This Day in Baseball History

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 2nd
1935 Braves outfielder Babe Ruth announces his retirement from baseball. The 40-year-old former Yankees slugger wanted to retire three weeks sooner but stayed when team owner Emil Fuchs persuaded him to continue to play because Boston hadn't played in every National League park.

Babe Ruth Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Babe Ruth. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com

www.baseball-reference.com

1990 Randy Johnson, blanking the Tigers, 2-0, becomes the first Mariner in franchise history to pitch a no-hitter. The southpaw strikes out eight while walking six in the first hitless game thrown in the 14-year existence of the Kingdome.

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[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 3rd
1980 The Mets select 18-year-old Darryl Strawberry as the team's number one pick in the June draft. During his stormy eight-year tenure with the team, the 6' 6" outfielder will establish franchise records with 252 homers and 733 RBIs.


1989 In a 22-inning game played at the Astrodome, Houston beats the Dodgers, 5-4, when Rafael Ramirez's run-scoring single plates Bill Doran, ending the contest at 2:50 a.m., seven hours and 14 minutes after it started. The longest game in National League history features L.A. center fielder John Shelby going 0-for-10 and southpaw Fernando Valenzuela finishing the game at first base.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 4th

1964 At Connie Mack Stadium, Sandy Koufax throws his third no-hitter in three years, blanking the Phillies 3-0. The Dodgers' southpaw, who will add a perfect game to his resume next season, joins Larry Corcoran, Cy Young, and Bob Feller as the only other major leaguers to pitch three career hitless games.


1974 On Ten-Cent Beer Night, home plate ump Nestor Chylak stops play with the score tied at five in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Rangers the forfeited victory over the Indians at Cleveland Stadium. The promotion, which sells an estimated 60,000 cups of brew to a crowd of 25,134 fans, becomes unmanageable when drunken Cleveland fans attacked Texas outfielder Jeff Burroughs and the umpires.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 5th


1973 The Rangers, bypassing future Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Robin Yount, select Westchester High School (Houston, TX) pitching phenom David Clyde in the first round (1st pick) of the amateur draft. The 18-year-old senior, who posted an 18-0 record with fourteen shutouts and five no-hitters, will be pressed into immediate service as a starting pitcher for Texas, winning only seven games in 25 decisions during his three seasons with the Lone Star State team.


1974 Oakland outfielder Reggie Jackson, tired of being picked on by Billy North, tackles his A's teammate in the Tiger Stadium clubhouse, starting a nasty fight, resulting in costly injuries. In addition to Jackson injuring his shoulder, Ray Fosse, attempting to separate the brawlers, crushes a disc in the catcher's neck that virtually ends his season.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 6th
1940 Warren Spahn, who will become the winningest left-hander in baseball history with 363 victories, signs a contract with the Boston Bees. Due to a clash with manager Casey Stengel and his enlistment in the U.S. Army, the 19-year-old southpaw waits six years before he gets his first major league win.


1958 Ozzie Virgil becomes the first black player to appear in a Tigers' uniform. The 26-year-old versatile Dominican will eventually play every position but pitcher during his nine-year major league career.



1971 All youngsters attending the Yankee game are given a youth-sized Bobby Murcer model wooden Hillerich & Bradsby Louisville Slugger during the team's annual Bat Day promotion. The banging of the bats in unison by young fans during the late innings of the Bronx Bombers' 5-2 victory over Kansas City caused pieces of concrete to start falling into the lower levels of the stadium, a harbinger that the Bronx ballpark may be in pressing need of repair.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 7th
1969 The Expos lose their twentieth consecutive game, dropping a 9-5 decision to the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. Montreal's streak of futility falls three defeats shy of the modern major league record established by the Phillies, who lost 23 straight contests in 1961.

List of Major League Baseball longest losing streaks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1983 Steve Carlton of the Phillies strikes out Cardinals' outfielder Lonnie Smith for his 3,522nd career strikeout to pass Nolan Ryan as the all-time strikeout leader. On the same night, Ryan strikes out three San Francisco batters to finish one shy of Lefty's total but will finish his career with 5,714, far ahead of the Philadelphia left-hander's mark of 4,136.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 8th
1934 The Reds become the first team to travel in an airplane when Cincinnati GM Larry MacPhail flies 19 players to Chicago for a series against the Cubs. In 1946, New York will be the first team to fly regularly, using a chartered Douglas DC-4 that will become known as the 'Yankee Mainliner.'


1952 Before starting a twin bill against the Reds, Dodger manager Chuck Dressen tells Cal Abrams that the bench warrior needs to taunt the opposing skipper if he wants to stay with the team. After spending the opener of a doubleheader mocking his opponents, the outfielder is informed between games of his trade to Cincinnati, effective tomorrow, and will need to report to his new field boss, one furious Roger Hornsby.


1961 The day after he graduates from high school, Lew Krausse, who hurled 19 no-hitters and struck out 24 batters in one game, signs with the A's as an amateur free agent for $125,000. Eight days from now, the 18-year-old fireballing phenom will throw a three-hit shutout against the Angels in his major league debut.


1969 The Yankees retire uniform number 7 in front of a crowd of 60,096 on Mickey Mantle Day at the Bronx ballpark. The Mick also receives a plaque from Joe DiMaggio that will hang on the center field fence, and then he gives the 'Yankee Clipper' a similar plaque, telling the crowd, "His should be just a little bit higher than mine."

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[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 9th

1988 The first printing of the sheet music to Take Me Out to the Ball Game sells at an auction in New York City with a bid of $2,750. The signatures of Jack Norworth, who wrote the lyrics, and Albert Von Tilzer, who set the words to music, appear on their creative work.

Lyrics
Below are the lyrics of the 1908 version, which is out of copyright.

Katie Casey was baseball mad,
Had the fever and had it bad.
Just to root for the home town crew,
Ev'ry sou[a]
Katie blew.
On a Saturday her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go
To see a show, but Miss Kate said "No,
I'll tell you what you can do:"

Chorus

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game.

Katie Casey saw all the games,
Knew the players by their first names.
Told the umpire he was wrong,
All along,
Good and strong.
When the score was just two to two,
Katie Casey knew what to do,
Just to cheer up the boys she knew,
She made the gang sing this song:

— Take Me Out to the Ball Game, 1908 version[12]