August in Baseball History

Interesting Baseball History for the month of August:

1877 - After St. Louis catcher John Clapp has his cheek smashed by a foul tip, replacement Mike Dorgan goes behind the plate wearing a mask. This is perhaps the first use of a catcher's mask in an official National League game.

1877 - The National League rule calls for the home team to submit three names of approved local men for each game, with the visiting team choosing one at random to be umpire. For a game in Louisville, Chicago's Cal McVey reaches into the hat and picks out a slip bearing the name of Dan Devinney, who accused St. Louis of trying to bribe him five days earlier. Disgusted, McVey then grabs the hat and finds that all three slips have Devinney's name on them. The incensed White Stockings demand a new umpire and then snap the Grays' six-game winning streak 7-2.

1879 - After Providence pitcher Bobby Mathews gives up six runs in the first two innings, he switches positions with third baseman John Ward, who pitches shutout ball the rest of the way to rally the Grays to a 7-6 win. Captain George Wright will successfully employ this pitching scheme several more times during the season.

1882 - In what is considered one of the greatest games of the century, Providence beats Detroit 1-0 on an 18th-inning home run by right fielder Old Hoss Radbourn. This National League game will serve as the longest shutout in major league history until September 1, 1967, when San Francisco will blank Cincinnati 1-0 in twenty innings.

1883 - In the most decisive shutout in major league history, the Philadelphia Quakers rout the Providence Grays 28-0.

1886 - Just as he reaches the ball on a long hit by Jimmy Wolf, Reds center fielder Abner Powell's pants are grabbed by a stray dog. Wolf circles the bases with the homer that wins the game for Louisville 5-3 in eleven innings.

1887 - At the Metropolitans' grounds on Staten Island, Athletic batter Gus Weyhing hits an apparent triple that right fielder Eddie Hogan kicks onto the stage of the play The Fall of Babylon. Since the ground rules at the park call for a double on hits into the theatrical set, the American Association umpire orders Weyhing back to second. After a futile argument, the Athletics leave and forfeit the game.

1887 - Denny Lyons of the Philadelphia Athletics is held hitless for the first time since May 23 to end a 52-game hitting streak. In two of those games, however, Lyons' only hits were actually bases on balls, scored as hits this year.

1888 - Kansas City Cowboys rookie Billy Hamilton, recently purchased from Worcester, steals his first base in the major leagues. Before returning to the minors in 1902, Sliding Billy will amass 912 stolen bases, a record broken by Lou Brock in 1979.

1889 - New York Giants pitcher Mickey Welch strikes out as the first pinch hitter in Major League history.

1889 - The Cleveland Spiders win 19-8 over the Boston Beaneaters, and become the first team in National League history to score in all nine innings of a single game.

1890 - It's a bad day for Pittsburgh's Bill Phillips as he becomes the first pitcher in major league history to give up two grand slams in one inning. Tom Burns and Malachi Kittridge each hit one in the fifth inning en route to an 18-5 victory at Chicago's West Side Park.

1891 - The Boston National League club shocks the baseball world by announcing the signing of King Kelly away from the rival Boston American Association club, thereby wrecking peace talks between the leagues. Kelly signs through the 1892 season for a total of $25,000, a figure that will not be topped by any player until the Federal League war of 1914 and 1915.

1892 - In the course of a 13-4 win over Baltimore, Browns left fielder Cliff Carroll attempts to field a ground ball. He misjudges it, and the ball becomes lodged in his shirt pocket. Before he can extricate it, the Oriole batter makes it to third base. St. Louis owner Chris Von der Ahe is so incensed that he fines Carroll $50 and suspends him without pay for the rest of the season. The league rejects Carroll's appeal.

1893 - Facing a left-handed Brooklyn pitcher, New York first baseman Roger Connor bats right-handed for the first time in his career and slugs out two homers and a single in a 10-3 win.

1894 - Chicago catcher Pop Schriver becomes the first player to catch a ball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument.

1894 - Jack Wadsworth of the National League's Louisville club set a record that still stands by giving up twenty-eight singles in one game.

1898 - Cleveland plays its final home game of the season and only the fourth at League Park since July ninth. With 83 of its final 87 games on the road, the Spiders have earned nicknames such as the Nomads, Exiles, Misfits and Wanderers.

1901 - Cincinnati and Pittsburgh players are clocked while running from home plate to first base. The fastest time for the 90-foot sprint is three seconds flat, by Pirates outfielder Ginger Beaumont.

1901 - Frank Isbell of the Chicago White Sox set an American League record by stranding 11 teammates on the basepaths.

1903 - Nap Lajoie is so furious that umpire Tommy Connolly has put an old black ball into play that he hurls the ball over the grandstand. His act results in Cleveland forfeiting the game to Detroit.

1903 - The Philadelphia Phillies were rained out for the 10th consecutive day, a major league record.

1905 - Pittsburgh second baseman Dave Brain, who hit three triples in a game for St. Louis against Pittsburgh on May 29, repeats the performance for Pittsburgh against Boston. He is the only player to perform the feat twice in one season. .

1905 - Ty Cobb makes his major league debut, doubling off Jack Chesbro, as Detroit defeats New York 5-3. The double is the first of his 4,189 hits, a record topped by Pete Rose in 1985.

1906 - Tom Hughes of the Washington Nationals becomes the first pitcher to win a 1-0 extra-inning game with his own home run when he homers in the tenth for a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Browns.

1907 - Walter Johnson, 19, debuts with Washington and loses 3-2 to Detroit. The first hit off him is a bunt single by Ty Cobb.

1909 - Giants player-coach Arlie Latham steals second base in New York's 14-1 win over the Phillies. At 49, he's the oldest major leaguer ever to steal a base.

1909 - The A. J. Reach Company is granted a patent for a cork-centered baseball, which will replace the hard rubber-cored one. This change will be particularly apparent in the NL in 1910-11.

1909 - Umpire Tim Hurst instigates a riot by spitting at Athletics second baseman Eddie Collins, who had questioned a call. This incident eventually leads to Hurst's banishment from baseball two weeks later.

1910 - In the most evenly matched 9 inning game ever played, Pittsburgh and Brooklyn each have eight runs, thirteen hits, 38 at bats, five strikeouts, three walks, one hit batter, one passed ball, thirteen assists, 27 putouts, two errors, and use two pitchers.

1910 - Using twenty 137,000 candlepower arc lights, two amateur teams play a night game in White Sox Park before 20,000. The first American League night game in the park will be in 1939.

1911 - The Reds finally get to the Giant's Christy Mathewson after 22 straight losses, beating him for the first time since May, 1908.

1915 - As Brooklyn's rookie pitcher Ed Appleton steps to the mound, St. Louis manager Miller Huggins, coaching at third base, calls for the ball. The rookie tosses the ball to him, Huggins steps aside, and the Cardinal runner scores. A change in the rules will prevent such trickery in the future.

1917 - Coaching third in a 1-1 game against Washington, Detroit's Ty Cobb gives Tiger base runner George Burns a shove when Burns stops at third on a long hit. Burns keeps going and scores the winning run for the Tigers. Clark Griffith protests, and Ban Johnson upholds him; the rules now ban coaches from touching a runner. The game is replayed, and Washington wins 2-0.

1918 - Christy Mathewson resigns as Reds manager to accept a commission as a captain in the chemical warfare branch of the Army.

1918 - Reds manager Christy Mathewson suspects Hal Chase of taking bribes to fix games, and suspends him for indifferent play. Chase will be reinstated and play for the Giants in 1919.

1918 - Secretary of War Newton D. Baker grants an extended exemption to players in the World Series. Three days later the National Commission gets an official approval to play from General Enoch Crowder, providing that 10 percent of the revenues go to war charities.

1918 - The New York Giants beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1-0, in a game that took only 57 minutes to play.

1919 - Cleveland pitcher Ray Caldwell is flattened by a bolt of lightning in his debut with the team. He recovers to get the final out, complete game victory over Philadelphia, 2-1.

1921 - A Chicago jury brings in a verdict of not guilty against the Black Sox. That night, jurors and defendants celebrate with a party in an Italian restaurant. Ignoring the verdict, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis bans all eight defendants from baseball for life.

1921 - Radio station KDKA and announcer Harold Arlin provided the first broadcast of a major league game. The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Phillies, 8-5, in Philadelphia.

1921 - Ty Cobb gets hit number 3,000 off Boston pitcher Elmer Myers. At 34, he's the youngest ever to do so.

1922 - The Cubs beat the Phillies 26-23. The Cubs led 25-6 in the fourth inning, but held on as the game ended with the Phillies leaving the bases loaded.

1925 - After a night on the town, Babe Ruth shows up late for batting practice. Miller Huggins suspends Ruth and slaps a $5,000 fine on him for disobeying orders on the field and team rules off the field. Ruth is forced to apologize before he's reinstated nine days later. The day after his return to the lineup, Ruth hits career home run number 300.

1926 - After three games with the Tigers are rained out at home, Connie Mack and Tom Shibe get a court injunction and play the first Sunday game ever seen in Philadelphia. A light rain holds the crowd to 10,000 while Lefty Grove defeats the White Sox 3-2. A court later rules that Sunday baseball is still illegal; it will be 1934 before the law changes in Philadelphia.

1926 - Dutch Levsen of the Cleveland Indians pitched two complete-game (doubleheader) victories over the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 and 5-1. He did not strike out a batter in either game. The Indians used the identical lineup in both games.

1926 - Ted Lyons of the Chicago White Sox pitched a no-hitter over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, winning 6-0 in a quick 1 hour, 7 minutes.

1929 - The Cleveland Indians, down to their last out, scored nine runs in the ninth inning for a 14-6 comeback victory over the New York Yankees.

1932 - John Quinn, at 49, becomes the oldest pitcher to win a major league game. Quinn earns the decision for Brooklyn in relief against the Giants.

1932 - The Red Sox eclipse the Indians in the second game of a doubleheader 4-3 in 11 innings. The game was previously scheduled for August 31, but a solar eclipse was due and blackened the ballpark for twenty minutes, so the game is played on August 28th instead.

1933 - William Veeck, president of the Chicago Cubs, urges a midsummer series of interleague games. He also proposes a split season. While some owners are in agreement on interleague play, Washington owner Clark Griffith opposes it.

1934 - Babe Ruth announces 1934 is definitely his final season as a regular player. He says he will seek a managerial role and will pinch-hit.

1934 - Making a farewell appearance in Boston, Babe Ruth draws a record 46,766 fans, with an estimated 20,000 turned away, at Fenway Park, the place where he began his career as a pitcher twenty years earlier. Ruth leaves the field to standing cheers in the eighth inning of the second game of the doubleheader.

1936 - Seventeen-year-old Bob Feller makes his first start and strikes out 15, one less than the American League record, as Cleveland beats the St. Louis Browns 4-1.

1936 - The largest crowd ever to watch a baseball game, between 90,000 and 125,000, sees a demonstration game at the Berlin Olympics. The world amateurs beat the U.S. amateurs 6-5.

1938 - Larry MacPhail has official baseballs dyed dandelion yellow, and they are used in the first game of a doubleheader between the Dodgers and Cardinals at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers win 6-2. The Dodgers will use up their yellow balls in three more games in 1939.

1938 - On Connie Mack Day at Shibe Park, the A's win a doubleheader from the White Sox, setting a league record by playing their seventh successive twinbill in eight days.

1939 - Ebbets Field is the site of the first telecast of a major league baseball game. The Reds play the Dodgers in a doubleheader. Red Barber handles the broadcasts over W2XBS. The Dodgers take the first game 6-2, and the Reds take the second 5-1.

1940 - Left fielder Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox pitches the last two innings in a 12-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Williams allows three hits and one run but strikes out Tiger slugger Rudy York. Joe Glenn, who caught Babe Ruth's last pitching appearance in 1933, is Williams'catcher.

1941 - Detroit pitcher Al Benton collects two sacrifices in one inning, a major league record.

1941 - In the third inning, catcher Mickey Owen catches three foul flies, the first time in the major leagues that feat has been recorded. His Dodgers whip the Giants 11-6.

1941 - The Browns Johnny Niggeling gets Joe DiMaggio in four at bats to stop DiMaggio's streak of 74 games in reaching base.

1941 - Umpire Jocko Conlan ejects Pittsburgh Pirates manager Frankie Frisch from the second game of a doubleheader when he appears on the field with an umbrella to protest the playing conditions at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. The rainy argument is later portrayed in a famous oil painting by artist Norman Rockwell.

1943 - Carl Hubbell wins his 253rd and final game, all with the Giants, as he beats the Pirates, 3-2. He will retire at the end of the year and take over the farm system for the Giants, which is down to two teams due to the war.

1944 - Red Barrett of the Boston Braves threw only 58 pitches to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0, in a nine-inning game.

1945 - At the age of 17, shortstop Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers is the youngest player to hit a major league home run. Brown homers off Pirates southpaw Preacher Roe at Ebbets Field.

1945 - Branch Rickey becomes the principal stockholder of the Dodgers. He and associates Walter O'Malley and John Smith acquire the 50 percent interest of the Ebbets estate for a reported price of $750,000.

1945 - Cleveland ace Bob Feller returns from the Navy and attracts a crowd of 46,477, who watch him strike out 12 and yield only four hits in a 4-2 win over Detroit.

1945 - Commissioner Happy Chandler sells World Series radio rights for $150,000 to Gillette. Ford had been the World Series sponsor since 1934, paying $100,000 annually.

1945 - Mel Ott hits the 500th home run of his career, a total exceeded only by Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx at the time. He will hit 10 more this season and one on Opening Day of 1946 to finish with 511.

1946 - All Major League baseball games (August 9th, four in the American League and four in the National League) are played at night for the first time in Major League history.

1947 - The first Little League World Series tournament is held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Maynard Midgets of Williamsport, with a tourney batting average of .625, win the World Series 16-7.

1948 - Cleveland's Satchel Paige made his first major league start and went seven innings to lead the Indians to a 5-3 victory over the Washington Senators.

1949 - A barrage of bottles from the Philadelphia stands as protest of a decision by umpire George Barr over a trapped line drive by Richie Ashburn results in the first forfeiture in the major leagues in seven years. The Giants are leading 4-2 with one out in the ninth when the forfeit occurs.

1950 - Hank Thompson hit two inside-the-park home runs in the Giants' 16-7 rout of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds.

1950 - Hitting just .279, Yankee great Joe DiMaggio is benched for the first time in his career. He is currently languishing in a 4-for-38 slump.

1951 - In another of Bill Veeck's legendary PR stunts, "Fans Managers' Night," a thousand fans behind the Browns dugout are given yes and no placards to vote on decisions by the Browns coaches. The fans coach the Browns to a 5-3 win over Philadelphia.

1951 - In his most interesting promotional stunt, Bill Veeck signs a three-foot, seven-inch midget, Eddie Gaedel, who goes to bat wearing the number 1/8 in the first inning of the nightcap with the Tigers. Lefty Bob Cain laughingly walks him on four pitches. Jim Delsing then pinch runs. Two days later, American League president Will Harridge bars Eddie Gaedel from appearing in any more games.

1952 - Satchel Paige, at 47, became the oldest player in major league history to pitch a complete game or a shutout when he beat Virgil Trucks and the Detroit Tigers, 1-0, in 12 innings.

1953 - Phil Paine, a former Boston Braves pitcher in military service with the U.S. Air Force in Japan, becomes the first ex-major leaguer to play in Japan. He pitches in nine games for the Nishitetsu Lions.

1953 - Ted Williams is back in a Red Sox uniform after military duty in Korea. He will finish with 13 home runs and a .407 mark.

1954 - Eddie Yost of the Senators draws his 100th walk for the fifth year in a row.

1954 - In a throwing contest between Jim Piersall and Willie Mays before a Red Sox-Giants charity game in Boston, Piersall hurts his arm. He starts the game but leaves midway. He wakes up the following morning with a sore arm that stays with him a year, and he will never throw quite as well again.

1954 - The Brooklyn Dodgers pounded the Cincinnati Reds 20-7 at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers scored 13 runs in the eighth inning after two were out.

1955 - Pitcher Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves hit a home run off Mel Wright of the St. Louis Cardinals to give Spahn a home run in every National League park.

1956 - The largest crowd in minor league history, 57,000, saw 51-year-old Satchel Paige of Miami beat Columbus in an International League game played in the Orange Bowl.

1957 - Gil Hodges hits his 13th career grand slam to establish a new National League record. This is the last grand slam in the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1957 - Richie Ashburn, known for his ability to foul pitches off, hits spectator Alice Roth twice in the same at bat. The first one breaks her nose, and the second one hits her while she is being removed from her seat on a stretcher. Ironically, she is the wife of Earl Roth, the sports editor of the Philadelphia Bulletin. The Phils win 3-1 over New York.

1958 - Out of catchers, the Cubs put left-handed first baseman Dale Long behind the plate in the opener against the Pirates. He is the first lefty backstop since 1906.

1958 - Vic Power of the Cleveland Indians stole home twice in the same game. He had only three steals all year.

1958 - White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox sets a record for consecutive games without striking out (98).

1959 - Branch Rickey resigns as chairman of the Pirates to become president of the Continental League, which never plays a game.

1959 - For the first time, there are two All-Star Games in the same year. With the managers picking the starting lineup, the American League wins this second contest 5-3 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

1959 - Giants first baseman Willie McCovey hits the first of his 521 major league home runs, off Ron Kline, as San Francisco downs the Pirates 5-3.

1960 - Facing just 27 batters, Lew Burdette pitches a 1-0 no-hitter against the Phillies. Tony Gonzalez, the only Phil to reach base, is hit by a Burdette pitch in the fifth inning but a double play erases him. The Milwaukee pitcher also scores the only run of the game.

1962 - Infielder Bert Campaneris of Daytona Beach (Florida State League) pitches ambidextrously in a relief appearance.

1962 - The Dodgers protest the wetting down of the field at Candlestick, a tactic they claim is to stop Maury Wills. The Giants win 5-4, but the watering ploy earns Giants manager Alvin Dark the sobriquet The Swamp Fox.

1964 - Ground is broken for Anaheim Stadium, future home of next year's Angels.

1964 - Mickey Mantle homers from each side of the plate in the same game for the tenth and final time, a major league record, as New York beats Chicago 7-3 at Yankee Stadium.

1964 - On the New York team bus following a 5-0 White Sox win, Phil Linz begins to play Mary Had a Little Lamb on his harmonica. Manager Yogi Berra orders Linz to stop, then slaps the instrument out of his hands when he continues playing. The incident is reported as indicating dissension on the club and Berra's lack of control, as well as the level of Linz's humor.

1965 - Following his doctor's advice, Casey Stengel announces his retirement as manager of the Mets. He will head up Mets scouting in California. The 75-year-old Stengel has been in professional baseball since 1910.

1965 - San Francisco's Juan Marichal, batting against Los Angeles' Sandy Koufax, complains that catcher Johnny Roseboro's return throws are too close. He then turns and attacks Roseboro with his bat. A 14-minute brawl ensues before Koufax, Willie Mays, and other peacemakers can restore order. Roseboro suffers a considerable cut on the head. Juan Marichal is suspended eight playing days and levied a National League-record $1,750 fine.

1965 - San Francisco's Willie Mays broke Ralph Kiner's National League record with his 17th home run of the month in an 8-3 victory over the New York Mets. Kinerhad 16 homers in September of 1949. Mays hit a long-distance shot off Jack Fisher.

1967 - Against Chicago, Brooks Robinson of the Orioles hits into the fourth triple play of his career for a major league mark.

1968 - Satchel Paige, 62 years or so old, and needing 158 days on a major league payroll to qualify for a pension, is signed by the Braves. He will not pitch a regular-season game for Atlanta and will become a coach on September 30.

1969 - Don Drysdale retires because of damage to his right shoulder. Drysdale is the last Los Angeles player left from the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1969 - Willie Stargell is the first to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium. The shot off Alan Foster over the right field pavilion roof travels 506 feet.

1970 - In their last meeting of the year, Baltimore defeats Kansas City 10-8. It is the Orioles' 23rd straight win over the Royals over a two-year span, a major league mark.

1970 - Jim Bunning notches his 100th NL victory, a 6-5 Phillies win over the Astros. Bunning is the first pitcher since Cy Young to win 100 games in each league.

1972 - During a 3-0 win over St. Louis, San Francisco's Jim Barr retires the first 20 batters to face him. Six days earlier, Barr had gotten out the last 21 men to face him. This gives Barr a major league-record of 41 consecutive batsmen retired.

1972 - Leo Durocher, formerly of the Cubs, replaces Harry Walker as manager of the Astros. It is only the second time someone has managed two National League teams in the same season. The first was in 1948, when Durocher piloted the Dodgers and the Giants.

1972 - Nate Colbert ties one major league record with five home runs, and sets another with 13 RBI, as the Padres take a doubleheader from the Braves, 9-0, and 11-7. At age 8, on May 2, 1954, Colbert had been at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis to witness Stan Musial's five home runs in a doubleheader.

1973 - Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk brawl at Fenway. With a 2-2 score in the top of the ninth, Munson, attempting to score from third base on a missed bunt, crashes into Fisk and they both come up swinging. Boston wins 3-2 in the bottom of the inning.

1973 - Willie Mays hits the 660th, and last, home run of his major league career off Don Gullett of Cincinnati.

1975 - Davey Lopes of the Los Angeles Dodgers stole his 32nd consecutive base without being caught in a 2-0 victory over the New York Mets, breaking Max Carey's 1922 record. Lopes tacked on six more steals before being caught.

1975 - Pitching brothers Rick and Paul Reuschel combine to hurl the Cubs to a 7-0 victory over the Dodgers. This is the first time brothers have collaborated on a shutout.

1975 - The first eight Phillies hit safely in a game against Bill Bonham and the Cubs, setting a major league record. The Phils win easily 13-5.

1976 - With the help of three picked-off Oakland runners at first base, the first such occurrence in the American League since 1910, the Brewers beat Oakland 4-3. Another oddity happens when Oakland's Billy Williams is called out on strikes after refusing to enter the batter's box. He is then thrown out of the game.

1977 - For the second straight day, Oakland's Manny Sanguillen foils a no-hit bid. This day's single is off the Orioles' Jim Palmer, who settles for a two-hit 6-0 victory. Yesterday's hit was off Mike Torrez, who finished with a 3-0 two-hitter for the Yankees.

1977 - Toby Harrah and Bump Wills of the Texas Rangers hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs on consecutive pitches in the seventh inning as the Rangers beat New York, 8-2, at Yankee Stadium.

1977 - Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants hit his 18th career grand slam - a total that still leads the National League.

1978 - The Braves trounce the Reds 16-4 and stop Pete Rose's hitting streak at 44 games.

1979 - The Phillies fire Danny Ozark, the club's skipper since 1973. Farm director Dallas Green takes over.

1979 - Yankees catcher Thurman Munson, 32, perishes at Canton, Ohio, in a crash of the plane he was piloting.

1980 - Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley sells the club for $12.7 million to the Haas family of San Francisco, owners of the Levi Strauss clothing empire, thus keeping the team in Oakland.

1980 - Pittsburgh's Omar Moreno steals his 70th base of the season, becoming the first player this century with three consecutive 70-steal seasons. The fleet outfielder swiped 71 in 1978, 77 in 1979, and will finish 1980 with a career-high 96.

1981 - After a seven-week strike, major league baseball players approved a split-season format. The New York Yankees, Oakland A's, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers were declared the first-half champions and automatically qualified for the divisional series.

1981 - Royals manager Jim Frey is fired and replaced by Dick Howser, whose Yankees lost to Frey's Royals in last season's American League Championship Series.

1982 - Joel Youngblood became the first in Major League history to get a base hit for two different teams in two different cities in the same day. In the afternoon, his hit drove in the winning run for the New York Mets in a 7-4 victory in Chicago. After the game, he was traded to the Montreal Expos and played that night in Philadelphia. He entered the game in right field in the fourth inning and later got a single.

1982 - Just five days after hitting three home runs in a 5-4 loss to the Twins, Doug DeCinces hits three more home runs in a 9-5 win at Seattle. DeCinces is the first player other than Ted Williams to hit three home runs in a game twice in the same season.

1982 - Oakland's Rickey Henderson steals his 100th base of the season in a 6-5 win over Seattle, tying the American League record he set last season. Henderson is the first player ever to steal 100 bases twice.

1982 - Rickey Henderson steals four bases in Oakland's 5-4 loss to Milwaukee to raise his total to 122 and break Lou Brock's single-season record of 118. The record-breaking 119th steal comes off pitcher Doc Medich and catcher Ted Simmons on a third-inning pitchout.

1982 - Seattle pitcher Gaylord Perry is ejected in the seventh inning of a 4-3 loss to the Red Sox for doctoring the baseball. It is the first time in his 20 major league seasons that the self-proclaimed spitball king has been bounced for that offense.

1982 - Terry Felton (0-11) is the losing pitcher in Minnesota's 6-3 loss to the Angels, dropping his career record to 0-14, the worst individual start in major league history. Felton will never win a major league game, finishing his career with an 0-16 record.

1983 - Greg Luzinski becomes the first player to park three home runs onto the roof at Comiskey Park, connecting off Boston's Oil Can Boyd in a 6-2 Chicago victory. Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams each accomplished the feat twice.

1983 - In the continuation of the Pine Tar Game, Hal McRae strikes out and Dan Quisenberry retires the Yankees in order in the bottom of the ninth to preserve Kansas City's 5-4 victory. The conclusion takes just 12 minutes (and 16 pitches) and, as the only game scheduled at the Stadium, is witnessed by a crowd of 1,245.

1983 - The Louisville Redbirds (American Association) become the first minor league team to draw one million fans in a season.

1983 - While warming up before the fifth inning of the Yankees 3-1 win over the Blue Jays game at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium, New York outfielder Dave Winfield accidentally kills a seagull with a thrown ball. After the game, Winfield is brought to the Ontario Provincial Police station on charges of cruelty to animals and is forced to post a $500 bond before being released. The charges will be dropped the following day.

1984 - In a 9-3 win over the Twins, Red Sox slugger Jim Rice grounds into his 33rd double play of the season to break the major league record set by Jackie Jensen in 1954. By season's end, Rice will extend his new record to 36.

1984 - Toronto's Cliff Johnson hits his 19th career pinch home run, breaking the major league record of 18 he had shared with Jerry Lynch.

1985 - Vince Coleman steals two bases in the first inning of the Cardinals' 9-8 loss to the Cubs to run his season total to 74, breaking the Major League rookie record of seventy-two set in 1984 by Juan Samuel.

1986 - Don Baylor of the Boston Red Sox set an American League record when he was hit by a pitch for the 25th time for the season, breaking the record he had shared with Bill Freehan (1968) and Kid Elberfeld (1911). Kansas City's Bud Black was the pitcher.

1987 - At the Pan American games in Indianapolis, the U.S.A. and Cuba are tied with two outs in the ninth when Ty Griffin hits a two-run home run to win it. For Cuba it is their first loss in twenty years of Pan Am competition.

1987 - August 10th, Phillies pitcher Kevin Gross becomes the second pitcher in eight days to be ejected for scuffing the baseball when umpires discover sandpaper in his glove during the fifth inning of a 4-2 win over the Cubs. Like Joe Niekro, Gross will be suspended for 10 games.

1987 - August 3rd, Twins pitcher Joe Niekro is caught with a file on the mound and is ejected during Minnesota's 11-3 win over the Angels. He will be suspended for ten games by American League president Bobby Brown, who doesn't buy Niekro's story that he had been filing his nails on the bench and stuck the file in his back pocket when the inning started.

1987 - Mark McGwire of the Athletics broke Al Rosen's American League rookie record by hitting his 38th home run in Oakland's 8-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

1987 - The Cardinals outfield sets a major league record by failing to record a single putout in a 4-2, 13-inning win over the Phillies. The 1905 St. Louis Browns, who played an 11-inning game with no outfield putouts, held the previous mark.

1988 - The Chicago Cubs won the first official night game, August 9th, at Wrigley Field by beating the New York Mets 6-4.

1988 - The first night game, August 8th, in Wrigley Field's 74-year history was postponed with the Chicago Cubs leading the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 after heavy rains started in the bottom of the fourth inning. Philadelphia's Phil Bradley led off the game with a home run, but all numbers were wiped out by the rain.

1988 - The Red Sox beat the Tigers 9-4 for their 23rd consecutive win at home, breaking the American League record held by the 1931 A's.

1989 - After weeks of legal wrangling, Commissioner Bart Giamatti permanently bans Pete Rose from baseball for his alleged gambling on major league games. Although the five-page document signed by both parties includes no formal findings, Giamatti says that he considers Rose's acceptance of the ban to be a no-contest plea to the charges.

1989 - Frank Viola and the Mets outduel Orel Hershiser and the Dodgers 1-0 in the first-ever regular-season matchup of defending Cy Young Award winners.

1989 - In his second start since returning to the major leagues after cancer treatment, Giants southpaw Dave Dravecky breaks his pitching arm while throwing to Tim Raines in the sixth inning of a 3-2 San Francisco win. Dravecky will not pitch again in the major leagues.

1989 - The Reds score fourteen runs in the first inning of an 18-2 demolition of the Astros. Major league records set during the onslaught include most hits in an inning (16), most players with two hits in an inning (7), and most singles in an inning (12).

1990 - The Brewers-Blue Jays game is delayed thirty-five minutes when a huge swarm of gnats descends onto the field through the open SkyDome roof.

1990 - The Ken Griffeys, Griffey, Jr. in center field and Ken (Sr.) in left field, become the first father-and-son combination in major league history to play as teammates, and they each go 1-for-4 in Seattle's 5-2 win over the Royals. The Mariners had signed the elder Griffey after he was waived by the Reds.

1991 - Doug Dascenzo commits his first career error after 242 games, an National League record, in Cubs' 12-9 loss to the Padres.

1991 - Mike Jeffcoat becomes the first American League pitcher to get an RBI since 1972 in a 15-1 Rangers rout of Milwaukee.

1992 - Atlanta's Charlie Leibrandt records his 1,000th strikeout and decides to save the ball. He rolls the ball towards the dugout for safekeeping, but neglects to call time out so Ricky Jordan takes second base on the error.

1992 - Bret Boone made history when he became part of the first three-generation family to play in major league baseball. Boone is the grandson of Ray Boone, who played from 1948-60, and son of Bob Boone, from 1972-90. Bret, 23, started at second base for the Seattle Mariners against Baltimore.

1992 - In the first matchup of National League knuckleballers in ten years, Pittsburgh's Tim Wakefield outduels Tom Candiotti of the Dodgers. The last time knuckleballs floated to batters on both teams came when Phil and Joe Niekro squared off in 1982.

1992 - The Giants announce that the team has been sold to Tampa Bay investors for a reported $110 million and will move to St. Petersburg for the 1993 season. Other owners will block the move in November, but one benefit is that the 1992 season finale becomes the first sellout at Candlestick since the 1989 World Series.

1992 - There were no hits in Clearwater's 1-0 victory over Winter Haven in the Single-A Florida State League. In what appeared to be the first professional game in 40 years without a hit, Andy Carter and the Clearwater Phillies beat Scott Bakkum and the Winter Haven Red Sox. The only run scored in the seventh inning on a pair of walks and a pair of sacrifice bunts.

1993 - Tony Gwynn has six hits against the Giants. It is the Padres outfielder's fourth game of 1993 with five or more hits. He becomes only the third person to get five hits or better that many times in a season.

1994 - Baltimore's Cal Ripken, Jr. became only the second major leaguer to play 2,000 straight games as the Orioles beat Minnesota, 1-0.

1995 - Ball Night at Dodger Stadium turned into the first forfeit in the majors in 16 years. Los Angeles forfeited a game to the St. Louis Cardinals after fans threw souvenir baseballs onto the field three times. The game was called with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

1995 - Detroit teammates Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell play in their 1,914th game together in a 10-7 loss to the White Sox. The pair tie the American League record for most games appeared in together.

1996 - The Cleveland Indians finished the season 12-0 against Detroit Tigers to become the seventh team to sweep a season series since 1900.

1998 - Barry Bonds becomes the first player in major league history to hit at least 400 home runs and steal 400 bases. The Giants' left fielder crushes his 400th home run into the right field seats on a 1-1 pitch from Flordia's Kirt Ojala in the top of the third inning. Bonds entered the game with 438 stolen bases.

1998 - Detroit's Tony Clark establishes an American League mark by hitting home runs from both sides of the plate for the third time in a season.