July in Baseball History
Published by Evan Wagner
Aug 01, 2023
Interesting Baseball History for the month of July:
1859 - In the first college baseball game ever played, Amherst defeats Williams College, 73 – 32 (66 – 32 by some reports) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
1875 - Philadelphia's Joe Borden, also known by the name Josephs, pitches the first no-hitter in Major League history, beating the Chicago White Stockings 4-0. The game takes one hour and 35 minutes to play.
1882 - Ambidextrous pitcher Tony Mullane of Louisville pitched with both hands in a Major League game at Baltimore. Normally a right-hander, Mullane switched to the left hand in the fourth inning. He eventually lost 9-8
1882 - Chicago sets a National League record for runs by beating Cleveland 35-4. Seven Chicago players get four or more hits, and six score four or more runs. The record will last until June 29, 1897, when Chicago will pile up thirty-six runs against Louisville.
1890 - Harry Stovey of Boston's Players League club becomes the first Major League player to reach 100 career home runs
1897 - Brooklyn pitcher Brickyard Kennedy becomes so upset at umpire Hank O'Day that he throws the ball at him. The baseball misses O'Day, who has his back turned, allowing George Davis to score the winning run for the Giants.
1900 - Boston hurler Kid Nichols notches his 300th career victory, beating Chicago 11-4. The win comes two months before his 31st birthday, making him the youngest to ever reach the magic figure.
1901 - Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox records his 300th victory with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia A's.
1902 - John McGraw was named manager of the New York Giants, a job he would hold for thirty years.
1902 - John McGraw, accused by Ban Johnson of trying to wreck the Baltimore and Washington clubs, negotiates his release from the Orioles and officially signs to manage the Giants at $11,000 a year. McGraw then swings the sale of the Orioles towards the Giants and the Reds.
1903 - Pitcher Jack Doscher, making his debut with the Chicago Cubs, is the first son of a former major-league player to also play in the major leagues. His father, Herm, was a third base with Troy, Chicago, and Cleveland before the turn of the century.
1904 - The Giants' 18-game winning streak ends when the Phillies prevail 6-5 in ten innings. The Giants record is now 53-18, effectively ending the National League race. At season's end, the Giants will refuse to play the postseason World Series against American League champion Boston.
1906 - Bob Ewing pitched the Cincinnati Reds to a 10-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies without a single assist registered by his teammates.
1909 - Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball pulled off the first unassisted triple play in modern Major League history.
1914 - Babe Ruth breaks in with Boston, pitching a 4-3 win over Cleveland. In his first Major League at-bat, Ruth strikes out. He will be 2-1 with Boston, spending most of the year in the International League at Providence.
1915 - At 41, Honus Wagner becomes the oldest player in the century to hit a grand slam. It is inside the park against Jeff Pfeffer of Brooklyn in an 8-2 win. The record will stand until Tony Perez hits a grand slam on May 13, 1985, one day short of his 43rd birthday.
1916 - At age 42 years and four months, Honus Wagner is the oldest player to hit an inside-the-park home run. He connects for the Pirates in the fourth inning at Cincinnati.
1916 - Ernie Koob of the St. Louis Browns went the distance in a 17-inning 0-0 tie with the Boston Red Sox. Carl Mays went the first fifteen innings for the Red Sox and Dutch Leonard finished.
1918 - Babe Ruth's blast over the fence in Fenway scores Amos Strunk as the Red Sox win 1-0 over Cleveland. Prevailing rules regarding the winning run scoring ahead of the home run reduce Babe's home run to a triple.
1919 - William Veeck, former sportswriter, replaces Fred Mitchell as Cubs president, but Mitchell remains manager for Chicago.
1920 - After banging out 11 straight hits, Tris Speaker of the Cleveland Indians is stopped by Tom Zachary of Washington. It's the record until Pinky Higgins of the Red Sox racks up 12 in a row in 1938.
1923 - Cleveland scores in every inning against the Red Sox, but playing at home, the team does not bat in the ninth of a doubleheader opener. They run up an A.L. record twenty-seven runs, including 13 in the sixth inning, for a 27-3 win
1927 - Mel Ott, 18 years old, hits his first Major League home run, an inside-the-park round-tripper. It is the only inside-the-park job of his 511 career homers.
1930 - The Athletics pull off triple steals twice in one game against the Indians. This is the only time in Major League history that this has occurred.
1932 - Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges is shot twice in his Chicago hotel room by a spurned girlfriend, Violet Popovich Valli. In a scuffle for the gun, Jurges is hit in the shoulder and hand. Jurges fails to prosecute, and Valli will be signed to a 22-week contract to sing in local nightclubs. Jurges recovers and play thru the 1947 season.
1932 - To save train fare for the single-date appearance, Connie Mack takes along just two A's pitchers to Cleveland. Lew Krausse the A's starting pitcher, gives up four hits in the first inning and his replacement, Eddie Rommel pitches 17 innings in relief, giving up a record 29 hits, but wins 18-17.
1933 - The first major-league All-Star Game is played at Comiskey Park, and Babe Ruth is the star. His two-run home run is the margin of victory in the American League's 4-2 win. John McGraw comes out of retirement to manage the National League.
1934 - Babe Ruth hit his 700th home run in a 4-2 victory over Tommy Bridges and the Detroit Tigers.
1935 - The Reds oversell their night game, and 30,000 jam in for the match against the Cards. Kitty Burke, a female fan, slips under the ropes around the infield and grabs a bat. Paul Dean lobs a pitch and she grounds out. St. Louis manager Frankie Frisch demands it count as an at bat.
1935 - Tony Cuccinello of the Dodgers and Al Cuccinello of the Giants hit home runs, the first time in the National League brothers on opposing teams homered in the same game.
1939 - A tearful Lou Gehrig tells 61,808 fans at Yankee Stadium, 'I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.' Gehrig's uniform number four is retired, the first Major League player so honored.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak of 56 games was stopped (July 17th) by Al Smith and Jim Bagby of the Indians before 67,000 at Cleveland. The Yankees still won, 4-3.
1942 - A military All-star team that includes Bob Feller, Cecil Travis, Sam Chapman, Benny McCoy, Johnny Sturm, and Frankie Pytlak loses 5-0 to A.L. stars in a game at Cleveland in front of more than 60,000 fans. Military relief receives $160,000.
1945 - The All-Star Game at Fenway Park is canceled because of travel restrictions enforced by World War II.
1945 - The Cubs purchase pitcher Hank Borowy from the New York Yankees in an unexpected waiver deal. Borowy, 10-5 with the Yankees, was put on waivers, apparently to solve a roster problem. The Cubs snatch him for $97,500, and he will help the Cubs win the pennant with an 11-2 record.
1945 - The first of the superstars returns from the war. Hank Greenberg, gone for four years, homers in his first game following his release from the Army.
1945 - Tommy Holmes of the Boston Braves went hitless to end his consecutive-game hitting streak at 37 games, a National League record that stood until Pete Rose broke it in 1978.
1948 - After 8 1/2 years as Brooklyn manager, Leo Durocher stunned baseball by becoming manager of the Giants in midseason.
1948 - Babe Ruth makes his last public appearance, at the New York premiere of the film The Babe Ruth Story. He will die three weeks later.
1948 - Brooklyn's Roy Campanella makes his debut, catching Ralph Branca. Campy doubles in his first at-bat and adds two singles, but the Giants win 6-4.
1948 - The Indians sign Satchel Paige, fabulous veteran Negro League pitcher. Ridiculed as a Bill Veeck publicity stunt, the move pays as the 42-year-old Paige finishes 6-1.
1950 - With rookie Joe Collins not hitting and Tommy Henrich injured, Casey Stengel asks Joe DiMaggio to play first base in an experiment. In the 7-2 loss he handles 13 chances cleanly.
1951 - After sweeping the Giants in a three-game series, Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen declares, 'We knocked 'em out. They won't bother us anymore.' The Dodgers now lead the Giants by 7 1/2 games, but the Giants will have the last laugh.
1951 - The feud between Joe DiMaggio and Casey Stengel reaches a head. In the second inning of a game, because of a misplay in the first, Stengel sends reserve Jackie Jensen out to center field to relieve the Yankee Clipper after he had already taken his position.
1952 - Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick sets a waiver rule to bar interleague deals until all clubs bid, with the club lowest in the league to get first pick. He sets the price at $10,000. He also bars all other deals after July 31.
1954 - Joe Cunningham of the Cards hits two home runs in a game against Milwaukee, giving him a record three roundtrippers in his first two days in the major leagues. In his first seven at-bats, he has nine RBI.
1954 - Pitcher Dean Stone did not retire a batter and received credit for the American League's 11-9 All-Star victory at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. Red Schoendienst tried to steal a run for the Natioinal League after Stone was summoned into the game in the eighth inning, but the pitcher's throw to the plate nailed the runner for the third out.
1956 - Ford Frick inaugurates the Cy Young Award, to honor one outstanding pitcher each year. The Baseball Writers Association will do the voting. Only one pitcher will be honored each year until 1967, when a pitcher in each league will be selected.
1959 - Fidel Castro supporters bring a halt to the International League contest between the Rochester Red Wings and Havana Sugar Kings with random gunshots from the grandstand. Red Wings third base coach Frank Verdi and Havana shortstop Leo Cardenas both suffer minor flesh wounds. The team is pulled from the field and Havana cancels the rest of the homestand, eventually relocating the franchise in Newark for the 1960 season.
1959 - Willie McCovey had four hits in four at-bats in his Major League debut with the San Francisco Giants. He had two triples in a 7-2 win over Philadelphia.
1961 - Strong winds dominate the first All-Star Game of 1961. A capacity crowd sees pitcher Stu Miller blown off the mound in the ninth inning at Candlestick Park. A balk is called, and it enables the American League to forge a 3-3 tie before losing 5-4 in ten innings.
1962 - For the first time since 1938, when the Waner brothers pulled the trick, brothers Hank and Tommie Aaron homer in the same inning.
1962 - The National League rejects Commissioner Ford Frick's proposal for interleague play in 1963.
1963 - At 12:31 A.M. in San Francisco, Willie Mays homers off Warren Spahn in the bottom of the 16th inning to give Juan Marichal a 1-0 victory in the National League's longest game ended by a home run.
1963 - Early Wynn, at 43, registered his 300th and last victory, pitching the first five innings of Cleveland's 7-4 triumph over the Kansas City A's.
1964 - Jesus Alou gets six hits against six different pitchers as the Giants beat the Cubs 10-3.
1965 - Horseplay between Phillies teammates Frank Thomas and Dick Allen turns serious when Thomas swings a bat at Allen. Following the game, Thomas is released and signs with Houston.
1966 - Pitcher Tony Cloninger hits two grand slams and drives in nine runs as the Braves rout the Giants at Candlestick Park 17-3. Cloninger is the first National League player to hit two grand slams in a game, and his nine RBI set a Major League record for pitchers.
1968 - Hank Aaron got his 500th home run off Mike McCormick as the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2.
1968 - The N.L. announces plans to break into two divisions for 1969. The Eastern Division will feature New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Chicago, and St. Louis. In the Western will be Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Cincinnati, San Diego, and Atlanta.
1969 - Rod Carew stole home off Chicago's Jerry Nyman in the Minnesota Twins' 6-2 victory. It was Carew's seventh steal of home for the year and last, one shy of the Major League / American League record set by Ty Cobb in 1912.
1970 - Detroit's Joe Niekro no-hits the Yankees (July 2) until Horace Clarke singles in the ninth inning as the Tigers win 5-0. This is the third time in the month that Clarke has broken up a no-hitter, having spoiled bids by Kansas City's Jim Rooker (June 4) and Boston's Sonny Siebert (June 19).
1970 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds scored on Jim Hickman's 12th-inning single after bowling over Cleveland's Ray Fosse at home plate to give the National League a 5-4 victory over the American League at Riverfront Stadium.
1971 - Sixteen-time Gold Glove winner Brooks Robinson committed three errors in the sixth inning against the Oakland A's. Frank Robinson's three-run homer in the ninth won the game for the Orioles.
1972 - Dick Allen becomes the first player since 1950, and the seventh in history, to hit two inside-the-park homers in a game.
1972 - In a Major League first, Bill Haller was the umpire behind the plate while his brother Tom Haller was the catcher for the Detroit Tigers.
1974 - Mike Marshall picks up a 3-2 win over Reds. Over the past 30 days, Marshall is 9-0 with three saves and a 1.82 ERA in twenty appearances.
1975 - Joe Torre of the New York Mets grounded into four double plays in a 6-2 loss to the Houston Astros. Felix Millan had four singles but was wiped out each time by Torre.
1976 - In a pre-game promotion at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, thirty-four couples are married at home plate. The nuptials are then followed by Championship Wrestling in an evening billed as 'Headlocks and Wedlocks.
1976 - Randy Jones beats the Cubs 6-3 for his 16th win of the year for the Padres, an N.L. record for wins at the All-Star break. In the second half of the season, the Padres lefty will lose seven games by one run, including two 1-0 scores.
1978 - Doc Medich of the Texas Rangers saved the life of a 61-year-old fan who had a heart attack before a game at Baltimore. Medich, a medical student, administered heart massage until help arrived
1978 - The Yankees win the first game of a doubleheader 11-0, but the Indians rebound to win the second game 17-5. Duane Kuiper ties the Major League record with two bases-loaded triples in the nightcap, only the third player (after Bill Bruton and Elmer Valo) to do so in the twentieth century.
1978 - The Yankees win their fifth straight, 3-1, over the White Sox. At the Chicago airport, Billy Martin, reacting to reporters' questions about Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner, replies, "The two deserve each other. One's a born liar; the other's convicted." The remarks will cost Billy his job.
1979 - Thousands of fans overran the Comiskey Park field during Disco Demolition Night, causing the Chicago White Sox to forfeit the second game of a doubleheader.
1980 - Johnny Bench broke Yogi Berra's record for home runs by a catcher as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos 12-7. Bench hit his 314th homer as a catcher off David Palmer. Bench had thirty-three home runs while playing other positions.
1980 - Nolan Ryan fans Reds outfielder Cesar Geronimo to become the fourth pitcher ever to reach 3,000 career strikeouts. Geronimo was also Bob Gibson's 3,000th career strikeout victim.
1982 - In the first Old-timer's All-Star Classic, played at Washington's RFK Stadium before 29,000 fans, the American League won 7-2. Luke Appling, 75, led off for the American League and hit a home run over the shortened left-field fence off Warren Spahn.
1982 - Oakland's Rickey Henderson gets caught stealing three times by the Angels, across 13-innings. Not since 1932, has an American Leaguer been thrown out three times in a game.
1982 - Rangers slugger Larry Parrish hits his third grand slam of the week in a 6-5 win over the Tigers, on July 10th, tying the major-league record set by Detroit's Jim Northrup in 1968. Parrish also hit grand slams July 4 against Oakland and July 7 against Boston.
1982 - The Atlanta Braves returned Chief Noc-A-Homa and his teepee to the left field after losing 19 of 21 games and blowing a 10 1/2-game lead. The teepee was removed for more seats. The team recovered to regain first place.
1983 - In the memorable Pine Tar Game at Yankee Stadium, George Brett hits an apparent 2-run home run off Rich Gossage to give the Royals a 5-4 lead with two outs in the ninth inning. But Yankees manager Billy Martin points out that the pine tar on Brett's bat handle exceeds the seventeen inches allowed in the rules. As a result, Brett is called out for illegally batting the ball, giving New York a 4-3 victory. The Royals immediately protest, and American League President Lee MacPhail overrules his umpires for the first time saying that, while the rules should certainly be rewritten and clarified, the home run will stand and the game will be resumed from that point on August 18.
1983 - The Rangers explode for 12 runs in the 15th inning of a 16-4 win over the A's, setting a new major-league record for runs in a single extra inning
1985 - July 4th, In a marathon game that borders on the surreal, the Mets endure two rain delays and six hours and ten minutes of playing time to beat the Braves 16-13 in 19 innings. Relief pitcher Rick Camp, an .060 career hitter, homers in the 18th inning to tie the game no pitcher has ever homered that late in a game. Keith Hernandez hits for the cycle in a game that ends at 3:55 a.m. on July 5, the latest finish in Major League history. At 4:01 a.m., the post-game fireworks display begins, causing some local residents to think the city is under attack.
1986 - Atlanta's Dale Murphy does not play in the Braves 7-3 win over the Phillies, ending his consecutive-game streak at 740. Murphy hadn't missed a game since September 1981.
1987 - Billy Ripken, 22, joins his brother Cal in the Orioles starting lineup in Baltimore's 2-1 loss to the Twins. Orioles manager Cal Ripken, Sr., is the first to manage two sons in the Majors.
1987 - Don Mattingly became the first American League player to hit at least one home run in each of eight consecutive games.
1987 - In a seven-player swap, the Padres trade pitchers Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts and outfielder Kevin Mitchell to the Giants for third baseman Chris Brown and pitchers Keith Comstock, Mark Davis, and Mark Grant. In 1989, Mitchell will win the MVP Award for the Giants and Davis will win the Cy Young for the Padres.
1987 - Mark McGwire became the first rookie to hit 30 homers before the All-Star break.
1988 - Chris Speier hits for the cycle and Ernest Riles hits the 10,000th home run in Giants history to lead San Francisco to a 21-2 rout of the Cardinals.
1988 - Jose Canseco belts two home runs in the A's 6-2 win over Seattle to become the first player to hit thirty or more home runs in each of his first three Major League seasons.
1988 - Tommy John makes three errors on one play in the Yankees' 16-3 rout of the Brewers.
1989 - Barry Bonds homers in Pittsburgh's 6-4 loss to the Giants, giving Barry and father Bobby the major league father-and-son home run record with 408. The Bells (Gus and Buddy) and the Berras (Yogi and Dale) had shared the record of 407.
1989 - Despite having retired May 29, Mike Schmidt is elected to start at third base for the N.L. in the All-Star Game. A's outfielder Jose Canseco, who has not played all season because of a wrist injury, is picked to start for the A.L.. Neither will play in the game.
1989 - The Twins trade American League Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola to the Mets for five players, including pitchers Rick Aguilera, David West and minor leaguer Kevin Tapani. Viola is the first Cy Young winner to be traded during the following season.
1990 - Minnesota became the first team in Major League history to pull off two triple plays in one game, but it wasn't enough as the Red Sox won 1-0.
1991 - Rob Dibble, just back from a three-game suspension, is ejected for throwing at - and hitting - Cubs baserunner Doug Dascenzo in an 8-5 Reds loss.
1991 - The Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins receive unanimous approval from owners to join the National League in 1993.
1993 - Mets outfielder Vince Coleman throws an explosive device - the equivalent of a quarter stick of dynamite - at fans after a game at Dodger Stadium. Amanda Santos, 2, suffers injuries to her cheek, finger and eye, and two others complain of injuries as well. Prosecutors decide to charge Coleman with a felony rather than a misdemeanor because of the explosive's strength and the amount of damage. The Mets later announce the high-priced Coleman will never again play for the team; he doesn't.
1993 - Rickey Henderson of the Athletics opened both games of a doubleheader with a homer, the first player to accomplish the feat in 60 years
1993 - Tom Browning decides that he has seen the view from the dugout often enough, so he leaves Wrigley Field and watches the Reds beat the Cubs 4-3 from the roof of a three-story building across Sheffield Avenue. He is fined $500 for leaving the dugout - not to mention the ballpark - during a game.
1996 - Tom Lasorda calls it quits after twenty seasons as manager of the Dodgers following a heart attack and an angioplasty procedure in June. Bill Russell takes over for the man who won two World Series, four National League pennants and seven division titles.
1998 - Donnie Sadler's first Major League home run was the first of Boston's record four two-out homers in a 9-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
1999 - After 22 1/2 years in the dreary Kingdome, Seattle finally played a home game outdoors, moving into a $517.6 million ballpark with a retractable roof.
2000 - Seattle's 13-5 win over Texas was interrupted for fifty-four minutes when a rainstorm drenched fans at Safeco Field and the $518 million stadium's roof wouldn't close because of a computer problem. The roof finally began closing about twenty minutes later.
1859 - In the first college baseball game ever played, Amherst defeats Williams College, 73 – 32 (66 – 32 by some reports) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
1875 - Philadelphia's Joe Borden, also known by the name Josephs, pitches the first no-hitter in Major League history, beating the Chicago White Stockings 4-0. The game takes one hour and 35 minutes to play.
1882 - Ambidextrous pitcher Tony Mullane of Louisville pitched with both hands in a Major League game at Baltimore. Normally a right-hander, Mullane switched to the left hand in the fourth inning. He eventually lost 9-8
1882 - Chicago sets a National League record for runs by beating Cleveland 35-4. Seven Chicago players get four or more hits, and six score four or more runs. The record will last until June 29, 1897, when Chicago will pile up thirty-six runs against Louisville.
1890 - Harry Stovey of Boston's Players League club becomes the first Major League player to reach 100 career home runs
1897 - Brooklyn pitcher Brickyard Kennedy becomes so upset at umpire Hank O'Day that he throws the ball at him. The baseball misses O'Day, who has his back turned, allowing George Davis to score the winning run for the Giants.
1900 - Boston hurler Kid Nichols notches his 300th career victory, beating Chicago 11-4. The win comes two months before his 31st birthday, making him the youngest to ever reach the magic figure.
1901 - Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox records his 300th victory with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia A's.
1902 - John McGraw was named manager of the New York Giants, a job he would hold for thirty years.
1902 - John McGraw, accused by Ban Johnson of trying to wreck the Baltimore and Washington clubs, negotiates his release from the Orioles and officially signs to manage the Giants at $11,000 a year. McGraw then swings the sale of the Orioles towards the Giants and the Reds.
1903 - Pitcher Jack Doscher, making his debut with the Chicago Cubs, is the first son of a former major-league player to also play in the major leagues. His father, Herm, was a third base with Troy, Chicago, and Cleveland before the turn of the century.
1904 - The Giants' 18-game winning streak ends when the Phillies prevail 6-5 in ten innings. The Giants record is now 53-18, effectively ending the National League race. At season's end, the Giants will refuse to play the postseason World Series against American League champion Boston.
1906 - Bob Ewing pitched the Cincinnati Reds to a 10-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies without a single assist registered by his teammates.
1909 - Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball pulled off the first unassisted triple play in modern Major League history.
1914 - Babe Ruth breaks in with Boston, pitching a 4-3 win over Cleveland. In his first Major League at-bat, Ruth strikes out. He will be 2-1 with Boston, spending most of the year in the International League at Providence.
1915 - At 41, Honus Wagner becomes the oldest player in the century to hit a grand slam. It is inside the park against Jeff Pfeffer of Brooklyn in an 8-2 win. The record will stand until Tony Perez hits a grand slam on May 13, 1985, one day short of his 43rd birthday.
1916 - At age 42 years and four months, Honus Wagner is the oldest player to hit an inside-the-park home run. He connects for the Pirates in the fourth inning at Cincinnati.
1916 - Ernie Koob of the St. Louis Browns went the distance in a 17-inning 0-0 tie with the Boston Red Sox. Carl Mays went the first fifteen innings for the Red Sox and Dutch Leonard finished.
1918 - Babe Ruth's blast over the fence in Fenway scores Amos Strunk as the Red Sox win 1-0 over Cleveland. Prevailing rules regarding the winning run scoring ahead of the home run reduce Babe's home run to a triple.
1919 - William Veeck, former sportswriter, replaces Fred Mitchell as Cubs president, but Mitchell remains manager for Chicago.
1920 - After banging out 11 straight hits, Tris Speaker of the Cleveland Indians is stopped by Tom Zachary of Washington. It's the record until Pinky Higgins of the Red Sox racks up 12 in a row in 1938.
1923 - Cleveland scores in every inning against the Red Sox, but playing at home, the team does not bat in the ninth of a doubleheader opener. They run up an A.L. record twenty-seven runs, including 13 in the sixth inning, for a 27-3 win
1927 - Mel Ott, 18 years old, hits his first Major League home run, an inside-the-park round-tripper. It is the only inside-the-park job of his 511 career homers.
1930 - The Athletics pull off triple steals twice in one game against the Indians. This is the only time in Major League history that this has occurred.
1932 - Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges is shot twice in his Chicago hotel room by a spurned girlfriend, Violet Popovich Valli. In a scuffle for the gun, Jurges is hit in the shoulder and hand. Jurges fails to prosecute, and Valli will be signed to a 22-week contract to sing in local nightclubs. Jurges recovers and play thru the 1947 season.
1932 - To save train fare for the single-date appearance, Connie Mack takes along just two A's pitchers to Cleveland. Lew Krausse the A's starting pitcher, gives up four hits in the first inning and his replacement, Eddie Rommel pitches 17 innings in relief, giving up a record 29 hits, but wins 18-17.
1933 - The first major-league All-Star Game is played at Comiskey Park, and Babe Ruth is the star. His two-run home run is the margin of victory in the American League's 4-2 win. John McGraw comes out of retirement to manage the National League.
1934 - Babe Ruth hit his 700th home run in a 4-2 victory over Tommy Bridges and the Detroit Tigers.
1935 - The Reds oversell their night game, and 30,000 jam in for the match against the Cards. Kitty Burke, a female fan, slips under the ropes around the infield and grabs a bat. Paul Dean lobs a pitch and she grounds out. St. Louis manager Frankie Frisch demands it count as an at bat.
1935 - Tony Cuccinello of the Dodgers and Al Cuccinello of the Giants hit home runs, the first time in the National League brothers on opposing teams homered in the same game.
1939 - A tearful Lou Gehrig tells 61,808 fans at Yankee Stadium, 'I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.' Gehrig's uniform number four is retired, the first Major League player so honored.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak of 56 games was stopped (July 17th) by Al Smith and Jim Bagby of the Indians before 67,000 at Cleveland. The Yankees still won, 4-3.
1942 - A military All-star team that includes Bob Feller, Cecil Travis, Sam Chapman, Benny McCoy, Johnny Sturm, and Frankie Pytlak loses 5-0 to A.L. stars in a game at Cleveland in front of more than 60,000 fans. Military relief receives $160,000.
1945 - The All-Star Game at Fenway Park is canceled because of travel restrictions enforced by World War II.
1945 - The Cubs purchase pitcher Hank Borowy from the New York Yankees in an unexpected waiver deal. Borowy, 10-5 with the Yankees, was put on waivers, apparently to solve a roster problem. The Cubs snatch him for $97,500, and he will help the Cubs win the pennant with an 11-2 record.
1945 - The first of the superstars returns from the war. Hank Greenberg, gone for four years, homers in his first game following his release from the Army.
1945 - Tommy Holmes of the Boston Braves went hitless to end his consecutive-game hitting streak at 37 games, a National League record that stood until Pete Rose broke it in 1978.
1948 - After 8 1/2 years as Brooklyn manager, Leo Durocher stunned baseball by becoming manager of the Giants in midseason.
1948 - Babe Ruth makes his last public appearance, at the New York premiere of the film The Babe Ruth Story. He will die three weeks later.
1948 - Brooklyn's Roy Campanella makes his debut, catching Ralph Branca. Campy doubles in his first at-bat and adds two singles, but the Giants win 6-4.
1948 - The Indians sign Satchel Paige, fabulous veteran Negro League pitcher. Ridiculed as a Bill Veeck publicity stunt, the move pays as the 42-year-old Paige finishes 6-1.
1950 - With rookie Joe Collins not hitting and Tommy Henrich injured, Casey Stengel asks Joe DiMaggio to play first base in an experiment. In the 7-2 loss he handles 13 chances cleanly.
1951 - After sweeping the Giants in a three-game series, Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen declares, 'We knocked 'em out. They won't bother us anymore.' The Dodgers now lead the Giants by 7 1/2 games, but the Giants will have the last laugh.
1951 - The feud between Joe DiMaggio and Casey Stengel reaches a head. In the second inning of a game, because of a misplay in the first, Stengel sends reserve Jackie Jensen out to center field to relieve the Yankee Clipper after he had already taken his position.
1952 - Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick sets a waiver rule to bar interleague deals until all clubs bid, with the club lowest in the league to get first pick. He sets the price at $10,000. He also bars all other deals after July 31.
1954 - Joe Cunningham of the Cards hits two home runs in a game against Milwaukee, giving him a record three roundtrippers in his first two days in the major leagues. In his first seven at-bats, he has nine RBI.
1954 - Pitcher Dean Stone did not retire a batter and received credit for the American League's 11-9 All-Star victory at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. Red Schoendienst tried to steal a run for the Natioinal League after Stone was summoned into the game in the eighth inning, but the pitcher's throw to the plate nailed the runner for the third out.
1956 - Ford Frick inaugurates the Cy Young Award, to honor one outstanding pitcher each year. The Baseball Writers Association will do the voting. Only one pitcher will be honored each year until 1967, when a pitcher in each league will be selected.
1959 - Fidel Castro supporters bring a halt to the International League contest between the Rochester Red Wings and Havana Sugar Kings with random gunshots from the grandstand. Red Wings third base coach Frank Verdi and Havana shortstop Leo Cardenas both suffer minor flesh wounds. The team is pulled from the field and Havana cancels the rest of the homestand, eventually relocating the franchise in Newark for the 1960 season.
1959 - Willie McCovey had four hits in four at-bats in his Major League debut with the San Francisco Giants. He had two triples in a 7-2 win over Philadelphia.
1961 - Strong winds dominate the first All-Star Game of 1961. A capacity crowd sees pitcher Stu Miller blown off the mound in the ninth inning at Candlestick Park. A balk is called, and it enables the American League to forge a 3-3 tie before losing 5-4 in ten innings.
1962 - For the first time since 1938, when the Waner brothers pulled the trick, brothers Hank and Tommie Aaron homer in the same inning.
1962 - The National League rejects Commissioner Ford Frick's proposal for interleague play in 1963.
1963 - At 12:31 A.M. in San Francisco, Willie Mays homers off Warren Spahn in the bottom of the 16th inning to give Juan Marichal a 1-0 victory in the National League's longest game ended by a home run.
1963 - Early Wynn, at 43, registered his 300th and last victory, pitching the first five innings of Cleveland's 7-4 triumph over the Kansas City A's.
1964 - Jesus Alou gets six hits against six different pitchers as the Giants beat the Cubs 10-3.
1965 - Horseplay between Phillies teammates Frank Thomas and Dick Allen turns serious when Thomas swings a bat at Allen. Following the game, Thomas is released and signs with Houston.
1966 - Pitcher Tony Cloninger hits two grand slams and drives in nine runs as the Braves rout the Giants at Candlestick Park 17-3. Cloninger is the first National League player to hit two grand slams in a game, and his nine RBI set a Major League record for pitchers.
1968 - Hank Aaron got his 500th home run off Mike McCormick as the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2.
1968 - The N.L. announces plans to break into two divisions for 1969. The Eastern Division will feature New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Chicago, and St. Louis. In the Western will be Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Cincinnati, San Diego, and Atlanta.
1969 - Rod Carew stole home off Chicago's Jerry Nyman in the Minnesota Twins' 6-2 victory. It was Carew's seventh steal of home for the year and last, one shy of the Major League / American League record set by Ty Cobb in 1912.
1970 - Detroit's Joe Niekro no-hits the Yankees (July 2) until Horace Clarke singles in the ninth inning as the Tigers win 5-0. This is the third time in the month that Clarke has broken up a no-hitter, having spoiled bids by Kansas City's Jim Rooker (June 4) and Boston's Sonny Siebert (June 19).
1970 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds scored on Jim Hickman's 12th-inning single after bowling over Cleveland's Ray Fosse at home plate to give the National League a 5-4 victory over the American League at Riverfront Stadium.
1971 - Sixteen-time Gold Glove winner Brooks Robinson committed three errors in the sixth inning against the Oakland A's. Frank Robinson's three-run homer in the ninth won the game for the Orioles.
1972 - Dick Allen becomes the first player since 1950, and the seventh in history, to hit two inside-the-park homers in a game.
1972 - In a Major League first, Bill Haller was the umpire behind the plate while his brother Tom Haller was the catcher for the Detroit Tigers.
1974 - Mike Marshall picks up a 3-2 win over Reds. Over the past 30 days, Marshall is 9-0 with three saves and a 1.82 ERA in twenty appearances.
1975 - Joe Torre of the New York Mets grounded into four double plays in a 6-2 loss to the Houston Astros. Felix Millan had four singles but was wiped out each time by Torre.
1976 - In a pre-game promotion at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, thirty-four couples are married at home plate. The nuptials are then followed by Championship Wrestling in an evening billed as 'Headlocks and Wedlocks.
1976 - Randy Jones beats the Cubs 6-3 for his 16th win of the year for the Padres, an N.L. record for wins at the All-Star break. In the second half of the season, the Padres lefty will lose seven games by one run, including two 1-0 scores.
1978 - Doc Medich of the Texas Rangers saved the life of a 61-year-old fan who had a heart attack before a game at Baltimore. Medich, a medical student, administered heart massage until help arrived
1978 - The Yankees win the first game of a doubleheader 11-0, but the Indians rebound to win the second game 17-5. Duane Kuiper ties the Major League record with two bases-loaded triples in the nightcap, only the third player (after Bill Bruton and Elmer Valo) to do so in the twentieth century.
1978 - The Yankees win their fifth straight, 3-1, over the White Sox. At the Chicago airport, Billy Martin, reacting to reporters' questions about Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner, replies, "The two deserve each other. One's a born liar; the other's convicted." The remarks will cost Billy his job.
1979 - Thousands of fans overran the Comiskey Park field during Disco Demolition Night, causing the Chicago White Sox to forfeit the second game of a doubleheader.
1980 - Johnny Bench broke Yogi Berra's record for home runs by a catcher as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos 12-7. Bench hit his 314th homer as a catcher off David Palmer. Bench had thirty-three home runs while playing other positions.
1980 - Nolan Ryan fans Reds outfielder Cesar Geronimo to become the fourth pitcher ever to reach 3,000 career strikeouts. Geronimo was also Bob Gibson's 3,000th career strikeout victim.
1982 - In the first Old-timer's All-Star Classic, played at Washington's RFK Stadium before 29,000 fans, the American League won 7-2. Luke Appling, 75, led off for the American League and hit a home run over the shortened left-field fence off Warren Spahn.
1982 - Oakland's Rickey Henderson gets caught stealing three times by the Angels, across 13-innings. Not since 1932, has an American Leaguer been thrown out three times in a game.
1982 - Rangers slugger Larry Parrish hits his third grand slam of the week in a 6-5 win over the Tigers, on July 10th, tying the major-league record set by Detroit's Jim Northrup in 1968. Parrish also hit grand slams July 4 against Oakland and July 7 against Boston.
1982 - The Atlanta Braves returned Chief Noc-A-Homa and his teepee to the left field after losing 19 of 21 games and blowing a 10 1/2-game lead. The teepee was removed for more seats. The team recovered to regain first place.
1983 - In the memorable Pine Tar Game at Yankee Stadium, George Brett hits an apparent 2-run home run off Rich Gossage to give the Royals a 5-4 lead with two outs in the ninth inning. But Yankees manager Billy Martin points out that the pine tar on Brett's bat handle exceeds the seventeen inches allowed in the rules. As a result, Brett is called out for illegally batting the ball, giving New York a 4-3 victory. The Royals immediately protest, and American League President Lee MacPhail overrules his umpires for the first time saying that, while the rules should certainly be rewritten and clarified, the home run will stand and the game will be resumed from that point on August 18.
1983 - The Rangers explode for 12 runs in the 15th inning of a 16-4 win over the A's, setting a new major-league record for runs in a single extra inning
1985 - July 4th, In a marathon game that borders on the surreal, the Mets endure two rain delays and six hours and ten minutes of playing time to beat the Braves 16-13 in 19 innings. Relief pitcher Rick Camp, an .060 career hitter, homers in the 18th inning to tie the game no pitcher has ever homered that late in a game. Keith Hernandez hits for the cycle in a game that ends at 3:55 a.m. on July 5, the latest finish in Major League history. At 4:01 a.m., the post-game fireworks display begins, causing some local residents to think the city is under attack.
1986 - Atlanta's Dale Murphy does not play in the Braves 7-3 win over the Phillies, ending his consecutive-game streak at 740. Murphy hadn't missed a game since September 1981.
1987 - Billy Ripken, 22, joins his brother Cal in the Orioles starting lineup in Baltimore's 2-1 loss to the Twins. Orioles manager Cal Ripken, Sr., is the first to manage two sons in the Majors.
1987 - Don Mattingly became the first American League player to hit at least one home run in each of eight consecutive games.
1987 - In a seven-player swap, the Padres trade pitchers Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts and outfielder Kevin Mitchell to the Giants for third baseman Chris Brown and pitchers Keith Comstock, Mark Davis, and Mark Grant. In 1989, Mitchell will win the MVP Award for the Giants and Davis will win the Cy Young for the Padres.
1987 - Mark McGwire became the first rookie to hit 30 homers before the All-Star break.
1988 - Chris Speier hits for the cycle and Ernest Riles hits the 10,000th home run in Giants history to lead San Francisco to a 21-2 rout of the Cardinals.
1988 - Jose Canseco belts two home runs in the A's 6-2 win over Seattle to become the first player to hit thirty or more home runs in each of his first three Major League seasons.
1988 - Tommy John makes three errors on one play in the Yankees' 16-3 rout of the Brewers.
1989 - Barry Bonds homers in Pittsburgh's 6-4 loss to the Giants, giving Barry and father Bobby the major league father-and-son home run record with 408. The Bells (Gus and Buddy) and the Berras (Yogi and Dale) had shared the record of 407.
1989 - Despite having retired May 29, Mike Schmidt is elected to start at third base for the N.L. in the All-Star Game. A's outfielder Jose Canseco, who has not played all season because of a wrist injury, is picked to start for the A.L.. Neither will play in the game.
1989 - The Twins trade American League Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola to the Mets for five players, including pitchers Rick Aguilera, David West and minor leaguer Kevin Tapani. Viola is the first Cy Young winner to be traded during the following season.
1990 - Minnesota became the first team in Major League history to pull off two triple plays in one game, but it wasn't enough as the Red Sox won 1-0.
1991 - Rob Dibble, just back from a three-game suspension, is ejected for throwing at - and hitting - Cubs baserunner Doug Dascenzo in an 8-5 Reds loss.
1991 - The Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins receive unanimous approval from owners to join the National League in 1993.
1993 - Mets outfielder Vince Coleman throws an explosive device - the equivalent of a quarter stick of dynamite - at fans after a game at Dodger Stadium. Amanda Santos, 2, suffers injuries to her cheek, finger and eye, and two others complain of injuries as well. Prosecutors decide to charge Coleman with a felony rather than a misdemeanor because of the explosive's strength and the amount of damage. The Mets later announce the high-priced Coleman will never again play for the team; he doesn't.
1993 - Rickey Henderson of the Athletics opened both games of a doubleheader with a homer, the first player to accomplish the feat in 60 years
1993 - Tom Browning decides that he has seen the view from the dugout often enough, so he leaves Wrigley Field and watches the Reds beat the Cubs 4-3 from the roof of a three-story building across Sheffield Avenue. He is fined $500 for leaving the dugout - not to mention the ballpark - during a game.
1996 - Tom Lasorda calls it quits after twenty seasons as manager of the Dodgers following a heart attack and an angioplasty procedure in June. Bill Russell takes over for the man who won two World Series, four National League pennants and seven division titles.
1998 - Donnie Sadler's first Major League home run was the first of Boston's record four two-out homers in a 9-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
1999 - After 22 1/2 years in the dreary Kingdome, Seattle finally played a home game outdoors, moving into a $517.6 million ballpark with a retractable roof.
2000 - Seattle's 13-5 win over Texas was interrupted for fifty-four minutes when a rainstorm drenched fans at Safeco Field and the $518 million stadium's roof wouldn't close because of a computer problem. The roof finally began closing about twenty minutes later.