BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

1930 In Des Moines, Iowa, a Western League contest against Wichita becomes the first night baseball game to be played under permanent lights. The unique event, which draws 12,000 fans instead of the usual 600 patrons, is the beginning of a concept that will spread quickly through the minors and spare many organizations from the onslaught of the Great Depression.


1930 Joe Sewell's consecutive streak ends at 1,103 games when he doesn't appear in a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park due to having a fever of 102 degrees. The Indians shortstop, who hasn't missed a game since 1922, is only 204 games shy of the major league record of 1,307 games set in 1925 by Yankee shortstop Everett Scott. Sewell lettered in college football at the University of Alabama in 1917, 1918, and 1919.[3] He led the school baseball team to four conference titles before joining the minor league New Orleans Pelicans in 1920, where he played a partial season before being called up to the "big league".[4]

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1939 Before a game with the Tigers in Detroit, Lou Gehrig tells his manager, Joe McCarthy, that he is benching himself "for the good of the team." The Yankee legend's record streak, which began in 1925, ends at 2,130 consecutive games.

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1944 As a pinch-hitter, Lou Limmer goes deep off Tigers' right-hander Saul Rogovin in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 3-3 in the A's eventual 5-3 extra-inning loss at Briggs Stadium. The at-bat marks the first time in major league history that a Jewish batter faces a Jewish pitcher with a Jewish catcher (Joe Ginsberg) behind the plate.

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1944 The Marine Corps commissions 25-year-old Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams, who received his pilot wings as a second lieutenant. The future Hall of Famer, fighting in WW II and the Korean War, will miss five years of playing time during his major league career.

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1946 Boston GM Eddie Collins announces the club will install lights at Fenway Park before the 1947 season. The Red Sox will be the 14th club out of 16 major league teams to play night games in their home park, leaving just Wrigley Field (Cubs) and Briggs Stadium (Tigers) in the dark.

 

1954 In a twin bill at Sportsman's Park, eight-year-old Nate Colbert watches the Cardinals' Stan Musial become the first major leaguer to hit five home runs in a doubleheader. In 1972, as a 26-year-old Padres' first baseman, he will become the only other major leaguer to repeat this feat.

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1956 During a game in which 48 players see action, Chicago's third baseman Don Hoak strikes out a record six times against six different New York pitchers. The Giants outlast the Cubs in the 17-inning Wrigley Field marathon, 6-5.

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1958 George Weiss warns the National League there will be consequences, interpreted by some as a nationwide Yankees network, if teams continue to flood the market with games, trying to fill the void created when the Dodgers and Giants left the Big Apple. The Phillies have already committed to broadcast 78 of its games in NYC, with the Cardinals and Pirates making plans to show their home games in the Big Apple when they play against the West Coast teams.

 

1964 At Memorial Stadium, the Orioles host "Safety Patrol Day" to honor students who helped their schoolmates travel to and from school safely by giving free admission to 20,000 children from around the state of Maryland to the team's game against Cleveland. An escalator accident causes the death of a teenager and injuries to 46 other children when a people channeler restricts the flow of kids in the wrong direction, causing riders to fall back onto one another when they could not exit at the same pace as people getting onto the moving steps.

1964 At Municipal Stadium, the Twins become the third team in major league history to hit four consecutive home runs in an inning when Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall, and Harmon Killebrew all go deep in the top of the 11th frame of the team's 7-3 victory over the A's. The Kansas City will surrender 220 round-trippers, breaking the big league mark of 199 established by the team's pitching staff last season.

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1968 Mets hitter Bud Harrelson becomes the first batter in baseball history to gain a 3-0 ball-strike count advantage from the on-deck circle when umpire Ed Vargo penalizes Phillies reliever John Boozer for going to his mouth inside the 18-foot circle of the mound. Philadelphia manager Gene Mauch, incensed about the ball one call, orders his pitcher to do it again for ball two and then again for ball three, which promptly gets his right-hander and himself thrown out of the game, a 3-0 loss at Shea Stadium.

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1972 Coming off a Cy Young Award season (24-8, 1.82), Vida Blue ends his holdout when he agrees to sign for $63,000, a raise of only $14,750. The A's 22-year-old southpaw will post a 6-10 record, failing to make Oakland's postseason starting rotation.

 

1983 Jose Oquendo makes his major league debut, grounding into a force out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of a 3-2 loss to Houston. The 19-year-old rookie shortstop, born on July 4, 1963, becomes the first person to play for the Mets, younger than the franchise that started in 1962.

1984 Don Mattingly's seventh-inning single breaks up LaMarr Hoyt's perfect game bid. The lone hit, an opposite-field blooper, is followed up by a double play, and the White Sox hurler faces the minimum 27 batters, defeating the Yankees, 3-0.

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1988 One out away from immortality, Reds' right-hander Ron Robinson gives up a single to pinch-hitter Wallace Johnson and a Tim Raines home run to end his bid for a perfect game. Cincinnati holds on to beat the visiting Expos at Riverfront Stadium, 3-2.

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1988 Pete Rose, furious over Dave Pallone's delayed call yesterday allowing the eventual winning run, becomes the first manager suspended for an on-field incident when National League president Bart Giamatti issues a 30-day suspension for his shoving of the first base ump. The ugly argument resulted in the fans throwing trash onto the field, temporarily delaying the game, and making it necessary for the arbitrator to be removed from the game to calm tempers.

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1988 At Memorial Stadium, Baltimore owner Edward Bennett Williams, attending his last Oriole game due to his losing battle with cancer, and 50,402 fans welcome their 1-23 team back from a road trip. Governor William Donald Schaefer announces that the team and the Maryland Stadium Authority have agreed upon a long-term lease for a new downtown ballpark for the start of the 1992 season.

 

1993 Jeff Bronkey picks up a save in his big league debut, tossing three scoreless innings against the Brewers in the 9-7 Texas victory. The 27-year-old Rangers reliever becomes the first person born in Afghanistan (Kabul) to play in the major leagues.

1994 Changing their jersey color from white to blue to snap a losing skid doesn't work when the Cubs lose their record eleventh consecutive game. Chicago is limited to two hits by John Smiley in the Reds' rout at Wrigley Field, 9-0.

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1995 Hideo Nomo becomes the first Japanese native to play in the majors since Masanori Murakami appeared with the Giants in 1964. The 26-year-old right-hander from Osaka pitches five scoreless innings of one-hit ball but doesn't win when the Dodgers blow a 3-0 lead, bowing to San Francisco at Candlestick Park, 4-3.

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1995 Mo Vaughn and John Valentin hit grand slams in consecutive innings, accounting for all the runs in the Red Sox' 8-0 victory over the Yankees at the Stadium. The sluggers were teammates on the Seton Hall University baseball team.

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1998 At Kauffman Stadium, Darryl Strawberry blasts pinch-hit ninth-inning grand slam when he goes deep off Scott Service to extend the Yankees' lead over the Royals to 12-6. Straw's round-tripper is the first of his two pinch-hit bases-loaded homers this season, making him only the fifth player to accomplish the feat.

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1999 Nike's 'Chicks Dig the Long Ball' commercial, starring Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, airs for the first time. The television ad depicts the Braves hurlers, both multiple Cy Young Awards recipients, as pitchers-who-want-to-become-worshipped-home-run-heroes after becoming frustrated by the attention being shown to Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire by Heather Locklear and a friend.

1999 Rafael Palmeiro reaches the 2,000 career-hit milestone with a fourth-inning double in the Rangers' defeat 8-6 victory over the Indians at The Ballpark in Arlington. The 34-year-old designated hitter will join Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Eddie Murray as the only players to compile 3,000 hits and 500 home runs during their major league careers.

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2000 Kerry Wood throws in a game for the first time in nearly 19 months, giving up one run and three hits in six innings in the Cub' 11-1 rout of Houston. The outing is the first test of the right-hander's reconstructed elbow.

2000 En route to the team's ninth division title in ten years, the Braves win their fifteenth consecutive game when they beat L.A. at Chavez Ravine, 5-3. The winning streak, which began on April 16, ties an Atlanta record.

2001 At the Metrodome, Paul O'Neill singles in the ninth inning off Minnesota reliever LaTroy Hawkins, becoming the 215th player to collect 2,000 hits. The Yankee right fielder will retire at the end of the season, recording another 105 safties before ending his 17-year major league career.

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2001 The game at the Metrodome, which is delayed for 12 minutes when the umps need to pull the opposing players off the field, comes close to being forfeited by the Twins when unruly spectators pummel Chuck Knoblauch with coins, plastic beer bottles, and golf balls in left field. Minnesota skipper Tom Kelly appeals to the crowd, including over 40 ejected fans, to be calm as the home team defeats their former second baseman and the Yankees, 4-2.

2002 In the Mariners' 15-4 victory over the White Sox, Mike Cameron becomes the 13th major leaguer to hit four homers in one game. The Seattle outfielder's first two dingers are followed by round-trippers by second baseman Bret Boone, making it the first time the same two teammates have hit back-to-back homers twice in one inning.

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2003 The players' association agrees to a two-year experiment in which the winning league of the All-Star Game will have the home-field advantage during the World Series. Other changes include a roster increase by 2 to 32 players and a separate ballot for managers, coaches, and players naming the additional nine position players and eight pitchers for each team.

 

2005 In front of 15,641 fans, the smallest attendance in the 14-year history of Camden Yards, the Orioles' eight-game winning streak ends when Toronto beat the Birds in 12 innings, 6-5. With the second-best record in the majors, Baltimore has experienced reduced crowds due to the Montreal Expos being relocated to nearby Washington to play as the Nationals.

2005 The Cardinals, trailing 9-3 after eight innings, mount their most remarkable ninth-inning comeback in franchise history, defeating the Reds at the Great American Ball Park. A three-run homer by Jim Edmonds and a two-run round-tripper by John Mabry fuels the seven-run rally in Cincinnati.

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2007 Jarrod Saltalamacchia, on his 22nd birthday, makes his major league debut. With 14 letters in his last name, the Braves backstop has the longest surname in baseball history, besting 15 other major leaguers who played with 13 letters in their family name.

2007 Thanks to a winning rally that starts with an infield single in play after hitting the second-highest "B" ring at Tropicana Field, the Rays beat Minnesota, 4-3, in 10 innings. In tomorrow's contest, a mannequin wearing a Twins uniform will mark the spot where Carlos Pena's fortunate hit struck the roof.

2008 Jose Reyes is thrown out at home plate in an unusual attempt to complete the cycle with an inside-the-park homer. The shortstop's four hits pace the Mets' 7-2 win over the Diamondbacks, the club's 14th victory in the last 15 games played against Arizona at Chase Field.

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2019 Noah Syndergaard homers en route to blanking the Reds at Citi Field, making it the seventh time in major league history that a pitcher's round-tripper accounts for the game's only run in a 1-0 shutout. 'Thor' becomes the first Met to accomplish the feat and the first since Dodger right-hander Bob Welch went deep for the only run in his complete-game victory in 1983.

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Today in Baseball History
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Search archives: Historical Events Baseball Birthdays Baseball Deaths
On May 2 in Baseball History...

• • 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.
    
  • 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.
    
  • 1939 - Lou Gehrig voluntarily benches himself for the good of the team. His consecutive-game string stops at 2,130. Babe Dahlgren, his replacement, has a home run and double as the Yankees rout Detroit 22-2.
    
  • 1949 - In his first major league start, Don Newcombe shuts out Cincinnati 3-0.
    
  • 1954 - Stan Musial hits five home runs in a doubleheader with the Giants in St. Louis. In attendance is eight-year-old Nate Colbert, who will eventually be the only other player in history to match this feat. The Cards win the first game 10-6 and the Giants win the nightcap 9-7.
    
  • 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.
    
  • 1988 - Reds manager Pete Rose is suspended for 30 days by N.L. president Bart Giamatti. This is the stiffest suspension ever levied against a manager for an on-field incident. On April 30 Rose shoved umpire Dave Pallone in the ninth inning of a 6-5 loss to the Mets, inciting a near riot among Cincinnati fans.

Baseball Birthdays on May 2...

• • 1847 - Worth, Herb
  • 1862 - Beard, Ollie
  • 1866 - Mack, Reddy
  • 1876 - Morrissey, Jack
  • 1886 - Cheney, Larry
  • 1887 - Collins, Eddie
  • 1891 - Leary, John
  • 1892 - Collins, Zip
  • 1896 - Piercy, Bill
  • 1898 - Turk, Lucas
  • 1899 - O'Neal, Skinny
  • 1899 - Staley, Gale
  • 1902 - Sale, Freddy
  • 1915 - Richardson, Ken
  • 1915 - Miller, Whitey
  • 1925 - Brickner, Ralph
  • 1932 - Bressoud, Eddie
  • 1939 - Brown, Gates
  • 1941 - Carroll, Clay
  • 1948 - Gowell, Larry
  • 1949 - Grilli, Steve
  • 1954 - Moreland, Keith
  • 1959 - Smith, Brick
  • 1962 - Walewander, Jim
  • 1965 - Jose, Felix
  • 1970 - Crawford, Joe
  • 1971 - Bowers, Brent
  • 1973 - Tatis, Ramon
  • 1975 - Johnson, Mark

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Part of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Around the Horn | Baseball Box Scores | Baseball Fever | Today in Baseball History.​

 

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5/3 BIRTHDAYS
Eddie Collins (1887-1951) Hall of Fame infielder (World Series 1910, 11, 13, 17, 29, 30; AL MVP 1914; 4 x AL stolen base leader; Philadelphia A's, Chicago White Sox), born in Millerton, New York


1939 Gates Brown outfielder (Detroit Tigers: 1963-75), born in Crestline, Ohio (d. 2013)


1941 Clay Carroll player, born in Clanton, Alabama


1975 Mark Johnson pitcher (Olympic bronze 1996), born in Dayton, Ohio


1977 Luke Hudson pitcher, 2002-07 (Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals), born in Fountain Valley, California


1985 Jarrod Saltalamacchia player, born in West Palm Beach, Florida

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FROM MLB's This Day in Baseball History+​

1936 After being sidelined at the start of the season because of a foot injury, Joe DiMaggio makes his much anticipated major league debut. The 21-year-old rookie outfielder lives up to the hype, collecting three hits, including a triple, and scores three runs in the Yankees' 14-5 victory over the Browns in New York.

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1941 In his first major league start, Cardinal rookie Henry Gornicki throws a one-hitter, beating Philadelphia at Shibe Park, 6-1. The 30-year-old right-hander, who will win only fifteen games in his career, gives up the lone hit to rookie outfielder Stanley Benjamin.

1947 The Cardinals trade center fielder Harry Walker and right-hander Freddy Schmidt to the Phillies for right fielder Ron Northey. 'Harry the Hat' will finish the season .363 batting average, tops in the National League.

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1947 The Pirates deal five-foot, six-inch reserve outfielder Al Gionfriddo to the Dodgers for five players and a hundred thousand dollars in cash, delivered by the diminutive flycatcher when he arrives in Brooklyn. The Bucs received Hank Behrman, Dixie Howell, Gene Mauch, Cal McLish, and Kirby Higbe, a former 20-game winner from South Carolina, made expendable due to his comments about playing with his new teammate Jackie Robinson, the first black to play in the major leagues this century.

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1950 Although he beats the White Sox, 4-3, Vic Raschi balks four times during the contest. The Yankee pitcher cannot adjust to the new rule, which requires a pitcher to come to a rest for a full second.

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1951 In a 17-3 rout over the Browns at Sportsman's Park, Gil McDougald ties a major league record with six RBIs in one inning. The Yankee rookie hits his first career home run, a grand slam, and then adds a two-run triple as the Bronx Bombers break out for 11 runs in the ninth inning.

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1952 The Yankees trade Jackie Jensen and right-hander Spec Shea to the Senators for veteran fly chaser Irv Noren to fill the void in center field created by Joe DiMaggio's retirement and Mickey Mantle's recovery from last season's knee surgery. In 1958, Jensen will win the American League MVP playing for Boston.

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1959 At Briggs Stadium, Charlie Maxwell hits four straight home runs in a doubleheader, helping the 2-15 Tigers, under new manager Jimmy Dykes, sweep the Yankees 4-2 and 8-2. It was Dykes' first day as skipper, and he put Charlie back in the lineup even though 'Ole Paw Paw' was hitting only .136 at the time.

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1962 In a deal with the Indians, the Senators trade light-hitting outfielder Willie Tasby for southpaws Don Rudolph and Steve Hamilton. At the start of next season, Washington will obtain Jim Coates from the Yankees in exchange for Hamilton, who will post a 34-20 (.630) record during his eight-year tenure with the Bronx Bombers.

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1963 Buster Narum goes deep off Cleveland southpaw Don Mossi in his only at-bat with the Orioles. Baltimore will option the 22-year-old rookie hurler to Triple-A Rochester in six days, making the right-hander the first pitcher to have more homers than wins in a season.

1966 After previously blanking Boston and Kansas City, Indian right-hander Luis Tiant tosses his third consecutive shutout when he beats the Yankees in the Bronx, 1-0. The 25-year-old 'El Tiante' has yet to surrender a single run this season.

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1975 After taking the mound against the Rangers in the second inning at Arlington Stadium, Nolan Ryan finds a rubber snake and a giant rubber crab when he reaches for the rosin bag. The Angels right-hander, who gets the victory when the Halos beat Texas, 4-2, suspects opposing manager Billy Martin for the shenanigans, calling the prank a "Little League stunt."

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1975 The Reds beat the Braves at Riverfront Stadium, 6-1, making Gary Nolan, who missed most of 1973 and the entire 1974 season due to arm problems, a winner for the first time in nearly two and half seasons. The right-hander's last win came on October 3, 1972, when he beat the Astros by an identical score in Cincinnati.

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1979 In a 6-1 defeat to the Brewers, Indian outfielder Bobby Bonds hits his 300th home run off Moose Haas to become only the second player in major league history to steal at least 300 bases (413) and hit 300 round-trippers. Willie Mays was the first to accomplish the feat. (July 4, 1961).

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1980 Willie McCovey homers for the final time, a solo shot off Scott Sanderson in the fourth inning of the Giants' 3-2 loss to Montreal at Olympic Stadium. The 42-year-old future Hall of Fame first baseman, who hit the first of his 521 round-trippers in 1959, joins Red Sox legend Ted Williams as the only other major leaguer to homer in four different decades.

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1980 Ferguson Jenkins becomes only the fifth major league hurler to win 100 games in each league when he defeats the Orioles, 3-2. The Ranger right-hander joins Al Orth, Cy Young, Jim Bunning, and Gaylord Perry in accomplishing the feat.

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1982 Facing the minimum 27 batters, Mike Flanagan and the Orioles beat Seattle, 6-0. The Baltimore southpaw gives up three hits and a walk, but two double plays, a pickoff, and a caught stealing attempt deprive the opposition of any men left on base.

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1983 After returning from a stint on the disabled list, Dave Wilhelmi of the Shreveport Captains throws a perfect game, beating the Arkansas Travelers in Little Rock, 7-0. It takes two spectacular ninth-inning catches in the outfield to complete the second perfecto in Texas League history.

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1986 In a 9-4 win over the Rangers in the Bronx, Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly becomes the sixth major leaguer to connect for three sacrifice flies in one game. The rare feat was last accomplished just two days ago by Cardinal outfielder Vince Coleman in a contest against the Padres.

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1987 Joe Cowley, pitching in relief, makes his final major league appearance, giving up three runs in two-thirds of an inning in the Phillies' 9-6 loss to Cincinnati. The 28-year-old right-hander becomes the only pitcher in major league history never to win another game after pitching a no-hitter, which he accomplished last season against the Angels as a starter with the White Sox.

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