BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

1953 At Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium, Phillies reliever Bob Miller replaces Robin Roberts, ending the starter's consecutive complete-game streak at 28. The future Hall of Famer (1976) had finished every game he started since beating the Cardinals last season on August 28.
Roberts Miller


1956 After Commissioner Ford Frick shares his belief that hurlers lack support in the MVP voting, the BBWAA, by a narrow margin of 14-12, votes to establish the Cy Young Award to honor the major leagues' most outstanding pitcher. The first recipient of the Cy Young Award will be Dodger Don Newcombe, ironically the winner of the Most Valuable Player Award.

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1958 On Capitol Hill, Casey Stengel and Mickey Mantle appear in front of a Senate subcommittee investigating baseball's antitrust exemption. After 'the Old Perfessor' gives 45 minutes of rambling and confusing testimony, Sen. Estes Kefauver laughs when he asks 'the Mick' to respond to his inquiry about the issue, and the slugger answers, "My views are just about the same as Casey's."

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1963 The Indians host their third Midsummer Classic in front of a disappointing crowd of 44,160 fans at Cleveland Stadium. The Junior Circuit's 5-3 loss to the National League does not feature any players from the Tribe.

1964 Frank Thomas, pinch-hitting for Roy McMillan, strokes a two-out, two-run homer off Curt Simmons, giving the Mets a 4–3 victory over the Cardinals at Shea Stadium. The round-tripper comes in the outfielder's first at-bat in five weeks due to being sidelined by a glandular infection.


1966 During a contest between the Cardinals and Astros on a hot and humid evening at Busch Stadium, Harry Caray does the game's play-by-play in his underwear and socks. Surprised by a photographer taking a photo of him, the veteran broadcaster adjusts the waistband of his boxer as the camera clicks.


1968 In the first All-Star Game played indoors, the National Leaguers hold the Junior Circuit to just three hits in the Astrodome, winning the first Midsummer Classic to end with a score of 1-0. The contest's lone tally comes in the bottom of the first frame when Willie Mays, who had been picked off but stayed on the bases due to Luis Tiant's throwing error, scores an unearned run when Willie McCovey hits into a double-play.

1969 Tom Seaver's near-perfect game, immortalized as "The Imperfect Game," is broken up when Cubs rookie outfielder Jim Qualls, a lifetime .223 hitter, singles into center field. The 24-year-old right-hander, who tosses five one-hitters for the Mets, will finally get his no-no in 1978 against St. Louis, pitching for the Reds.

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1970 Dalton Jones comes off the bench at Tiger Stadium against his former team and hits an upper-deck grand slam 'single' against the Red Sox. The pinch-hitter passes teammate Don Wert between first and second, resulting in the hit becoming a three-RBI single instead of a round-tripper.


1971 In the longest shutout in American League history, the A's beat the Angels, 1-0, when Angel Mangual plates Curt Blefary with a two-out single in the bottom of the 20th inning. Oakland's 21-year-old southpaw Vida Blue fans 17 batters in the first eleven innings of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum contest.

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1971 Royals' Freddie Patek completes the cycle with a two-run ninth-inning homer off Minnesota starter Jim Perry. The 5'5" Kansas City shortstop's round-tripper breaks a 3-3 deadlock in Kansas City's eventual 6-3 victory over the Twins at Metropolitan Stadium.

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1972 Striking out three Red Sox batters in the second inning en route to a 16 K complete game performance against Boston, Nolan Ryan becomes the third pitcher in baseball history to have struck out the side on nine pitches twice during his career. The Angels fireballer, who first did it with the Mets in 1968, joins Lefty Grove (twice in 1938) and Sandy Koufax (1962 and 1964) as the other hurlers who have accomplished the feat.

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1973 Mets reliever Tug McGraw interrupts Board Chairman M. Donald Grant's pep talk during a team meeting shouts, "Ya Gotta Believe," which will become the rallying cry for the club climbing out of the cellar en route to the NL pennant. Although New York beats Houston, 2-1, in 12 innings, their closer's words of encouragement will not immediately light a fire under the team, as they will continue struggling until mid-August.

 

1976 Astros' hurler Larry Dierker no-hits the Expos, 6-0, striking out eight of the 30 batters he faces in the Astrodome contest. The future team broadcaster and manager had previously thrown two one-hitters.

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1976 Longtime Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey dies of leukemia at New England Baptist Hospital. The Fenway Park center field flag is lowered to half-mast to pay tribute to the 73-year-old philanthropist the Boston Herald called "'baseball's best friend," a legacy questioned due to allegations of racism during his four-plus decades in Boston.

 

1986 Braves outfielder Dale Murphy's consecutive-game streak ends at 740 games when he sits on the bench in the team's 7-3 victory over the Phillies at Veterans Stadium. The 30-year-old five-time All-Star hadn't missed a game since September of 1981.

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1987 The Twins win their eighth consecutive game when they blank the A's at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, 7-0. The eventual World Champions will not win another game until July 22, dropping their next nine decisions, a dubious feat the streaky team also accomplished in April.

1988 Giants second baseman Chris Speier hits a seventh-inning triple to complete the cycle in the 21-2 rout of the Cardinals at Candlestick Park. The twenty-one runs crossing the plate establish a San Francisco record.

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1988 Nolan Ryan, notching his 100th victory as an Astro, becomes only the second hurler to win a hundred games with a team in each league when Houston beats New York, 6-3. The 41-year-old right-hander, who also won 134 games for the Angels, joins Cy Young, who reached the plateau with the Cleveland Spiders (NL) and the Boston Pilgrims (AL), a team known as the Red Sox starting in 1908.

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1990 As a result of a dream of being devoured by spiders, Glenallen Hill suffers cuts and bruises when he falls through a glass table, attempting to flee his eight-legged demons in a semiconscious state. The 25-year-old sophomore Blue Jays outfielder will now be known affectionately as 'Spiderman' to his teammates during his 13-year tenure in the major leagues.

1991 Cal Ripken's three-run homer helps the AL defeat the Nationals, 4-2, giving the Junior Circuit its fourth consecutive All-Star win. Tony La Russa becomes the first manager to have three straight Midsummer Classic victories.

1996 Mike Piazza, named the All-Star Game's MVP, hits a moon shot into the upper deck at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium. The Dodger backstop also strokes an RBI double, helping the National League beat the AL, 6-0.

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1998 The owners elect Bud Selig, the acting commissioner for nearly six years, as baseball's ninth commissioner. The Brewer owner plans to place the Milwaukee franchise in trust to avoid any conflict of interest.

 

2001 Luis Gonzalez, the first Diamondback player to participate in the Home Run Debry, wins the All-Star long ball contest at Seattle's Safeco Field. The Arizona outfielder, who will hit 57 home runs this season, almost double the amount he will compile in any other year, defeats 2000 Derby Champ Sammy Sosa in the final round, 6-2.

2002 Despite chants of 'Let them play!' from the sellout crowd of 41,871 at Milwaukee's Miller Park, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig declares the 73rd All-Star Game a 7-7 tie after 11 innings. No player is selected to receive the first Ted Williams Most Valuable Player award, an honor named for the late Red Sox legend who died five days ago.

2005 After 11 years, Coors Field finally has a 1-0 game as the Rockies escape a bases-full ninth inning to edge the Padres. The span of 847 regular-season games is the longest time ever needed for any big-league ballpark to host a contest with baseball's lowest possible score.

2005 Mike Sweeney's 5-for-5 performance helps him tie a franchise record, collecting eight consecutive hits. With knocks in his last three at-bats yesterday, the Royals designated hitter's streak includes three doubles and five singles.

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2005 On the first pitch of his only big league plate appearance, 24-year-old Adam Greenberg, entering the game as a ninth-inning pinch-hitter for the Cubs, is struck in the head by a 92-mph fastball thrown by Marlin hurler Valerio de Los Santos. The Guilford High School (CT) standout, the first player in the state's history named to four All-State teams, sustains a concussion and experiences positional vertigo due to the beaning.
Thanks to an online petition to get Greenberg another Major League plate at-bat, he will appear as a pinch-hitter, striking out on three pitches, after signing a one-day contract with the Marlins in 2012.

2009 Washington completes a game suspended at Nationals Park on May 5th with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning and the score knotted at 10, playing as the home team on the road with an 11-10 walk-off victory over the Astros when the frame continues at Minute Maid Park. Joel Hanrahan, who the team trades to Pittsburgh in the interim, is credited with the win even though he is wearing a Pirates uniform.

 

2011 The Dayton Dragons have a sellout for their 815th straight home game, surpassing the record for a North American professional sports team, previously held by the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. The Cincinnati Reds affiliate in the Midwest League has sold out for every game it has played at Fifth Third Field since its move from Rockford in 2000.

2011 With a third-inning home run off Tampa Bay southpaw David Price, Derek Jeter becomes the 28th player and the first in a Yankee uniform to collect his 3000th hit. The 'Captain' enjoys a five-hit day in the Bronx, including an infield single in the eighth inning that drives in the winning run in the team's 5-4 victory.

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2013 Boston's David Ortiz ties Harold Baines for the most hits by a designated hitter with his eighth-inning single off Seattle's Charlie Furbush, giving him 1,688 career hits as a DH. 'Big Papi,' before the record-tying at-bat, had already collected a home run and a pair of doubles in the Red Sox' 11-8 victory at Safeco Field.

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2013 Alex Rios ties a franchise and the American League single-game mark when he collects his sixth hit, a ninth-inning single in the White Sox' 11-4 victory over Detroit at Comerica Park. The Chicago right fielder, the first player to get four hits off Justin Verlander in one game, goes 6-for-6 at the plate with a triple and five singles.

 

2022 The Mets retire No. 17 in tribute to their former first baseman Keith Hernandez, the franchise's first captain who batted .297 and won six straight Gold Gloves during his seven years with the club (1983-89). The spark plug of the team's 1986 World Championship and longtime SNY color analyst joins players Tom Seaver, Mike Piazza, Jerry Koosman, and managers Casey Stengel and Gil Hodges to earn the honor.

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JULY 10 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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1865 Bobby Lowe second baseman (first player to hit 4 HRs in one MLB game, 1894 Boston Beaneaters


1888 Graham McNamee sportscaster (originated play-by-play sports broadcasting; Baseball HOF Ford C. Frick Award


1940 -Gene Alley Infielder, Pirates

1945 Hal McRae Outfielder, Royals


1954 Andre Dawson HOF outfielder (8 × MLB All-Star; NL MVP 1987 Chicago Cubs; NL Rookie of the Year 1977 Montreal Expos; 8 × Gold Glove Award)

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This Day in Baseball History
July 10th​

1911 After being ejected for disputing a called third strike, Sherry Magee knocks out home plate umpire Bill Finneran with just one punch. The National League suspends the star Phillies flychaser for the rest of the season, but he misses only 36 games due to an appeal.


1911 When umpire Bill Klem stops the Phillies-Cardinals contest to have an unruly fan banned from the Baker Bowl, the removal marks the first expulsion of a patron from a game. At the time, the standard practice was to use bodyguards after the contest to protect the arbitrators rather than risk the crowd's ire by ousting one of their own.


1914 Although limited to one hit, the Yankees beat the Indians at the Polo Grounds, 1-0, when darkness postpones the second game of a twin bill after five and a half innings. The next time the team wins a game while being one-hit will occur again in 102 years with a 1-0 nine-inning victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field.


1917 Thanks to Ray Caldwell's nine and two-thirds innings of five-hit relief, the Yankees beat the Browns in St. Louis, 7-5, in a 17-inning game. Later in the day, the St. Louis police arrest the hard-living right-hander, charging him with grand theft for allegedly stealing a diamond ring from a woman.

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1920 Tris Speaker, who has collected 11 consecutive hits, is finally thwarted by Washington hurler Tom Zachary. The "Grey Eagle's" effort establishes a record that will last until 1938, when the Red Sox third baseman Pinky Higgins hits 12 knocks in a row.


1928 Although the Indians banged out 14 hits, the team fails to score a run in a 9-0 nightcap loss to the Senators in a Griffith Stadium twin bill. The Tribe becomes only the second club blanked after collecting that many hits.

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1932 Indians' flychaser Johnny Burnett, in 11 at-bats, collects a record nine hits in an 18-inning game where the A's outscore the Tribe, 18-17. A's right-hander Ed Rommel, replacing Lew Krausse in the second inning, gives up a record 29 hits in 17 innings in relief to get the victory, his 171st and final major league win, when manager/owner Connie Mack, trying to save train fare, brings only two pitchers.
Johnny Burnett Ed Rommel


1934 At the All-Star Game played in New York's Polo Grounds, Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell faces a starting lineup comprised of nine eventual Hall of Famers. After giving a single and a walk to his first two batters, King Carl consecutively fans Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin.

Al Simmons, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx,​

1935 In the fourth evening contest ever played in major league history, Babe Herman becomes the first player to hit a home run during a night game. The Reds' cleanup hitter's seventh-inning round-tripper off Dutch Leonard contributes to the 15-2 rout over the Brooklyn at Crosley Field.

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1935 Galveston Buccaneers right-hander Ed Cole throws the first perfect game in Texas League history, beating the Tulsa Oilers at Moody Park, 1-0. Bill McGhee's inside-the-park home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning accounts for the contest's only run.

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1936 At Forbes Field, Chuck Klein becomes the first National League player to hit four home runs in one game this century. The Phillies' 36-year-old outfielder's offensive outburst, which includes his final round-tripper on the first pitch in the tenth inning, powers Philadelphia's 9-6 victory over Pittsburgh.

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1943 The eventual 23-6 rout of the Pirates at Ebbets Field begins ten minutes late when some of the Dodgers, led by infielder Arky Vaughan, threaten not to play to protest manager Leo Durocher's suspension of Bobo Newsome. In a few days, Newsome, who had argued with his skipper over a pitch selection in a previous game, is traded to the Browns for Archie McKain and Fritz Ostermueller.

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1947 Home plate umpire Jocko Conlan asks Reds hurler Bucky Walters to make the calls at first base when some of his crew fails to show for a rescheduled contest between Cincinnati and Boston necessitated by a rainout on May 1. Dick Culler covers third base with second base remaining without an arbitrator in the hometown's 6-4 victory at Braves Field.

1947 During the first game of a twin bill in front of 47,871 Tribe fans, Don Black retires the final ten A's batters he faces to record the first no-hitter in the history of Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. The crowd, the largest ever to witness a no-hitter, endures the rain and six walks as the Indians right-hander completes the 3-0 victory, the eighth no-no in franchise history.

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1951 In the second All-Star Game played in Detroit, the National League beat their AL rivals at Briggs Stadium, 8-3. Although their team's circuit loses, the 52,075 Motor City fans witness home runs hit by hometown favorites George Kell and Vic Wertz.

Hoot Evers, Vic Wertz, George Kell

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1953 With Roy Campanella's second-inning home run off Giants hurler Sal Maglie, the Dodgers establish a National League record, homering in their 24th consecutive game, one shy of the major league mark set by the 1941 Yankees. Campy's homer, his 22nd of the season, is the only run Brooklyn scores as the Giants extend their winning streak to seven with the 6-1 victory at Ebbets Field.


1962 John F. Kennedy returns to D.C. Stadium and becomes the first president to throw the ceremonial first pitch at an All-Star Game, a 3-1 National League victory. In April, JFK, who will stay for the entire contest, threw the ceremonial first pitch at the Senators' home opener, the first game in Washington's new $24-million ballpark.

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1968 The American League and National League agree on next year's expansion and playoff format. Each league will divide its twelve teams into two six-team divisions, playing a best-of-five game league championship series to determine the pennant winner.

 

1972 Phillies owner Bob Carpenter announces Paul Owens, named the GM five weeks ago, will become the team's manager, replacing a visibly upset Frank Lucchesi, who guided the team this season to the worst record in baseball, winning only 26 of 76 contests. The new skipper, known as the Pope, will use the opportunity to better evaluate his last-place team before returning to the front office next year, before building Philadelphia into pennant contenders within three seasons.

1979 With his team trailing the Padres 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs at Veterans Stadium, Phillies pinch-hitter Del Unser hits a three-run walk-off home run, giving the team a 6-5 comeback victory. The dramatic dinger makes Del Unser only the second player in major league history to hit a homer in three consecutive at-bats as a pinch-hitter, a feat also accomplished by Lee Lacy of the Dodgers last season.

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1984 At San Francisco's Candlestick Park, Dodger southpaw Fernando Valenzuela and Mets rookie Dwight Gooden combine to strike out six consecutive American League All-Stars on the 50th anniversary of Carl Hubbell's memorable 1934 Midsummer Classic performance of setting down five future Hall of Famers on strikes. At 19, Dwight Gooden becomes the youngest player to participate in an All-Star Game.

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1984 The National League beats the Junior Circuit at Candlestick Park, 3-1. Home runs by Expos' catcher Gary Carter, the game's MVP, and Braves' outfielder Dale Murphy prove to be the difference in the 55th Midsummer Classic.

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1986 A very disappointed Oil Can Boyd (11-6, 3.71) begins shouting and throwing clothes in the clubhouse after learning KC manager Dick Howser had not selected him as one of the eight pitchers to make the American League All-Star team. The inconsolable Red Sox right-hander, who will storm out of Fenway Park before the team's scheduled game against California, will be suspended, without pay, for three days for his tirade.

1986 After allowing three runs in the top of the twelfth, the Red Sox score four times in the bottom of the inning, with the final tally coming on a walk-off bases-loaded balk. The winning run in Boston's 8-7 improbable victory over the Angels when home plate ump Joe Brinkman rules Todd Fischer moved his hands after coming to a set position before delivering the first pitch of his outing, ending the Fenway contest without throwing a ball.

1999 At Leland's 'Hero's Auction' of sports memorabilia held in New York, Carlton Fisk's 12th inning Game 6 home run ball, to end one of the most dramatic games in World Series history, is sold for $113,273. Reds' left fielder George Foster retrieved the historic horsehide after it hit the Fenway foul pole, deciding to sell the 1975 souvenir, realizing the ball's potential value after Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball sold for almost $3 million.

 

2001 In his final All-Star appearance, Cal Ripken is named the MVP of the game. The Orioles shortstop's home run and consecutive dingers from Derek Jeter and Magglio Ordonez power the AL to its fifth victory in a row, beating the National League at Seattle's Safeco Field, 4-1.

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2001 Derek Jeter becomes the first Yankee to homer in an All-Star Game in 42 years when he goes deep, leading off the sixth inning off Jon Lieber at Safeco Field. Yogi Berra was the last Bronx Bomber to accomplish the feat, homering off Don Drysdale in 1959.

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2007 The Clemente Museum, housed in the historic Engine House 25 in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, opens its doors to the public. The meticulously renovated firehouse features a wealth of baseball memorabilia, photographs, literature, and art that captures Roberto Clemente's career with the Pirates, his personal life, and the humanitarian causes he championed.

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2009 Beating the Padres 8-0 at AT&T Park, Giants' southpaw Jonathan Sanchez throws the first no-hitter in franchise history since John "The Count" Montefusco accomplished the feat in 1976. The 22-year-old, a replacement for an injured Randy Johnson, sees his bid for a perfect game end when third baseman Juan Uribe makes an error in the eighth inning.

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2010 In his 19th season, Arthur Rhodes becomes the longest-tenured major leaguer to go to an All-Star Game for the first time. The 40-year-old Reds southpaw reliever, who does not play in the Midsummer Classic, surpasses the 1988 selection of 18-year veteran Doyle Alexander for the dubious distinction.

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2013 David Ortiz establishes a new record for career hits by a designated hitter when he doubles in the second inning of the Red Sox' 11-4 victory over Seattle at Safeco Field. 'Big Papi' surpasses Harold Baines with his 1,689th hit as a DH.


2017 Aaron Judge, overcoming 22 first-round round-trippers from Justin Bour and a dozen blasts from Cody Bellinger in the second, slams 11 homers in the finals to defeat Miguel Sano, becoming the first rookie to win the All-Star Home Run Derby outright. The Yankees outfielder hit 47 long balls that traveled 3.9 miles, including back-to-back dingers of 507 and 513 feet.
Angels' freshman Wally Joyner was a co-champion in 1986

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