On This Day - May 25th

OTD - 1923 - Crossing the plate for the 1,741 time, Ty Cobb surpasses Honus Wagner's for most runs score in a career. The 'Georgia Peach' will tally 2,245 runs during his 24-year tenure in the major leagues, a mark which will not be equaled until 2001 when Rickey Henderson breaks the record.


OTD - 1941 - Ted Williams raises his batting average over .400 for the first time during the season. His run to be the first since Bill Terry in 1930 to exceed the magic number will be marked in newspapers throughout the season, although it will often give way to the batting streak by Joe DiMaggio.


OTD - 1951 - The much-heralded Giants rookie Willie Mays makes his major league debut against the Phillies at Shibe Park. The 20-year old outfielder, who hit .477 in the minor leagues with the Minneapolis Millers in 35 games before being called up, goes hitless in five trips to the plate, but makes two outstanding defensive plays to contribute to New York’s 8-5 victory


OTD - 1981 - Carl Yastrzemski plays in his 3,000th major league game, scoring the winning run in Boston's 8-7 triumph over Cleveland. Yaz joins Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, and Hank Aaron as the only major leaguers to appear in 3,000 games.


OTD - 2006 - At Tokyo's Jingu Stadium, Californian-borned Rick Guttormson becomes the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in interleague play in Japan. The former Padres minor league pitcher of the year holds the Golden Eagles hitless as the Yakult Swallows beat Rakuten, 6-0.



Cheers,

On This Day - May 20th

OTD - 1918 - In what will become a precursor of a tragic event, Indian outfielder Tris Speaker is struck on the head by a pitch thrown by Red Sox hurler Carl Mays. The submarine pitcher, who will fatally bean Ray Chapman with a pitch in 1920 as a member of the Yankees, denies Speaker's allegation that the pitch was intentional.



OTD - 1945 - Pete Gray is the star in St. Louis as the Browns sweep the Yankees 10-1 and 5-2. Gray, who has only one arm, has two RBI on three hits in the opener and in the nightcap scores the winning run and hauls in seven fly balls, three on spectacular catches.

**Note to the Custom Card makers out there, Pete never had an official card produced.**




OTD - 1947 - In a game which features no extra-base hits, the Pirates defeat Boston at Forbes Field, 4-3. The teams collect a total of 22 hits,
all singles with Pittsburgh collecting a dozen.



OTD - 1962 - During the Cubs' doubleheader sweep of the Phillies, Ken Hubbs strokes eight singles in eight trips to the plate at Connie Mack Stadium. The Chicago second baseman will be selected as the Rookie of the Year.



OTD - 1991 - Jeff Reardon gains his 300th career save in relief of Matt Young and Jeff Gray. Reardon preserves the 3-0 Boston win over Milwaukee



Cheers,

On This Day - May 11th

OTD - 1904 After 23-innings of pitching no-hit baseball, Cy Young's streak ends. The stretch includes six innings today, two innings April 25, six on April 30, and the perfect game against the A's on May 5


OTD - 1971 - In front of a sparse crowd of 2,992 at Cleveland Stadium, Indians starter Steve Dunning hits a grand slam off A’s right-hander Diego Segui in bottom of the second inning in Cleveland’s 7-5 victory of Oakland. It will take another 37 years before another American League hurler goes deep with the bases loaded when Felix Hernandez of the Mariners accomplishes the feat against the Mets in 2008.


OTD - 1972 - The Giants trade future Hall of Famer Willie Mays to the Mets for minor league pitcher Charlie Williams and cash.


OTD - 1980 - Thirty-nine-year-old Pete Rose steals second, third, and home in one inning for the Phillies. The last National Leaguer to pull this feat was Jackie Robinson in 1954.


OTD - 1996 - Al Leiter pitches the first no-hitter in Marlins history. After two walks and a hit batsman in the first three innings, Leiter retires the last 20 batters in a 6-0 gem.



Cheers,

On This Day - May 4th

OTD - 1946 - Washington's Cecil Travis gets six straight hits before being stopped by Cleveland's Steve Gromek. A prewar hitting star, Travis has few other starring moments as a player after suffering frozen feet during combat in Europe.


OTD - 1966 - Willie Mays hits a NL record 512th HR, topping the mark of another Giant, Mel Ott, as the Giants beat the Dodgers 6-1.


OTD - 1975 - The Giants beat the Astros 8-6 in the first game of a doubleheader at Candlestick Park. In the second inning, Houston's Bob Watson scores what is calculated as major league baseball's millionth run of all time. Philadelphia National Wes Fisler scored the first run on April 22, 1876.


OTD - 1996 - The Rangers have a pair of one-hit wonders. Roger Pavlik one-hits the Tigers to make the Rangers the first A.L. team to pitch back-to-back one-hitters since the Washington Senators in 1917. Neither Pavlik nor his predecessor, Ken Hill, issues a walk in the one-hitters.


OTD - 1997 - Detroit pitcher Willie Blair suffers a broken jaw when he is struck by a line drive off the bat of Julio Franco. The 31-year-old Blair will bounce back and double his previous career best with 16 wins.



Cheers,