BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

4/17
OTD
BIRTHDAYS
1820 Alexander Cartwright, American sportsman (recognized as inventor of modern baseball), born in NYC, New York (d. 1892)

1852 Cap Anson Hall of Fame first baseman and manager (NL batting champion 1881, 88; 8 × NL RBI leader; Chicago White Stockings / Colts), born in Marshalltown, Iowa (d. 1922)

1923 Solly Hemus infielder (St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies) and manager (St. Louis Cardinals 1959–61), born in Phoenix, Arizona (d. 2017)

1947 Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player, born in Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan

1967 Marquis Grissom outfielder (MLB All-Star 1993, 94; World Series 1995; Gold Glove Award 1993–96; Montreal Expos, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians), born in Atlanta, Georgia

1972 Gary Bennett player, born in Waukegan, Illinois

1981 Ryan Raburn player, born in Tampa, Florida

 

FROM MLB's This Day in Baseball History+​

1821 Alexander Cartwright, considered by many the 'father' of the national pastime, celebrates his first birthday in New York City. The banker, who is given credit for establishing three strikes for an out and three outs for each half inning, will be elected into the Hall of Fame in 1938 after reviewing his journals reveals the many contributions he made in developing and promoting the sport of baseball.
1869 In baseball's first professional game, Cincinnati Red Stockings defeat Amateurs, 24-15. Team captain Harry Wright had put all of his players under contract, making the club, which will become known as the Reds, the first pro team in sports history.

1904 By not charging admission but requiring fans to buy a scorecard, the Superbas find a way to play their first Sunday game at home, beating the Beaneaters, 9-1, at Brooklyn's Washington Park. The strategy attempts to circumvent the existing blue laws, legislation designed to enforce religious edicts, including the observance of Sunday as a day of worship.

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1912 In front of a larger than usual crowd at the Polo Grounds of over 14,000 patrons that includes Broadway legend George M. Cohan, the Giants beat the new-look Yankees, now sporting pinstripes, in an unscheduled exhibition game, 11-2, to raise money for the survivors of the HMS Titanic. The charity contest, the first Sunday game ever played between major league teams at the Coogan's Bluff ballpark, raises over $9,000 when each fan donates the price of an admission ticket to purchase a special program for the event.

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1925 Babe Ruth undergoes an operation for an intestinal abscess at St. Vincent's Hospital, where he will remain for six weeks. The 30-year-old Yankee outfielder will miss the first forty games of the season due to his "bellyache heard 'round the world," a popular misconception that blamed the consumption of an abundance of hot dogs and soda for his illness.
1929 In a five a.m. ceremony on Opening Day to avoid crowds, Claire Hodgson, a divorced actress and model from Athens (GA), becomes the second Mrs. Babe Ruth. The Yankees' outfielder's first wife, Julia Woodford, died in a house fire in Watertown (MA) three months ago.
1929 On a cold and dreary day at Griffith Stadium, President Herbert Hoover throws out the first ball and then stays for the entire game, watching the A's beat the hometown Senators, 13-4. The loss spoils the managerial debut of Washington legend Walter Johnson.

 

1932 Giants' first baseman Bill Terry records 21 putouts, tying a National League mark. The future Hall of Famer's defense helps New York beat the Braves, 6-0, at the Polo Grounds behind Hal Schumacher's two-hit gem.

1934 On Opening Day at the newly-named Crosley Field, Reds' announcer Red Barber calls his first play-by-play for a major league team. The 26-year-old future Hall of Fame broadcaster had never attended a major league game before today's 6-0 loss to the Cubs.


1939 On the morning of Opening Day in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Yankees visit Abner Doubleday's grave at Arlington National Cemetery. A rainout this afternoon cancels FDR's ceremonial first pitch at Griffith Stadium, with Vice President John Nance Garner doing the honors in the season opener against the same opponents four days later after the Bombers return from New York, having played Boston to start their campaign.
1945 Browns outfielder Pete Gray, playing with one arm, makes his major league debut with one hit in four at-bats in a 7-1 victory over Detroit at Sportsman's Park. The 30-year-old St. Louis outfielder, who lost his right arm in a childhood accident, batted .333 last season as a minor leaguer.

 

1951 Before the Cubs' home opener, Sam Snead tees off from home plate, sending a golf ball soaring over the 89-foot Wrigley Field scoreboard in center field. 'Slammin' Sammy' won three Masters, three PGA Championships, and one British Open during his nearly 40 years as a professional golfer.

1951 Mickey Mantle, batting third, grounds out to second base in his first major league at-bat. The 19-year-old right fielder will hit a sixth-inning run-scoring single, going 1-for-4 in the Yankees' Opening Day 5-0 victory over Boston in the Bronx.

1951 For the first time, in a career that will span more than half of a century, public address announcer Bob Sheppard announces the Yankees' lineup. The 'Voice of God's introduction of the team includes the memorable names of Mickey Mantle, playing his first game, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, but the first player's name announced will be DiMaggio - Dom DiMaggio, the leading off for the visiting Red Sox.

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1953 Mickey Mantle blasts a 'reported' 565-foot homer off southpaw Chuck Stobb in the Yankees' 7-3 victory over Washington at a windy Griffith Stadium. The distance of the historic round-tripper hit by the 21-year-old Yankee outfielder will become the subject of much debate, with later research debunking its original tape-measure status.

1954 Leading off the seventh inning at Milwaukee's County Stadium, Puerto Rican native Nino Escaper pinch-hits a single, becoming the first black player to appear in a Reds' game. Pinch-hitter Chuck Harmon, the next batter, pops out to first base in the team's 5-1 loss to the Braves to become the second black player in franchise history.
1955 In his first major league at-bat, Roberto Clemente singles off Dodger pitcher Johnny Podres. The Pirates' rookie, who will die in a plane crash attempting to bring relief aid to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua in 1972, will collect precisely 3,000 hits during his 18-year major league career, all with Pittsburgh.

1956 Luis Aparicio, Don Drysdale, and Frank Robinson play in their first major league games, respectively, for the White Sox, Dodgers, and Reds. The trio's debut marks the first time that three future Hall of Famers have made their initial appearance on the same day.

 

1960 In a trade of fan favorites, the Tigers swap Harvey Kuenn, last season's batting champ, for Indians slugger Rocky Colavito. Detroit gets the better of the deal when their new outfielder puts together four consecutive outstanding seasons, with their former fly chaser hitting .308 in his only season in Cleveland before being traded by the Tribe to the Giants for Johnny Antonelli and Willie Kirkland.

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1964 After spending the first two years of their existence at the Polo Grounds, the Mets play their first game at Shea Stadium in front of 50,312 fans in Queens. The Amazins' drop the stadium opener to Pittsburgh, 4-3, with Willie Stargell hitting the first homer in the Flushing facility.
1968 In their first game at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, the newly arrived A's lose to the Orioles, 4-1. The team, which played in Kansas City last season, is shut down by Baltimore southpaw Dave McNally on two hits.
1969 In only the ninth game of the franchise's history, Expos hurler Bill Stoneman, who had never thrown a complete game in the major leagues, tosses a no-hitter, defeating the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium, 7-0. The 25-year-old right-hander, the future GM of the Angels, will throw another no-hit game in 1972 against the Mets.

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1976 At Wrigley Field, Mike Schmidt hits four home runs in one game, including the game-winner, when the Phillies come back from an 11-run deficit to beat the Cubs in ten innings, 18-16. The Phillies' slugging third baseman is the first National Leaguer, third overall, to hit the homers consecutively.

1976 At Yankee owner George Steinbrenner's insistence, Thurman Munson is named the team captain. The reluctant backstop is the first player to assume the role since the Bronx Bombers honored Lou Gehrig with the position in 1935.

1977 At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the umpires walk off the field in the fourth inning to protest the Braves showing a controversial play on the ballpark's massive instant replay screen that involves Houston's Bob Watson scoring on a close play at the plate. Team executive Bill Lucas persuades the crew, including Terry Tata, Ed Sudol, Dick Stello, and Bruce Froemming, to return to the field after he assures the arbitrators the incident would not occur again.
1977 Mike Pazik posts his first and last major league win when he hurls eight innings in the Twins' 10-2 victory over Oakland at Metropolitan Stadium. The 27-year-old former Yankees farmhand's career will suddenly end on April 25 when his van is hit head-on by a car driving the wrong way on a freeway entrance, resulting in the southpaw fracturing both legs.

 

1988 The Braves beat the Dodgers, 3-1, after breaking the National League record with ten losses to start the season. The team will drop 27 of its first 39 decisions, costing Chuck Tanner his job as the Atlanta manager.
1995 The Devil Rays and the City of St. Petersburg come to terms on a 30-year lease for the new American League expansion team to play their home games at the ThunderDome. The covered stadium, now known as Tropicana Field, was built originally as the Florida Suncoast Dome to coax the White Sox to leave their aging ballpark in Chicago and relocate to the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area.
2001 Barry Bonds becomes the 17th major leaguer and the fourth Giant to join the 500 home run club when he hits a Terry Adams' 2-0 heater into McCovey Cove at Pac Bell Park. The San Francisco left-fielder is joined at home plate by two other members of the elite fraternity, Willie Mays (660) and Willie McCovey (521), for a brief ceremony.

2006 In front of 36,867 Shea Stadium patrons, Pedro Martinez becomes the 103rd pitcher in major league history to win 200 games when the Mets beat the Braves, 4-3. The Dominican ace has lost only 84 contests at the time of reaching the milestone, putting him behind only Bob Caruthers (74), Whitey Ford (79), and Lefty Grove (83).

2006 In the bottom ninth inning, Mark Loretta hits a two-out, two-run home run over the left-field wall, giving the Red Sox a dramatic 7-6 victory over the Mariners at Fenway Park on Patriots' Day. The only other player to end a game with a homer on Boston's special day of celebration is Frank Malzone, who gave the team a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Yankees in 1959, the year the New England baseball tradition began.

2007 After the second inning of an eventual 6-4 loss to the Braves at RFK Stadium, the Nationals take the field wearing Virginia Tech baseball caps as a tribute to the 32 victims of the shooting rampage which took place on the Blacksburg campus yesterday morning. Nearly a dozen of the burgundy caps signed by the players who wore them will be sent to the nearby college while the hat worn by the Nationals' last batter of the game, Chris Snelling, will reside in the Hall of Fame.

2008 In the longest game in franchise history, the Rockies beat the Padres, 2-1, in a 22-inning marathon played at Petco Park. The game, which ends at 1:31 am, takes 6 hours, 16 minutes to complete, falling one minute shy of San Diego's record for the length of a game, but goes into the team record books for the most innings played to complete a contest.

 

2009 At Citi Field, Gary Sheffield becomes the 25th player to hit 500 career home runs. Joining Ty Cobb and Rusty Staub as the only major leaguers to homer as a teenager and as a forty year-old, the recently released Tiger DH becomes the first to reach the milestone as a pinch-hitter and the first to accomplish the feat in a Mets uniform.

2009 Washington's right fielder Adam Dunn and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman start the game against Florida with the word "Nationals" misspelled on the front of their uniforms. Majestic Athletic, the jersey manufacturer, takes full responsibility for the missing "O" and apologizes for the mistake to the organization, the players, and their fans.
2009 Jason Kubel blasts a grand slam to become the ninth Twins player to hit for the cycle, the first to do it at the Metrodome since 1986 when Kirby Puckett accomplished the feat in front of the home crowd. The left fielder's bases-full homer caps a seven-run eighth inning in Minnesota's 11-9 comeback victory over the Angels.

2010 In a nationally televised afternoon game at Busch Stadium, it takes the Mets 20 innings to beat the Cardinals, 2-1. The 6-hour-53 minute contest ends when Jose Reyes plates the eventual winning run with a sac fly off outfielder-turned-hurler Joe Mather, and Mike Pelfrey, usually a starting pitcher, getting the final three outs to record his first career save.
2010 The 26-year-old Rockies' right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, striking out seven and walking six, hurls the first no-hitter in the 18-year history of the franchise. The 4-0 historic victory over Atlanta at Turner Field is saved in the seventh inning with a spectacular catch by center fielder Dexter Fowler.

 

2012 Throwing seven strong innings in the Rockies' 5-3 victory over San Diego, Jamie Moyer becomes the oldest pitcher to win a major league contest. The 49-year, 150-day old southpaw surpasses Brooklyn's Jack Quinn, who was almost three months younger when he got the victory pitching five frames in relief against St. Louis in 1932.

2012 After agreeing on a $1.25 million deal last week, Johnny Damon signs a minor league contract en route to joining the Indians to become their regular left fielder possibly. The 38 year-old career .286 hitter, who needs 277 knocks to reach the 3,000-hit plateau, will bring intangibles to the club by providing veteran leadership for the struggling Tribe in addition to serving as a mentor to the team's younger stars.
2012 Mark Melancon allows six earned runs without recording an out in the eighth inning, a frame which features three home runs to the six Rangers he faces in the 18-3 rout of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Boston reliever yields a double to Ian Kinsler, walks Elvis Andrus, gives up a three-run blast to Josh Hamilton, followed by round-tripper by Adrian Beltre, before David Murphy walks and Nelson Cruz homers, before ending his historic outing.
2013 Clayton Kershaw becomes the second-fastest Dodger to strike out 1,000 batters when he throws a second-inning 93-mph fastball past San Diego first baseman Yonder Alonso. The 25-year-old southpaw reaches the milestone in 970 career innings, 15.2 more than needed by Hideo Nomo, who established the team mark in 2003.

2015 Mike Trout, at the age of 23 years and 253 days, becomes the youngest major league player to compile 100 career home runs and 100 career stolen bases when he homers in the sixth inning off Roberto Hernandez in the Angels’ 6-3 victory over the Astros at the Minute Maid Park. The Melville Millville Meteor surpasses the mark previously set by Alex Rodriguez, who was 56 days older when he reached the 100/100 mark.

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2015 Kris Bryant makes his much-anticipated major league debut for the Cubs, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the team's 5-4 loss to the Padres at Wrigley Field. Chicago had delayed the start of his season to extend the club's control on the highly-touted freshman, who will go on to be named the National League's Rookie of the Year.

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5,756

 

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On April 17 in Baseball History...

• • 1892 - In the first Sunday game in National League history, Cincinnati defeated St. Louis 5-1.
  • 1929 - Babe Ruth and actress Claire Hodgson are married at 5:00 AM to avoid crowds. The next day, in his first at bat against Red Ruffing, the Babe will hit a home run. Rounding second base, he'll doff his cap to Claire in the stands.
  • 1934 - At Ebbets Field, Casey Stengel makes his managerial debut, but his Dodgers lose 8-7 to the Braves.
    
  • 1947 - The Dodgers win 12-6 over the Braves at home as Jackie Robinson gets his first major league hit � off Glenn Elliot.
  • 
  • 1951 - In his first major league game, Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4 as the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-0.
  • 1953 - Mickey Mantle hits the longest home run in Griffith Stadium history, a 565-feet shot off of Chuck Stobbs of the Washington Senators. The Yanks win 7-3.
  • 1960 - On Easter Sunday, Frank Lane brings A.L. batting champ Harvey Kuenn to Cleveland and sends co-home run champ Rocky Colavito to Detroit. Colavito, an unparalleled fan favorite in Cleveland, will hit 173 home runs before returning to the Tribe on January 20, 1965. Kuenn will be traded to the Giants after one season.
  • 1964 - The New York Mets lost their first game at Shea Stadium, 4-3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell hit the first homer at Shea.
  • 1968 - The A's debut at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum by losing 4-1 to Baltimore. During the game, the dirt covering a shallow metal dome under the pitching mound, is kicked aside exposing the steel frame, so the mound is covered between innings.
  • 1969 - Bill Stoneman of Montreal pitched a 7-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in only the 10th game of the Expos' existence.
  • 1976 - Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hit four consecutive home runs and added a single in an 18-6, 10-inning victory over the Cubs in Wrigley Field. Hitting .167 going into the game, Schmidt connected twice off Rick Reuschel, once off Rick's brother, Paul, and once off Mike Garman. He drove in eight runs. (Box Score)
  • 1979 - At Oakland, only 653 fans show up to watch the A's beat the Mariners 6-5.
  • 1983 - Nolan Ryan fans seven Expos in a 6-3 Houston win to become only the second pitcher to record 3,500 career strikeouts.
    
  • 1988 - After ten consecutive losses the Braves win their first game of the season 3-1 over the Dodgers.
  • 1989 - Kent Tekulve pitches two shutout innings in the Reds 3-2, ten-inning win over the Dodgers to pass Hoyt Wilhelm as the major leagues' all-time leader in relief appearances with 1,019.
  • 1993 - Three Orioles end up on third base after Chad Curtis traps a line drive in center with the bases loaded. Angels catcher John Orton walks over to the bag and tags all three runners. Only one is entitled to the bag and the double play ends the inning. California third baseman Rene Gonzales observes, Harry's Radiator was the last team I was on where I saw something stupid like that happen.

Baseball Birthdays on April 17...

• • 1863 - Ferguson, Charlie
  • 1864 - Bakely, Jersey
  • 1869 - Grimes, John
  • 1870 - Yale, Ad
  • 1875 - Jaeger, Charlie
  • 1891 - Perry, Scott
  • 1892 - Schick, Morrie
  • 1903 - Osborn, Bob
  • 1903 - Miller, Elmer
  • 1906 - Delker, Eddie
  • 1907 - Stevens, Bobby
  • 1909 - Sheerin, Chuck
  • 1914 - Smoll, Lefty
  • 1917 - Andrews, Stan
  • 1923 - Hemus, Solly
  • 1937 - Pena, Roberto
  • 1945 - Paepke, Dennis
  • 1950 - Garcia, Pedro
  • 1954 - Walling, Denny
  • 1955 - Runnells, Tom
  • 1957 - Huppert, Dave
  • 1965 - Worthington, Craig
  • 1967 - Grissom, Marquis
  • 1969 - Ball, Jeff
  • 1971 - Johnson, Keith
  • 1972 - Bennett, Gary

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4/18
OTD
BIRTHDAYS
1880 Sam Crawford player, born in Wahoo, Nebraska (d. 1968)

1888 Duffy Lewis left fielder (World Series 1912, 15, 16; Boston Red Sox), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1979)

1917 Ty LaForest player, born in Edmundston, New Brunswick (d. 1947)
1939 Von McDaniel pitcher, born in Hollis, Oklahoma (d. 1995)

1959 Jim Eisenreich outfielder Florida Marlins WS 1997), born in St. Cloud, Minnesota

1970 Rico Brogna player born in Turners Falls, Massachusetts
1981 Brian Buscher third baseman, born in Jacksonville, Florida

1983 Miguel Cabrera player, born in Maracay, Venezuela

1986 Billy Butler player (Kansas City Royals), born in Orange Park, Florida