BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

1961 En route to fanning 11 Red Sox batters, Ryne Duren breaks an American League mark when he records seven consecutive strikeouts in the Angels' 5-1 victory over Boston. In the second game of a twilight-night doubleheader at Fenway Park, the bespectacled fireballing right-hander whiffs Frank Malzone to end the first inning and then proceeds to strike out the side in the second and third frame, sending Pete Runnels, Jim Pagliaroni, Don Buddin, Mike Fornieles, Chuck Schilling, and Gary Geiger back to the bench with their bats.

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1963 In the first Sunday night major league game ever played, the Colt .45's extend the Giants' losing streak to seven games, blanking the visiting team, 3-0. Due to the extreme heat during the Texas summer months, baseball grants permission to play games in the evening at Colt Stadium.

1966 Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh at Metropolitan Stadium, the Twins erupt for the first five-home run inning in American League history. Rich Rollins, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don Mincher, and Harmon Killebrew all go deep to give the Twins a 9-4 victory over the A's.

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1968 Unlike its decision in April to delay the start of the season after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Major League Baseball lets the teams decide if they will postpone games when an assassin's bullet kills Robert F. Kennedy. Rusty Staub and Bob Aspromonte, both traded at the end of the season, bench themselves in protest when Houston decides to continue playing their scheduled home contests.

 

1973 Rusty Staub becomes the pivot man in a very unusual double play during the Mets' 4-2 victory against the Dodgers at Shea Stadium. Racing in from the outfield, 'Le Grand Orange' gets a throw near second base from first baseman John Milner and tags Davey Lopes, picked off first, and then the right fielder throws the ball home to nail Tom Paciorek trying to score from second during the P-1B-SS-1B-2B-1B-2B-RF-C (1-3-6-3-4-3-4-9-2) rundown.


1973 The Mets retire Gil Hodges' number 14 in tribute to their late manager, who died of a heart attack just before the start of the season. In addition to leading his underdog club to a World Championship in 1969, the quiet leader also hit the first home run in franchise history, a 1962 solo shot at Busch Stadium off St. Louis right-hander Larry Jackson.

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1984 With the score tied 3-3 and the bases loaded in the 12th inning, Garry Hancock drops Pete O'Brien's long foul flyball to prevent the out from becoming a game-ending sacrifice fly. When the umpires rule the left fielder had caught the ball, Wayne Tolleson tags up and scores the winning run for Texas.

1986 Don Sutton (298) throws a two-hit shutout, beating Tom Seaver (306) and the White Sox 3-0. The starters have the highest combined win total (604) for opposing pitchers since 1926 when Washington's Walter Johnson (406) faced Chicago's right-hander Red Faber (197) in a Griffith Stadium contest.

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1988 The first printing of the sheet music to Take Me Out to the Ball Game sells at an auction in New York City with a bid of $2,750. The signatures of Jack Norworth, who wrote the lyrics, and Albert Von Tilzer, who set the words to music, appear on their creative work.

1989 Mets outfielder Darryl Strawberry hits his 200th career home run in a ten-inning, 4-3, loss to the Pirates. The six-foot, six-inch slugger will finish his 18-year major league career with 335 round-trippers.

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1990 Eddie Murray ties Mickey Mantle's major league mark, hitting a homer from both sides of the plate for the tenth time in his career. The switch-hitting first baseman's second home run of the game, batting left-handed against Eric Show, is the eventual winning run in the Dodgers' 5-4 victory over San Diego in 11 innings at Jack Murphy Stadium.

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1991 The A's retire their first number in franchise history, setting aside #27 in tribute to an emotional Catfish Hunter, who won 163 of his 224 (72.7%) career victories with the team, including a stretch of five consecutive 20-win seasons from 1971 through 1975. During his ten-year tenure with the club, the right-hander won the American League Cy Young Award in 1974 and tossed a perfect game against the Twins in 1968.

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1994 Oakland signs first-round pick Ben Grieve, giving the recent Arlington HS (TX) graduate a $1.2 million bonus. The 18-year-old's incentive to sign with the A's is more money than his father, Tom, also a first-round selection, earned during his dozen seasons in the majors with the Senators, Rangers, Mets, and the Cardinals.

1998 In the third inning of the Angels' 10-8 win over the Diamondbacks, Anaheim's Cecil Fielder and Arizona's Yamil Benitez hit grand slams in the Bank One Ballpark contest. The pair of bases-loaded home runs mark the first time both teams hit bases-full home runs in the same inning since 1992, when Cubs infielder Ryne Sandberg and Pirates slugger Jeff King also accomplished the feat, playing at Three Rivers Stadium.

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1999 After being ejected in the 12th inning by plate umpire Randy Marsh for arguing a catcher's interference call, Bobby Valentine returns to the dugout with a fake mustache and glasses. The National League will suspend the Mets' manager for two games and fine him for using the disguise.

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2007 At Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, Samsung Lions' outfielder Yang Jun-hyuk becomes the first player in the 26-year history of the Korean baseball league to collect 2,000 hits. The 14-year veteran singled on a 2-1 pitch in the ninth inning, much to the delight of the 23,000 Doosan Bears fans watching the visiting outfielder reach the unprecedented milestone.

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2008 Ken Griffey, Jr. becomes the sixth player in major league history to hit 600 career home runs. Junior goes deep, with a runner on third base, in the first inning on a 3-1 pitch thrown by Marlins' moundsman Mark Hendrickson in the Reds' 9-4 victory at Dolphin Stadium.

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2008 For the first time in franchise history, the Rays hit three consecutive home runs when Evan Longoria, Willy Aybar, and Dioner Navarro connect off Angels' southpaw Joe Saunders in the second inning of Tampa Bay's 13-4 rout in Anaheim. The feat will not occur again for the team until James Loney, Wil Myers, and Sam Fuld homer back-to-back-to-back at Tropicana Field in 2013.

2009 Twenty-one teams miss an opportunity to draft the 17-year-old high school standout Mike Trout, who, in three years, will become an impact player in the American League during his rookie season. The 'Millville Meteor,' selected in the first round of the Amateur Draft (25th overall) by the Angels, is most notably passed over by the Nationals and the Diamondbacks, teams that would pick twice before Los Angeles made its first selection.

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2010 The Diamondbacks beat Atlanta, 2-1, thanks to a bizarre two-run inside-the-park homer hit by Gerardo Parra in the eighth inning of the Chase Field contest. The decisive runs score when Nate McLouth and Jason Heyward violently collide after sprinting into the gap in left-center field trying to make the play.

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2011 During a nine-game losing streak, the A's fire manager Bob Geren, replacing him with Bob Melvin, who will serve as interim manager for the rest of the season. During his four-plus seasons at the helm, the 47-year-old former Oakland skipper compiled a 361-412 record with the team.

Geren & Melvin​

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2014 Indian third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall drives in nine runs, tying a franchise record first established in 1991 by Chris James. The Cleveland infielder collects five hits, including three home runs, in the team's 17-7 rout of Texas at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

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2015 In front of a dwindling crowd of mostly remaining Giants fans, Chris Heston, making his 13th career start, strikes out the side in the ninth inning to finish the season's first no-hitter, a 5-0 Giants victory over the Mets at Citi Field. The 27-year-old rookie right-hander's no-no, the 17th in franchise history, marks the fourth straight season the feat has been accomplished by a San Francisco hurler, with Matt Cain (2012) and Tim Lincecum (2013 and 2014) throwing complete games without yielding a hit during the past three years.

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2019 At Miller Park, Mark Gruber wins a 2019 RAV4 when Mike Moustakas' game-winning two-run homer strikes a promotional vehicle perched above the right-center-field fence parked in Toyota Territory. The Brewers' season-ticket holder, who will get the keys to his new SUV in a pregame presentation on June 20th, becomes the first fan to take home the SUV during the six years of the car giveaway promotion.

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2019 In a span of seven pitches off Padres right-hander Craig Stammen, the Nationals become the ninth team in baseball history to hit four consecutive home runs in one inning en route to a 5-2 victory at Petco Park. Howie Kendrick, Trea Turner, Adam Eaton, and Anthony Rendon provide the eighth-inning back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers for Washington, who also accomplished the feat in 2017
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6/10
BIRTHDAYS
1910 Frank Demaree outfielder (MLB All Star 1936, 37; Chicago Cubs, NY Giants), born in Winters, California (d. 1958)


1947 Ken Singleton player (Orioles), born in Mt Vernon, New York


1973 Pokey Reese player (Cinncinatti, Boston Red Sox), born in Columbia, South Carolina


1976 Freddy García born in Caracas, Venezuela

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FROM MLB's This Day in Baseball History+​

1902 Baseball lifer Horace Fogel, also known for his career as a sportswriter, is fired as the Giants' manager just 44 games into the season. The 51-year-old former skipper, who will go on to an administrative position with the Phillies, will be best remembered for his attempt to turn future Hall of Fame sophomore hurler Christy Mathewson, a 20-game winner last year, into a position player.

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1930 After seven consecutive victories from the start of the season, A's right-hander Lefty Grove loses in eleven innings to the White Sox, 7-6. The future Hall of Famer will finish the season 28-5, along with a 2.54 ERA for the eventual World Champion club.

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1937 The Senators trade Bobo Newsom (3-4, 5.85) and outfielder Ben Chapman (.262, 0, 12) to the Red Sox for the brother battery of Wes (3-6, 7.61) and Rick Ferrell (.308, 1, 4), as well as outfielder Mel Almada (.236, 1, 9). Rick, the catcher, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984, but his brother Wes, the pitcher, will hit more career home runs.

Wes
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1938 With his team trailing Chicago, 13-1, at Fenway Park, Red Sox manager Joe Cronin lets Bill Lefebvre bat for himself in the eighth inning and watches the rookie hurler homer off Monty Stratton. The 22-year-old southpaw from Natick, RI, who will have only one at-bat this season, doesn't fare as well on the mound when he gives up six runs in four innings in his only appearance this season.

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1944 "I was pitching against seventh, eighth, and ninth graders, kids 13 and 14 years old... All of a sudden, I look up, and there's Stan Musial and the likes. It was a very scary situation." - JOE NUXHALL, speaking of his major league debut as a 15-year-old.
Six weeks shy of his 16th birthday, Joe Nuxhall becomes the youngest player in a major league contest in this century, beginning a 60-year tenure with the Reds organization that includes becoming best known as the voice for the team's radio broadcasts. After being called in the ninth inning into a 13-0 rout by the eventual World Champions Cardinals at Crosley Field, the 15-year-old high school southpaw retires George Fallon, the first batter he faces but is unable to get out of the inning, yielding five walks, two hits, one wild pitch, and five runs.
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1953 Against five different pitchers, Jimmy Piersall ties a major league record, going 6-for-6 when Boston bombs the Browns in the first game of a doubleheader, 11-2. The Red Sox right fielder is hitless in the Sportsman's Park nightcap and is sent sprawling to the ground by Satchel Paige, a pitcher he had infuriated during a game in his rookie season by mimicking the right-hander's every move.

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1954 At County Stadium, Bill Taylor's pinch home run in the 10th inning off Gene Conley gives the Giants an eventual 1-0 win over Milwaukee. Taylor's first major league home run accounts for all of the scoring, making it the first time a solo pinch-hit round-tripper is the game's only tally.

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1954 Reds' southpaw Fred Baczewski goes the distance, blanking Pittsburgh at Crosley Field, 6-0. 'Lefty,' a former college basketball player at the University of Tennessee, gives up 11 hits and walks a batter, but the Pirates strand 12 players on the bases.

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1959 In Baltimore, Rocky Colavito becomes the sixth player to hit four home runs in one game, helping the Indians defeat the Orioles, 11-8. The New York City native joins Lou Gehrig as the only player to accomplish the feat with four consecutive shots.

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1966 In his big league debut, Dick Rusteck pitches a four-hit masterpiece, blanking the Reds at Shea Stadium, 4-0. The 24-year-old rookie southpaw will pitch in seven more games, including two more starts, without ever winning another major league contest, finishing his career with a 1-2 record and a 3.00 ERA.

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1967 In front of his family and friends, Astros outfielder Jimmy Wynn, a Cincinnati native, hits the longest home run in the history of Crosley Field. The Toy Cannon's monstrous shot off the right-handed Mel Queen in the team's 9-4 loss to the Reds clears the 58-foot scoreboard in left-center and bounces onto Interstate 75 outside the stadium.

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1969 The Mets win their 11th consecutive game, a 9-4 victory over the Giants at Candlestick Park, to establish a franchise record. Later in the season, the Amazins will also post a ten-game (Sept. 6-13) and a nine-game winning streak (Sept. 21-Oct. 1).

 

1972 Hank Aaron passes Willie Mays, moving into second place on the all-time home run list. The Braves outfielder connects for a grand slam, his 14th, to tie Gil Hodges' NL mark against the Phillies for his 649th career homer, 65 shy of Babe Ruth's total.

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1973 Ranger reliever Charlie Hudson accidentally shoots himself in the middle finger of his pitching hand while cleaning a .38 revolver at home. The 24-year-old left-handed knuckleballer returns to the team at the end of July and, as a starter, blanks the Twins, 2-0, on September 2 at Arlington Stadium.

1974 Mike Schmidt collects one of the longest singles in big-league history when the ball he hits off Astros hurler Claude Osteen caroms of the public address speaker hanging 117 feet in the air and 329 feet from home plate is ruled in play due to the ballpark's ground rules. The Rice University mathematics department calculates the Astrodome blast would have traveled 550 feet if left unimpeded.

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1979 Trailing by a run, Orioles right-hander Dennis Martinez induces Ranger third baseman Buddy Bell to line into a 5-4-3 triple play to end the sixth inning. Baltimore's triple killing, their eighth since moving to the Charm City, contributes to the team's 5-4 walk-off victory at Memorial Stadium.

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