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40 Fact(s) Found
| 1894 | After going 0-for-6 in the first game of a doubleheader, Beaneater Bob Lowe becomes the first major leaguer to hit four home runs in one game, helping Boston beat Cincinnati and Elton 'Icebox' Chamberlain, 20-11. |
| 1904 | At Cincinnati's Palace of the Fans, 32-year-old Cubs' first baseman Frank Chance is plunked by a pitch five times during a doubleheader. In the first game of the twin bill, the future Hall of Famer loses consciousness briefly when one of the misguided pitches hits the Peerless Leader's head. |
| 1913 |
Red Sox outfielder and future Hall of Famer Harry Hooper becomes the first major league player to start both ends of a doubleheader with a home run. The feat will not occur again until 1993 when A's leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson opens each game of a twin bill against Cleveland with a homer.
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| 1921 |
During an impressive Memorial Day ceremony at the Polo Grounds, the Eddie Grant Memorial, erected in memory of a former Giants player killed in World War I, is dedicated. Under the watchful eye of Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the five-foot-high monument, located at the base of the clubhouse wall in center field, 465 feet from home plate, is unveiled by the Harvard-educated third baseman's sisters Florence Grant Robinson and Louise Grant Winters.
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| 1922 | Chicago outfielder Cliff Heathcote and Redbird right fielder Max Flack exchange their Cardinal and Cub uniforms after being traded for one another between games of a doubleheader. The fly chasers will both get hits for their new teams in the nightcap of the Cubs Park twin bill, in a sweep by the home team, 4-1 and 3-1. |
| 1925 | Between games of a doubleheader against the Pirates at Forbes Field, second baseman Rogers Hornsby, who will continue to be an active player, replaces Branch Rickey as the Cardinals manager. Rickey will continue as the team's general manager until 1942. |
| 1927 | Cubs' shortstop Jimmy Cooney completes an unassisted triple play when he snares Paul Waner's liner (1), steps on second to double up Paul's brother, Lloyd, (2), then tags Clyde Barnhart coming from first for the third out (3). The fourth-inning triple killing contributes to Chicago's 7-6 victory over the Pirates in the first game of a doubleheader at Forbes Field. |
| 1930 | Rogers Hornsby receives his MVP award and is given a thousand gold coins by National League president John Heydler at a ceremony at home plate before the Cubs' contest against St. Louis. Ironically, the 'Rajah' will break his ankle while advancing to third base during the Wrigley Field contest and will not play again until the middle of August. |
| 1932 | After dropping a twin bill, some White Sox players accuse George Moriarty of deliberately blowing calls against their team. The umpire, a former Pale Hose player, challenges his accusers to a fight, knocking down pitcher Milt Gaston with one punch, before skipper Lew Fonseca and his backstops Charlie Berry and Frank Grube even the score by thrashing the aggressive arbitrator. |
| 1932 |
In a pregame ceremony, the Yankees dedicate a plaque in memory of skipper Miller Huggins. Their former manager, who died near the end of last season, would be delighted with today's doubleheader sweep of the Red Sox, 7-5 and 13-3.
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| 1934 | Ben Chapman breaks up Earl Whitehill's no-hitter at Yankee Stadium at the bottom of the ninth inning. Last season, after being provoked, the Bronx Bomber left fielder hit the right-hander with a punch in the passageway, causing a melee between the two teams, resulting in a 20-minute delay of the game before the police could restore order. |
| 1934 | Burleigh Grimes notches the last victory by a pitcher legally allowed to throw a doctored pitch, tossing four innings of shutout ball in relief in the Yankees' 5-4 extra-inning triumph over the Senators in the Bronx. The 40-year-old spitballer, who records his 270th and final career win, is the last of the 17 hurlers who received permission to throw the banned pitches altered by a foreign substance after being outlawed in 1920. |
| 1935 |
"All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill." - BABE RUTH, Hall of Fame legend reflecting on his long career. Babe Ruth plays his final major league game, grounding out in a first-inning and his final career at-bat in the Braves' 11-6 loss to the Phillies At the Baker Bowl. On June 2, the former Yankees superstar, who had asked to retire earlier, will announce his retirement from baseball after an argument with team owner Judge Emil Fuchs. |
| 1938 | The 81,841 fans attending a Memorial Day doubleheader against the Red Sox set a new Yankee Stadium attendance record. The Bronx Bombers sweep the twin bill, 10-0 and 5-4, with the nightcap ending on a wild throw by Boston's third baseman Pinky Higgins. |
| 1943 | With contests played in Rockford (Illinois) and Racine (Wisconsin), the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League begins the first season of its 12-year existence. The original AAGPBL four-team circuit, which includes the war-production cities of Kenosha (Wisconsin) and South Bend (Indiana), will attract 176,612 baseball enthusiasts during the league's inaugural season. |
| 1946 |
In Boston's 10-8 victory over the Dodgers, Bama Rowell's long drive hits the Bulova clock above the right-field scoreboard, marking the first time a major leaguer reaches the famous Ebbets Field landmark. The crushing blow that shatters the face of the watch, causing the glass to cascade onto Dodgers' Dixie Walker, becomes the inspiration for Bernard Malamud to have Roy Hobbs, the hero of his 1952 novel, The Natural, belt a similar home run, which also rains glass over the diamond.
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| 1956 | Mickey Mantle comes within 18 inches of becoming the first player to hit a home run out of Yankee Stadium. The prodigious poke off Senators' right-hander Pedro Ramos was still climbing when the ball struck the facade in the right-field upper stands. |
| 1956 | At Yankee Stadium, Billy and his brothers attend their first big-league game with their dad, Jack Crystal. The future show biz superstar, who will write and perform a one-man play about his father and develop a movie script about the 1961 Yankees, tremendously enjoys watching his beloved Bronx Bombers sweep a mid-week doubleheader from the Senators, 4-3 and 12-5. |
| 1962 | The Mets complete their first-ever triple play when shortstop Elio Chacon snags Willie Davis's liner and flips the ball to Charlie Neal to double off Maury Wills at second, with the third out coming on a ball thrown to Gil Hodges to catch Jim Gilliam off first base. New York will be the victim of the only other triple killing this season when Joe Pignatano, in his final major league at-bat, pops out to Cubs second baseman Ken Hubbs, who starts a 4-3-6 play in the eighth in the season finale played a Wrigley Field. |
| 1962 | Frank Thomas strokes a double off Sandy Koufax in the Mets' 13-6 loss to Los Angeles, extending his franchise mark of consecutive games with a hit to 18 for the expansion team. The streak, which will be only one shy of Maury Wills' league-leading total for the season, is halted when the New York left fielder goes 0-for-4 in the nightcap of the Dodgers' sweep at the Polo Grounds. |
| 1967 | After retiring the first 21 batters he faces, Cardinal starter Dick Hughes gives up two runs in the eighth inning in an eventual 2-1 loss to the Reds at Crosley Field. After the Redbirds mount a rally in the top of the ninth when Orlando Cepeda and Tim McCarver open the frame with singles, the game ends abruptly when Phil Gagliano hits into a 6-4-3-2 triple play, with the last out being recorded at the plate when Cepeda attempts to score from third base. |
| 1969 | The A's name their 25-year-old third baseman Sal Bando, playing in only his second full major league season as the team's captain. The last captain of the club was Dick Green, a second baseman who held the job when the franchise played in Kansas City. |
| 1970 | The fans, using new computerized punch cards as ballots, will again select the All-Star squads. For the past twelve seasons, managers, coaches, and players decided on the rosters after the Reds rooters stuffed the ballot box in 1957, electing all but one of their starting position players to the Midsummer Classic. |
| 1974 | Sadaharu Oh becomes the first Japanese player to hit 600 career homers, joining American big-leaguers Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays to reach the milestone. The 34-year-old Yomiuri Giants' first baseman will hit 868 round-trippers during his 22-year career, a world record. |
| 1976 | The Astros collect 25 hits, a franchise high, beating the Braves in the nightcap of an Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium twin bill, 16-5. Twenty-three of Houston's safeties are singles, a National League record. |
| 1977 | Twenty-two-year-old Indian right-hander Dennis Eckersley throws a 12-strikeout no-hitter, beating the Angels at Cleveland Stadium, 1-0. In the first inning, the lone run scores when Duane Kuiper, who had tripled thanks to the ball skipping under Gil Flores' glove in center field, is squeezed in by Jim Morris. |
| 1982 | Cal Ripken's 2,632 record consecutive game streak, which will span 17 seasons, begins with the Oriole rookie going 0-for-2, batting eighth in a 6-0 loss to Toronto at Memorial Stadium. The 21-year-old infielder plays third base, his position for the first 27 games of the streak, before becoming the team's everyday shortstop, en route to surpassing Lou Gehrig's remarkable feat in 1995. |
| 1986 | In a 6-4 loss to the Dodgers at Three Rivers Stadium, future home run king Barry Bonds goes 0-for-5 in his major league debut. The Pirates' center fielder, batting leadoff, strikes out three times. |
| 1987 | Eric Davis becomes the first National League player to hit three grand slams in a month. The 25-year-old outfielder's 19th homer of the season proves to be the difference in the Reds' 6-2 victory over Pittsburgh. |
| 1992 | Yankees right-hander Scott Sanderson beats the Brewers, 8-1, to become the ninth pitcher to defeat all 26 major league teams. Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez, Rick Wise, Gaylord Perry, Doyle Alexander, and Goose Gossage accomplished the feat previously. |
| 1998 | In an emotional on-the-field ceremony, Dan Quisenberry becomes the sixteenth member of the Royals Hall of Fame. In January, the sinkerball pitcher with a submarine delivery was diagnosed with a Grade IV malignant astrocytoma and underwent brain surgery to remove the tumor. |
| 1998 | Mark McGwire hits his 27th home run to establish a major league record for the most homers hit before June. Last season, Ken Griffey Jr. set the previous mark with 24 round-trippers in April and May. |
| 2001 | After ending a streak of five straight losses to the Yankees, Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez makes light of the Curse of the Bambino by suggesting someone should wake up the Babe so he could drill him with a pitch. Boston will not beat the Bronx Bombers again during their final seven meetings of the season. |
| 2001 | At Pac Bell, the game lasts five hours, 53 minutes, and 18 innings before the Diamondbacks defeat the Giants, 1-0. Erubiel Durazo's double plates Steve Finley accounts for the game's only run. |
| 2001 | Barry Bonds hits career homer No. 522, passing Willie McCovey and Ted Williams to #11 on the all-time list and making him the number one lefty home run hitter in National League history. The round-tripper is the 17th hit by the Giant outfielder in May, breaking the record set by Mickey Mantle (1956) and Mark McGwire (1998). |
| 2003 | At Shea Stadium, the Braves go deep four times off former teammate Tom Glavine to tie a National League record by hitting 55 home runs in a calendar month. The New York Giants (July, 1947) and the Cardinals (April, 2000) are the other teams to accomplish the feat. |
| 2007 | Toronto's third baseman Howie Clark, believing he hears teammate John McDonald calling to make the play, allows Jorge Posada's ninth-inning pop fly to land untouched for an RBI single. Convinced it was baserunner Alex Rodriguez's voice that caused the infielder to back off the play, the Blue Jays become incensed, describing the Yankee superstar's behavior as bush league. |
| 2010 | Max Scherzer becomes the first hurler since 1900 to strike out 14 batters in less than six innings. The Tigers right-hander reaches the total in five and two-thirds shutout frames en route to a Detroit 10-2 victory over Oakland at Comerica Park. |
| 2013 | Jacoby Ellsbury sets a single-game franchise record when he swipes five bases in the Red Sox' 9-2 victory over Philadelphia. The 29-year-old center fielder led the American League in stolen bases in his first two seasons in the majors, but injuries during the recent years have slowed down the Boston speedy leadoff hitter. |
| 2014 |
The Mets become the first team to have three players appear in a game whose last name begins with a lowercase letter d when Travis d'Arnaud, Jacob deGrom, and Matt den Dekker play in the Mets' 6-5 walk-off loss to Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. After using an upside-down capital 'P' on d'Arnaud's jersey, equipment manager Kevin Kierst asked Majestic, MLB's uniform supplier, to make 'small' letters available, knowing there would be even more of a need this season.
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40 Fact(s) Found