1879       At Star Park, Harry McCormick, the Syracuse starter, hits a first-inning homer to beat Tommy Bond and the Boston Red Stockings, 1-0. The round-tripper is most likely marks the only occurrence in major league history that a pitcher records a 1-0 victory, with his first-inning round-tripper being the game’s lone run.

1900       In Brooklyn, a sheriff seizes the St. Louis share of gate receipts to reimburse Gus Weyhing, recently released by the Cardinals after posting a 3-4 record in eight starts with the team, who claims he didn’t receive ten days of pay. Next week, the right-hander, known as Cannonball by his teammates, will sign with the Superbas as a free agent.

1928       Bob Meusel hits for the cycle in the Yankees’ 12-1 rout of Detroit at Navin Field. The 31 year-old New York outfielder becomes the second big leaguer to perform the feat for a third time during his career, joining John Reilly, who also accomplished the rarity three times before the turn of the century.

1933       Future Yankees superstar Joe DiMaggio sees his 61-game hitting streak come to an end in the PCL game against the Oakland Oaks. The San Francisco Seals’ 19 year-old outfielder’s accomplishment sets a new minor league record, shattering the mark of 49 established by Jack Ness in 1914.

1935       Ed Linke starts a 1-2-6 double play when Yankees outfielder Jesse Hill’s line drive that caroms of his head is caught by catcher Jack Redmond, who relays the ball to shortstop Red Kress to double up Ben Chapman at second base. The Senator right-hander spends two days in the hospital after being carried off the pitcher’s mound on a stretcher.

1939       New York scores in every inning, blasting the Browns at Yankee Stadium, 14-1. The home team, which doesn’t need to bat in the bottom of the ninth frame, coasts to an easy victory, thanks to the three-hit gem thrown by Red Ruffing.

1940       Spud Chandler drives in six runs with a single and two home runs, including a grand slam, in the Yankees’ 10-2 victory over the White Sox. In addition to the six RBIs, the 32- year-old right-hander goes the distance, limiting Chicago to five hits in the Comiskey Park contest.

1948       Former Dodger skipper Leo Durocher, who left the team ten days ago, makes his first appearance at Ebbets Field since taking over the Giants. The return of ‘the Lip’ is less-than-triumphant when his new team drops a 13-4 decision to Brooklyn.

1948       The Phillies, who are five games under .500, name Eddie Sawyer to replace interim manager Dusty Cooke, who had filled the position when the team fired Ben Chapman earlier in the month. The former skipper of the Triple-A International League’s Toronto Maple Leafs will get off to a poor start, posting a 23-40 won-lost record in his first year at the helm before leading the Philadelphia Whiz Kids to a National League pennant in 1950.

1948       With the approval of his wife Claire, an ailing Bambino leaves a hospital bed to make his final public appearance, attending the New York premiere of The Babe Ruth Story at the Astor Theater. The ‘Sultan of Swat,’ who will die of throat cancer three weeks later, leaves halfway through the film to return to his room at New York’s Memorial Hospital.

1951       In a 9-1 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Jim Russell becomes the first player in major league history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in two different games. The Dodger outfielder’s accomplishment will be surpassed in 1956 when Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle goes deep both right and left-handed in the same game for the third time.

1957       Tiger right-hander Jim Bunning two-hits the Yankees in the Bronx, 3-2, but one is Mickey Mantle’s 200th career home run, a ninth-inning line drive that clears the left-field wall. At the end of their career, each player becomes a Hall of Famer.

1960       The Phillies end their scoreless streak of thirty-eight consecutive innings when Johnny Callison plates Tony Gonzalez with a sixth-inning single in the team’s 4-3 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Philadelphia’s drought began when the team failed to score in the last six frames of a 3-0 win against the Giants at Candlestick Park, and continued when they were shut out in three straight games (2-0, 2-0, and 9-0) by the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

1961       Johnny Blanchard hits his fourth consecutive home run over three games, setting a major league mark. The backup catcher’s pair of homers help to pace the Bronx Bombers to a 5-2 victory over Chicago at Yankee Stadium.

1962       Braves hurler Warren Spahn, en route to a complete-game victory, homers off Mets right-hander Craig Anderson to set the National League record for round-trippers by a pitcher. The southpaw’s 31st career home run helps extend New York’s losing streak to 11 with a 6-1 victory at Milwaukee’s County Stadium.

1962       Red Sox pitcher Gene Conley and infielder Pumpsie Green mysteriously disappear after leaving the team bus stuck in traffic to use the bathroom and decide to stay in a hotel after being left behind. Green will rejoin the team tomorrow, with Conley staying AWOL for a few more days, making headlines denied access to the flight for Jerusalem because he doesn’t have a passport.

1963       Bob Aspromonte blasts a first-inning grand slam, fulfilling visibly-impaired ten-year-old Bill Bradley’s wish to see his hero hit a home run, leaving the third baseman in tears when the two embraced when the game stops to acknowledge the special moment. Their well-publicized friendship began last season when the Colt .45’s player went to a Houston hospital to visit the blindfolded boy, who had lost his eyesight when a tree that was struck by lightning fell on him.

1975       At Wrigley Field, Bill Madlock collects six hits in a game when he singles five times and triples in the Cubs’ 9-8 ten-inning loss to New York. ‘Mad Dog,’ finishing with a .354 average, will win the first of his four batting titles (1975, ’76, ’81, ’83) this season.

1984       In a 5-4 win over Pittsburgh at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, Expo first baseman Pete Rose singles for the 3,052nd time, tying him with Ty Cobb on the all-time career list. ‘Charlie Hustle’ will finish his 24-year major league career with 3,215 singles, accounting for 75.5% of his major-league record 4,256 hits.

1987       After hitting a single off Oakland’s Dennis Lamp in the first inning of the Brewers’ 7-4 victory at County Stadium, leadoff batter Paul Molitor pilfers second and third base and then swipes home plate to complete a rare stolen base cycle. The Milwaukee DH becomes the first American Leaguer to steal his way around the bases since Dave Nelson accomplished the feat with the Rangers in 1974.

1991       Mark Gardner no-hits the Dodgers for nine innings, but Los Angeles wins the game in the bottom of the tenth on two singles off the Expos’ starter and Darryl Strawberry’s RBI single off reliever Jeff Fassero. It’s the first time the Dodgers had been held hitless at home for nine innings since Johnny Vander Meer’s second straight no-hitter in 1938.

1992       In his 319th career victory, which surpasses Phil Niekro’s total for #12 on the all-time list, Nolan Ryan strikes out his 100th batter for 23 consecutive seasons, a major league record. The 45 year-old right-hander, who is 5-0 with an ERA of 1.65 in his last six games, gets the win when the Rangers beat Baltimore and Mike Mussina at Camden Yards, 6-2.

1993       The Padres trade left-hander Bruce Hurst, along with righty Greg Harris, to the Rockies for backstop Brad Ausmus and right-handers Doug Bochtler and Andy Ashby (the player to be named later). After compiling a 55-37 (.598) record in the first four of his five seasons with Friars, the 35 year-old southpaw starts only two games due to his rehabilitation from surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and labrum, appearing in only three games with Colorado after the trade.

1994       In the last appearance of his 25-year major league career, Marlins starter Charlie Hough lasts one-third of an inning, giving up five runs on four hits. The 46 year-old knuckleballer, the last active player to have been born in the 1940s, does not get tagged for the loss in the team’s eventual 10-8 defeat to Philadelphia, so he’ll retire with a 216-216 won-loss record.

1998       The Hall of Fame inducts Don Sutton and Larry Doby along with Lee MacPhail, George Davis, and Joe Rogan. MacPhail joins his dad, Larry, becoming the first father and son enshrined at Cooperstown.

1998       In the Blue Jays’ 6-3 loss to Boston at Fenway Park, Jose Canseco becomes the all-time Latin home run leader. The Toronto left fielder, hitting his 380th career homer in the eighth inning off David West, breaks the mark he shared with Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez.

1998       Trevor Hoffman fails to set a big-league record with 42 consecutive saves when Astros outfielder Moises Alou goes deep on the first pitch thrown by the Padres closer. The ninth-inning homer ties the game, but San Diego prevails and beats Houston in the tenth, 5-4.

2000       The Phillies send their number one starter, Curt Schilling, to Arizona for first baseman-outfielder Travis Lee and pitchers Omar Daal, Vicente Padilla, and Nelson Figueroa. Next season, the 33 year-old right-hander will play a major role in Arizona’s world championship, posting a 22-6 record while hurling a league-leading 256.2 innings for his new team.

2002       Carl Everett becomes the first Ranger to hit two home runs in one inning. The Texas designated hitter homers twice in the nine-run seventh inning during the 12-4 rout of the visiting A’s.

2005       After waiting through a two-hours and 43-minute rain delay at Wrigley Field to start the game, Greg Maddux becomes the 13th pitcher in baseball history to register 3,000 strikeouts. Taking an inside fastball in the top of the third inning, Omar Vizquel of the Giants becomes the historical victim of the 39 year-old Cubs’ right-hander.

2007       Jose Mesa, in a losing effort, becomes the 11th pitcher to appear in 1000 games when Washington beats the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, 7-6. The 39 year-old right-handed reliever, best known for his seven seasons with the Indians, has played for eight teams during his 19-year tenure in the major leagues.

2010       Allowing only a second-inning walk to Brennan Boesch, whose promptly erased on a double play, Matt Garza faces the minimum 27 batters in his no-hitter against the Tigers. With the right-hander’s 5-0 victory, the Rays join the 1917 Browns and White Sox as the only teams involved in three no-hitters in the same season.

2011       The 19-inning, six-hour and 39-minute game between the Pirates and Braves at Turner Field ends in a 4-3 Atlanta victory when Jerry Meals makes one of the worst calls in baseball history. The home plate umpire rules that Michael McKenry had missed Julio Lugo, although it was evident to everyone in the ballpark that the baserunner was tagged out three feet in front of the dish.

2012       Starling Marte becomes the 28th player in history to homer on the first pitch he sees in the major leagues when he goes yard to deep left-center field at Minute Maid Park off Houston’s Dallas Keuchel. The 23 year-old left fielder is the first Pirates player to hit a home run in his first big-league at-bat since Don Leppert accomplished the feat against St. Louis in 1961.

2012       After hitting a long fly ball down the left-field line at Citizens Bank Park, Carlos Gomez completes his home run trot around the bases. Arriving at home plate, he is made aware that the ball was called foul, and then the embarrassed Brewers center fielder promptly takes a called third strike on a pitch thrown right down the middle.

2012       Matt Harvey sets a Mets record for strikeouts in a major league debut previously shared by Tom Seaver (1967) and Bill Denehy (1967) with eight when he fans 11 batters in the team’s 3-1 victory over Arizona at Chase Field. In his 5.1 innings on the mound, the 23 year-old rookie right-hander from New London (CT) gives up three hits, while collecting a single and a double in the batter’s box.

2013       The Cubs trade Alfonso Soriano, along with cash, to the Yankees, in exchange for minor-leaguer Corey Black, a 21 year-old right-handed pitching prospect. The 37 year-old Dominican left fielder made his major league debut with the Bronx Bombers in 1999, developing into an All-Star second baseman, before being dealt to Texas four seasons later in a blockbuster deal that brought Alex Rodriguez to New York.

2020       Joining Stan Musial, Jason Giambi, and Reggie Jackson, Nelson Cruz becomes the fourth-oldest player in big-league history to record seven RBIs in a game. In the Twins’ 14-2 rout of the White Sox at Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field, the 40-year-old DH doubles in the first and second innings, strokes a solo homer in the fourth, and adds a three-run round-tripper in the eighth.

2020       After every team plays three games at the start of the season, there are no undefeated teams for the first time since 1954, and there are no winless teams in 55 years. The unusual occurrence results from the 0-2 Mariners, Pirates, and Diamondbacks beating, respectively, the 2-0 Astros, Cardinals, and Padres.

2020       The usually southpaw-swinging Ji-Man Choi bats from the right side of the plate for the second time in the game, homering off Antony Kay in the sixth inning of the Rays’ 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays at Tropicana Field. The Tampa Bay first baseman’s 861 plate appearances before going deep as a righty marks the most before shifting to the other side among non-switch hitters since Hal Trotsky accomplished the feat, having more than a thousand PAs with the Indians in 1935.

1963 WORLD SERIES

The National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers had rebounded from a late-season collapse in 1962 and went on to win the National League pennant with a six game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals. The biggest factor in the team’s comeback was an all-star pitching combination featuring a young lefty named Sandy Koufax and a right-hander named Don Drysdale. Koufax had struck out a staggering three-hundred six batters in three-hundred eleven innings and his counterpart had won nineteen games with a 2.63 ERA. Veteran Johnny Podres had added fourteen wins of his own (five of them shutouts) and ace reliever Ron Perranoski made sixty-nine appearances while going 16-3 with a 1.67 ERA. Their opponents, to no surprise, were their long-time rivals the New York Yankees, who in classic “Bomber style”, boasted four sluggers with twenty or more home runs and an equally qualified pitching rotation. Whitey Ford had twenty-four victories and Jim Bouton, Ralph Terry and Al Downing prospered as well winning the American League pennant by 10½ games. It was the seventh meeting in the Fall Classic between the two ball clubs with the American Leaguers leading the marathon 6-1.

Koufax went against Ford in the opener and quickly set the pace by striking out his first five batters including Tony Kubek, Bobby Richardson, Tom Tresh, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Before the Yankees had a single hit off the rising left-hander, his team was up 4-0. Former Yankee Bill Skowron (who had been obtained after the ’62 Series) singled home a Dodger run in the top of the second and John Roseboro cracked a three run homer later that inning. He added another run in the third and Koufax continued to dominate at the mound. After four innings, the Yankees were still waiting for their first base runner and things would not get much better. After sitting down Mantle, the Dodger ace forced Maris to foul out, but allowed the “Pinstripes” to load the bases on consecutive singles by Elston Howard, Joe Pepitone and Clete Boyer. The threat quickly disappeared though as Hector Lopez (batting for Ford) became the eleventh K victim. After striking out pinch-hitter Phil Linz in the eighth, Koufax had moved one K within Carl Erskine’s single Series game strikeout record of fourteen. The record would have to wait though as a late-inning homer by Tresh stalled the impending celebration, but it was only a matter of time. The first three of New York’s final four outs in Koufax’s 5-2 triumph came on a grounder, a liner and a fly ball. The last out of the game was record-breaking strikeout No. 15, with pinch-hitter Harry Bright submitting the score.

Podres attempted to keep Los Angele’s momentum alive in Game 2 and combined with two out relief from Perranoski to beat the Yankees, 4-1. Willie Davis set the pace at the plate with a two run double in the first and was followed by Skowron’s homer in the fourth. Adding to the Yankees frustration was the Series-ending injury to outfielder Roger Maris who was hurt running into a rail in pursuit of a Tommy Davis triple. With a two-games-to-none lead, the Dodgers returned to their newly christened west coast palace known as Dodger Stadium. Don Drysdale made the homecoming even sweeter with a three hit, 1-0 victory that ended with nine more strikeouts for the Yankees. Bouton had completed the outing while holding his own, but surrendered the critical game-winning run in the first on Jim Gilliam’s walk, a wild pitch and a single by Tommy Davis, who had just captured his second straight National League batting championship.

In a classic rematch of the Series opener, Ford and Koufax went at it again as one pitcher tried to complete a sweep and the other attempted to keep his team alive. Both adversaries held each other scoreless until the fifth inning when the Dodger’s Frank Howard launched a rocket homer to left. Mantle evened the score with a blast of his own in the seventh after going a miserable one for thirteen in Series at bats. Maury Wills, known primarily for his speed (one-hundred four steals in ’62) regained the lead for the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning and from there on it was all Los Angeles. First, Gilliam led off the eighth with a high-bouncer that resulted in a critical Yankees infield error between Pepitone and Boyer who had missed to connect on the throw. Then, Willie Davis came in with a sacrifice fly to deep center field that scored his leadoff man. Finally, Koufax stayed in to finish the job and went on for the six hit, eight K, 2-1 triumph that not only swept the Yankees, but also ended their latest consecutive Series winning streak at two.