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This Day in Baseball History
April 24th

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30 Fact(s) Found
1894 At Brooklyn's Eastern Park, Lave Cross hits for the cycle when the Phillies pound the Grooms 22-5. The 27-year-old third baseman becomes the first player in franchise history to accomplish the feat.
1901 In front of 14,000 fans at the Chicago Cricket Club, the American League completes its first game when the White Sox and Roy Patterson defeat the Cleveland Blues, 8-2, in a contest that lasts only ninety minutes. The opponents, who will become known as the Indians, currently use a name that reflects the very bright color of their uniforms.

1902 Professional baseball gets its start in Durham (NC), when the Tobacconists, renamed the Bulls in eleven years, play an exhibition game against Trinity College (now Duke University). Except for 1971-80, when minor league baseball didn't exist in the Research Triangle city, the Bulls will continue to play in Durham until the present day.
1917 At Fenway Park, Yankee left-hander George Mogridge no-hits the Red Sox, 2-1. The southpaw's performance is the first no-no in franchise history and the first-ever thrown in the Boston ballpark.
1923 President Warren G. Harding, an avid baseball fan who likes to keep a scorecard at games, witnesses the first shutout thrown at Yankee Stadium. The chain-smoking Chief Executive is delighted to see Babe Ruth's fifth-inning homer off Allen Russell but is disappointed the Senators drop the contest, 4-0.

1945 The owners unanimously select U.S. Senator Happy Chandler to replace Kenesaw Mountain Landis, elected to another seven-year term a week before his death on November 25. Baseball's second commissioner will remain in the Senate during the first six months of his tenure in office.
1947 Johnny Mize homers three times against the Braves' right-hander Johnny Sain, but the Giants' first baseman's trio of round-trippers proves not to be enough when the team bows to Boston at the Polo Grounds, 14-5. The 'Big Cat' becomes the first major leaguer to hit three home runs in one game five different times.

1954 Giants right-hander Marv Grissom blanks the Phillies at the Polo Grounds, 1-0. Whitey Lockman's 300-foot fifth-inning home run off Robin Roberts, one of only three hits allowed by the Philadelphia hurler, accounts for the game's only score.
1956 At Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Frank Umont becomes the second umpire to don glasses during a regular-season game, following fellow American League arbitrator Eddie Rommel, who wore spectacles earlier in the month. Although he is heckled by some A's fans when the home team loses to the Tigers, 7-4, the former NFL tackle (N.Y. Giants) has no problem being the second base arbitrator.
1957 At Crosley Field, three Cub pitchers walk nine players when Moe Drabowsky starts the frame with four bases on balls, Jackie Collum adds three more, and Jim Brosnan issues an additional two to set a new National League record. The fifth-frame free passes allow seven runs to score in the team's 9-5 loss to the Reds.
1958 At the Los Angeles Coliseum, 26-year-old right-hander Gene Fodge, who gives up ten hits in his complete-game performance, picks up his only major league victory when the Cubs beat the Dodgers, 15-2. Outfielder Lee Walls carries the day with three homers and eight RBIs.
1960 Before making their first out of the game, the Yankees score eight runs against Baltimore in the bottom of the first frame. The Orioles narrow the gap with eighth-and-ninth-inning grand slams hit by Albie Pearson and Billy Klaus, respectively, but the Bombers hold on to beat the Birds in the Bronx ballpark, 15-9.
1962 In the Colt .45s first meeting with the visiting Cardinals, a 4-3 victory at Colt Stadium, the game features many players that played in Houston on their way to the big leagues. Before being awarded a major league franchise, the Texas city hosted the Buffaloes, a farm club for St. Louis, from 1919 to 1958.
1962 Dodger southpaw Sandy Koufax ties his major league record, which he shares with Bob Feller when he strikes out 18 batters in a nine-inning contest during the team's 10-2 rout of the Cubs at Wrigley Field. In 1938, nineteen-year-old right-hander Bob Feller established the record, whiffing 18 batters in the Indians' 4-1 loss to the Tigers at Cleveland Stadium.
1962 Commissioner Ford Frick fines Casey Stengel $500 for appearing in uniform for a beer advertisement, which shows the Mets manager ready to bunt. Kathy Kersh, holding the ball in the Rheingold ad, will later become better known as Cornelia, one of the Joker's women in the 1960s Batman television series.

1965 Casey Stengel wins his 3,000th game as a manager when his Amazin' Mets score three runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Giants at Candlestick Park, 7-6. The 'Old Perfessor,' the former Dodgers, Braves, and Yankees skipper won over a third of his games (1,149) during his 12-year tenure with the Bronx Bombers.
1982 Jesse Barfield becomes the first Blue Jay in franchise history to pinch-hit a grand slam when he goes deep off Tom Burgmeier. However, the right fielder's bases-loaded heroics aren't enough to stave off an eventual 8-7 Toronto loss to Boston at Exhibition Stadium.
1987 At Cleveland Stadium, Rickey Henderson becomes the first player in baseball history to hit a home run off two different 300-game winners in the same game. The left fielder's solo homer in the eighth inning off Phil Niekro and his two-run blast in the ninth off Steve Carlton aren't enough to thwart the Tribe's 6-5 walk-off victory over the Yankees.
1989 Joining Reggie Jackson and the Reggie Bar, Ken Griffey Jr. becomes the second player to have a candy bar named after him when he signs a contract with Pacific Trading Cards Company. Unfortunately, the Mariners' center fielder can't enjoy the popular confectionery because the 19-year-old rookie outfielder is allergic to chocolate.

1994 Julio Franco and Robin Ventura hit homers back-to-back in the second and eighth innings. The sluggers' offensive output isn't enough when Detroit beats the White Sox at Comiskey Park, 7-6.
1996 Scoring the most runs by an opponent against Detroit in 84 years, the Twins set a team record for crossing the plate when they trounce the Tigers, 24-11. Greg Myers and Paul Molitor lead the attack on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue, each driving in five runs in the Motor City slugfest.

1998 Dodgers' backstop Mike Piazza becomes the sixth major leaguer to hit three grand slams in a month when he goes deep in the nine-run second inning of the team's 12-4 victory over the visiting Cubs. In 1937, Tigers' first baseman Rudy York was the first to hit three bases-full round-trippers in May.
1998 Geoff Jenkins, hitting a solo homer off Giants' right-hander Orel Hershiser at 3Com Park, becomes the first Brewer player ever to homer in his first major league game. The rookie joins Chuck Tanner, who accomplished the feat in 1955 as a member of the Braves, as the only players in Milwaukee baseball history to homer in their first game.
2003 In his third at-bat, Chase Utley gets his first major league hit, blasting a third-inning grand slam off Rockies starter Aaron Cook. The rookie second baseman's big fly to right field contributes to the Phillies' 9-1 victory at Veterans Stadium.


2008 The David Ortiz jersey, secretly buried in cement at the new Yankee Stadium in an attempt to curse the team, is acquired in a Jimmy Fund charity auction for $175,100. The winning bidder from the 282 who vied for the tattered Red Sox jersey is Kevin Meehan, the owner of Imperialcars.com, located in Mendon, Mass.
2010 Pirates starter Chris Jakubauskas, after just a dozen pitches into his first appearance of the year, is struck in the head by a vicious line drive off the bat of Houston's Lance Berkman. After being hospitalized overnight, the 31-year-old right-hander, who left the field on a stretcher in obvious distress, will be placed on the 15-day disabled list with a concussion and head contusion.
2010 Although not named after the rock and roll superstar, the Rangers host an Elvis weekend featuring Elvis Presley impersonators and a bobblehead giveaway featuring the likeness of their second baseman, Elvis Andru. The 22-year-old Texas infielder added to the festivities with his ninth-inning single, driving in the winning run that beat Detroit, 5-4, in the series opener.

2012 For the first time in major league history, four different pitchers combine to walk four consecutive batters when the Marlins hurlers load the bases and then force in a run in a 2-1 loss against the Mets. The only Miami walks given up in the Citi Field contest include Josh Johnson walking Lucas Duda, Randy Choate's free pass to Justin Turner, Steve Cishek's base-on-balls to Scott Hairston, with Mike Dunn throwing to force home Josh Thole with the tying run.
2017 🇱🇹 Dovydas Neverauskas becomes the second person born in Lithuania, the first raised there, to appear in a major league game when he throws two innings of one-run ball in the Pirates' 14-3 loss to the Cubs at PNC Park. A's outfielder Joe Zapustas, who played two games for the team in 1933, was also born in the Baltic state but spent his childhood in Boston.
2019 With his eighth-inning swipe of second base in the Braves' 2-1 victory over the Mets at Citi Field, 22-year-old Ronald Acuña Jr. becomes the second-youngest player to reach the 30–30 club mark. The Atlanta outfielder surpassed only by Angels' outfielder Mike Trout, who accomplished the feat when he was 20, is the fourth Brave to reach the plateau, joining Hank Aaron (1963), Dale Murphy (1983), and Ron Gant (1990, 1991).

30 Fact(s) Found