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This Day in Baseball History
June 29th

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34 Fact(s) Found
1897 The Chicago Colts (Cubs) of the National League establish the record for most runs scored in a game by one team when they rout the Louisville Colonels, 36-7. In 1929, the Cardinals beat the Phillies 28-6 at Philadelphia's Baker Bowl to set the modern NL mark.
1905 With the Giants leading the Superbas, 11-1, Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham makes his major league debut in the bottom of the eighth inning as a defensive replacement in right field at Brooklyn's Washington Park. The 27-year-old career minor leaguer, who will not have a major league at-bat in his only appearance in the big leagues, will become immortalized by W.P. Kinsella's book Shoeless Joe and the movie based on the author's work, Field of Dreams.

1909 The Pirates host their last game at Exposition Park, defeating the Cubs, 8-1, in front of 5,545 fans at the small and cramped ballpark on the north side of the Allegheny River. The team will begin to play at Forbes Field tomorrow, a spacious venue constructed of concrete and steel in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.


Pittsburgh's Exposition Park (1904)
Panoramic photographs (Library of Congress)

1923 Dodger first baseman Jacques Fournier goes 6-for-6, collecting a home run, two doubles, and three singles. The southpaw-swinging slugger's 11 total bases contribute to Brooklyn's 14-5 victory over the Phillies at the Baker Bowl.
1933 In the second inning of the Cardinals' 7-3 victory over the Giants, Ethan Allen races around the bases for an inside-the-park home run at the Polo Grounds but is called out for batting out of turn, costing Joe Medwick his turn at the plate. The Cardinal outfielder bats again in the correct order, grounding out to third base.
1935 Cardinal left fielder Joe Medwick hits a ninth-inning home run to complete a cycle, but the team's rally falls short when they lose to the 'Gashouse Gang' and Daffy Dean, 8-6. The 1968 Hall of Fame inductee scored three times in the Crosley Field contest.
1937 In a 10-2 loss to Brooklyn, Chicago's first baseman Ripper Collins does not make a putout during the nine-inning game. Although this is just the third occurrence of the rare feat, it is the second time for the Cubs infielder, who also didn't make a putout playing first for the Cardinals in a game against the Braves two seasons ago.
1941 In a doubleheader with the Senators, Joe DiMaggio first ties and then breaks the American League's consecutive game-hitting streak of 41 established by George Sisler. In the opener, he knots the record with a double off Dutch Leonard, and in the nightcap, 'the Yankee Clipper' tops the mark with a seventh-inning single against Walt Masterson.
1948 The Braves sign Johnny Antonelli, who will make his major league debut in five days, as an amateur free agent, giving the 18-year-old Jefferson High School (Rochester, NY) senior a $52,000 bonus, the largest amount ever offered to a player. Returning from Korea, the teenage southpaw becomes part of Boston's rotation in 1953, en route to becoming a two-time 20-game winner (1954, 1956) after being traded to the Giants in the offseason.
1950 The Red Sox outslug the A's at Philadelphia's Shibe Park, 22-14. The two-hour and fifty-minute contest establishes a new American League record, with the teams combining to score 36 runs in one game.

1952 Trailing 8-2 with two outs and none on in the top of the ninth inning, the Cubs stage an incredible comeback, beating the Reds at Crosley Field, 9-8. Chicago puts nine consecutive runners on base thanks to five hits, two walks, an HBP, and an error to take the lead by scoring seven runs in the final frame.
1960 The Phillies strike out a dozen times in each end of a doubleheader when the Dodgers sweep them at Connie Mack Stadium, 6-3 and 5-2. The 24 K's tie a major league record for strikeouts in a twin bill.
1969 Billy Williams plays in his 896th consecutive game to surpass Stan Musial's mark established in 1957, when the Cubs sweep a doubleheader from the Cardinals 3-1 and 12-1, with the Chicago outfielder going 4-5 with a single, a double, and two triples in the nightcap. The team honors the accomplishment with an emotional ceremony between games of the twin bill on 'Billy Williams Day' before a crowd of 41,060 at Wrigley Field that visibly moves Sweet Swingin' Billy from Whistler, Alabama.
1969 Tom Seaver becomes the Mets' all-time leader in victories, going the distance in the team's 7-3 win over Pittsburgh at Shea Stadium. The 24-year-old right-hander surpasses the mark set by lefty Al Jackson, an original Met who won 43 games for the new New York franchise between 1962 and 1965.
1972 The A's send Denny McLain to the Braves for future Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, making it the first time teams have swapped former MVPs. Due to knee problems, 'Cha Cha' will come to bat only three times with Oakland, and the former 31-game winner will post a 3-5 record with Atlanta.
1975 During a twin bill with the Padres, the Reds add two more errorless games to establish a major league record of playing 14 consecutive contests (en route to 15) without committing an error. The Tigers established the previous mark of 12 straight games in 1963.
1984 Andre David hits his only big-league home run in his first major league at-bat, a two-run home run off Jack Morris to propel the Twins to a 5-3 victory over Detroit in the first game of a twin bill at Tiger Stadium. The 26-year-old rookie's second-inning shot helps end the right-hander's 11-game win streak over Minnesota.
1986 The White Sox trade veteran right-hander Tom Seaver to the Red Sox for Steve Lyons. 'Tom Terrific' will finish his Hall of Fame career this season in Boston, but he will not pitch in the World Series against the Mets, his first major league team that still refers to him as 'The Franchise.'
1989 The Boise Hawks suspend manager Mal Finchman for one game for returning to the field after being ejected in the sixth inning disguised as the team's mascot, Humphrey the Hawk. The feathery impostor manages his club for the remainder of the Northwest League contest against Salem.

1990 For the first time since 1917 (Hippo Vaughan and Fred Toney), two no-hitters occur on the same day when the A's Dave Stewart shuts out the Jays, 5-0, and the Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela blanks the Cardinals, 6-0.
2000 With more than 700 police officers on duty at the ballpark instead of the usual 60, John Rocker makes his much-awaited return to Shea Stadium. Before the game, the Braves reliever, who pitches a perfect eighth inning in front of 46,998 booing fans, had apologized to Mets fans for his inappropriate comments about New Yorkers, which appeared in the offseason in Sports Illustrated
2000 After trying to get Juan Gonzalez and Sammy Sosa to bolster their failing offense, the Yankees acquire David Justice from the Indians for Ricky Ledee and two right-handers to be named later (Zach Day and Jake Westbrook). The move appears to work when the Bronx Bombers post a 50-39 (.562) record after acquiring the outfielder en route to capturing their third consecutive championship and 26th overall.
2004 At Bank One Ballpark, Randy Johnson records his 4000th career strikeout, whiffing Padres' third baseman Jeff Cirillo, a fellow USC Trojan, to become the fourth player in major league baseball history to reach the plateau. The 40-year-old Diamondbacks fireballer known as the Big Unit needs fewer innings (3,237 1/3) than Nolan Ryan (3,844 2/3), Roger Clemens (4,151), and Steve Carlton (4,991 1/3) to accomplish the feat.
2004 The Tigers win their third consecutive walk-off game thanks to Dmitri Young's game-ending home run. Following the lead of teammates Eric Munson (6/26) and Carlos Pena (6/27) in the two previous games, the 30-year-old Detroit corner infielder hits a two-run dinger in the 11th inning to beat the Indians, 9-7.
2005 After being plunked for the 268th time in his career, Craig Biggio breaks Don Baylor's record for being hit by a pitch. At Coors Field, Rockies starter Byung-Hyun Kim nails the Astros' second baseman on the left elbow in the fourth inning to establish a new mark, both literally and figuratively.

2007 With a triple in the second inning, a double in the fourth, a three-run home run in the next frame, and a bloop single in the seventh, Aubrey Huff becomes the third player to hit for the cycle since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954. The southpaw-swinging first baseman joins Cal Ripken (1984) and Brooks Robinson (1960) as the only Orioles to accomplish the feat and the first to do it in front of the home crowd.
2010 🇵🇷 Minutes before the game against the Mets in San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria tells his players at an impromptu team meeting that the club has decided to retain interim manager Edwin Rodriguez until the end of the season. Rodriguez, the first Puerto Rican manager in the major leagues, is ironically told of the decision when Florida plays a series in Puerto Rico, five minutes away from his home.
2010 In the Twins' 11-4 victory over Detroit at Target Field, Denard Span ties a major league record when he hits three triples in one game. Although many major leaguers share the mark, Ken Landreaux becomes the second Minnesota player to have accomplished the feat, hitting a trio of three-baggers in a 1980 contest.
2010 South Carolina (54–16 overall, 21–9 SEC) wins the first of two consecutive College World Series championships when Whit Merrifield's 11th-inning RBI single beats UCLA, 2-1, giving the school its first NCAA team national championship in any men's sport. The Gamecocks set a CWS record with six consecutive wins after losing their first game, becoming only the third club to accomplish the feat in the collegiate tourney.

(Ed. Note - The attending press selects future Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. -LP)

2012 In the Diamondbacks' 9-3 victory over Milwaukee at Miller Park, Aaron Hill becomes the first modern-era player to hit for the cycle twice in one season since Babe Herman accomplished the feat with the Brooklyn Robins in 1931. Eleven days ago, the Arizona second baseman also collected a single, double, triple, and home run in the team's 7-1 win against the Mariners at Chase Field.
2015 Joc Pederson becomes the third rookie in major league history to hit 20 home runs before July when he goes deep off Allen Webster in the Dodgers' 10-6 loss to Arizona at Chase Field. The 23-year-old center fielder joins Wally Berger (Braves, 1930) and Albert Pujols (Cardinals, 2001) in accomplishing the feat as a freshman.
2016 The Orioles tie the 1996 A’s major league mark for homers in June with 55 with Mark Trumbo’s two-run round-tripper in the fourth inning of the team’s 12-6 victory over the Padres at Petco Park. Baltimore will establish a new record for the month tomorrow when Hyun Soo Kim hits a seventh-inning solo shot off Mariner right-hander Taijuan Walker at Safeco Field. 
2019 After dropping 13 of their last 14 decisions, the Orioles post their second consecutive shutout victory with a margin of 13 runs, becoming the first major league team to accomplish the feat. The last-place Birds, en route to back-to-back 100+ loss seasons, beat the Indians for the second straight day at Camden Yards by the identical score of 13-0.
2019 In front of 59,659 enthusiastic fans, the Yankees win the first major league game played in Europe, outslugging the Red Sox at London Stadium in England, 17-13. The four-hour and 42-minute contest features 16 pitchers, eight employed by each team, giving up a combined 37 hits.
34 Fact(s) Found