CELEBRITIES

This Date in Baseball

May 15, 2015, 9:06 PM

1925 — Cleveland’s Tris Speaker got his 3,000th career hit, off Tom Zachary, in a 2-1 loss to the Washington Senators.

1939 — The first baseball game on television was broadcast by W2XBS, an experimental station run by NBC in New York. Bill Stern handled the play-by-play as Princeton beat Columbia, 2-1, in 10 innings.

1945 — For the fourth time in four days, every American League game in the country was postponed by rain.

1961 — Roger Maris hit his first home run of the season at Yankee Stadium (fourth overall) on his way to a record 61.

1963 — Don Nottebart pitched Houston’s first no-hitter as the Colt .45s defeated the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 4-1.

1970 — Hank Aaron scratched out an infield single against Cincinnati’s Wayne Simpson to become the ninth player with 3,000 hits. The hit came in the nightcap of the Atlanta Braves’ doubleheader loss to the Reds in Cincinnati.

1977 — The Chicago Cubs hit seven home runs in beating the San Diego Padres 23-6 at Wrigley Field. Larry Biittner, Jerry Morales and Bobby Murcer hit consecutive home runs in the fifth for the Cubs.

1979 — Dave Kingman of the Cubs hit three home runs and Mike Schmidt of the Phillies hit two, and Philadelphia beat Chicago 23-22 in 10 innings at Wrigley Field. Bill Buckner had a grand slam and seven RBIs for Chicago. The game included 11 home runs and 50 hits.

1984 — Alan Wiggins of the San Diego Padres tied a National League record by stealing five bases in one game. He joined three others who have performed the feat — Dan McGann in 1904, Davey Lopes in 1974 and Lonnie Smith in 1982.

1992 — Toronto surpassed the 1-million mark in attendance earlier than any team in major league history. It took the Blue Jays 21 dates to draw 1,006,294. The previous record was shared by the 1991 Blue Jays and the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers.

1998 — David Wells pitched the 13th perfect game in modern major league history as the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 4-0.

2002 — Arizona’s Erubiel Durazo hit three home runs, a double and drove in nine runs as the Diamondbacks defeated Philadelphia 12-9.

2008 — Barry Zito became the first Giants pitcher to open a season with eight straight losses since 1890 when San Francisco lost 3-1 to the White Sox. Zito (0-8) worked five innings and gave up only two runs in matching Jesse Burkett’s record.

2009 — A pregame lineup mistake cost Tampa Bay its designated hitter for the game. The Rays listed both Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria as the third baseman. Longoria was supposed to be DH, but Tampa Bay lost that position because of the mistake and was forced to put pitcher Andy Sonnanstine in the third spot of the lineup. Sonnanstine hit an RBI double and gave up five runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings in a 7-5 victory over Cleveland.

Today’s birthday: Todd Redmond 30.

1912 — Detroit players went on strike to protest Ty Cobb’s suspension. To avoid a forfeit and fine, manager Hugh Jennings recruited college players and others; they lost to the Philadelphia A’s 24-2. Joe Travers gave up all 24 runs on 26 hits.

1929 — The Brooklyn Dodgers outslugged the Philadelphia Phillies for a 20-16 victory in the first game of a doubleheader. Brooklyn’s Babe Herman and Johnny Frederick each had five hits. Frederick scored five times to give him a major league record eight runs in two games. The Phillies won the second game 8-6. The teams combined for a record 50 runs in a doubleheader.

1955 — The Cleveland Indians dealt the Red Sox the worst shutout in Boston franchise history, 19-0, behind Herb Score’s three-hitter. Vic Wertz drove in five runs, including a grand slam, in an 11-run fifth inning.

1957 — Dick Williams of the Orioles hit a ninth-inning, game-tying solo home run against Chicago’s Paul LaPalme seconds before 10:20 p.m. — the curfew set so the White Sox could catch a train out of Baltimore. If Williams had done anything else, Chicago would have won. The game was later replayed from the beginning and Baltimore won.

1968 — Frank Howard hit his 10th home run in a six-game span to power the Washington Senators to an 8-4 victory over Detroit at Tiger Stadium.

1990 — The Baltimore Orioles tied an AL record with eight consecutive singles in a seven-run first inning against Bobby Witt to beat the Texas Rangers 13-1. The eight straight singles equaled a record set by the Washington Senators against Cleveland in 1951 and matched by the Oakland Athletics against Chicago in 1981.

1999 — Edgar Martinez hit three home runs — tying a major league record with five homers in two games — to give the Seattle Mariners a 10-1 win over the Minnesota Twins. He homered twice in the opener of the series.

2000 — Mark McGwire homered three times and had a career-high seven RBIs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2.

2003 — The Texas Rangers swept three games at Yankee Stadium for the first time in the franchise’s 43-year existence, winning 5-3.

2004 — Randy Johnson became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game, retiring all 27 hitters to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Atlanta Braves 2-0. It was the 17th perfect game in major league history and the first since the New York Yankees’ David Cone did it against Montreal on July 18, 1999.

2009 — Mark Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate and New York Yankees finished a four-game sweep of Minnesota with a 7-6 victory.

2012 — Justin Verlander came within two outs of his third career no-hitter, allowing only Josh Harrison’s ninth-inning single in the Detroit Tigers’ 6-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. With one out in the ninth, Harrison reached out and flicked a clean single into center field. Verlander finished off the Pirates with a pair of groundouts to complete his one-hit gem with 12 strikeouts and two walks.

2013 — Gerardo Parra led off the game with a home run and Brandon McCarthy pitched a three-hitter to help Arizona beat Miami 1-0. Parra’s home run to right-center field came on the first pitch from Tom Koehler. It was the first time since Sept. 2, 1963 that the only run of a game was scored on the first pitch. Pete Rose homered off the Mets’ Jay Hook to start the second game of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds.

Today’s birthdays: Joakim Soria 31; Reggie Jackson 69; Brooks Robinson 78.

1910 — Cy Young won the 500th game of his career as the Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 5-4, in 11 innings.

1910 — Boston beat the Pirates 6-3 for the first time in 26 tries.

1942 — Paul Waner of the Boston Braves got his 3,000th career hit off Pittsburgh’s Rip Sewell in a 7-6, 11-inning loss to the Pirates.

1956 — Pittsburgh’s Dale Long hit a ninth-inning homer against the Chicago Cubs. It was Long’s first of eight straight games with a homer.

1962 — Stan Musial of St. Louis became the NL career hits leader. The 41-year-old got a ninth-inning single for his 3,431st hit and moved past Honus Wagner. The Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-1.

1968 — After hitting 10 home runs in six games, Frank Howard of the Washington Senators was stopped by pitcher Earl Wilson of Detroit, which won the game 5-4.

1981 — Pittsburgh’s Jim Bibby gave up a leadoff single to Terry Harper of the Atlanta Braves, then retired the next 27 batters for a 5-0 one-hitter. Bibby also hit two doubles.

1998 — Mark McGwire hit three two-run homers against Philadelphia. It was the second time this season and fourth time in his career McGwire hit three homers in a game. McGwire became the 12th player to have two three-homer games in a season.

2000 — Jason Kendall hit for the cycle and drove in a career-high five runs, leading Pittsburgh to a 13-1 rout of St. Louis. Kendall had a two-run homer in the first inning, an RBI single in the second, a double in the third and a two-run triple in the eighth.

2004 — Atlanta’s 45-year-old Julio Franco broke his own record for the oldest player to hit a pinch-hit homer. Franco, who had a pinch-hit homer two weeks earlier against San Diego, hit a two-out, two-run homer to tie the game at 4 in the eighth. The Braves lost 6-4 in 11 innings to the Diamondbacks.

2008 — Boston’s Jon Lester shut down Kansas City 7-0 for the first no-hitter in the majors this season. The 24-year-old lefty, who survived cancer to pitch the World Series clincher for the Red Sox last fall, allowed two baserunners, walking Billy Butler in the second inning and Esteban German to open the ninth.

2009 — Washington became the fourth team in major league history to score at least five runs in each game of a six-game losing streak. The Nationals lost 8-5 in 10 innings to Pittsburgh after they rallied to tie the game with a run in the ninth, but another letdown from a bullpen with a collective 1-14 record allowed them to join the 1929 Pirates, 2004 Cincinnati Reds and 2005 Texas Rangers.

2011 — Jason Giambi became the second-oldest player to hit three homers in a game and tied his career high with seven RBIs, leading the Colorado Rockies past the Philadelphia Phillies 7-1. Making a rare start at first base, Giambi went deep in his first three at-bats. The 40-year-old former AL MVP entered 3 for 26 (.115) this season with one home run and four RBIs.

2013 — David Murphy put Texas ahead with a three-run home run, and the Rangers spoiled a three-homer game from Miguel Cabrera with an 11-8 victory against the Detroit Tigers. Cabrera hit a three-run homer in the third and a solo shot in the fifth off Derek Holland, then went deep again in the eighth against Tanner Scheppers.

1919 — Babe Ruth won a game on the mound and at the plate. He hit his first career grand slam as the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns 6-4.

1925 — The Cleveland Indians scored six runs in the last of the ninth to beat the New York Yankees 10-9. Tris Speaker scored the winning run from first on a single.

1932 — Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit four doubles in one game.

1941 — Lefty Grove of the Boston Red Sox won his 20th consecutive game at home, the longest home park streak in the major leagues. Boston beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2.

1947 — The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Braves 4-3 in a game that featured 22 hits — all singles. The Pirates had 12 singles, the Braves 10.

1953 — In the 13th game of the season, the Milwaukee Braves surpassed their 1952 attendance of 281,278, when they were in Boston.

1959 — The Detroit Tigers beat the Yankees, 13-6, to place New York in last place for the first time in 19 years.

1962 — Chicago Cubs rookie Ken Hubbs had eight singles in eight trips to the plate. The Cubs swept the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4 and 11-2.

1978 — Willie Stargell hit a 535-foot homer off Montreal’s Wayne Twitchell — the longest home run in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium — to highlight the Pirates’ 6-0 victory. It was also Stargell’s 407th career homer, tying him with Duke Snider on the career list.

1984 — Boston’s Roger Clemens earned his first major league victory. The Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4.

1991 — Jeff Reardon got his 300th save and Steve Lyons and Jack Clark homered as the Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0.

1999 — Robin Ventura became the first major leaguer to hit grand slams in both games of a doubleheader, leading the New York Mets to a sweep over Milwaukee, 11-10 and 10-1. He had two slams in a game for the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 4, 1995.

2001 — Barry Bonds hit two homers in the San Francisco Giants’ 11-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves, giving him a total of five in two games, becoming the 23rd player in history to do so.

2006 — Barry Bonds tied Babe Ruth for second place on the career home run list during San Francisco’s 4-2, 10-inning victory over the Oakland Athletics.

2009 — Boston center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury tied a major league record with 12 putouts by an outfielder in a nine-inning game, previously done by Earl Clark of the Boston Braves in 1929 and Lyman Bostock of the Minnesota Twins in 1977. He accomplished the feat in the Red Sox’s 8-3 win over Toronto.

2009 — Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera hit consecutive home runs for the New York Yankees in an 11-4 victory over Baltimore. All three solo shots to right field came in the second inning off Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie — with two strikes.

2011 — R.A. Dickey regained command of his knuckleball and confounded the New York Yankees for six innings, Daniel Murphy homered and a youthful New York Mets lineup won the Subway Series opener 2-1. The Yankees lost their sixth straight game at home for the first time since 2003.

2014 — Chris Davis hit three home runs and drove in five runs to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 9-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

2014 — Adam Wainwright threw a one-hitter, facing one hitter over the minimum, to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 win over Arizona.

Today’s birthday: Jayson Werth 36.

1926 — Earl Sheely of the Chicago White Sox hit three doubles and a home run against the Boston Red Sox. Sheely doubled in each of his last three at-bats the previous day to give him seven consecutive extra-base hits, tying a major league record. The six doubles in the two games also tied a major league record.

1943 — In the fastest nine-inning night game in American League history, the Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators 1-0, in 1 hour, 29 minutes.

1948 — Joe DiMaggio had two home runs, a triple, double and single to lead the New York Yankees to a 13-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

1952 — Duke Snider’s home run highlighted a 15-run first inning in the Dodgers’ 19-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Brooklyn. Snider, Pee Wee Reese and Billy Cox each made three plate appearances in the first inning.

1986 — Rafael Ramirez of Atlanta had four doubles in seven at-bats as the Braves beat the Chicago Cubs 9-8 in 13 innings.

1996 — Larry Walker drove in a career-high six runs, hitting a pair of two-run homers, a triple and a double in the Colorado Rockies’ 12-10 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. His 13 total bases set a club record.

1997 — Roger Clemens earned his 200th career victory, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-1 win over the New York Yankees.

2000 — For the first time in baseball history, there were six grand slams in a single day. Anaheim’s Garret Anderson hit the record-breaker off Kansas City’s Chris Fussell. J.T. Snow of San Francisco, Brian Hunter of Philadelphia, Jason Giambi of Oakland, and Los Angeles’ Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green connected with the bases loaded before Anderson. The old mark of five was set in 1999.

2004 — Jose Cruz Jr. went 4-for-4 with a homer and three doubles, leading Tampa Bay to a 5-3 victory over Cleveland.

2005 — The Texas Rangers set two club records in an 18-3 rout of the Houston Astros. Texas got home runs from Rod Barajas, Hank Blalock, Laynce Nix and Mark Teixeira in an eight-run, four-homer second inning. Texas slugged a team-record eight homers total on the day, also receiving blasts from Kevin Mench, Richard Hidalgo and two from David Dellucci.

2009 — Albert Pujols of St. Louis hit a homer in the first inning that knocked out the “I” on the Big Mac Land sign located in Busch Stadium’s left field. The Cardinals won 3-1.

2009 — Joe Mauer hit a grand slam, two doubles and drove in a career-high six runs as Minnesota routed the Chicago White Sox 20-1.

2010 — Dan Haren doubled twice, drove in three runs and pitched eight strong innings, offsetting Edwin Encarnacion’s three home runs for Toronto, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Blue Jays 8-6. Haren allowed four runs on nine hits and two of Encarnacion’s three homers.

2013 — Mike Trout hit for the cycle and drove in five runs to lead the Los Angeles Angels in a 12-0 rout of Seattle Mariners.

2014 — Brandon Moss hit a solo homer for Oakland’s only hit and the Athletics took advantage of the sloppy Tampa Bay Rays in a 3-2 win. Oakland scored twice on two errors and a pair of walks in the second inning. Moss hit his home run off Erik Bedard in the fourth inning. Bedard pitched 5 1-3 innings for the Rays. Four Rays relievers finished the one-hitter.

Today’s birthdays: Jacob Turner 24; Matt Wieters 29; Andrew Miller 30; Josh Hamilton 34.

1933 — Joe Sewell of the New York Yankees struck out for the first time this season, during a 3-0 win over Cleveland. Sewell would strike out only three more times in 524 at-bats.

1957 — The Boston Red Sox hit four home runs in the sixth inning of an 11-0 win over Cleveland. Gene Mauch, Ted Williams, Dick Gernert and Frank Malzone connected. All the homers came on the first 16 pitches from Cal McLish.

1959 — Baltimore’s Hoyt Wilhelm pitched a one-hitter against the New York Yankees for a 5-0 win. Jerry Lumpe’s single in the eighth spoiled the no-hit bid.

1963 — Mickey Mantle hit a pitch from Kansas City’s Bill Fischer off the right-field facade at Yankee Stadium in an 8-7 victory over the A’s.

1968 — Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit three home runs, a double and a single in a 13-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Stargell’s double just missed going out, as it bounced off the railing of the left-field bleachers.

1976 — St. Louis’ Reggie Smith hit three home runs — two right-handed and one left-handed — and drove in five runs in a 7-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Smith’s third homer came with two outs in the ninth and broke a 6-6 tie.

1977 — Boston and Milwaukee hit a combined 11 home runs in a 14-10 Red Sox victory at Fenway Park, tying a major league record. The Red Sox connected for six and the Brewers hit five in the first game of a doubleheader.

1983 — Cliff Johnson of the Toronto Blue Jays hit his 18th career pinch homer. The homer, off Baltimore’s Tippy Martinez, tied Johnson with Jerry Lynch on the career pinch home run list.

1998 — Brian Cox went 6-for-6, including a grand slam in a 10-run third inning, as Florida State rolled past Delaware 27-6 in the NCAA Atlantic II Regional. Freshman Matt Diaz hit three home runs for the Seminoles.

2000 — Milwaukee beat Houston in the first game of a doubleheader, 10-9, coming back from a 9-2 deficit to tie the score with seven runs in the bottom half of the ninth inning. The Brewers won the game in the 10th on a home run by Jose Hernandez.

2008 — Boston’s J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell hit grand slams to help Daisuke Matsuzaka remain unbeaten as the Red Sox posted an 11-8 win over the Kansas City Royals.

2009 — Michael Cuddyer hit for the cycle and matched his career high with five RBIs as Minnesota defeated Milwaukee 11-3. Cuddyer hit a three-run homer in the first inning, doubled in the third and singled in the fourth before completing the cycle by tripling on a broken-bat liner into the left-field corner in the sixth.

2012 — C.J. Wilson and Ernesto Frieri combined on a one-hitter to give the Los Angeles Angels a 4-0 win over Oakland. Cliff Pennington had the only hit — a one-out single in the fifth — for Oakland.

Today’s birthdays: Corey Dickerson 26; Eric Sogard 29; Collin Cowgill 29.

1901 — The Cleveland Blues, later known as the Indians, scored nine runs with two outs in the ninth inning to beat the Washington Senators 14-13.

1910 — In the top of the ninth inning in a game against Boston, Cincinnati’s Dode Paskert stole second base, third base and home plate. The theft gave the Reds a 6-5 win.

1924 — Washington’s Walter Johnson struck out 14 in a 4-0 one-hitter over the Chicago White Sox for his 103rd shutout.

1925 — Cincinnati pitcher Pete Donohue had five hits — four singles and a homer — in beating the Philadelphia Phillies 11-2.

1935 — The first major league night game, scheduled for Cincinnati, was postponed because of rain.

1948 — Joe DiMaggio hit three consecutive home runs, the first two off Bob Feller, to lead the New York Yankees to 6-5 win over Cleveland.

1962 — New York’s Joe Pepitone hit two homers in the nine-run eighth inning of the Yankees’ 13-7 triumph over Kansas City.

1970 — The San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants battled for 15 innings, with the Padres winning 17-16. Nate Colbert led San Diego with five hits and four RBIs.

1984 — The Detroit Tigers won their 16th consecutive road game, 4-2 at California, tying an AL record.

1991 — Tommy Greene, making the 15th start of his major league career, pitched a no-hitter and the Philadelphia Phillies beat Montreal 2-0.

2002 — Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shawn Green became the 14th man in major league history to homer four times in a game and set a big league record with 19 total bases. He went 6-for-6, scoring six times with seven RBIs in a 16-3 win at Milwaukee.

2003 — Jeremi Gonzalez earned his first major league victory in nearly five years as Tampa Bay beat Anaheim 3-1. Gonzalez won for the first time since June 28, 1998, while with the Chicago Cubs. He had elbow surgery in 1998 and ’99 before the Cubs released him in 2001.

2009 — Jason Giambi hit his 400th homer in the Oakland Athletics’ 8-7 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks, becoming the 44th player to reach the milestone.

2011 — Corey Hart hit his first three home runs this season and drove in seven to tie both club records, lifting Milwaukee to an 11-3 win over Washington.

Today’s birthdays: Jordan Zimmermann 29; Mike Dunn 30.

END ADV

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This Date in Baseball