May in Baseball History
Published by Evan Wagner
Jun 01, 2023
Interesting Baseball History for the month of May:
1878 - Sam Weaver pitches a no-hitter to lead the Milwaukee Cream Citys to their first N.L. win, beating Indianapolis 2-1, the one run scoring after a walk. One scorer gave a hit to John Clapp of the Blues, but Weaver is generally credited with a no-hitter.
1888 - The Philadelphia Athletics play their first official Sunday home game at Gloucester, NJ or so they think. The American Association league secretary will later rule the game illegally rescheduled and throw it out of the official records.
1893 - Held scoreless for the first nine innings, both Brooklyn and the Boston Beaneaters score three runs in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Boston's Billy Nash hits the ball over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth, but he stays on third base "to bother the pitcher."
1897 - Charles "Duke" Farrell, Washington catcher, sets a major league record by throwing out eight Orioles trying to steal second base. The Senators lose anyway 6-3.
1899 - The 1899 Cleveland Spiders win their first home game of the season over the Louisville Colonels. In the nightcap, they suffer defeat 2-1, when Louisville's Malachi Kittridge scores from second base on a single. Not so unusual, except.... Kittredge bypasses third base altogether, as the umpire is occupied with the play in the outfield. Despite vigorous shouting from the Cleveland nine, the Colonels get away with the game.
1901 - Andrew Freedman, fractious owner of the Giants, accuses umpire Billy Nash of incompetence and bars him from the Polo Grounds. One Pirates player and one from the Giants are forced to officiate.
1902 - Two deaf-mutes face each other for the first time when Dummy Hoy leads off for the Reds against Dummy Taylor of the Giants
1905 - Waseda University of Tokyo defeats Los Angeles High School 5-3 in the first game of an American tour. It is the first baseball game ever played by Japanese outside Japan. Waseda starts a powerhouse tradition at Japan's Big Six universities that continues today.
1906 - With the A's shorthanded because of injuries, Connie Mack puts pitcher Alvin "Chief" Bender in left field in the sixth inning of a game against the Boston Pilgrims. Bender hits two inside-the-park home runs.
1909 - Honus Wagner steals his way around the bases in the first inning of a game against the Cubs. It is the fourth time he has performed this feat, an N.L. record.
1910 - Cy Young won his 500th game as the Cleveland Indians defeated Washington 5-4 in 11 innings.
1912(a) - Ty Cobb charges into the stands in New York and attacks heckler Claude Lueker. Other fans and Tigers mix it up. A.L. president Ban Johnson suspends Cobb indefinitely.
1912(b) - Detroit players went on strike to protest Ty Cobb's suspension. To avoid a forfeit and fine, manager Hughie Jennings recruited college players and others who played and lost to the Philadelphia A's 24-2. Joe Travers gave up all 24 runs.
1915 - As a pitcher for Boston, Babe Ruth had three hits, including his first major league home run when he connected off Jack Warhop of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds.
1915 - George "Zip" Zabel comes out of the Cubs bullpen with two outs in the first and winds up with a 4-3 19-inning win over Brooklyn in the longest relief job ever.
1917 - The Cubs lefthander Hippo Vaughn and righthander Fred Toney of the Reds toe the mound in Chicago for a one-of-a-kind game. At the end of nine innings, both pitchers have no-hitters. With one out in the top of the tenth and men on second and third, Jim Thorpe hits a swinging bunt near the mound. Vaughn picks it up and throws home, but catcher Art Wilson freezes the ball hits his chest protector, and Larry Kopf slides in safe for the only run. Fred Toney sets the Cubs down in order and has the fourth ten-inning no-hitter to date.
1919 - Ever-popular Casey Stengel, now a Pirate, is good-naturedly applauded when he comes to bat in the seventh inning at Brooklyn. He doffs his cap in response and, to everyone's delight, releases a sparrow he had hidden there.
1920 - Babe Ruth hits his first home run as a Yankee as New York beat Boston 6-0 at the Polo Grounds.
1920 - In Boston, Brooklyn's Leon Cadore and the Braves' Joe Oeschger duel 26 innings to a 1-1 tie in the longest game ever played in the major leagues. Oeschger shuts out the Dodgers for the last 21 innings.
1920 - Requested by Cubs officials, policemen disguised as soldiers, farmers, and bootblacks raid the bleachers and arrest 24 fans for gambling
1922 - Babe Ruth is suspended one day and fined $200 for throwing dirt on an ump after being called out on a play at second base, then going into the stands after a heckler. He is also stripped of his title as team captain.
1922 - In a game at New York, Ty Cobb beats out a grounder to shortstop Everett Scott. Veteran writer Fred Lieb scores it a hit in the box score he files with the Associated Press. But official scorer John Kieran of the Times gives an error to Scott. At the season's end, the A.L. official records, based on AP box scores, list Cobb at .401. New York writers complain unsuccessfully that it should be .399, based on the official scorer's stats.
1925 - In Detroit's 8-1 win over the White Sox, Ty Cobb becomes the first to collect 1,000 career extra-base hits. He will finish with 1,139.
1925 - Pittsburgh shortstop Glenn Wright made an unassisted triple play in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals when he caught Jim Bottomley's line drive, stepped on second to double Jimmy Cooney, and tagged Rogers Hornsby coming from first.
1926 - Satchel Paige, 19 years old, makes his debut in the Negro Southern League, pitching Chattanooga to a 5-4 win over Birmingham.
1927 - Walter Johnson's first appearance of the season is the occasion of the last shutout of his career, number 113, in a 3-0 win over Boston.
1930 - Joe Sewell strikes out twice facing lefthander Pat Caraway of the White Sox. It is the last time the Indians third baseman will fan this season, striking out only three times in 353 at-bats.
1932 - Carey Selph of the White Sox strikes out for the ninth time this season. It won't happen again. Selph will go another 89 games, a major league-record, without whiffing, hitting .283 (in 396 at bats) in his second and last season.
1935 - Babe Ruth has a last hurrah, hitting three home runs at Pittsburgh. The final one, the last of his 714 career home runs, is the first to clear the right field grandstand at Forbes Field and is measured at 600 feet
1935 - Babe Ruth plays only the first inning of the opener of a doubleheader between the Boston Braves and Philadelphia Phillies at Baker Bowl. It is his final major league appearance.
1935 - The Cincinnati Reds host the Philadelphia Phillies in the first major league night game, winning 2-1. On the initiative of Larry MacPhail, President Franklin D. Roosevelt throws the switch at the White House to turn on the lights. The Reds will play seven night games, one each against the other N.L. teams.
1937 - After hitting a home run against the Yankees in his prior at bat, Mickey Cochrane suffers a skull fracture from a Bump Hadley pitch. He will never return to active play.
1939 - Lou Gehrig voluntarily benches himself for the good of the team. His consecutive-game string stops at 2,130.
1939 - The first A.L. night game is played at Shibe Park, with Cleveland beating the host Philadelphia Athletics 8-3 in ten innings.
1939 - The first baseball game ever televised, Princeton against Columbia at Baker Field, Columbia's home field, is seen by a handful of viewers via W2XBS in New York City. Bill Stern announces Princeton's 2-1, ten inning win. Reviewing the game the next day, the New York Times sniffs, "it is difficult to see how this sort of thing can catch the public fancy."
1942 - Before 22,000 at Griffith Stadium, Satchel Paige pitches five innings to defeat the Dizzy Dean All-Stars 8-1. Dean pitches just the first inning. The game a week earlier, in which Paige won 3-1 at Wrigley Field, drew 29,000. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis will prohibit a scheduled July 4 matchup because the first two games outdrew major-league games.
1943 - National League President Ford C. Frick demonstrates the revised balata ball to reporters by bouncing it on his office carpet. This ball will prove to be fifty percent livelier than the 1942 model. When introduced in games on May 9, there are six home runs hit in four doubleheaders compared with nine home runs hit with the previous ball in the first 72 games.
1943 - The White Sox top the Washington Senators 1-0 in one hour and 29 minutes, the quickest night game in A.L. history.
1944 - Wartime restrictions are eased and the Polo Grounds is the scene of the first night game in metro New York since 1941. The Giants Bill Voiselle loses a 2-1, ninth-inning lead because an apparent last-out fly ball is dropped by center fielder Johnny Rucker when Charles Mead runs into him. Two runners score and the Dodgers win 3-2.
1945 - Pete Gray is the star in St. Louis as the Browns sweep the Yankees 10-1 and 5-2. Gray, who has only one arm, has two RBI on three hits in the opener and in the nightcap scores the winning run and hauls in seven fly balls, three on spectacular catches.
1946 - In a play that anticipates a scene in The Natural by Brooklyn-native Bernard Malamud, the Braves' Bama Rowell smashes a home run in the second inning of the second game of a doubleheader at Ebbets Field. The ball shatters the Bulova clock high atop the right-field scoreboard at 4:25 P.M., showering glass down on the Dodgers right fielder Dixie Walker. An hour later the clock stops.
1948 - A lefthander for Schenectady (Canadian-American League) named Tom Lasorda strikes out 25 in a 15-inning game against Amsterdam.
1951 - The Yankees' new phenom, Mickey Mantle, connects for his first major league home run off Randy Gumpert of the White Sox
1951(a) - Giants rookie Willie Mays, who was hitting .477 with Minneapolis, goes 0-for-5 in his major league debut against the Phils.
1951(b) - After going 0-for-12, Willie Mays connects for his first major-league hit, a home run off Braves pitcher Warren Spahn. The Giants lose the game 4-1.
1952 - The Giants Willie Mays enters the army. Although Mays is hitting just .236, the Giants are two and a half games up, in first place. They will lose eight of their next ten games.
1953 - Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics in his first major league start. He never pitched another complete game in the majors.
1955 - Mickey Mantle hit three home runs two left-handed and one right-handed as the Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2.
1957 - The N.L. approves the proposed moves of the Dodgers and the Giants to the West Coast, provided both clubs make their request before October 1 and move at the same time.
1957 - The Yankees celebrate Billy Martin's 29th birthday in a raucous fashion. An ensuing fight at Manhattan's Copacabana Club leads to $5,500 in fines and the eventual trade of Billy to Kansas City. Hank Bauer allegedly starts the fight by hitting a patron, although Bauer denies it.
1958 - In what nearly turns into a TV war, the Yankees threaten to broadcast their games nationwide if the N.L. goes ahead with its plans to allow other broadcasts, especially those of the Dodgers and Giants, into New York territory.
1958 - Willie Mays hits the first grand slam in the history of the San Francisco Giants and adds another home run as Los Angeles loses 12-3.
1959 - Early Wynn of the Chicago White Sox pitched a one-hitter, struck out 14, and hit a double and home run for a 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox at the age of 39.
1959 - In a singular performance, Harvey Haddix of the Pirates pitches a perfect game against Milwaukee for 12 innings, only to lose in the 13th
1959 - Philadelphia's Jim Hearn allows two earned runs before the game is suspended with the Pirates ahead 6-4. Hearn is released before the game is completed in July and is charged with the loss two months after his retirement.
1960 - Norm Sherry, a replacement catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit a home run in the 11th inning to give his brother, relief pitcher Larry Sherry, a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Los Angeles.
1963 - Sandy Koufax returns to the rotation from a circulatory ailment in his left index finger and throws a no-hitter against the visiting first place Giants.
1966 - Orioles right fielder Frank Robinson powers the first ball ever hit completely out of Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The 451-foot shot ends Luis Tiant's scoreless-innings streak at 27.
1967 - In the eighth inning against Jim Bunning of the Phillies, Hank Aaron drives a ball to deep center field and scores ahead of the relay. It will be the only inside-the-park home run among his 755.
1967 - Whitey Ford, nearing 41, announces his retirement from baseball because of an elbow injury. His final appearance was a start in Detroit on May 21, but he lasted just one inning for the Yankees. The stylish lefthander closes out with 236 career wins and only 106 losses for a .690 percentage.
1968 - Montreal and San Diego are awarded N.L. franchises after a ten-hour meeting of league owners.
1968 - Phillies pitcher John Boozer is ejected by umpire Ed Vargo at Shea Stadium for throwing spitballs during his warmup pitches
1968 - The first A.L. game played in Milwaukee since 1901 is a 4-2 California win against Chicago before 23,403 fans. This is the first of the nine games the White Sox will play in Milwaukee in 1968.
1971 - Willie Mays hits his 638th career home run for the Giants, adding in the process his N.L. record 1,950th run scored. Stan Musial had been the record holder with 1,949 runs.
1972 - In his first game with the New York Mets, Willie Mays hit a fifth inning home run off Don Carrithers for the difference in a 5-4 triumph over the San Francisco Giants.
1972 - The Giants trade future Hall of Famer Willie Mays to the Mets for minor league pitcher Charlie Williams and cash.
1973 - Angels outfielder Bobby Valentine tries to scale a wall to prevent a Dick Green home run during a 5-4 loss to the A's. He catches his spikes in the wall and breaks his leg. The injury will ruin his career.
1973 - For the second time in his career, the Pirates' Willie Stargell poles one out of Dodger Stadium. His blast off Andy Messersmith hits the right field pavilion roof 470 feet away. His first such homer, a 506-foot shot, came off Alan Foster on August 5, 1969. No other player has hit one out of the stadium.
1975 - Oakland releases pinch runner Herb Washington. Washington played in 105 major league games without batting, pitching, or fielding. He stole 31 bases and scored 33 runs.
1975 - The Giants beat the Astros 8-6 in the first game of a doubleheader at Candlestick Park. In the second inning, Houston's Bob Watson scores what is calculated as major league baseball's millionth run of all time. Philadelphia National Wes Fisler scored the first run on April 22, 1876.
1975 - The Royals beat the Brewers 7-5 in a game bridging the generation gap. Hank Aaron and Harmon Killebrew are in their 22nd major-league seasons and winning pitcher Lindy McDaniel is in his 21st. All three were playing in the majors before Brewers shortstop Robin Yount was born.
1976 - St. Louis' Reggie Smith hit three home runs - two right-handed and one left-handed - and drove in five runs in a 7-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Smith's third homer came with two outs in the ninth and broke a 6-6 tie.
1976 - The only home run of Joe Niekro's 22-year career comes at the expense of brother Phil as the Astros tie the Braves in the seventh, then win 4-3.
1979 - Billy Martin issues a public apology to Reno sportswriter Ray Hagar, with whom he brawled last November. Hagar had filed suit for assault, leading to an out-of-court settlement.
1979 - Bobby Bonds hits his 300th home run against Moose Haas in a 6-1 loss to Milwaukee. He has 413 stolen bases at the time and becomes the second player, after Willie Mays, to have 300 stolen bases and 300 home runs.
1979 - Pat Underwood makes his major league debut for Detroit, pitching 8 1/3 innings in shutting out Toronto 1-0. The losing pitcher is Pat's brother, Tom.
1979 - The wind is really blowing out at Wrigley as the Cubs and Phillies join in a wild ten-inning slugfest won 23-22 by the Phillies. Dave Kingman has three home runs and six RBI for the Cubs while teammate Bill Buckner has a grand slam and seven RBI. Mike Schmidt's two home runs include the game-winner in the tenth inning. The eleven home runs between the two teams ties a major league record.
1980 - Giants first baseman Willie McCovey hits his 521st and final career home run. His shot against Montreal's Scott Sanderson ties him with Ted Williams on the all-time list. He will retire on June 6.
1980 - Pittsburgh's Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock is fined $5,000 and suspended 15 games by N.L. president Chub Feeney for poking umpire Jerry Crawford in the face with his glove after being called out on strikes with the bases loaded.
1980 - Thirty-nine-year-old Pete Rose steals second, third, and home in one inning for the Phillies. The last National Leaguer to pull this feat was Jackie Robinson in 1954.
1981 - Pittsburgh's Jim Bibby gave up a leadoff single to Terry Harper of the Atlanta Braves then retired the next 27 batters for a 5-0 one-hitter. Bibby also hit two doubles.
1984 - Boston's Roger Clemens strikes out seven batters in seven innings en route to his first major league victory, 5-4 over the Twins.
1984 - Mario Soto is suspended for five days by N.L. president Chub Feeney for his role in a 32-minute melee that marred the Reds-Cubs game on May 27. After shoving third base umpire Steve Rippley, who had signaled that Ron Cey's long fly ball was a three-run home run (it was later ruled foul), a bat-wielding Soto then tried to attack a park vendor who had thrown a bag of ice at him. Soto will be suspended again for five more days later in the season for his June 16 fight with Claudell Washington.
1984 - The longest game in A.L. history (both in time and frames) ends in the 25th inning when Harold Baines homers off Chuck Porter to give the White Sox a 7-6 victory over the Brewers. The game falls one inning shy of the major league record, but takes the most time to play: eight hours and six minutes. The contest was suspended the previous day after 17 innings with the score tied 3-3 each team scores three more runs in the 21st. Tom Seaver pitches the final inning to earn the win, then wins the regularly scheduled game as well 5-4.
1984 - The Red Sox trade pitcher Dennis Eckersley and minor leaguer Mike Brumley to the Cubs for veteran Bill Buckner, who had been benched in Chicago in favor of Leon Durham but will immediately become Boston's starting first baseman.
1984 - The Twins sell 51,863 tickets to their 8-7 loss to the Blue Jays, but only 6,346 fans show up for the game. The skewed numbers are the result of a massive ticket buyout plan organized by Minneapolis businessman Harvey Mackay to keep the Twins in Minnesota; if the club does not sell 2.41 million tickets this season it can break its lease with the Metrodome. Taking advantage of reduced prices on the Family Day promotion, Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets.
1987 - Eddie Murray homers from each side of the plate for the second consecutive game, a major league first. Murray's four home runs in two days help the Orioles to 7-6 and 15-6 wins over the White Sox.
1990 - The Baltimore Orioles tied an American League record with eight consecutive singles in a seven-run first inning against Bobby Witt to beat the Texas Rangers 13-1.
1991 - In Texas, 44-year-old Rangers right-hander Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 Blue Jays en route to his seventh career no-hitter, a 3-0 win at Arlington Stadium.
1991 - Rickey Henderson surpassed Lou Brock as baseball's career stolen base leader with his 939th steal as the Oakland Athletics beat the New York Yankees 7-4.
1991 - The Red Sox and White Sox play the slowest nine-inning game to date in major league history (four hours, 11 minutes), but Boston rallies from a 5-0 deficit for a 9-6 win.
1992 - Rickey Henderson starts his own club with his 1,000th career steal. He already holds the major league stolen base record.
1993 - Dale Murphy calls it a career. Just two home runs shy of 400, the former two-time N.L. MVP announces his retirement as a member of the Colorado Rockies. He is hitting .143 with no home runs and seven RBI as a backup for the expansion club.
1993 - George Brett hit his 300th career home run in the sixth inning of Kansas City's 7-3 victory over Cleveland. Brett joined Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Mays and Al Kaline as the only players with at least 3,000 hits and 300 homers.
1993(a) - Jose Canseco can't be accused of not using his head by anyone in Cleveland. The Texas right fielder drifts back to line up a long drive by Carlos Martinez and, when he turns his head to take a look at the wall, the ball skims off his glove, hits his head and bounces over the fence for a home run.
1993(b) - Jose Canseco, who three days earlier had a ball bounce off his head for a home run, pitches an inning in a blowout in Boston. The result? Besides the Rangers' 15-1 loss, Canseco winds up having to undergo season-ending elbow surgery from his ill-advised outing.
1994 - Anthony Young won as a starter for the first time in more than two years as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-1. The win ended Young's 29-game losing streak as a starter.
1994 - The Colorado Silver Bullets, the first women's team to play a pro men's team, lost 19-0 to the Northern League All-Stars. Leon Durham hit two homers and Oil Can Boyd started for the All-Stars. The Silver Bullets had two hits, struck out sixteen times and made six errors.
1995 - David Bell makes his major league debut at third base for the Indians in a 14-7 victory over the Tigers. His appearance makes the Bells, with his father Buddy and his grandfather Gus, the second three-generation family in major league history (the Boones were the first). Gus Bell dies four days later.
1996 - Albert Belle uses a forearm to break up a double play and nearly breaks Milwaukee second baseman Fernando Vina's nose in the process. The Cleveland slugger is suspended for two games.
1878 - Sam Weaver pitches a no-hitter to lead the Milwaukee Cream Citys to their first N.L. win, beating Indianapolis 2-1, the one run scoring after a walk. One scorer gave a hit to John Clapp of the Blues, but Weaver is generally credited with a no-hitter.
1888 - The Philadelphia Athletics play their first official Sunday home game at Gloucester, NJ or so they think. The American Association league secretary will later rule the game illegally rescheduled and throw it out of the official records.
1893 - Held scoreless for the first nine innings, both Brooklyn and the Boston Beaneaters score three runs in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Boston's Billy Nash hits the ball over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth, but he stays on third base "to bother the pitcher."
1897 - Charles "Duke" Farrell, Washington catcher, sets a major league record by throwing out eight Orioles trying to steal second base. The Senators lose anyway 6-3.
1899 - The 1899 Cleveland Spiders win their first home game of the season over the Louisville Colonels. In the nightcap, they suffer defeat 2-1, when Louisville's Malachi Kittridge scores from second base on a single. Not so unusual, except.... Kittredge bypasses third base altogether, as the umpire is occupied with the play in the outfield. Despite vigorous shouting from the Cleveland nine, the Colonels get away with the game.
1901 - Andrew Freedman, fractious owner of the Giants, accuses umpire Billy Nash of incompetence and bars him from the Polo Grounds. One Pirates player and one from the Giants are forced to officiate.
1902 - Two deaf-mutes face each other for the first time when Dummy Hoy leads off for the Reds against Dummy Taylor of the Giants
1905 - Waseda University of Tokyo defeats Los Angeles High School 5-3 in the first game of an American tour. It is the first baseball game ever played by Japanese outside Japan. Waseda starts a powerhouse tradition at Japan's Big Six universities that continues today.
1906 - With the A's shorthanded because of injuries, Connie Mack puts pitcher Alvin "Chief" Bender in left field in the sixth inning of a game against the Boston Pilgrims. Bender hits two inside-the-park home runs.
1909 - Honus Wagner steals his way around the bases in the first inning of a game against the Cubs. It is the fourth time he has performed this feat, an N.L. record.
1910 - Cy Young won his 500th game as the Cleveland Indians defeated Washington 5-4 in 11 innings.
1912(a) - Ty Cobb charges into the stands in New York and attacks heckler Claude Lueker. Other fans and Tigers mix it up. A.L. president Ban Johnson suspends Cobb indefinitely.
1912(b) - Detroit players went on strike to protest Ty Cobb's suspension. To avoid a forfeit and fine, manager Hughie Jennings recruited college players and others who played and lost to the Philadelphia A's 24-2. Joe Travers gave up all 24 runs.
1915 - As a pitcher for Boston, Babe Ruth had three hits, including his first major league home run when he connected off Jack Warhop of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds.
1915 - George "Zip" Zabel comes out of the Cubs bullpen with two outs in the first and winds up with a 4-3 19-inning win over Brooklyn in the longest relief job ever.
1917 - The Cubs lefthander Hippo Vaughn and righthander Fred Toney of the Reds toe the mound in Chicago for a one-of-a-kind game. At the end of nine innings, both pitchers have no-hitters. With one out in the top of the tenth and men on second and third, Jim Thorpe hits a swinging bunt near the mound. Vaughn picks it up and throws home, but catcher Art Wilson freezes the ball hits his chest protector, and Larry Kopf slides in safe for the only run. Fred Toney sets the Cubs down in order and has the fourth ten-inning no-hitter to date.
1919 - Ever-popular Casey Stengel, now a Pirate, is good-naturedly applauded when he comes to bat in the seventh inning at Brooklyn. He doffs his cap in response and, to everyone's delight, releases a sparrow he had hidden there.
1920 - Babe Ruth hits his first home run as a Yankee as New York beat Boston 6-0 at the Polo Grounds.
1920 - In Boston, Brooklyn's Leon Cadore and the Braves' Joe Oeschger duel 26 innings to a 1-1 tie in the longest game ever played in the major leagues. Oeschger shuts out the Dodgers for the last 21 innings.
1920 - Requested by Cubs officials, policemen disguised as soldiers, farmers, and bootblacks raid the bleachers and arrest 24 fans for gambling
1922 - Babe Ruth is suspended one day and fined $200 for throwing dirt on an ump after being called out on a play at second base, then going into the stands after a heckler. He is also stripped of his title as team captain.
1922 - In a game at New York, Ty Cobb beats out a grounder to shortstop Everett Scott. Veteran writer Fred Lieb scores it a hit in the box score he files with the Associated Press. But official scorer John Kieran of the Times gives an error to Scott. At the season's end, the A.L. official records, based on AP box scores, list Cobb at .401. New York writers complain unsuccessfully that it should be .399, based on the official scorer's stats.
1925 - In Detroit's 8-1 win over the White Sox, Ty Cobb becomes the first to collect 1,000 career extra-base hits. He will finish with 1,139.
1925 - Pittsburgh shortstop Glenn Wright made an unassisted triple play in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals when he caught Jim Bottomley's line drive, stepped on second to double Jimmy Cooney, and tagged Rogers Hornsby coming from first.
1926 - Satchel Paige, 19 years old, makes his debut in the Negro Southern League, pitching Chattanooga to a 5-4 win over Birmingham.
1927 - Walter Johnson's first appearance of the season is the occasion of the last shutout of his career, number 113, in a 3-0 win over Boston.
1930 - Joe Sewell strikes out twice facing lefthander Pat Caraway of the White Sox. It is the last time the Indians third baseman will fan this season, striking out only three times in 353 at-bats.
1932 - Carey Selph of the White Sox strikes out for the ninth time this season. It won't happen again. Selph will go another 89 games, a major league-record, without whiffing, hitting .283 (in 396 at bats) in his second and last season.
1935 - Babe Ruth has a last hurrah, hitting three home runs at Pittsburgh. The final one, the last of his 714 career home runs, is the first to clear the right field grandstand at Forbes Field and is measured at 600 feet
1935 - Babe Ruth plays only the first inning of the opener of a doubleheader between the Boston Braves and Philadelphia Phillies at Baker Bowl. It is his final major league appearance.
1935 - The Cincinnati Reds host the Philadelphia Phillies in the first major league night game, winning 2-1. On the initiative of Larry MacPhail, President Franklin D. Roosevelt throws the switch at the White House to turn on the lights. The Reds will play seven night games, one each against the other N.L. teams.
1937 - After hitting a home run against the Yankees in his prior at bat, Mickey Cochrane suffers a skull fracture from a Bump Hadley pitch. He will never return to active play.
1939 - Lou Gehrig voluntarily benches himself for the good of the team. His consecutive-game string stops at 2,130.
1939 - The first A.L. night game is played at Shibe Park, with Cleveland beating the host Philadelphia Athletics 8-3 in ten innings.
1939 - The first baseball game ever televised, Princeton against Columbia at Baker Field, Columbia's home field, is seen by a handful of viewers via W2XBS in New York City. Bill Stern announces Princeton's 2-1, ten inning win. Reviewing the game the next day, the New York Times sniffs, "it is difficult to see how this sort of thing can catch the public fancy."
1942 - Before 22,000 at Griffith Stadium, Satchel Paige pitches five innings to defeat the Dizzy Dean All-Stars 8-1. Dean pitches just the first inning. The game a week earlier, in which Paige won 3-1 at Wrigley Field, drew 29,000. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis will prohibit a scheduled July 4 matchup because the first two games outdrew major-league games.
1943 - National League President Ford C. Frick demonstrates the revised balata ball to reporters by bouncing it on his office carpet. This ball will prove to be fifty percent livelier than the 1942 model. When introduced in games on May 9, there are six home runs hit in four doubleheaders compared with nine home runs hit with the previous ball in the first 72 games.
1943 - The White Sox top the Washington Senators 1-0 in one hour and 29 minutes, the quickest night game in A.L. history.
1944 - Wartime restrictions are eased and the Polo Grounds is the scene of the first night game in metro New York since 1941. The Giants Bill Voiselle loses a 2-1, ninth-inning lead because an apparent last-out fly ball is dropped by center fielder Johnny Rucker when Charles Mead runs into him. Two runners score and the Dodgers win 3-2.
1945 - Pete Gray is the star in St. Louis as the Browns sweep the Yankees 10-1 and 5-2. Gray, who has only one arm, has two RBI on three hits in the opener and in the nightcap scores the winning run and hauls in seven fly balls, three on spectacular catches.
1946 - In a play that anticipates a scene in The Natural by Brooklyn-native Bernard Malamud, the Braves' Bama Rowell smashes a home run in the second inning of the second game of a doubleheader at Ebbets Field. The ball shatters the Bulova clock high atop the right-field scoreboard at 4:25 P.M., showering glass down on the Dodgers right fielder Dixie Walker. An hour later the clock stops.
1948 - A lefthander for Schenectady (Canadian-American League) named Tom Lasorda strikes out 25 in a 15-inning game against Amsterdam.
1951 - The Yankees' new phenom, Mickey Mantle, connects for his first major league home run off Randy Gumpert of the White Sox
1951(a) - Giants rookie Willie Mays, who was hitting .477 with Minneapolis, goes 0-for-5 in his major league debut against the Phils.
1951(b) - After going 0-for-12, Willie Mays connects for his first major-league hit, a home run off Braves pitcher Warren Spahn. The Giants lose the game 4-1.
1952 - The Giants Willie Mays enters the army. Although Mays is hitting just .236, the Giants are two and a half games up, in first place. They will lose eight of their next ten games.
1953 - Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics in his first major league start. He never pitched another complete game in the majors.
1955 - Mickey Mantle hit three home runs two left-handed and one right-handed as the Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2.
1957 - The N.L. approves the proposed moves of the Dodgers and the Giants to the West Coast, provided both clubs make their request before October 1 and move at the same time.
1957 - The Yankees celebrate Billy Martin's 29th birthday in a raucous fashion. An ensuing fight at Manhattan's Copacabana Club leads to $5,500 in fines and the eventual trade of Billy to Kansas City. Hank Bauer allegedly starts the fight by hitting a patron, although Bauer denies it.
1958 - In what nearly turns into a TV war, the Yankees threaten to broadcast their games nationwide if the N.L. goes ahead with its plans to allow other broadcasts, especially those of the Dodgers and Giants, into New York territory.
1958 - Willie Mays hits the first grand slam in the history of the San Francisco Giants and adds another home run as Los Angeles loses 12-3.
1959 - Early Wynn of the Chicago White Sox pitched a one-hitter, struck out 14, and hit a double and home run for a 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox at the age of 39.
1959 - In a singular performance, Harvey Haddix of the Pirates pitches a perfect game against Milwaukee for 12 innings, only to lose in the 13th
1959 - Philadelphia's Jim Hearn allows two earned runs before the game is suspended with the Pirates ahead 6-4. Hearn is released before the game is completed in July and is charged with the loss two months after his retirement.
1960 - Norm Sherry, a replacement catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit a home run in the 11th inning to give his brother, relief pitcher Larry Sherry, a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Los Angeles.
1963 - Sandy Koufax returns to the rotation from a circulatory ailment in his left index finger and throws a no-hitter against the visiting first place Giants.
1966 - Orioles right fielder Frank Robinson powers the first ball ever hit completely out of Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The 451-foot shot ends Luis Tiant's scoreless-innings streak at 27.
1967 - In the eighth inning against Jim Bunning of the Phillies, Hank Aaron drives a ball to deep center field and scores ahead of the relay. It will be the only inside-the-park home run among his 755.
1967 - Whitey Ford, nearing 41, announces his retirement from baseball because of an elbow injury. His final appearance was a start in Detroit on May 21, but he lasted just one inning for the Yankees. The stylish lefthander closes out with 236 career wins and only 106 losses for a .690 percentage.
1968 - Montreal and San Diego are awarded N.L. franchises after a ten-hour meeting of league owners.
1968 - Phillies pitcher John Boozer is ejected by umpire Ed Vargo at Shea Stadium for throwing spitballs during his warmup pitches
1968 - The first A.L. game played in Milwaukee since 1901 is a 4-2 California win against Chicago before 23,403 fans. This is the first of the nine games the White Sox will play in Milwaukee in 1968.
1971 - Willie Mays hits his 638th career home run for the Giants, adding in the process his N.L. record 1,950th run scored. Stan Musial had been the record holder with 1,949 runs.
1972 - In his first game with the New York Mets, Willie Mays hit a fifth inning home run off Don Carrithers for the difference in a 5-4 triumph over the San Francisco Giants.
1972 - The Giants trade future Hall of Famer Willie Mays to the Mets for minor league pitcher Charlie Williams and cash.
1973 - Angels outfielder Bobby Valentine tries to scale a wall to prevent a Dick Green home run during a 5-4 loss to the A's. He catches his spikes in the wall and breaks his leg. The injury will ruin his career.
1973 - For the second time in his career, the Pirates' Willie Stargell poles one out of Dodger Stadium. His blast off Andy Messersmith hits the right field pavilion roof 470 feet away. His first such homer, a 506-foot shot, came off Alan Foster on August 5, 1969. No other player has hit one out of the stadium.
1975 - Oakland releases pinch runner Herb Washington. Washington played in 105 major league games without batting, pitching, or fielding. He stole 31 bases and scored 33 runs.
1975 - The Giants beat the Astros 8-6 in the first game of a doubleheader at Candlestick Park. In the second inning, Houston's Bob Watson scores what is calculated as major league baseball's millionth run of all time. Philadelphia National Wes Fisler scored the first run on April 22, 1876.
1975 - The Royals beat the Brewers 7-5 in a game bridging the generation gap. Hank Aaron and Harmon Killebrew are in their 22nd major-league seasons and winning pitcher Lindy McDaniel is in his 21st. All three were playing in the majors before Brewers shortstop Robin Yount was born.
1976 - St. Louis' Reggie Smith hit three home runs - two right-handed and one left-handed - and drove in five runs in a 7-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Smith's third homer came with two outs in the ninth and broke a 6-6 tie.
1976 - The only home run of Joe Niekro's 22-year career comes at the expense of brother Phil as the Astros tie the Braves in the seventh, then win 4-3.
1979 - Billy Martin issues a public apology to Reno sportswriter Ray Hagar, with whom he brawled last November. Hagar had filed suit for assault, leading to an out-of-court settlement.
1979 - Bobby Bonds hits his 300th home run against Moose Haas in a 6-1 loss to Milwaukee. He has 413 stolen bases at the time and becomes the second player, after Willie Mays, to have 300 stolen bases and 300 home runs.
1979 - Pat Underwood makes his major league debut for Detroit, pitching 8 1/3 innings in shutting out Toronto 1-0. The losing pitcher is Pat's brother, Tom.
1979 - The wind is really blowing out at Wrigley as the Cubs and Phillies join in a wild ten-inning slugfest won 23-22 by the Phillies. Dave Kingman has three home runs and six RBI for the Cubs while teammate Bill Buckner has a grand slam and seven RBI. Mike Schmidt's two home runs include the game-winner in the tenth inning. The eleven home runs between the two teams ties a major league record.
1980 - Giants first baseman Willie McCovey hits his 521st and final career home run. His shot against Montreal's Scott Sanderson ties him with Ted Williams on the all-time list. He will retire on June 6.
1980 - Pittsburgh's Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock is fined $5,000 and suspended 15 games by N.L. president Chub Feeney for poking umpire Jerry Crawford in the face with his glove after being called out on strikes with the bases loaded.
1980 - Thirty-nine-year-old Pete Rose steals second, third, and home in one inning for the Phillies. The last National Leaguer to pull this feat was Jackie Robinson in 1954.
1981 - Pittsburgh's Jim Bibby gave up a leadoff single to Terry Harper of the Atlanta Braves then retired the next 27 batters for a 5-0 one-hitter. Bibby also hit two doubles.
1984 - Boston's Roger Clemens strikes out seven batters in seven innings en route to his first major league victory, 5-4 over the Twins.
1984 - Mario Soto is suspended for five days by N.L. president Chub Feeney for his role in a 32-minute melee that marred the Reds-Cubs game on May 27. After shoving third base umpire Steve Rippley, who had signaled that Ron Cey's long fly ball was a three-run home run (it was later ruled foul), a bat-wielding Soto then tried to attack a park vendor who had thrown a bag of ice at him. Soto will be suspended again for five more days later in the season for his June 16 fight with Claudell Washington.
1984 - The longest game in A.L. history (both in time and frames) ends in the 25th inning when Harold Baines homers off Chuck Porter to give the White Sox a 7-6 victory over the Brewers. The game falls one inning shy of the major league record, but takes the most time to play: eight hours and six minutes. The contest was suspended the previous day after 17 innings with the score tied 3-3 each team scores three more runs in the 21st. Tom Seaver pitches the final inning to earn the win, then wins the regularly scheduled game as well 5-4.
1984 - The Red Sox trade pitcher Dennis Eckersley and minor leaguer Mike Brumley to the Cubs for veteran Bill Buckner, who had been benched in Chicago in favor of Leon Durham but will immediately become Boston's starting first baseman.
1984 - The Twins sell 51,863 tickets to their 8-7 loss to the Blue Jays, but only 6,346 fans show up for the game. The skewed numbers are the result of a massive ticket buyout plan organized by Minneapolis businessman Harvey Mackay to keep the Twins in Minnesota; if the club does not sell 2.41 million tickets this season it can break its lease with the Metrodome. Taking advantage of reduced prices on the Family Day promotion, Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets.
1987 - Eddie Murray homers from each side of the plate for the second consecutive game, a major league first. Murray's four home runs in two days help the Orioles to 7-6 and 15-6 wins over the White Sox.
1990 - The Baltimore Orioles tied an American League record with eight consecutive singles in a seven-run first inning against Bobby Witt to beat the Texas Rangers 13-1.
1991 - In Texas, 44-year-old Rangers right-hander Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 Blue Jays en route to his seventh career no-hitter, a 3-0 win at Arlington Stadium.
1991 - Rickey Henderson surpassed Lou Brock as baseball's career stolen base leader with his 939th steal as the Oakland Athletics beat the New York Yankees 7-4.
1991 - The Red Sox and White Sox play the slowest nine-inning game to date in major league history (four hours, 11 minutes), but Boston rallies from a 5-0 deficit for a 9-6 win.
1992 - Rickey Henderson starts his own club with his 1,000th career steal. He already holds the major league stolen base record.
1993 - Dale Murphy calls it a career. Just two home runs shy of 400, the former two-time N.L. MVP announces his retirement as a member of the Colorado Rockies. He is hitting .143 with no home runs and seven RBI as a backup for the expansion club.
1993 - George Brett hit his 300th career home run in the sixth inning of Kansas City's 7-3 victory over Cleveland. Brett joined Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Mays and Al Kaline as the only players with at least 3,000 hits and 300 homers.
1993(a) - Jose Canseco can't be accused of not using his head by anyone in Cleveland. The Texas right fielder drifts back to line up a long drive by Carlos Martinez and, when he turns his head to take a look at the wall, the ball skims off his glove, hits his head and bounces over the fence for a home run.
1993(b) - Jose Canseco, who three days earlier had a ball bounce off his head for a home run, pitches an inning in a blowout in Boston. The result? Besides the Rangers' 15-1 loss, Canseco winds up having to undergo season-ending elbow surgery from his ill-advised outing.
1994 - Anthony Young won as a starter for the first time in more than two years as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-1. The win ended Young's 29-game losing streak as a starter.
1994 - The Colorado Silver Bullets, the first women's team to play a pro men's team, lost 19-0 to the Northern League All-Stars. Leon Durham hit two homers and Oil Can Boyd started for the All-Stars. The Silver Bullets had two hits, struck out sixteen times and made six errors.
1995 - David Bell makes his major league debut at third base for the Indians in a 14-7 victory over the Tigers. His appearance makes the Bells, with his father Buddy and his grandfather Gus, the second three-generation family in major league history (the Boones were the first). Gus Bell dies four days later.
1996 - Albert Belle uses a forearm to break up a double play and nearly breaks Milwaukee second baseman Fernando Vina's nose in the process. The Cleveland slugger is suspended for two games.