BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

MAY 7 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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1929 Dick Williams Hall of Fame manager (World Series 1972, 73 Oakland A's) and utility (Brooklyn Dodgers)


1937 Claude Raymond pitcher


1940 Mike Gillespie college baseball coach (College World Series 1998, Collegiate Coach of the Year 1998


1970 Mark Smith outfielder (Baltimore Orioles)


1984 James Loney


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This Day in Baseball History
May 7th​

1903 In the first game of what will become one of baseball's fiercest rivalries, the Pilgrims beat the Highlanders at Boston's Huntington Avenue Grounds, 6-2. The teams will change their names, but the intense competition between the Red Sox and Yankees will become legendary.


1917 Red Sox left-hander Babe Ruth outduels Walter Johnson in the team's 1-0 victory over the Senators at Griffith Stadium. An eighth-inning sacrifice fly hit by the Boston southpaw, who turns out to be a fairly good hitter, scores the game's lone run.

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1922 Walter Mueller becomes the first player to drive in five runs in his major league debut. The 27-year-old rookie outfielder's offensive output, which includes a double and home run, helps the Pirates beat Chicago at Cubs Park, 11-5.


1925 Pirates' shortstop Glenn Wright catches Jim Bottomley's line drive, doubles up Jimmy Cooney at second, and tags Rogers Hornsby coming from first to complete an unassisted triple play in a 10-9 loss to the Cardinals.

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1933 The Cardinals trade Paul Derringer, Sparky Adams, and Allyn Stout to the Reds in exchange for shortstop Leo Durocher, Dutch Henry, and Jack Ogden. The deal, necessitated by Charlie Gelbert's hunting accident, will be viewed as one of Branch Rickey's biggest mistakes when Derringer becomes a four-time 20-game winner for Cincinnati.

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1941 Pirates' outfielder Lloyd Waner, known as Little Poison, is traded to the Braves for pitcher Nick Strincevich. Boston will trade the future Hall Fame outfielder to the Reds on June 12 for right-hander Johnny Hutchings.

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1957 Vic Power becomes the first modern major leaguer to hit a leadoff and walk-off home run in the same game. The A's first baseman, who went deep off Hal Brown leading off the contest, ends the tilt in the 10th frame with a round-tripper off the right-hander, giving Kansas City a 3-2 victory over Baltimore.

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1957 After dropping their eighth straight decision, the Senators name Cookie Lavagetto to replace Chuck Dressen, who compiled a meager 116-212 (.354) record during his two-plus seasons as the team's manager. Washington's new skipper will not fare much better, finishing the year in last place, 43 games behind the first-place Yankees.

1957 Indians' hurler Herb Score suffers a season-ending injury when he's struck in the face by Yankee Gil McDougald's line drive. The 1955 Rookie of the Year, who won 20 games in his sophomore season last year, never regains his winning form, although the southpaw will blame a torn tendon in his pitching arm, not the horrific accident on the mound for his lack of achievement.

1958 Detroit third baseman Reno Bertoia's first-inning grand slam, the first-ever hit by an Italian-born player, proves to be the difference in the Tigers' 5-1 victory over Washington at Griffith Stadium. A fellow countryman will not equal the San Vito al Tagliamento native's feat until Sanremo's Alex Liddi goes deep with the bases loaded in the Mariners' 5-3 win over Texas in 2012.


1959 In an exhibition game played at the Los Angeles Coliseum to benefit Roy Campanella, paralyzed in an auto accident before the team moved to the West Coast in 1958, the Yankees defeat the Dodgers, 6-2. The game, drawing the largest crowd ever for a baseball game, begins when 93,103 fans witness Pee Wee Reese pushing the wheel-chair bound catcher into the darkened stadium filled with light by fans holding candles or matches to start the emotional ceremony.
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1960 The Sherry boys become the tenth pair of siblings to appear as batterymates in a major league game when Norm replaces John Roseboro behind the plate in the top of the eighth to catch Larry, who is starting his first inning in relief. The backstop will hit a two-out home run in the bottom of the 11th inning, assuring his brother of a victory in the Dodgers' 3-2 walk-off win over Philadelphia.

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1966 Twenty games into his second year as the Yankee skipper, Johnny Keane is fired by general manager Ralph Houk, who will return to the dugout to manage the team. After only four victories in the first 20 games, New York wins 13 of its next 17 games after the managerial change.

1969 Willie Davis, furious with the Wrigley Field Bleacher Bums because of their continual verbal abuse of him, tells his Dodgers teammates that he wants to hit a home run in the middle of the group, accomplishing the feat in the sixth inning to tie the score. The LA center fielder exacts a bit more revenge on the heckling horde when his 12th-inning two-run round-tripper proves to be the difference in the 4-2 defeat of the Cubs.

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1970 Wes Parker hits a two-run tenth-inning triple off Jim McAndrew in the LA's eventual 7-4 victory over the Mets at Shea Stadium. The first baseman's three-bagger completes the eighth cycle in franchise history and marks the first time a Dodger has accomplished the feat since Gil Hodges in 1949.

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1991 Darryl Strawberry returns to New York as a Dodger with mixed results. A crowd of 49,118, mostly booing fans, watches him hit a two-run homer, and they cheer when he makes the last out of the game with the potential tying and winning runs on base in the 6-5 Mets victory.

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1996 The Devil Rays announce the team will play their exhibition games in St. Petersburg, the city vacated by the Cardinals, who have trained there since 1946. The American League expansion team becomes the first club in the modern era to host spring training games in their major league home city.

1998 The Mariners tie a major league record set by the 1994 Cardinals when they leave 16 men stranded on the bases without scoring. The Blue Jays take advantage of their opponent's lack of timely hitting and beat Seattle at the Kingdome, 6-0.

 

1999 Carlos Lee becomes the first White Sox player in the 98-year history of the franchise to homer in his first major league at-bat. The 22-year-old rookie's historic round-tripper comes off Tom Candiotti in a 7-1 victory over Oakland at Comiskey Park.
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1999 In the biggest comeback in Jacobs Field history, the Indians score 18 runs in the final three innings to overcome a 9-1 deficit to beat the Devil Rays, 20-11. Tampa Bay's first baseman Fred McGriff sets a major league record by homering in his 34th park.

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1999 Bruce Aven hits the first pinch-hit grand slam in Marlin history. The 27-year-old rookie's seventh-inning four-run round-tripper off Alan Mills proves to be the difference when Florida beats LA at Chavez Ravine, 6-3.


1999 Yankees right-hander Hideki Irabu opposes Mariner Mac Suzuki, another righty, in the first matchup of Japanese starters in major league history. The Bronx Bomber hurler bests his fellow countryman, giving up four hits and a run in New York's 10-1 victory over Seattle.

1999 The Rockies tie a National League record established by the 1894 Pirates and 1949 Giants when they extend their scoring streak to 14 consecutive innings, three shy of the major league mark of 17 set by the 1903 Red Sox. Before Larry Walker hit a two-out solo homer in the first inning of today's 8-1 loss to Philadelphia at Coors Field, the team had crossed the plate in every inning in their previous game after tallying in the last four frames the game before.

 

2000 On 'Bob Sheppard Day,' the Yankees pay tribute to "The Voice of Yankee Stadium," honoring his 50 years of service with a plaque in Monument Park. With former Yankees on hand for the ceremony, former CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite reads the inscription, referring to the legendary P.A. announcer's clear, concise, and correct vocal style that has announced players, 'both unfamiliar and legendary - with equal divine reverence".


2003 Seventy-nine-year-old Wayne Terwilliger, the Central Baseball League's Fort Worth Cats skipper, becomes the oldest manager in minor-league history. Only Connie Mack is ahead of 'Twig" in being the most elderly dugout leader ever in professional baseball.

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2003 The police apprehend a man wanted on drug and parole violations at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The 24-year-old Westwood man's freedom ends when his parole officer sees him kissing his girlfriend on the stadium's scoreboard during Kiss Cam.

2004 The Rangers announce a 30-year deal reported to be worth about $75 million with one of the country's leading wholesale lenders to rename their ballpark in Arlington as Ameriquest Field. The agreement will be short-lived when the subprime mortgage industry crisis caused Ameriquest to relinquish its naming rights in 2007.

 

2005 At the age of 46 years and 257 days old, Julio Franco of the Atlanta Braves becomes the second-oldest player in big-league history to homer. Jack Quinn, a pitcher who accomplished the feat when he was 100 days older, hit a home run for the A's on June 27, 1930.

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2006 With an 8-5 victory over the Rangers, Joe Torre joins Joe McCarthy (1,460), Casey Stengel (1,149), and Miller Huggins (1,067) as the fourth Yankee manager to win 1000 games. In his 11-year tenure, the Bronx Bomber skipper has compiled a 1,000-645 record, finishing with 1,173 victories before leaving the team at the end of next season.

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2006 When Barry Bonds takes his position in left field, the Phillies fans in the stands behind him unfurl a section-long banner, leaving no doubt about their sentiments concerning the Giants' outfielder's pursuit of the Babe. The briefly-displayed message during the first inning informs the unpopular superstar

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2006 At Princeton's Hunnicutt Field, rain delays the semifinals of the WVIAC baseball tournament game between Ohio Valley and West Virginia State. Due to the final contest of the tourney having to start before midnight, with the winner of this game facing Concord for the title, players, fans, and media had to wait eight hours and 54 minutes for the contest to resume.

2006 Bob Wickman, obtained by Cleveland in a seven-player trade that sent Richie Sexson to Milwaukee, becomes the Indians' all-time franchise leader in saves when he notches his 130th by tossing a scoreless ninth inning in the Tribe's 2-0 victory over Seattle at Safeco Field. The right-hander surpasses the record previously established by Doug Jones, extending the mark to 139 saves before being dealt to the Braves next season.

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2009 Major League Baseball suspends Manny Ramirez for fifty games after he tests positive for using a banned substance. The 36-year-old Dodgers outfielder, who will not be eligible to return to the team until July 3, apologizes to the fans, explaining he did not take steroids but used a medication prescribed by a doctor

2009 Ryan Zimmerman joins Sam Rice (1920, 1924, 1930), Heinie Manush (twice in 1933), and Goose Goslin (1928) in becoming only the fourth player in Washington D.C. baseball history to have a hit in 25 consecutive games. The 24-year-old third baseman kept his streak intact with a first-inning single off Randy Wolf in the Nationals' 11-9 victory over LA at Chavez Ravine.

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2009 The Diamondbacks dismiss Bob Melvin and will name A.J. Hinch, their current vice president for player development, as the team's new skipper. The 2007 NL Manager of the Year, who had one year left on his contract, compiled a 337-340 record during his four-plus years in the Arizona dugout.


2010 For the first time since 1980, rain washes out a Twins' home game when steady precipitation forces the team to postpone their contest against Baltimore at Target Field. For nearly the past 30 years, Minnesota played indoors at the Metrodome before moving to their new open-air ballpark this season.

2010 Jamie Moyer becomes the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a shutout when he blanks Atlanta, 7-0, and the first to accomplish the feat in four different decades. The Phillies right-hander, who is 47 years and 170 days, easily surpasses the previous record established by Indian hurler Phil Niekro, who shut out the Blue Jays in 1985 at 46 years and 188 days.

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2010 Starlin Castro, the first major leaguer born in the 1990s, becomes the sixth Cub in franchise history to hit a home run in his first big-league at-bat, going deep off Homer Bailey in Chicago's 14-7 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. The 20-year-old rookie shortstop also becomes the first player to compile six RBIs in his first game in the majors when he delivers a bases-loaded triple in addition to his second-inning three-run blast to deep right field.


2010 Lance Orton and Duane Jackson, instrumental in foiling a terrorist's attempt to set off a car bomb in Times Square, are honored at Citi Field before the Mets game against San Francisco. The police were alerted by the two street vendors after the pair observed a parked car on 45th Street had started to fill with smoke and was making popping sounds.

 

2011 After a first-inning walk in the Dodgers' 4-2 loss to the Mets, Andre Ethier goes 0-for-4, ending his 30-game hitting streak. The L.A. outfielder falls one game short of the franchise record set in 1969 by Willie Davis, who enjoyed a 31-game hitting streak that season.

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2011 Appearing in his familiar chef's whites, the Soup Nazi, played by actor Larry Thomas, makes an appearance at Citi Field. Although he mouths the infamous phrase, "No soup for you!" when shown on the scoreboard screen, the character from the Seinfeld series generously gives away DVD prizes to Met fans who correctly answer trivia questions about the sitcom.

2013 Mets phenom Matt Harvey continues to dominate the National League when he throws nine frames of one-hit ball along with 12 strikeouts en route to a no-decision in the team's 1-0 extra-inning victory over the White Sox at Citi Field. The 24-year-old right-hander, who retires the first 20 Chicago batters he faces, adds to his growing legend when he starts the game with a bloody nose and continues to pitch despite the blood oozing onto his face.

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2014 In front of a sparse crowd of 558 at Burlington's (IA) Community Field, the visiting Clinton (IA) LumberKings, face a 16-run deficit after five innings in their Midwest League game against the Bees. The Class A affiliate of the Mariners will mount the largest comeback in professional baseball history when the team rallies to win the twelve-inning contest, 20-17.

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2014 Adrian Beltre becomes the fifth player in major league history to hit 100 home runs for three teams when he goes deep in the Rangers' 9-2 loss to Colorado at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The 35-year-old third baseman, who joins Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Darrell Evans, and Reggie Jackson in accomplishing the feat, hit 147 homers for the Dodgers (1998-2004) and 103 with the Mariners (2005-09).


2016 In the Mets' 6-3 victory over the Padres, 42-year-old Bartolo Colon goes deep off James Shields, becoming the oldest player to hit his first major league home run. The portly right-hander, who has now collected three extra-base hits during his 19-year career, surpasses Randy Johnson, who was two years younger when he cleared the fences in 2003 while playing for Arizona.

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2018 "It's something special. He's going down in the record books, in the Wikipedia book, which is amazing. A little kid from Belfast done good." - PATRICK CONLON, commenting on his son's major league debut. Belfast's Patrick Conlon becomes the first Irish-born player to appear in a major league game in 73 years when he starts, going 3.2 innings in the Mets' 7-6 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. The 24-year-old southpaw, known as PJ, follows fellow countryman Joe Cleary, a Cork native who played one game for the Senators in 1945.

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2019 Mike Fiers becomes the 35th major league pitcher to throw multiple no-hitters when he keeps the visiting Reds hitless in the A's 2-0 victory at the Oakland Coliseum. The 33-year-old right-hander threw a no-no in 2015 against the Dodgers at Minute Maid Park in Houston as a member of the Astros' rotation.

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2021 Wade Miley throws the 17th no-hitter in Reds' history and the club's first since Homer Bailey's gem in 2013, when he blanks the Indians, a team held hitless for the second time this season, at Cleveland's Progressive Field. The 34-year-old southpaw, sporting a temporary Incredible Hulk tattoo given to him by his four-year-old son, faces 28 batters, striking out eight and walking one while throwing 114 pitches to complete MLB's fourth no-hitter of this season.

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196,900

 

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Vin Scully and Harry Caray'
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MAY 8 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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1850 Ross Barnes infielder (3×NA/NL batting champion 1872, 73, 76; 4×NA/NL runs scored leader; 4×NA/NL hits leader; Boston Red Stockings), born in Mount Morris, New York (d. 1915)


1853 Dan Brouthers HOF first baseman (first great MLB slugger; 4×NL batting champion; Buffalo Bisons, Detroit Wolverines, Boston Beaneaters, Brooklyn Grooms), born in Sylvan Lake, New York (d. 1932)


1893 Edd Roush HOF outfielder (World Series 1919; NL batting champion 1917, 19; Cincinnati Reds)


1901 Turkey Stearnes HOF outfielder (5 × NgL All-Star; 2 × Negro NL batting champion; KC Monarchs, Chicago American Giants


1937 Mike Cuellar, Cuban baseball pitcher (MLB All-Star 1967, 70, 71, 74; World Series 1964, 70; AL Cy Young Award 1969; Baltimore Orioles


1981 John Maine (NY Mets)

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