BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

2017 At Coors Field, Charlie Blackmon's second-inning 454-foot solo second-deck blast gives him 101 runs batted in as a leadoff batter, establishing a new high from that spot in the lineup. The Rockies' center fielder surpasses Darin Erstad's record, who collected 100 RBIs for the Angels in 2000.

2018 The Mets' all-time hits leader, David Wright, sidelined by neck, back, and shoulder injuries for nearly two and a half years, plays his final game in the team's 1-0 extra-inning victory over the Marlins. After an emotional ceremony, the 35-year-old seven-time All-Star third baseman exits the game in the top of the fifth frame, hugging shortstop Jose Reyes and acknowledging the overwhelming response from the sell-out crowd on-hand at Citi Field to say goodbye.

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2019 In the season finale against the Royals, the Twins win the home run race en route to setting a record with 307 long balls, one more than the Yankees. Although Minnesota didn't win the contest, round-trippers by C.J. Cron, Jake Cave, and Jason Castro overcome the Bronx Bombers' total of 306, including today's four-bagger hit by New York slugger Aaron Judge.

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281,306

 

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Jackie Robinson stealing home vs. New York #Yankees catcher Yogi Berra during World Series Game 1 at Yankee Stadium
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1993 George Brett plays his last game at Kauffman Stadium, and after the Royals' 3-2 ninth-inning walk-off victory, a post-game ceremony pays tribute to the future Hall of Famer. After the ceremony, with fireworks lighting up the sky, the KC third baseman circles the stadium in a golf cart, kneels, and kisses home plate.

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1996 Two weeks after the Rangers retire Nolan Ryan's number, the Astros follow suit and honor the 'Ryan Express' by retiring his #34. The right-handed fireballer played for nine seasons for Houston, striking out 1,866 batters en route to winning 106 games, including his fifth no-hitter against L.A. in 1981.

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1996 During a 4-1 loss at the SkyDome, Orioles' center fielder Brady Anderson becomes the 14th player to hit 50 home runs in a season. The power surge is a surprise, given the Baltimore leadoff hitter's previous season-high was only 21 round-trippers.

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1996 Hitting his 40th homer, Rockies third baseman Vinny Castilla joins Andres Galarraga (47) and Ellis Burks (40) to become the first trio of teammates in 23 years to hit 40 homers for one team. Davey Johnson (43), Darrell Evans (41), and Hank Aaron (40) accomplished the feat for the Braves in 1973.

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1996 Although he is four shy of the 502 plate appearances requirement, Tony Gwynn, hitting .353, is given the National League's batting crown using the Oh-fer Clause, which has been in the rule book for 30 years but never invoked. Adding four mythical hitless at-bats would leave the Padres outfielder with a .349 average, still five points better than the runner-up Ellis Burks of the Rockies.

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1998 At Jacobs Field, Pedro Martinez snaps Boston's 13 consecutive postseason streak of losses by beating the Indians, 11-3, in Game 1 of the ALDS. Red Sox first baseman Mo Vaughn contributes to the victory with two homers and ties an LDS record with seven RBIs, but the team will begin a new streak when they drop the series's final three contests.

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1999 Doug Glanville becomes the first Phillie player to collect 200 hits in a season since Pete Rose accomplished the feat twenty years ago. The center fielder reaches the milestone with a fourth-inning three-run home run off Micah Bowie in Philadelphia's 5-0 victory over Chicago at Veterans Stadium.

 

SEPTEMBER 30 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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1861 William Wrigley Jr. industrialist (Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company), and owner of MLB Chicago Cubs


1926 Robin Roberts Hall of Fame pitcher (7 x MLB All Star; won 28 consecutive complete games 1952-53; Philadelphia Phillies)


1962 Dave Magadan (NY Mets, Chicago Cubs)


1967 Yorkis Perez pitcher (Florida Marlins)


1974 Jeremy Giambi player, 1998-2003 (Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, and two other teams)


1975 Carlos Guillén shortstop (3-time MLB All Star; Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers)

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Today in Baseball History
September 30th​

1893 On the day he is honored by The Sporting News as the most popular baseball player in America, Joe Quinn collects eight hits in the NL Browns' doubleheader, becoming the first player to accomplish the feat. The St. Louis second baseman, a mortician in the off-season, helps the team, who will change their name to the Cardinals after the 1899 season, sweep a twin bill from the Beaneaters, 17-6 and 16-4.

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1893 On the last day of the season, Duff Cooley collects six hits in the N.L. Browns' 16-4 rout of Boston in the nightcap of a twin bill. The 20-year-old rookie accomplishes the rare feat by hitting four singles, a double, and a triple at the Robison Field in St. Louis.

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1904 Doc White tosses his fifth shutout in eighteen days when he blanks the Yankees at Chicago's South Side Park, 4-0. The White Sox southpaw will pitch six of his seven shutouts in September.

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1907 At Robison Field in St. Louis, 21-year-old rookie first baseman Ed Konetchy steals home twice in the Cardinals' 5-1 victory over Boston. The last-place Redbirds swipe home plate three times during the contest.

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1921 At Sportsman's Park, the Cardinals and their fans celebrate Rogers Hornsby Day. The 25-year-old Redbird second baseman, who will lead the National League in hitting with a .397 batting average, delights the crowd with a home run and two doubles in the team's 12-4 victory over Pittsburgh.

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1923 It's Zack Wheat Day at Ebbets Field, and the retiring Dodger outfielder collects two hits and receives an automobile. Cy Williams of the Phillies spoils the special day as he ties the score in the seventh inning with his 39th homer, and his 40th in the 12th frame gives Philadelphia the victory, 6-4.
Cy Williams


1927 At Yankee Stadium on the next-to-last day of the season off of Senators' starter Tom Zachary, Babe Ruth breaks his own 1921 home run record by hitting number 60, which lands just in fair territory in the right-field stands. As a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning, future Hall of Fame hurler Walter Johnson makes his last major league appearance in this game.

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1928 In his major league debut, White Sox rookie Ed Weiland shuts out the A's at Comiskey Park, 1-0. The 6'4" fireballer from Chicago will finish his four-year tenure with his hometown team, compiling a 5-15 record before being traded to the Red Sox in 1932.

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1933 At Sportsman's Park in the Cubs' 12-2 rout of the Cardinals, Babe Herman hits for the cycle, becoming the first player in baseball history to do it three times. The Chicago outfielder also accomplished the rare feat twice, playing for the Dodgers in 1931.

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1933 In the season finale, the last-place White Sox lose to Cleveland, 5-3, finishing the campaign with a 53-99 record, 47 games out of first place. Chicago did not throw a single left-handed hurler during the entire season.

1934 Babe Ruth plays his final game in pinstripes, going 0-for-3, including flying out to center field in his last at-bat in the Yankees' 5-3 loss to the Senators at Griffith Stadium. The Braves will acquire the 'Sultan of Swat" in late February, announcing, in addition to playing, he would become a team vice president and serve as assistant manager to Boston skipper Bill McKechnie.

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1934 Dizzy Dean becomes the first pitcher to win 30 games since Jim Bagby accomplished the feat in 1920 for the Indians, and he will be the second of four hurlers this century, including Lefty Grove (1931 A's) and Denny McLain (1968 Tigers), to reach the lofty plateau. The 24-year-old Cardinal right-hander goes the distance to beat Cincinnati, 9-0, and clinches the pennant for the Redbirds.

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1934 With a two-run round-tripper off Allyn Stout at Sportsman's Park in the Cardinals' 9-0 victory over Cincinnati, Rip Collins establishes a National League record when he blasts his league-leading 35th home run of the season as a switch hitter. The 30-year-old first baseman's mark will last until Howard Johnson goes deep from both sides of the plate 36 times in 1987 for the Mets.

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1945 In the season's finale, Hank Greenberg hits a pennant-winning grand slam. The Tiger left fielder's ninth-inning bases-full homer beats the Browns, 6-3, clinching the American League flag for Detroit over the second-place Senators.


1947 Ralph Branca becomes the youngest player to start a World Series opener. At Yankee Stadium, the 21-year, nine-month-old right-hander and the Dodgers lose to the Bronx Bombers, 5-1.

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1951 Knowing the Giants have won their game in Boston, the Dodgers rally from a five-run deficit to beat Philadelphia in 14 innings, 9-8, forcing a three-game playoff for the National League pennant. After Jackie Robinson makes a game-saving catch in the thirteenth to preserve an 8-8 tie, he hits a home run in the next frame that proves to be the difference in Brooklyn's victory at Shibe Park.

 

1953 George Shuba, best known as the Montreal Royal teammate who shook Jackie Robinson's hand after the rookie homered, becomes the third major leaguer and the first in the National League to pinch-hit a home run in the World Series. With his round-tripper off Allie Reynolds in the Dodgers' 9-5 Game 1 loss at Yankee Stadium, 'Shotgun' joins Yogi Berra (1947) and Johnny Mize (1952), who both accomplished the feat playing for the Bronx Bombers.



1956 On the season's final day at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium, 16-year-old southpaw Jim Derrington becomes the youngest pitcher to start a major league game this century. The teenager tosses six innings, taking the loss when the A's beat the White Sox, 7-6, but his single makes the Chicago bonus baby the youngest player to get a hit in the American League.

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1956 Don Newcombe, a three-time twenty-game winner, goes the distance to earn his major-league-leading 27th victory when the Dodgers beat Pittsburgh at Forbes Field, 8-6, on the last day of the campaign. Newk's total is the most wins by an African-American pitcher in a season.

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1961 The Angels win their 70th and final game when they defeat Cleveland at L.A.'s Wrigley Field, 11-6. The seventy victories are the most games won by an expansion team in their first year of existence.

1962 On the last day of the season, Gene Oliver's eighth-inning homer off Johnny Podres proves to be the difference in St. Louis' 1-0 victory over the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. The loss to the Cardinals and the Giants' 2-1 victory over Houston forces Los Angeles into a best-of-three-game playoff for the National League pennant, a series the team will lose to San Francisco.


1962 The Mets finish their inaugural season with 120 losses, a 20th-century record when the team drops a 5-1 decision to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. In his last career at-bat, New York catcher Joe Pignatano hits into an eighth-inning triple play with Richie Ashburn and Sammy Drake aboard, with the base runners also appearing in their last major league game.


1962 In the last at-bat of his career, Don Gile homers in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Red Sox a 3-1, season-ending victory over the Senators at Fenway Park. The Boston first baseman had been 0-for-34 before the dramatic at-bat.

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1962 At Yankee Stadium, Mickey Mantle blasts his 30th home run of the season, a fourth-inning solo shot off White Sox's 20-game winner Ray Herbert, to extend his streak of having 30 or more round-trippers to eight seasons. The 'Mick,' who missed a month of the campaign because of a leg injury, bats leadoff in the team's final series to collect more at-bats.

 

1964 As a pinch-hitter in the top of the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium, Bill Roman hits his only big-league home run in his first major league at-bat. The 25-year-old rookie first baseman will accumulate only 37 career plate appearances during a brief two-year stint with the Tigers.


1966 At Comiskey Park in the top of the ninth inning, Roger Maris, in his last at-bat as a Yankee, slams a two-run home run as a pinch-hitter, putting the club ahead of the White Sox, 5-4. As the slugger contemplates retirement, the former two-time American League MVP is stunned and embarrassed when New York trades him to the Cardinals for utility player Charley Smith in the off-season.


1969 The Braves clinch the first-ever National League West division with their 3-2 win over the Reds at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Lum Harris-led club will finish the season three games ahead of San Francisco before being swept by New York in the NLCS.

 

1971 For the second time in his career, Tom Seaver becomes a 20-game winner when the Mets beat St. Louis, 6-1, at Shea Stadium on the season's final day. En route to the complete-game victory, 'Tom Terrific' whiffs 13 Redbirds to end the campaign with a league-leading 289 strikeouts.

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1971 Leading off the third inning In the season's finale, Bill Melton's homer off Bill Parsons proves to be the difference in Chicago's 2-1 victory over the Brewers at White Sox Park. The third baseman's 33rd round-tripper makes him the first Pale Hose player to lead the American League in home runs, putting him one ahead of A's slugger Reggie Jackson and Norm Cash, the Tigers' perennial power hitter.


1971 Don Mincher becomes the only player on the roster for both final games in Washington for each team known as the Senators. The lefty-swinging first baseman will also be the only person to play for the original Minnesota Twins and the original Texas Rangers, the franchises that left the nation's capital in 1960 and 1971.

1971 Willie Montanez sets the Phillies' rookie home run record when he strokes a two-run round-tripper off Nelson Briles in the team's 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh at Veterans Stadium. The freshman first baseman's 30 homers eclipse the mark established by Dick Allen in 1964.

 

1972 Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente doubles off Mets' southpaw Jon Matlack to become the 11th major leaguer to collect 3000 hits. The two-bagger, sadly, will be his last hit as he will die in a plane crash on New Year's Eve.




1973 In their final game at the 'old' Yankee Stadium, the fourth-place Bronx Bombers lose unceremoniously to the Tigers, 8-5. The team, which will play its home games for the next two seasons at Shea Stadium as the 50-year-old 'House that Ruth Built' undergoes extensive renovations, also loses their skipper, with Ralph Houk announcing his resignation.

1973 After he posts an 88-73 record, the second-place Red Sox fire Eddie Kasko on the last day of the season. Boston names Triple-A Pawtucket pilot Darrell Johnson as the club's new manager.

1973 At the close of the season, the American League's new designated hitter rule appears to have worked when the Junior Circuit's league's batting average increased by 20 points to .259, its highest point since 1956, outhitting the N.L. for the first time in a decade. The 614 complete games, 112 more than last season, are the most since 1928 in either league.

 

1978 At Three Rivers Stadium, the Phillies clinch their third consecutive N.L. East title, defeating the Pirates, 10-8. The victory features Randy Lerch, the winning pitcher, hitting two home runs and snapping Pittsburgh's 24-game home winning streak.


1979 In his last big-league game, Ed Kranepool pinch hits in the top of the seventh inning and doubles off Bob Forsch when the Mets beat the Cardinals in the season finale at Busch Stadium, 4-2. The James Monroe High School graduate, who debuted with the team in 1962 at 17, had been the last original Met left in the majors.

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1980 In front of only 1,754 patrons, Mets southpaw Pete Falcone beats the Pirates in the season's last game at Shea Stadium, 3-2. The crowd is the smallest to attend a game at the Flushing ballpark, with 33 fewer fans than yesterday's meager gathering.

1984 Yankees' first baseman Don Mattingly wins the American League batting title with a .343 average, finishing three points higher than teammate Dave Winfield. The accomplishment marks the first of six consecutive seasons that 'Donnie Baseball' hits over .300, but the only one resulting in a batting crown during a 14-year major league career.

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1984 Mike Witt uses only 97 pitches on the season's final day to retire 27 consecutive hitters. The Angels' hurler throws the perfect game against the Rangers and beats Charlie Hough on an unearned run, 1-0.

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1985 Based on attendance at the Kingdome, the King County Council tries to modify its deal with the team trying to circumvent the Mariners' escape clause. A proposed amendment, stating the club needs to play .500 ball, a mark the M's have never achieved, as a condition before a move from the domed stadium would be considered by the City Fathers, causing owner George Argyros to threaten to move the team out of Seattle.

 

1987 Dave Stewart becomes a 20-game winner when the A's beat Cleveland at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, 4-3. The thirty-year-old right-hander, who spent the first decade of his career in the bullpen, will also earn twenty or more victories in the next three seasons.

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1988 President Ronald Reagan throws two ceremonial first pitches at Wrigley Field before the Cubs' 10-9 loss to the Pirates. 'Dutch,' a former play-by-play announcer, then participates in the broadcast with Harry Caray, spending the first inning and a half in the WGN booth.


1988 Dave Stieb loses his second consecutive no-hit bid when Jim Traber singles on a 2-2 count with two outs in the ninth in the Blue Jays' 4-0 victory over the Orioles at Exhibition Stadium. Six days ago, the 31-year-old right-hander yielded a ground ball hit up the middle to Indians' second baseman Julio Franco with two outs in the final frame for the Tribe's only safety.

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1988 Joining Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Dwight Gooden, David Cone improves his record to 20-3, becoming the fourth pitcher in Mets history to win twenty games in a season. After his 4-2 complete-game victory against the Cardinals, the 25-year-old right-hander has a surprise visitor when former president Richard Nixon congratulates him in the Shea Stadium dugout.

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1989 Ending a 43-year relationship with Major League Baseball, NBC airs its final regular-season Game of the Week. The contest, which features the Blue Jays clinching the A.L. East title with a 4-3 victory over the Orioles at the SkyDome, is the 981st broadcast of a weekly tradition started in 1947.

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1989 After spending nearly three months in first place, Baltimore's playoff hopes end on the next-to-last day of the season when they suffer their second consecutive one-run loss to Toronto, allowing the Blue Jays to clinch first place in the A.L. East. Frank Robinson's young group of players, known as the "Why Not?" Orioles improved in the standings by 32½ games from their last-place finish last season.