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.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[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."

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[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]

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 10th

1944
"I was pitching against seventh, eighth, and ninth graders, kids 13 and 14 years old... All of a sudden, I look up, and there's Stan Musial and the likes. It was a very scary situation." - JOE NUXHALL, speaking of his major league debut as a 15-year-old.

Six weeks shy of his 16th birthday, Joe Nuxhall becomes the youngest player in a major league contest this century, beginning a 60-year tenure with the Reds organization, including his best-known role as the voice of the team's radio broadcasts. Making a ninth-inning appearance in a 13-0 rout by the eventual World Champions Cardinals at Crosley Field, the 15-year and 316-day-old Hamilton High School southpaw retires George Fallon, a batter almost twice his age batter but is unable to get out of the inning, yielding five walks, two hits, one wild pitch, and five runs.



1967
In front of his family and friends, Astros outfielder Jimmy Wynn, a Cincinnati native, hits the longest home run in the history of Crosley Field. The Toy Cannon's monstrous shot off the right-handed Mel Queen in the team's 9-4 loss to the Reds clears the 58-foot scoreboard in left-center and bounces onto Interstate 75 outside the stadium.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

1995
Legendary Hall of Fame announcer Lindsey Nelson, who for 17 years, along with Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner, made up the original broadcast team for the expansion Mets in 1962, dies of complications of Parkinson's disease at 76. In addition to doing play-by-play for the San Francisco Giants from 1979 to 1981, the colorfully attired announcer also called football games, including 26 Cotton Bowls, five Sugar Bowls, four Rose Bowls, and announced syndicated Notre Dame gridiron contests for 14 years.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 11th
1938
In the first of his two consecutive no-hitters, Johnny Vander Meer keeps the Boston Bees hitless in Cincinnati's 3-0 victory at Crosley Field. The Reds' southpaw continues his no-no mojo four days later by beating the Dodgers, 6-0, without giving up a hit in the first night game in Brooklyn.



1990
At 43, Ranger Nolan Ryan no-hits the A's, 5-0, becoming the oldest player to throw a no-hitter, extending his major league record to six. The 'Ryan Express' becomes the first player to throw one in three separate decades, accomplishing the feat for three franchises.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 12th
1939 The Baseball Hall of Fame, with much of its funding provided by the Singer Sewing Machine Company, is dedicated in Cooperstown, a site selected due to an erroneous report that claimed Abner Doubleday had invented the game in the small town. The players chosen from the first four Hall of Fame induction elections become the first members enshrined.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

1970 Dock Ellis throws a 2-0 no-hitter against the Padres in San Diego during the first game of a twin bill. The former Pirates' right-hander, who became an advocate of anti-drug programs, claims he was under the influence of LSD while tossing the most memorable game in his career.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

1981 With the owners and players unable to agree to free-agent player compensation, Major League Baseball experiences its first in-season work stoppage. The 50-day strike, which will end on July 31, results in 713 games (38% of the MLB schedule) not being played and the implementation of divisional playoffs to determine league championships.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 13th

1921 Babe Ruth pitches the first five innings and hits two home runs in the Yankees' 11-8 victory over the Tigers at the Polo Grounds. The 'Bambino' will break his major league record this year, going deep 59 times, but this is the only time he will be the starting pitcher for the Bronx Bombers this season.


1948 With a crowd of 49,641 singing 'Auld Lang Syne' to the Babe, the Yankees celebrate the silver anniversary of Yankee Stadium by holding 'Babe Ruth Day.' With members of the 1923 team (the first club to play in the Bronx ballpark) looking on, the dying superstar's uniform number 3 is retired and sent to Cooperstown.



1962 Warren Spahn's record drops to 6-7 when the Braves southpaw suffers his fifth one-run decision of the young season, losing a 2-1 decision to the Dodgers at Milwaukee's County Stadium. Sandy Koufax's fifth-inning home run, the first of only two round-trippers he collects during his 12-year career, proves to be the difference.


1973 The Dodgers infield, a quartet that will be together for eight and a half years, setting a major league record for longevity, plays together for the first time. First baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, third baseman Ron Cey, and shortstop Bill Russell are in the lineup in the 16-3 defeat to the Phillies.

 

[loophole]

thanks for posting these old school, i enjoy reading them every day.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 14th
1948 In front of a crowd of 12,622 at Ebbets Field, Jackie Robinson, who hits a third-inning two-run homer, and Cleveland's Larry Doby, the only two African-American big leaguers, play against each other for the first time. In the Sunday evening charity exhibition game, the Dodgers beat the first-place Indians, 6-2, raising $15,000 for the Brooklyn Amateur Baseball Federation, which benefits sandlot ballplayers in Flatbush.



1952 After purchasing Hank Aaron from the Indianapolis Clowns for $10,000, the Braves sign the 18-year-old Negro League player, assigning him to the Eau Claire Bears, their Class-C farm team. The future home run king, named the Northern League's Rookie of the Year when he hits .336 and nine homers in 87 games, will play second base for the Wisconsin minor league team.
* check out Hanks #'s for positions played





1965 Reds starter Jim Maloney, who strikes out 18 batters, no-hits the Mets for ten innings but loses 1-0 when Johnny Lewis connects for a homer in the eleventh in the Crosley Field contest. In August at Wrigley Field, the right-hander will again give up no hits through the first nine innings but records a no-hitter when his teammate Leo Cardenas connects in the top of the tenth, providing the only run in Cincinnati's 1-0 victory over Chicago.


1974 Thanks to Denny Doyle's one-out double plating Mickey Rivers in the 15th inning, the Angels beat the Red Sox and Luis Taint, who goes the distance facing 56 batters in the 4-3 walk-off loss to the Halos. California starter Nolan Ryan, throwing an unbelievable 235 pitches, whiffs Cecil Cooper six consecutive times in the Anaheim Stadium contest en route to striking out 19, a feat the 27-year-old right-hander will accomplish three times this season.

 

[Junior44]

. California starter Nolan Ryan, throwing an unbelievable 235 pitches

Man. how things have changed. If a manager does that nowadays, he'd get castrated

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 16th
1978
Reds' right-hander Tom Seaver no-hits the Cardinals at Riverfront Stadium, 4-0. The gem is Tom Terrific's first no-no after taking a hitless game into the ninth inning three times during the first 12 years of his career.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

1993
The Cubs celebrate the 100th anniversary of Cracker Jack with a party at Wrigley Field that includes distributing the candy-coated popcorn and peanut treat introduced at the Chicago World Fair in 1893, free of charge to all of the fans attending the game against Florida. Sailor Jack, the company's mascot, throws out the ceremonial first pitch.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

2014
"Major League Baseball today mourns the tragic loss of Tony Gwynn, the greatest Padre ever and one of the most accomplished hitters that our game has ever known, whose all-around excellence on the field was surpassed by his exuberant personality and genial disposition in life." - COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG, on the passing of Tony Gwynn.

Tony Gwynn, surrounded by his family, loses his battle with salivary gland cancer at the age of 54. The Hall of Fame outfielder played his entire major league career with the Padres, compiling a .338 career batting average over 20 seasons and collecting 3,141 hits en route to tying Honus Wagner's mark of eight National League batting titles.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 17th

1915
Cubs right-handed reliever George Washington Zabel, called into the game with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, throws 18⅓ of the Cubs' 4-3 victory over the Robins at Chicago's West Side Park. 'Zip,' establishing the major league record for the longest relief stint in one game, beats Brooklyn starter Jeff Pfeffer, who tosses a 19-inning complete game.

Cubs' reliever Zip Zabel (1914)
LOC - George Grantham Bain Collection



1942
During the second game of a twin bill in Boston, Paul Waner, standing on first base, gestures to the official scorer, Jerry Moore of the Boston Globe, not to credit him with a hit on the ground ball in the hole that Reds shortstop Eddie Joost knocked down. Big Poison doesn't want a questionable roller to be his historic 3000th hit, which the Braves right-fielder will collect with a clean single after tomorrow's off day.



1958
Tiger third baseman Ozzie Virgil, who became the first black to play for the team eleven days ago, collects four singles and a double in his first home game at Briggs Stadium. The 26-year-old Dominican's 5-for-5 performance at the plate helps Detroit to beat the Senators, 9-2.



1978
The crowd at Yankee Stadium initiates a new baseball tradition when they begin to rhythmically clap each time there are two strikes on the batter, inspired by Ron Guidry's 18-strikeout performance, establishing a new American League mark for southpaws. The left-hander's performance in the 4-0 victory over the Angels will lead the team's television announcer, Phil Rizzuto, to coin a new nickname, referring to the Lafayette native as 'Louisiana Lightning.'



1993
Baseball owners vote overwhelmingly, 26-2, in favor of expanding the playoffs for the first time since 1969. The new system, beginning in 1994, will double the number of teams that qualify for postseason play to eight by realigning each league to three divisions and adding two wild-card teams.

 

[Old School]

adding 18⅓ innings of relief to my "recods to never be broken''.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 18th
1961
Eddie Gaedel, the 3' 7" small person made famous by Browns' owner Bill Veeck, who employed him to lead off for one at-bat in a 1951 game, is found dead lying in his bed with bruises on the left side of his face after returning home from a Chicago bowling alley. Bob Cain, the opposing Tiger pitcher who issued a base-on-balls in the infamous stunt, is the only person from major league baseball to attend the funeral of the 36-year-old, whose cause of death will be determined to be the result of a heart attack.


1977
In the bottom of the sixth inning of NBC's Game of the Week at Fenway Park, Yankees manager Billy Martin pulls Reggie Jackson out of the game after the outfielder's lackadaisical effort in right field turns a fly ball into a cheap double for a Jim Rice. In the dugout, the skipper and the stunned, sensitive superstar begin screaming at one another, with coaches Yogi Berra and Elston Howard needing to separate them


2001
Citing he wants to spend more time with his family, Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. announces he will retire at the end of the season. The two-time MVP's streak of playing in 2,632 consecutive games established a new major league record, surpassing the once-thought insurmountable mark set by Lou Gehrig.


2012
After a lengthy ten-week trial, the jury acquits Roger Clemens on all charges of obstructing justice and lying to Congress when he testified at a deposition during a 2008 nationally televised hearing. The seven-time Cy Young winner, who won 354 games during his 24 years in the major leagues, contended that the success in the latter part of his career was due to an over-the-top work ethic and not the result of taking performance-enhancing drugs.

 

[Old School]

Today in Baseball History
June 19th

1942
Joe DiMaggio strikes out three times in a game for the first and only time in a career that spans 1,787 contests. Indians' hurler Mel Harder does the deed in the Tribe's 5-4 victory over the Yankees at Cleveland Stadium.




2007
On the bus ride to Shea Stadium to take on the Mets in an interleague contest, Twins' color commentator Bert Blyleven says he will have his head shaved if tonight's starter, Johan Santana, throws a complete-game shutout. The left-hander from Venezuela will shave the broadcaster's head after going the distance in Minnesota's 9-0 victory over New York's National League team.