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This Day in Baseball History
August 26th

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45 Fact(s) Found
1912 At Forbes Field, Owen Wilson hits three triples in the doubleheader against the Braves. The Pirates center fielder's third triple, his second in the nightcap, establishes a new major league record for three-baggers with 32, breaking the mark he shared with Dave Orr (1886 Metropolitans/AA) and Heinie Reitz (1894 Orioles/NL).
1916 A's hurler Joe Bush no-hits the Indians at Philadelphia's Shibe Park, 5-0. 'Bullet Joe,' who will win 15 of the last-place Athletics' 36 victories this season, allows his only baserunner in the first inning when he issues a walk to Jack Graney.
1926 Senators hurler Walter Johnson (408) bests Red Faber (197) and the White Sox at Griffith Stadium, 9-3. The veteran pitchers have accumulated the largest amount of victories, a total of 605, for two hurlers who start the same game, a record that will last until 1986 when Tom Seaver faces Don Sutton.
1939 At Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, NBC televises the first major league game on experimental station W2XBS, covering a doubleheader where the Reds win the first game, 5-2, and the Dodgers take a 6-1 victory in the nightcap. The network employs two cameras, one behind home plate, showing an expansive view of the field, and the other on the third-base line to capture the plays at first base.


Baseball's First Televised Game
1947 Dan Bankhead becomes the major league's first black pitcher. The 27-year-old right-hander doesn't do well in a relief stint, giving up ten hits and six runs in 3.1 innings in a 16-3 loss to the Pirates, but the Dodger rookie hits his only big-league home run in his first major league at-bat.
1961 Roger Maris, hitting his 51st round-tripper of the season, has the most homers in major league history at this point in the season. The Yankees' right fielder goes deep off right-hander Jerry Walker in the sixth inning of the team's 5-1 victory over Kansas City at Municipal Stadium.
1962 The Orioles complete a five-game sweep of the Yankees when right-hander Robin Roberts, released by New York during the first week of the season, beats Whitey Ford at Memorial Stadium, 2-1. Homers by Brooks Robinson and Jim Gentile account for Baltimore's only runs.


BaseballReference
1962 At Metropolitan Stadium, Twins' left-hander Jack Kralick throws the team's first no-hitter since the franchise moved to Minnesota last season and the fifth no-no hurled this season in the major leagues. The slight southpaw retires the first 25 A's batters he faces before issuing a walk to George Alusik, ending his bid for a perfect game, but retires the next two hitters to no-hit Kansas City, 1-0.
1965 At Shea Stadium, the Mets beat the Dodgers, 5-2, making rookie southpaw Tug McGraw (2-2) the first Mets pitcher to defeat Sandy Koufax (21-7). Previously, New York had lost 13 consecutive times to the future Hall of Fame southpaw.
1966 After seeing a caricature of himself on the scoreboard, an angry Leo Durocher calls the Astrodome's press box to have it removed. When nothing happens, the enraged Cubs manager rips the phone from the dugout wall and tosses it onto the infield.
1966 Coming off the Orioles bench, Vic Roznovsky and Boog Powell hit consecutive pinch-hit homers, tying the game in the ninth in an eventual 12-inning, 3-2 victory over the Red Sox. The consecutive round-trippers mark only the third time back-to-back pinch-hit home runs have occurred in major league history.
1968 After starting his career 0-5, Jim McAndrew gets his first major league victory when he goes the distance at Busch Stadium, blanking St. Louis on five hits, 1-0. In his first four major league starts, the Mets failed to score a run, resulting in two 2-0 and two 1-0 defeats for the 24-year-old rookie right-hander.
1972 Ron Santo's three-run home run off Ron Bryant is the difference in the Cubs' 10-9 victory over San Francisco at Wrigley Field. The third-inning round-tripper, the first of a pair he hits in the game, is the third baseman's 2,000th career hit and drives in his 1,200th run.
1972 The Astros name former Cubs' skipper Leo Durocher as the club's manager to replace Harry Walker, who compiled a 355-353 (.501) during his nearly five seasons at the helm. The hiring marks only second time two National League teams have been piloted by the same person in the same season, with the first occurring when 'Leo the Lip' took the helm for both the Dodgers and the Giants in 1948.
1973 Paul Blair hits a rare inside-the-park grand slam in the Orioles' 10-1 victory over the A's in Baltimore. The fleet-footed outfielder circles the bases when Amos Otis and Steve Hovley collide as they chase down his gapper in right-center field.
1975 Luis Tiant Sr., recently allowed by Fidel Castro to leave Cuba to travel to Boston, throws out the first pitch at Fenway Park as his proud son stands behind him on the mound. The former Negro League star, dissatisfied with his first effort, flutters a knuckleball over the plate with his second effort, much to the sold-out crowd's delight.
1980 George Brett strokes four singles and a double in five at-bats when the Royals edge Milwaukee at County Stadium, 7-6. The Kansas City third baseman's 5-for-5 performance raises his league-leading batting average to .407.
1981 Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog fines Garry Templeton $5,000, suspending him indefinitely without pay for his rude behavior, including an obscene gesture directed toward fans after being booed for not hustling to first base. The St. Louis shortstop, eventually traded to the Padres in the offseason for Ozzie Smith, agrees to seek psychiatric help and will be reinstated to the lineup on September 15.
1985 In the Orioles' 17-3 rout of the Angels, Eddie Murray homers three times‚ including a grand slam in the fifth frame‚ and drives in nine runs, tying Jim Gentile's mark for RBIs in a game. Baltimore goes deep seven times in the Anaheim Stadium contest, matching a club record set on May 17, 1967.
1987 Paul Molitor's 39-game hit streak ends as he waits in the on-deck circle, watching pinch-hitter Rick Manning single home the winning run in the tenth inning to give the Brewers a 1-0 walk-off victory over Cleveland at County Stadium. The Ignitor's accomplishment remains the longest consecutive hitting streak in franchise history.
1989 The Trumbull (CT) All-Stars become the first American team to win the Little League World Series since 1983, snapping Asia's six-year hold on the title. The U.S. National team defeated Chinese Taipei, 5-2, behind the five-hitter thrown by 12-year-old Chris Drury, who in 2001, will go on to win the NHL's Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.
1990 Returning from the disabled list after dislocating his shoulder, Bo Jackson homers in his first plate appearance back in the Royals' lineup. The round-tripper gives the slugging outfielder home runs in four consecutive at-bats forty days apart, having gone deep three straight times before getting injured attempting to catch a Deion Sanders fly ball in July.

1991 The Yankees reluctantly agree to a $1.55 million contract with 19-year-old high school southpaw Brien Taylor, the overall number one pick from the June amateur draft. George Steinbrenner is outraged by the record deal, but the suspended owner had driven up the price when he publicly made his wishes known to Newsday two days before the signing by saying, "If they (Gene Michael) let him go, they ought to be shot."
1991 With the help of a questionable scorer's decision in the fifth inning, 27-year-old Bret Saberhagen fires a no-hitter, beating the White Sox at Royals Stadium, 7-0. When Royals' left fielder Kirk Gibson misses Dan Pasqua's slicing line drive, Del Black changes his ruling from a double to a two-base error after viewing several replays.
1993 The Mets announce that Vince Coleman will remain on paid administrative leave until the end of the season, effectively ending his playing career with the team. Fred Wilpon's decision that the outfielder, who signed a four-year $11.95 million deal before the 1991 season, will never put on a Mets uniform again results from Coleman's admission of tossing an M-100 leaving a Dodger Stadium parking lot last month that injured three people.
1996 The Mets replaced Dallas Green as their manager with Bobby Valentine, a former coach who left the organization to manage Texas. During his stormy seven-year tenure in New York, Bobby 'V' will compile a 536-467 (.534) record and lead the team to an NL pennant in 2000.
1996 With a ten-year, $20 million deal, Pro Player, the sports apparel division of Fruit of the Loom, becomes the first sports marketing and products company to have its name used as the moniker for a stadium. The renaming of Joe Robbie Stadium, the home of the Florida Marlins, to Pro Player Stadium sparks controversy as many Miamians believe the benefactor's name should remain due to his generosity and efforts to fund the original project.
1998 Phil Garner earns his 500th victory at the Brewers helm, making him the only manager in team history to reach that milestone when Milwaukee beats Colorado at Coors Field, 6-5. 'Scrap Iron' will finish his eight-year stint with the Brew Crew with a 563-617 (.477) record.
1999 Achieving the mark in his 29th start, Diamondback southpaw Randy Johnson reaches the 300-strikeout milestone in record time, surpassing Pedro Martinez, who accomplished the milestone in 31 starts in 1997. The 'Big Unit' reaches the plateau when he whiffs Kevin Millar to end the fifth inning in the team's 12-2 victory over the Marlins en route to finishing the season with 364 strikeouts.

2001 Sammy Sosa becomes the third player in baseball history to hit 50 homers in a season four times when he blasts a two-run shot off Dustin Hermanson in the first inning of the Cubs' 6-1 victory over the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Slammin' Sammy joins Babe Ruth (1920-21 and 1927-28) and Mark McGwire (1996-99) to accomplish the feat.
2001 In the 18th inning, second-string catcher Bill Haselman beats out a bases-loaded potential inning-ending double-play grounder, allowing Chad Curtis to score the winning run in the Rangers' 8-7 victory over the Red Sox. The six-hour and 35-minute contest is the longest game ever played in Ranger history.
2002 At Yankee Stadium, Alfonso Soriano, with a solo shot in the fourth inning in the team's 10-3 victory over the Rangers, sets a team record for home runs by a second baseman. The previous mark of 30 was established in 1940 by Joe Gordon.
2002 Sixty-three years to the day after the first televised contest, the first video streaming coverage of a major league baseball game occurs online. Approximately 30,000 fans visit MLB.com to see the Yankees defeat the Rangers, 10-3, far less than the 42,000 watching the game at the Bronx ballpark.
2002 Derek Jeter becomes the third player to score at least 100 runs in his first seven major league seasons. The Yankees' shortstop joins Hall of Fame outfielders Ted Williams (Red Sox, 1939-49) and Earle Combs (Yankees, 1925-32) as the only big leaguers to accomplish the feat.
2003 The Padres trade starting pitcher Oliver Perez and prospect Jason Bay to the Pirates for outfielder Brian Giles. The BBWAA will select the Canadian-born Bay as the National League's Rookie of the Year next season.
2004 Ichiro Suzuki becomes the only player to collect at least 200 hits in his first four seasons in the big leagues. The milestone hit is a ninth-inning homer in the Mariners' 7-3 loss to the Royals at Safeco Field.
2007 Warner Robins (GA) captures the Little League World Series when 12-year-old Dalton Carriker's extra-inning (8th) walk-off home run beats Tokyo, 3-2. The victory is the third consecutive LLWS championship for the United States, its longest streak since winning eight straight titles from 1959-1966.

2007 At Comiskey Park, the Red Sox complete a four-game sweep of the White Sox, 11-1. Boston, tallying at least ten runs in every contest, outscores their Windy City opponents, 46-7.


BaseballReference
2008 Driving in Damion Easley with a fourth-inning groundout at Citizens Bank Park, Mets third baseman David Wright becomes the first player in franchise history to have four 100-RBIs seasons. The 25-year-old infielder has reached the plateau every year since becoming the team's regular third baseman
2008 Before the Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park, Kenny Campbell falls more than 15 feet from the stands onto the right-field warning track after catching a batting practice home run. The ten-year-old fan, shaken and bruised but unhurt, is comforted by Mike Pelfrey and other Mets until a medical unit arrives.
2008 Teddy Roosevelt gets off to a fast start, appearing finally to beat his Mount Rushmore teammates, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington, to win his first-ever Presidents' Race at Nationals Park. The big lead disappears when the blue do-rag-clad presidential character sporting dreadlocks stops to high-five fans sitting in the right-field stands, with the public address announcer explaining the mascot's behavior as 'Teddy being Teddy.' 

2008 The Phillies, trailing 7-0 early in the game, rally to beat the Mets at Citizens Bank Park, 8-7. Chris Coste, who goes 4-for-4 after entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning, delivers the walk-off single in the bottom of the 13th to put Philadelphia back into first place, a half a game ahead of New York.

2018 Cardinal first baseman Matt Carpenter ties an 81-year-old franchise mark when he strokes four doubles in the team's 12-3 rout of the Rockies at Coors Field. Joe Medwick established the record, hitting four two-baggers against the Boston Bees on August 4, 1937.
2020

"Our team and the Reds felt that with our community and our nation in such pain, tonight we wanted 100 percent of the focus to be on issues that are much more important than baseball," - BRENT SUTER, the MLB Players' Association representative for the Brewers.

MLB postpones the Miller Park contest to respect the Brewers' decision not to participate against the Reds following the police shooting of a 29-year-old Wisconsin black man. Later in the day, the Mariners, who have more Black players than any team in the sport, and the Dodgers also choose not to play.

2024

"Pinch-hitting for Danny Jansen: Daulton Varsho. Defensive changes: Danny Jansen now at catcher." - DAVESON PEREZ, Red Sox media relations coordinator announcing lineup changes in the Fenway Park press box.

In the resumption of a suspended contest, Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen becomes the first major leaguer to appear for both teams in the same game, playing in the second inning for both clubs, when he takes his position behind the plate to receive pitches thrown to the batter, Daulton Varsho, who is pinch-hitting for him. On June 26, the 29-year-old backstop, then with Toronto, was in the middle of an at-bat at Fenway when rain stopped play, a month before the team traded him for three Boston prospects, Cutter Coffey, Eddinson Paulino, and Gilberto Batista.

45 Fact(s) Found