and a 2.96 ERA.
1954 In the ninth, Yankee skipper Casey Stengel shifts center fielder Mickey Mantle to shortstop to replace weak-hitting Willy Miranda, moving Irv Noren to center to take Mick's place with pinch-hitter Hank Bauer staying in the game in right. The move proves unnecessary when the 'Commerce Comet' hits a walk-off homer in the bottom of the tenth, giving the Bronx Bombers a 4-3 victory over the White Sox.
1962 Floyd Robinson goes 6-for-6, helping the White Sox defeat the Red Sox at Fenway Park, 7-3. All of the Chicago outfielder's hits are singles.
1962 During a doubleheader with the Reds at Crosley Field, the Mets have four runners thrown out trying to score at home plate. The new National League expansion team from New York drop both ends of the twin bill, 11-4 and 4-3, en route to a record-setting 120 defeats this season. 
1966 The Mets left fielder learns he is a new dad when the Dodger Stadium scoreboard relays the message, "Congratulations, Ron Swoboda. Your new son is born tomorrow morning." Cecilia Swoboda gave birth to Chipper, the couple's first child, at 12:02 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, making it the next day on the West Coast.

1966 Lew Burdette, tossing the final two frames of scoreless ball in relief, earns his 200th career victory when the Angels score two runs in the top of the ninth in the team's eventual 6-4 victory at Yankee Stadium. The veteran right-hander, a one-time Bronx Bomber traded to Boston for Johnny Sain, is best remembered for winning three games for the Braves against his former team in the 1957 World Series.
1966 Clay Dalrymple breaks up Giants hurler Gaylord Perry's no-hitter with an eighth-inning single. It's the second time the Phillies' catcher has spoiled a no-hit bid in the eighth inning at Candlestick Park, as he collected the only hit in Juan Marichal's debut in 1960.
1967 The Braves use five pitchers in the same inning, establishing a major league mark for the number of hurlers used in one frame. Ken Johnson, Ramon Hernandez, Claude Raymond, Dick Kelley, and Cecil Upshaw all face batters in the ninth inning of the team's 5-4 defeat to St. Louis in 13 innings at Busch Stadium.
1968 After grounding out to first base unassisted in the seventh inning of the Yankees' 7-6 loss to the Red Sox, Mickey Mantle's lifetime batting average falls and stays below .300 (.29946). The future Hall of Fame slugger, who finishes his 18-year tenure in the major leagues with a .298 batting average, often laments in later years that his greatest regret in baseball was not ending his career batting .300.
1969 Soggy conditions at RFK Stadium, caused by a torrential rainstorm that pelted the nation's capital during the day, rains out the All-Star Game for the first time since its inception in 1939. The postponement of the 40th Midsummer Classic disappoints President Nixon, who had planned to throw the ceremonial first pitch but cannot now attend, leaving to greet the Apollo 11 crew, expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean after their historic trip to the moon.
1973 Reds shortstop Dave Concepcion will miss the rest of the season after fracturing the fibula of his left leg, sliding into third base two days before the Midsummer Classic. The All-Star infielder hit .287 in the 89 games he played for the eventual National League Western Division winners.
1983 Angels outfielder Brian Downing's American League record consecutive errorless streak ends at 244 games when he misplays Chet Lemon's line drive in a 13-11 loss to the Tigers. The 'Incredible Hulk' will never win a Gold Glove during his 20 years in the major leagues.
1984 The Yankees retire Roger Maris's (#9) and Elston Howard's (#32) uniform numbers. The team also erects plaques to pay tribute to their achievements as Bronx Bombers. (Ed. Note: The Yankees planned to retire #9 and #32 on Old-Timer's Day (July 21, 1984 ), but rain postponed the ceremonies until the next day. - LP)
1986 Due to a series of maneuvers by Mets' manager Davey Johnson and the late-game ejections of Darryl Strawberry, Ray Knight, and Kevin Mitchell, the team runs out of position players. The lack of regulars makes for some interesting moves when catcher Gary Carter plays third base, right-handed reliever Roger McDowell plays left field (when Jesse Orosco pitches to lefties), and Orosco plays right (when McDowell faces right-handers) with Mookie Wilson moving from corner to corner as needed.

(Ed. Note: Ray Knight and Kevin Mitchell's ejections resulted from a bench-clearing brawl precipitated by Knight when he decks pinch-runner Eric Davis at third base.)
1987 At Comiskey Park, Harold Baines surpasses Bill Melton to become the White Sox's all-time leading home run hitter when he goes deep off Mike Boddicker during the third inning of a 10-5 loss to Baltimore. The 28-year-old Chicago DH/OF has hit 155 home runs in his eight seasons with the Pale Hose.
1993 Giving up four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning at Three Rivers Stadium, the Braves lose to the Pirates, 8-7, to fall ten games behind the division-leading Giants. In a remarkable turn-around, Atlanta posts a 54-19 record after the All-Star break, finishing with 104 victories, winning the National League West historic race by a single game on the last day of the season.
1995 A frail Mickey Mantle bids the fans a farewell in a recorded message on the Bronx ballpark's Jumbotron on the day the Yankees celebrate Babe Ruth's hundredth birthday as part of the team's Old Timers' Day. The diminished former superstar, who will succumb to liver cancer in 22 days, tells the crowd, "I feel like Phil Rizzuto in Babe Ruth's uniform."
1999 Cleanup batter Manny Ramirez, listed as the designated hitter in the lineup posted by Indians' manager Mike Hargrove, plays in the field at the top of the first inning, mistakenly taking Alex Ramirez's position in right field. The blunder will result in the Tribe losing a DH during their 4-3 loss to Toronto at Jacobs Field.
2000 Rain delays the Ranger-Mariner game when Safeco Field's retractable roof fails to close. The contest continues after 54 minutes, giving the roof time to overcome its electrical problem and allowing the groundskeepers to dry the field.
2002 Although the Los Angeles Times reported that MLB players had tentatively set a strike date of September 16, union leader Donald Fehr denies that a decision about a timeframe was in a memo sent to players. The work stoppage would be baseball's ninth since 1972.
2002 Over 20,000 Red Sox fans gather at Fenway for a tribute entitled "Ted Williams: A Celebration of an American Hero," for a two-hour salute to the man many considered to be the greatest hitter in baseball history, a veteran of World War II, and the Korean War and a generous supporter of the Jimmy Fund. In addition to moving music and video, the ceremony includes comments from present and former Red Sox players and broadcasters, historian Ken Burns, and the pilot Ted served as wingman on some of the missions he flew in Korea, former U.S. Senator John Glenn.
2005 Nationals outfielder Jose Guillen, armed with a measuring tape and the help of a few teammates, finds inaccuracies when he checks the distance from home plate to the fences at RFK Stadium. Due to the findings, the club had brought in a surveyor earlier in the day, moving the green pads with the "380" markings closer to the respective foul lines to be more accurate.
2005 Yhency Brazoban records his 18th save when he works a perfect ninth inning as the Dodgers beat the Mets, 6-5. The Los Angeles freshman, who is filling in for injured closer Eric Gagne, breaks Steve Howe's club rookie record for saves established in 1980.
2007 Devil Rays right-hander Shawn Camp allows nine hits in 1â…“ innings of relief during the Yankees' 21-4 rout. The 34-year-old Tampa Bay reliever allowed three home runs to the 13 batters he faced at the Bronx ballpark.
2007 Tulsa Drillers' first-base coach Mike Coolbaugh instantly dies when struck in the head by a line drive in the top of the ninth inning at Dickey-Stephens Field in North Little Rock, home of the minor league Arkansas Travelers. The 35-year-old dad, who leaves behind a pregnant wife and two small sons, becomes the second on-the-field fatality in professional baseball history.

(Ed. Note: In 1920, Indians shortstop Ray Chapman died after being struck in the head with a fastball thrown by Yankee right-hander Carl Mays.)

2008 After pitching two scoreless frames in relief in the A’s 8-1 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field, Brad Ziegler establishes an American League record when he extends his consecutive scoreless inning streak to start a major league career to 23. The 28-year-old breaks the Junior Circuit mark set in 1945 by Red Sox rookie right-handed starter Dave Ferriss.
2012 Ron Santo, who died at the end of 2010, disappointed about not being selected for Cooperstown, is inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame. In tribute to the team's former third baseman and beloved broadcaster, the Cubs click their heels as they jumped over the third base line, taking the field in St. Louis, invoking the memory of the infielder's signature move after a victory.

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2012 Barry Larkin, who spent his 19-year career with the Reds, is inducted into the Hall of Fame. The former 12-time All-Star shortstop, a lifetime .295 hitter, won the Gold Glove Award three times and is a nine-time Silver Slugger Award winner.

2012 After tying the game with a ninth-inning run, the A's sweep the Yankees with a 12th-inning walk-off victory. The 5-4 loss marks the first time the Bronx Bombers have been swept in a four-game series while losing all four by one run.
2013 The Rangers trade three prospects—third baseman Mike Olt and pitchers C.J. Edwards and Justin Grimm—to the Cubs for Matt Garza, a player the team has attempted to land for the past two seasons. The deal also includes the Cubs receiving a player to be named later, most likely Neil Ramirez if his shoulder is sound, or two other minor-leaguers if the right-hander is still injured.
2014 Chase Headley, obtained by the Yankees less than 12 hours ago, hits a single in the 14th inning, giving the Bombers a 2-1 walk-off victory over Texas in the Bronx. New York acquired their new third baseman earlier in the day, trading minor league pitching prospect Rafael De Paula and infielder Yangervis Solarte to the Padres and receiving $1 million to pay part of the $4 million still owed to the infielder this season.

2015 In Anaheim, Huston Street becomes the 27th pitcher in the major leagues to record 300 saves when he tosses a scoreless ninth inning in the Angels' 5-2 victory over the Twins. The 31-year-old right-handed closer is the second-youngest player behind Francisco Rodriguez to reach the milestone.
2019 At Minute Maid Park, the Astros, wearing caps featuring the official emblem of the historic NASA mission, celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's landing on the moon. The festivities include fans taking a photo with a statue of Neil Armstrong's spacesuit, participating in interactive displays, and purchasing an Orbit Moon-Landing bobblehead.

44 Fact(s) Found