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This Day in Baseball History
May 27th

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36 Fact(s) Found
1904 In the team's 3-1 victory over the Superbas at the Polo Grounds, Giants first baseman Dan McGann steals five bases to establish a major league record. The 32-year-old Kentucky native's mark will be surpassed in 1912 by A's second baseman Eddie Collins, who will swipe six bags in a game twice during the season
1923 In the seventh inning of the Phillies' 12-4 loss to the Giants at the Polo Grounds, Cy Williams smacks a two-run home run to become the first major leaguer to hit 15 round-trippers in a single month. The 35-year-old center fielder will lead the National League with 41 long balls this season.
1928 After George Sisler clears waivers in the American League, the Braves purchase the 35-year-old first baseman from the Senators for $7,500. The future Hall of Famer will finish his 15-year career in Boston, hitting .326 during his three seasons with the team.
1937 Carl Hubbell retires six consecutive batters while pitching the eighth and ninth innings in relief to win his 24th consecutive game over two seasons when the Giants beat Cincinnati, 3-2. Mel Ott's ninth-inning home run proves to be the difference in the Crosley Field contest.
1941 Play stops in the seventh inning of the Braves-Giants game at the Polo Grounds, so the crowd of 17,009 and players can listen to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's radio address over the stadium's PA system. After FDR announces the Unlimited National Emergency Proclamation, the tied 1-1 contest resumes after the 45-minute delay.

1951 A large ad in the Minnesota Sunday Times asks the local fans for their continued support of the Millers despite promoting the team's phenom to the major leagues. Giants owner Horace Stoneham explains Willie Mays' performance, compiling a .477 batting average while hitting safely in 33 of 35 games, has warranted the young outfielder's move to the Polo Grounds in New York.

Text of Giants' Ad Explaining Willie Mays' Promotion to NY
1955 In the first five innings of the team's 16-0 rout of the Senators at Fenway Park, Red Sox rookie Norm Zauchin drives in ten runs. The 26-year-old first baseman accomplishes the feat with home runs in the first, second, and fifth frames, along with a fourth-inning double.
1959 National League president Warren Giles rules the final score of Haddix's 'perfect game' is 1-0. Hank Aaron (for leaving base path) and Joe Adcock (for passing Aaron) are declared out, with Adcock's round-tripper scored as a double instead of a home run.
1960 Orioles catcher Clint Courtney becomes the first backstop to use the big knuckleball glove, an innovation of manager Paul Richards. The larger mitt, which has a 45-inch circumference, helps as knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm goes the distance in Baltimore's 3-2 victory at Yankee Stadium in a game that doesn't feature a wild pitch or a passed ball.
1968 Major League Baseball expands outside the United States when the National League announces Montreal's addition to the circuit. The Senior Circuit also awards San Diego an expansion team.
1974 In a game that takes only one hour and thirty-eight minutes to complete, Pirates starter Ken Brett blanks the Padres 6-0, allowing just two hits in the Three Rivers Stadium contest. In the second game of a twin bill, the Bucs' southpaw pinch hits a seventh-inning two-run triple, contributing to the Pirates' 8-7 victory over the Friars.
1981 After Lenny Randle drops to his hands and knees, attempting to 'encourage' Amos Otis' slow roller to go foul, umpire Larry McCoy accuses the Mariner third baseman of blowing the ball foul. Randle's explanation that he was merely yelling at the ball not to stay fair is initially convincing until Royals' manager Jim Frey complains.

1984 Mario Soto, Cincinnati's starting pitcher, is ejected from the game when he shoves Steve Rippley, the third base umpire who initially called Ron Cey's foul ball down the left-field line a home run. The Reds' right-hander also attack Cubs coach Don Zimmer, prompting NL president Chub Feeney to suspend the fiery fireballer for five games, the first of the two suspensions he receives this season.
1984

"How do you fine a batboy?" - WILLIAM CUTLER, president of the Pacific League.

Umpire Pam Postema throws Portland Beavers batboy Sam Morris out of a game for refusing to retrieve a folding chair that his ejected manager Lee Elia had hurled into right field during an animated tirade. The 14-year-old junior high school student, who declined to follow the arbitrator's directive out of loyalty to his skipper, will not have to pay the $25 fine, usually automatic when tossed from a PCL game.

1986

"What do you expect when they build a ballpark on the ocean?" - OIL CAN BOYD, after a postponement of the Red Sox game due to fog at Cleveland Stadium.

The Red Sox are credited with a 2-0 victory when the delayed game cannot continue due to the dense fog rolling into Cleveland Stadium. The contest, which ends with the Tribe having baserunners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, prompts Boston's right-hander Oil Can Boyd to infamously blame the lack of visibility on the ballpark's proximity to the ocean, not nearby Lake Erie.

1987 At Fenway Park, Indian right-hander Phil Niekro goes the distance, losing to Roger Clemens and the Red Sox, 1-0, thanks to Bill Buckner’s fifth-inning sac fly scoring Jim Rice. Joining Cy Young and Don Sutton, the future Hall of Fame hurler becomes the third player in history to make 700 career starts.
1987 Davey Johnson surpasses Gil Hodges as the winningest manager in Mets history with his 340th win, a 4-3 triumph over the Giants at Candlestick Park. The New York skipper, who has averaged 98 victories during his first three seasons, will compile a 595-417 record (.588) during his six-plus years.
1990 Giants' hurler Rick Reuschel joins Frank Tanana, becoming one of two pitchers to give up round-trippers to the future all-time major league home run leaders Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, who takes him deep in the team's 5-2 loss to the Pirates. In 1973, while pitching for the Cubs in his sophomore season, the right-hander served up the 691st of 755 career round-trippers blasted by Bad Henry.
1992 The last-place Braves beat the Phillies at Veterans Stadium, 9-3. The victory starts a 78-37 run, propelling Atlanta to its second straight West Division title, finishing eight games in front of the Reds.
1993 After hitting just .143 in 26 games for the Rockies, former Brave superstar Dale Murphy retires from baseball. The two-time National League MVP leaves the game with a career average of .265, 398 home runs, and 1,266 RBIs.
1995 In a complete-game effort, Steve Ontiveros limits the Yankees to one hit in the A's 3-0 victory at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A two-out sixth-inning single spoils the 34-year-old right-hander's bid for a no-hitter by Luis Polonia.
1997 At the Metrodome, Ken Griffey Jr. breaks his major league mark for home runs hit through May when he goes deep for his 23rd round-tripper of the season in an 11-10 loss to Minnesota. The Mariners outfielder had established the record in 1994.
2000 The Cardinals pay tribute to Hall of Fame hurler Dizzy Dean by dedicating a statue created by sculptor Harry Weber outside Busch Stadium. The colorful character joins Enos Slaughter, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Stan Musial, and Red Schoendienst to be honored in such a manner by the Redbirds.

2000 The recently elected Hall of Fame first baseman Tony Perez (24) joins manager Fred Hutchinson (1), Johnny Bench (5), Joe Morgan (8), Ted Kluszewski (18), and Frank Robinson (20) to become the sixth person to have his uniform number retired by the Reds. After being acquired by the Reds in the offseason, Ken Griffey Jr. agreed to switch his uniform number from 24 to 30, the digits his father wore as a member of the Big Red Machine.
2003 In Atlanta, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a decision that prevents the Florida attorney general from investigating the 2001 attempt by MLB to eliminate two teams. The 11th Circuit decision of Judges Gerald B. Tjoflat, Susan H. Black, and Richard W. Goldberg, a significant victory by the commissioner's office, is based on the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and state law rather than the sport's antitrust exemption.
2004 At Kauffman Stadium, the visiting Tigers tie a club record by collecting 27 hits, including Carlos Pena's 6-for-6 performance, in a 17-7 rout of the Royals. The first time Detroit banged out that many safeties in a game occurred against the Yankees at the end of the 1928 season at Navin Field.
2004 After beating the Oakland A's, Curt Schilling calls the cops on his cell phone to report an erratic driver on his way home from Fenway. The Westwood Police Department apprehended the driver and pulled him over.
2006 Curt Schilling and the Red Sox beat the Devil Rays, 6-4, making the right-handed hurler the 104th player to amass 200 victories. Pitching a perfect ninth inning, Jonathan Papelbon establishes a rookie record by recording his 18th save in 18 tries.
2008 After Jamie Carroll gets caught in run down off first base, the runner on third, David Dellucci, breaks for home, scoring on the first baseman's throw in the dirt, which allows Carroll to get to second and Grady Sizemore, the runner on second, to move to third. Chuck Murr, the official scorer of the Indians' 8-2 victory over the White Sox, credits all three runners with stolen bases, making the play the first triple steal accomplished since 1987 when Atlanta pulled it off against Houston.
2008 With a 44-0 record and needing just one more win to become the first undefeated team in N.C.A.A. baseball history, Connecticut's Trinity College loses to Johns Hopkins 4-3. The loss sets up a winner-take-all in the Division III World Series in which the Hartford-based school scores a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game, 5-4, and the national championship.

2009 Gerry Rodriguez completes his cycle with a tenth-inning walk-off home run. The minor leaguer's four hits help pace the Rome Braves to a 4-3 victory over the Greenville Drive in the South Atlantic League contest.
2009 Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka and two relievers combine to throw six wild pitches, marking only the fifth occurrence of the dubious feat since 1900. Dice K ties an 80-year franchise record with four errant throws to catcher George Kottaras, with relievers Manny Delcarmen and Justin Masterson each uncorking one.
2010 Following the strong performances of R.A Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi, Mike Pelfrey throws seven scoreless innings, contributing to the Mets' third consecutive Mets shutout when the team blanks the Phillies at Citi Field, 3-0. The only other time New York swept a series with three shutouts happened in 1969, also against Philadelphia, when Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver went the distance, with Gary Gentry getting help from the bullpen to accomplish the feat at Connie Mack Stadium.
2012 A sign showing Mike Piazza connecting for his decisive eighth-inning homer in the Mets' 3-2 victory against the Braves in New York's first professional sports event following the 9/11 terrorist attacks proves to be the winner in the revival of Banner Day, a tradition started in 1963 that lasted until 1996. The artwork, created by cousins Olivia Nuzzo and Stephanie Giangrande, includes a section of NYC's former skyline, with the WTC towers silhouetted above Piazza's heroic homer in mid-swing above the words, "The home run that helped heal N.Y. God Bless America. Let's Go Mets."

2017

"We are honored to pay tribute to the 25th anniversary of Homer at the Bat.The Simpsons has left an impressive imprint on our culture as the longest-running American sitcom, and ‘Homer at the Bat’ remains as popular today as when the episode aired in 1992." - Hall of Fame President JEFF IDELSON, commenting about the Cooperstown celebration of the animated series.

The Baseball Hall of Fame inducts the fictional cartoon character Homer Simpson to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Simpsons episode 'Homer at the Bat.' A discussion of the much-beloved episode includes comments by real Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Ozzie Smith, who played themselves on the animated show, and executive producers Al Jean and Mike Reiss, director Jim Reardon, and executive story editor Jeff Martin.

2019 In the eighth inning of the team's 6-2 victory over the Rangers, Mallex Smith steals home, the first Mariner to accomplish the feat since Dustin Ackley in 2012, to complete the rare stolen base cycle. The center fielder swipes four bases in the T-Mobile Park contest, trying a franchise mark shared by seven Mariners.
36 Fact(s) Found