BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

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BIRTHDAYS
1943 Curt Blefary (1965 AL rookie of year, The Sporting News Rookie of the Year), born in Brooklyn, New York


1950 Gary Matthews (1973 NL rookie of year), born in San Fernando, California


1951 Rich "Goose" Gossage Hall of Fame relief pitcher (World Series 1978 NY Yankees; 9 x MLB All Star; 3 × AL saves leader), born in Colorado Springs, Colorado


1967 Tim Worrell (San Diego Padres,Giants), born in Pasadena, California


1970 Doug Bochtler (San Diego Padres), born in West Palm Beach, Florida


1977 Javier López pitcher, 2003-16 (Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, and 3 other teams), born in San Juan, Puerto Rico

1981 Jesse Crain, Canadian baseball player, born in Toronto, Ontario

1994 Shohei Ohtani, Japanese baseball pitcher, DH, outfielder (5 × NPB All-Star; Pacific League MVP 2016, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters; 2nd to reach 500 Ks & 100 HR, LA Angels), born in Ōshū, Iwate, Japan

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FROM MLB's This Day in Baseball History+​

1898 Lizzie (Stroud) Arlington becomes the first woman to play organized baseball when she pitches for Reading in the Eastern League. Some believe she also hurled in Atlantic League exhibition games after being hired by Ed Barrow, the league's president.

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1904 The Phillies need an extra inning, but the team snaps the Giants' winning streak at 18 games. Philadelphia beat New York, 6-5, in a ten-inning walk-off victory at the Baker Bowl, thanks to Bob Hall's outfield bloop hit that plates Red Dooin.

1921 The Red Sox establish an American League record, losing four consecutive doubleheaders with no other contests between the eight defeats. The dubious streak started with four losses to the Yankees in New York and continues at Fenway Park with another four to the Senators.

1930 Twenty-thousand fans attend a twin bill at Yankee Stadium between the New York Lincoln Giants and the Baltimore Black Sox, marking the first time Negro Leagues clubs played in the Bronx ballpark. Bill Yancy becomes the first black player to appear at the venue, sprinting onto the field early, pretending to shag balls hit by Babe Ruth, who is at home plate pantomiming hitting drives to the very enthusiastic flycatcher imitating him in right field.

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1935 The Cuccinellos become the third pair of brothers, following the Waners (2) and Ferrells, and the first on opposing teams to homer in the same game when Al goes deep in the bottom of the ninth in the Giants' 14-4 loss to Brooklyn at the Polo Grounds. The New York's third baseman's sibling, Tony, played second base for the Dodgers and had homered in the previous inning.

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1937 Hal Trosky hits three home runs, helping the Indians beat the Browns at Sportsman's Park, 14-4. The 24-year-old first baseman from Norway, Iowa, will finish the season with 32 round-trippers.

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1937 Frank Demaree goes 6-for-7 (three doubles and three singles) in the first game of a doubleheader, helping the Cubs edge the Cardinals, 13-12, in 14 innings. The Californian adds two more singles in Chicago's 9-7 victory in the Wrigley Field nightcap.

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1945 Whitey Lockman homers in his first major league at-bat in the Giants' 7-5 loss to St. Louis at the Polo Grounds. The 18-year-old southpaw-swinging center fielder goes deep off Redbird left-hander George Dockins.

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1946 Responding to Red Barber's remarks about the gentile Giants and their manager Mel Ott, Dodger skipper Leo Durocher tells the team's announcer, "Nice guys finish last." Master Mel's club finishes the season in the cellar, completing the campaign 36 games behind the first-place Cardinals, but his team beat the Dodgers today with their 7-6 walk-off victory at the Polo Grounds.

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1947 Larry Doby of the Indians becomes the first black to appear in the American League when he strikes out as a pinch-hitter against Chicago hurler Earl Harrist. The 23-year-old former Newark Eagle standout will play in the major leagues for 13 years, amassing 1,515 hits, just three less than Jackie Robinson.

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1952 In their final season in Boston, the Braves play in front of the largest home crowd of the season when 13,405 fans watch Brooklyn beat the home team for the 12th consecutive time, a 5-3 complete-game victory by Carl Erskine. The contest's most memorable moment occurs in the second inning when a small dog has to be escorted off the field by Dodger outfielders Carl Furillo and Duke Snider.

Pafko Duke Furillo

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1953 Robin Roberts hurls his 28th consecutive complete game, blanking Pittsburgh at Forbes Field, 2-0. The Phillies right-hander has finished every game he started since beating the Cardinals on August 28, 1952.

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1961 The sixth-place Cardinals (33-41) fire the unpopular Solly Hemus, replacing him at the helm with Johnny Keene, the team's third-base coach.The new manager plays a pivotal role in the emergence of Bill White, Bob Gibson, and Curt Flood, allowing the young black players to play consistently for the club.

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1961 Cardinals' first baseman Bill White collects 14 total bases when he hits three home runs and a double. The 27-year-old infielder's offensive output helps the Redbirds rout the Dodgers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 9-1.
1962 The Mets sign 19-year-old outfielder Cleon Jones for $1,000, but the football and baseball collegian standout returns to Alabama A&M due to the lateness of the signing in the season. The Mets Hall of Famer, who spent a dozen seasons in New York, including the World Champion team, retires after playing for the White Sox in 1976.

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1965 Dave Boswell and Jim Perry are the winning pitchers as the Twins sweep a doubleheader from Boston, 6-2 and 2-0, at Metropolitan Stadium to move into first place for good. Sam Mele's club will finish the season with a 102-60 (.630) record, seven games ahead of the second-place Pale Hose.

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1966 Three seasons after trading future Hall of Famer Lou Brock to the Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, the Cubs send the beleaguered right-hander to their PCL farm team in Tacoma (WA), never returning to the major leagues. During his dismal tenure with Chicago, the former 20-game winner compiled a woeful 7-19 record and an ERA of 5.40.

1969 The Orioles break a three-game losing streak when Dave McNally (12-0) wins his 14th straight game, defeating Detroit, 9-3. Tigers' outfielder Mickey Stanley plays his 220th consecutive errorless game.

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1985 Garry Templeton is intentionally walked four times by the Pirates, tying a major league record set in 1962 by Yankee outfielder Roger Maris. The fourth free pass, issued in the 12th inning, leads to the Padres shortstop scoring a run, but Pittsburgh comes back with three tallies in the bottom of the frame to win the Three Rivers Stadium contest, 5-4.

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1987 In a seven-player trade, the Giants swap southpaws Keith Comstock and Mark Davis, right-hander Mark Grant, and third baseman Chris Brown to the Padres for infielder/outfielder Kevin Mitchell and left-handers Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts. Mitchell, obtained by San Diego in an off-season blockbuster trade with the Mets, will be the NL's Most Valuable Player in 1989, helping the Giants to capture the circuit's pennant.

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1987 The A's first baseman Mark McGwire becomes the first rookie to hit 30 homers before the All-Star Game as Oakland defeats the Red Sox, 6-2. The Oakland infielder will finish the season with 49 round-trippers, establishing a new freshman mark previously shared by Wally Berger and Frank Robinson with 39.

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1989 At the Oakland Coliseum, Mark McGwire hits his 100th career home run off of Royals' hurler Charlie Liebrandt. Big Mac's third-inning three-run home run ties the score at 5-5, but the A's fall short, losing to Kansas City in extra innings, 12-9.

1989 Barry Bonds pinch-hit three-run round-tripper in the bottom of the ninth inning of the Pirates 6-4 loss to the Giants at Three Rivers Stadium puts the future career homer leader and his dad, Bobby, first on the all-time father and son list with 408 dingers. The Bells (Gus and Buddy) and the Berras (Yogi and Dale) had previously shared the mark.

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1991 In a unanimous vote, final approval is given by baseball owners for the Rockies and the Marlins to join the National League in 1993. The addition of the new franchises brings the Senior Circuit total to 14with the placement of Colorado in the West Division and Florida joining the NL East.

1993 At Cleveland, A's outfielder Rickey Henderson becomes the second player in major league history to open both games of a twin bill with a home run. In a 1913 doubleheader played in Washington, Red Sox outfielder and future Hall of Famer Harry Hooper was the first to accomplish the feat.

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1997 Before their game with Atlanta at Olympic Stadium, the Expos retire Andre Dawson's uniform number 10. During his 11-year tenure with Montreal, the future Hall of Fame outfielder once set the single-season club records for home runs (32), RBIs (113), extra-base hits (78), and sacrifice flies (18).

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1998 Needing only 75 pitches, Andy Ashby throws a five-hit complete game, beating the Rockies at Qualcomm Stadium, 7-2. In the two-hour and one-minute contest, the 30-year-old Padres' right-hander faces 30 batters, strikes out two, walks no one, and adds to his cause with an RBI double.

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1998 Defeating the Orioles 1-0, the Yankees improve their record to 61-20, equaling the best 81-game start in major league history. The Bronx Bombers' first-half results equal the campaigns of the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1907 Chicago Cubs.

1998 Blue Jay right-hander Roger Clemens strikes out Devil Rays' outfielder Randy Winn to record his 3000th career strikeout. The 'Rocket' is the 11th pitcher in major league history to reach the coveted milestone.

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1998 Juan Gonzalez becomes the second player in major league history to go over the 100 RBI mark before the All-Star Game. The Rangers designated hitter's major league-leading total of 101 RBIs is second only to Tiger slugger Hank Greenberg, who had 103 in 1935 and finished the season with 170.

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2000 Mets' right-handed reliever Eric Cammack triples in his only major league at-bat, joining Charlie Lindstrom (1958), Eduardo Rodriguez (1973), and Scott Munninghoff (1980) as the only players to accomplish this unlikely feat. The 24-year-old Nederland (TX) native, who will appear in only eight big-league games, all with the Amazins', legs out his three-bagger off Ron Mahay in the top of the ninth inning during the team's 11-2 loss to the Marlins at Pro Player Stadium.

2000 Luis Gonzalez becomes the first Diamondback to hit for the cycle, contributing to the team's 12-9 comeback victory over Astros at Enron Field. The Arizona outfielder doubled in the first inning, singled in the third, tripled in the eighth, and completed the feat with a homer off Doug Henry with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.

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2001 Pirates' skipper Lloyd McClendon is fined $1,000 for walking off the field with first base in the June 26 Brewers game. The assessment marks the first time a manager pays the penalty for 'stealing' a bag.

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2002 Baseball legend Ted Williams, considered by many the greatest hitter in the game's history, dies of cardiac arrest at 83. The first-ballot Hall of Famer, a lifetime .344 hitter, won the MVP award and Triple Crown twice and led the American League in batting for six seasons, including hitting .406 in 1941, during his 19-year career with the Red Sox.

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2004 To honor local military personnel, the Twins give away a GI Joe action figure to the first 5,000 children attending the game against Kansas City. To appease protesting peace groups, who see the promotion as glorifying war, the team asks Hasbro, the toy's manufacturer, to remove the standard gun, with the soldier's hand grenades still visible.

2004 At Dodger Stadium, Diamondback third baseman Chad Tracy's ninth-inning run-scoring single on an 0-2 changeup ends Eric Gagne's record streak of 84 consecutive saves. The new mark established by the Los Angeles closer is 30 more than the previous standard set by Tom Gordon for the Red Sox in 1999.

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2005 Manny Ramirez hits his 20th career grand slam off Chris Young in the Red Sox's 7-4 victory over the Rangers at Ameriquest Field. The Red Sox left fielder's round-tripper puts him past Eddie Murray on the all-time list for the second-most four-run homers in major league history, trailing only Yankee legend Lou Gehrig, who holds the major league record with 23.

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2007 At Dodger Stadium, Chipper Jones' two solo home runs are the difference in the Braves' 8-6 victory over Los Angeles. With his pair of round-trippers, the team's third baseman surpasses Dale Murphy for the Atlanta team record of 372 homers.

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2014 The Brooklyn Cyclones, attracting a sellout crowd of 8,241 fans at MCU Park in Coney Island, celebrate the 25th anniversary of the debut of Seinfeld, an iconic sitcom about nothing that initially ran for nine seasons on NBC, from 1989 to 1998. The tribute to the iconic television series includes players taking batting practice in puffy pirate shirts, a low-talker announcer, a 'Magic Loogie' bobblehead of Keith Hernandez giveaway, and renaming the foul poles the Festivus poles.
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7/6
BIRTHDAYS
1947 Lance Clemons, (Kansas City Royals), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


1954 Willie Randolph second baseman and manager (NY Mets,Yankees), born in Holly Hill, South Carolina


1967 Omar Olivares pitcher (Detroit Tigers, Pirates), born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico


1972 Greg Norton (Chicago White Sox,Braves), born in San Leandro, California

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FROM MLB's This Day in Baseball History+​

1929 The first two pitchers for Philadelphia never record an out, and before the home team comes to bat in the bottom of the first inning, they are trailing the Redbirds, 10-0. The Cardinals, who tally ten runs in the first and fifth frames, will pound the Phillies at the Baker Bowl, 28-6, to set the modern National League record for the most runs in one game by one team.

1930 Bill Veeck Sr.'s popular Ladies' Day promotion at Wrigley Field reaches new heights when more than 30,000 female fans attend the Cubs' doubleheader against Cincinnati. An over-capacity crowd packs the small ballpark with thousands of others, including late-arriving regular paying patrons who cannot gain admission into the North Side venue.

1933 At Chicago's Comiskey Park, the first-ever All-Star Game is played. Babe Ruth's third-inning two-run home run off Bill Hallahan proves to be the difference when the American League defeats the Senior Circuit, 4-2.

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1936 After the first batter makes an out trying to bunt, 17-year-old right-hander Bob Feller, a farm boy from Van Meter, Iowa, strikes out eight consecutive batters in three innings during an All-Star break exhibition game against the Cardinals' Gas House Gang. The contest marks the Indian rookie's first appearance in a big-league uniform.

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1938 At Crosley Field, Yankees' hurler Lefty Gomez loses for the first time in four All-Star starts when the National League beats the Junior Circuit, 4-1. Leo Durocher gets a 'home run' single when Jimmie Foxx tosses his sacrifice bunt into right field, and Joe DiMaggio overthrows catcher Bill Dickey, scoring Frank McCormick and Durocher, who keeps running until he reaches home.

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1941 The Yankees unveil a center field monument dedicated to Lou Gehrig. The memorial, similar to the honor bestowed on the team's late skipper Miller Huggins in 1932, is a tribute by his teammates to their beloved captain, who died last month of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Lou Gehrig Monument at Yankee Stadium

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1942 Powered by first-inning home runs by Indians' shortstop Lou Boudreau and Tigers' first baseman Rudy York, the American League All-Stars defeat the National League, 3-1. The Polo Grounds contest also features the first and only starting sibling battery in All-Star history as losing pitcher Mort Cooper throws to backstop Walker Cooper, his brother.

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1945 Tommy Holmes hits safely in his 34th consecutive game, surpassing Rogers Hornsby's modern National League record set in 1922. The Braves outfielder will extend the streak to 37, with the new mark lasting 33 years until broken by Pete Rose in 1978.

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1949 Walker Cooper goes 6-for-7, helping the Reds rout the Cubs at Crosley Field, 23-4. The 34-year-old Cincinnati catcher, acquired in a trade with the Giants last month, collects three home runs and three singles, scores five runs, and drives in ten runs.

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