TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1883       The Phillies, known as the Quakers at the time, win their first game in franchise history when they rout the White Stockings, later to be known as the Cubs, at Chicago’s Lake Front Park. Philadelphia had lost its first eight games of the season before today’s 12-0 victory and will finish the season in last place in the eight-team National League with a dismal 17-81 (.173) record.

1904       The Senators establish a major league record by starting the season 0-13 when the team drops a 6-3 decision to New York at Hilltop Park. Washington will be 11 games out of first place before the club wins its first contest this year.

1913       Walter Johnson’s streak of 55.2 scoreless innings ends when he gives up a run in the bottom of fourth in the Senators’ 10-5 victory against the Browns at Sportsman’s Park. The right-hander’s record will last until 1968 when Don Drysdale surpasses the mark, tossing 58.2 blank frames for the Dodgers.

1914       Jim Scott pitches nine innings of no-hit ball against the Senators but loses when he gives up two hits in the 10th inning. Howie Shanks’ bad-hop triple off the White Sox right-hander scores Chick Gandil, who singled leading off the final frame, giving Washington the walk-off 1-0 victory at Griffith Stadium.

1918       With the anticipation of crime rates decreasing in the city, officials in Washington D.C. lift the prohibition on playing baseball on Sunday in the nation’s capital. In five days, 17,000 enthusiastic fans, the largest crowd in the history of Griffith Stadium, will be treated to a dramatic, 1-0 extra-inning victory against Cleveland in the first contest played on a Sunday in the District.

1920       The Giants inform the Yankees, tenants since 1913, they are not renewing the Bronx team’s lease to play at the Polo Grounds at the end of the season. There is speculation the National League team, which later will decide to continue sharing their home until the completion of the American League club’s new stadium in 1923, may have been reacting to the team’s recent acquisition of Babe Ruth.

1920       Beating the Tigers in relief at Griffith Stadium 9-8, 32 year-old Senator right-hander Walter Johnson registers his 300th victory. Although the ‘Big Train’ hurled for mostly losing teams during his 21-year career, he will compile 417 victories, including winning 20-games or more for ten consecutive seasons (1910-1919).

1927       In the top of the seventh in the Phillies’ game against St. Louis, a section of the right-field stands of the Baker Bowl collapses, causing hundreds of fans to fall on the patrons below. Although there are many injuries, the only fatality is a victim of the stampeding crowd.

1939       During the Indians’ 9-4 victory over Chicago at Comiskey Park, a woman, sitting in the stands near the visitor’s dugout, is injured when Marvin Owen’s foul ball strikes her just above the right eye. The Indians’ starting pitcher, her 20 year-old son Bob, threw the pitch that resulted in Mrs. Feller needing seven stitches on Mother’s Day.

1950       Johnny Hopp helps the Pirates crush the Cubs, 16-9, when he goes 6-for-6, including a pair of homers, in the nightcap of a doubleheader sweep at Wrigley Field. The 33 year-old All-Star first baseman is called ‘Hippity’ by his teammates.

1956       The Orioles, taking a gamble, purchase sore-armed Billy Loes from the Dodgers for a reported $25,000. The 26 year-old right-hander will be selected for American League All-Star team next season and posts a 21-30 (.412) record during his four years with Baltimore.

1965       At Fenway Park, Carl Yastrzemski drives in five runs, hitting for the cycle with an additional home run. However, Yaz’s effort still falls short when the seventh-place Red Sox lose to Detroit, 12-8.

1967       Keeping a promise to his wife Merlyn, Mickey Mantle hit his 500th career home run on Mother’s Day, a shot into the lower deck into the right-field corner of the lower deck at Yankee Stadium. The ‘Commerce Comet’, now the sixth big leaguer to reach the milestone, hits the historic homer off Stu Miller, helping New York defeat the Orioles, 6-5.

1972       After twenty-one seasons with the Giants, 41 year-old Willie Mays makes a dramatic return to New York in his debut with the Mets when he hits a game-winning home run off Don Carrithers to defeat his former team, 5-4. The ‘Say Hey Kid’s’ 647th career homer in the fifth breaks a 4-4 deadlock.

1976       In an unusual promotion, visiting player Mike Schmidt makes many of the fans attending the game in Houston very happy. The promise of free beer for the Astrodome crowd if the Phillies’ third baseman strikes out happens when the slugger whiffs in the top of the fifth inning of the 5-1 team’s victory.

1977       Jim Colborn becomes the first Kansas City hurler to throw first no-hitter at Royals Stadium and second overall in that park, after California’s fireballer Nolan Ryan recorded the first hitless game in the ballpark during its inaugural season in 1973. The 31 year-old right-hander faces only 28 batters, issuing one free pass, in the 6-0 victory.

1977       In an 18-2 rout of the Indians, White Sox first baseman Jim Spencer collects a two-run single, a two-run homer, and his first major-league grand slam, driving in eight runs before being lifted in the fifth inning of the Comiskey Park contest. The 29 year-old infielder’s eight RBIs ties a franchise single-game record established by Shoeless Joe Jackson in 1920.

1978       In a contest best remembered for Tommy Lasorda’s postgame rant, Dave Kingman hits three home runs, accounting for eight RBIs against the Dodgers in the Cubs’ 10-7 victory at Chavez Ravine. The third-year manager takes exception to radio reporter Paul Olden asking his opinion about the Chicago slugger’s performance, responding with an obscenity-laced tirade that has become legendary.

1981       With a 3-2 win over Montreal in front of the largest Dodger Stadium crowd in seven years, rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela improves his record to 8-0. The 20 year-old southpaw, who has started the season with five shutouts and a minuscule ERA of 0.50, gets the victory when right fielder Pedro Guerrero hits a leadoff game-ending home run off Steve Ratzer in the bottom of the ninth inning at Chavez Ravine.

1986       Angel’s’ DH/outfielder Reggie Jackson homers off Red Sox hurler Roger Clemens to surpass Mickey Mantle on the all-time home run list with 537. The future Hall of Famer will retire next season, finishing his 21-year career sixth on the all-time list with 563 round-trippers.

1988       Jose Oquendo becomes the first non-pitcher to get a major league decision, losing to the Braves in nineteen innings, 7-5. After pitching three scoreless innings in an extra-inning marathon against Atlanta, the Cardinals’ utility man gives up a two-run double to Ken Griffey in the nineteenth to suffer the loss at Busch Stadium.

1989       In his first at-bat as a Cub, Lloyd McClendon hits a three-run homer in a 4-0 victory over Atlanta at Wrigley Field. The 30 year-old utility player, obtained in an off-season trade from Cincinnati for Rolando Roomes, plays a vital role for the division champs, hitting .286 and 12 home runs in 259 at-bats.

1994       The Royals retire jersey #5 in tribute to George Brett, a .305 lifetime hitter who played his entire 21-year career with the franchise. The 13-time All-Star third baseman won the MVP award in 1980, batting .390 for the American League champs, and led the team to its first world championship in 1985.

1996       Dwight Gooden becomes the eighth Yankee to hurl a no-hitter when he throws 135 pitches, beating the Mariners at the ballpark in the Bronx, 2-0. The 31 year-old right-handed ‘Doc,’ who hadn’t won a game in nearly two years, was almost released last month after starting the season poorly.

2000       Although Sammy Sosa gets five hits, Henry Rodriguez drives in seven runs, and Eric Young steals five bases, the Cubs still manage to lose to the Expos, 16-15. Young’s accomplishment on the bases is the most by a Cubs player since 1881 when George Gore stole seven bases.

2002       At Latino-American Stadium, 77 year-old Jimmy Carter throws the ceremonial first pitch of the Cuban League All-Star game. One-time big-league pitching prospect Fidel Castro, the dictator of the island nation, coaches the former U.S. President before the toss.

2003       Kendall and Jake Burnham become the first husband-and-wife team to appear in a professional baseball game when the newly-weds play for the San Angelo Colts of the independent Central League. With her husband Jake starting at third base, the former fastpitch softball star, with two out in the bottom of the ninth, strikes out looking at three pitches in the 8-1 loss to Amarillo.

2004       Chone Figgins, going 5-for-6, collects a triple, a grand slam, and six RBIs in the Angels’ 10-9 victory over Baltimore at Camden Yards. The Anaheim third baseman/outfielder, who drives in the game’s winning run in the 10th inning with a single, joins Buck Rogers as one of the two players in franchise history to hit their first career round-tripper with the bases loaded.

2005       In upstate New York, 11-year-old Katie Brownell, the only girl enrolled in the local Little League, throws a perfect game in front of an astonished crowd of about 100 parents and friends. The shy sixth-grader strikes out every batter she faces, allowing only three foul balls in the six-inning contest at Oakfield Town Park.

2006       On Mother’s Day, with his mom in the stands, Bill Hall hits a walk-off home run to beat the Mets at Miller Park, 6-5. The Milwaukee center fielder, joining many other major league players, uses a pink bat in MLB’s effort to raise public awareness of breast cancer.

2008       After making an outstanding catch of Kevin Millar’s line drive near the Camden Yards warning track, Boston’s left fielder Manny Ramirez high-fives a fan before throwing the ball back to the infield to complete a 7-4-3 double play. Red Sox fan Randy Dunning, attending the Orioles game with his mom and dad before leaving for Officer Candidate School at Fort Meade, becomes the glad-hand recipient of ‘Manny being Manny.’

2008       Trailing 6-0 to the Reds at Great American Ball Park, the Marlins score six times in the top of the ninth to tie the game. Florida, however, loses the game in the tenth as Paul Janish, in his second major league at-bat in his first major league game, gets his first big league hit, a game-winning RBI single.

2009       The Mets collect a franchise-record seven stolen bases in their 7-4 victory over the Giants at AT&T Park. Ironically, the team sets the club mark without the help of a sidelined Jose Reyes, New York’s all-time career leader in thefts.

2010       Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones both collect five hits, including a home run for each, in the Pirates’ 10-6 victory over Chicago. The last time two Bucs enjoyed a five-hit game on the same day happened when Willie Stargell and Bob Robertson accomplished the feat against Atlanta in 1970.

2011       For the first time since 1914, the Dodgers are defeated after allowing just one hit, losing to the visiting Diamondbacks,1-0. Chad Billingsley, the hard-luck loser, gives up a leadoff double in the second to Stephen Drew, who scores the game’s only run when shortstop Jamey Carroll fails to cover the bag in an attempted pick-off play.

2011       Jorge Posada, claiming a stiff back and then the need for time to clear his head, asks not to play after learning he’s batting ninth in manager Joe Girardi’s lineup. The DH’s decision to sit out the game causes controversy when Yankee GM Brian Cashman refutes his player’s injury to the media during the nationally televised game against Boston.

2012       At the age of 19 years and 211 days, Nationals’ rookie Bryce Harper becomes the youngest player in franchise history to hit a home run, breaking the mark established by 20 years and 173 days old named Gary Carter as an Expo before the team left Montreal to play in Washington. Harmon Killebrew remains the youngest to homer for a Washington team, accomplishing the feat with the Senators in 1955 at the age of 19 years and 88 days old.

2020       Art Howe, best known as the skipper of Billy Beane’s ‘Moneyball’ A’s, confirms he has been dealing with the COVID-19 since first feeling symptoms at the beginning of the month, according to an interview given to KPRC-TV2. The former major league manager and infielder found out he was positive for the coronavirus two days after being tested, was transported to a Houston hospital by ambulance, after trying to recover at home, where he remains in an intensive care unit.

1951 WORLD SERIES

The ’51 season has been referred to by some as “The Season of Change” as it witnessed the departure of several of the games veteran superstars and the introduction of a new generation of talent. Many of the games biggest names from the previous two decades were nearing the end of their careers and the empty spaces on the line-up cards would need to be filled by players of the same caliber. Luckily for the managers (and the fans), there was no shortage of up-and-coming talent in the various farm systems around the league. Several new rookies on the scene included a young switch-hitter named Mickey Mantle and a phenomenal fielder named Willie Mays. The nineteen year-old Mantle was called up to the big leagues from the Yankees Kansas City franchise and hit thirteen home runs in ninety-six games. Mays had been called up in late May by the Giants from their Minneapolis team (where he was batting .477) and the twenty-year old responded with twenty homers of his own. It seems fitting that in their first year of professional play, both future Hall of Famers found themselves competing against one another in the biggest game of the year; the 1951 World Series.

The Giants had steamrolled their way to the Fall Classic and were determined to dethrone their world champion, cross-town rivals. Manager Leo Durocher’s team had rallied to win the National League pennant after trailing the Brooklyn Dodgers by 13½ games. Beginning August 12, the Giants won sixteen consecutive outings and thirty-seven of their last forty-four to forge a tie for the top of the National League with Brooklyn. They went on to beat the Dodgers in a best-of-three playoff, ending with the infamous Thomson three-run homer off Ralph Branca that gave the Giants a 5-4 victory in the third game at the Polo Grounds. With Brooklyn out of the way, the Bronx was next and the Giants wanted to prove that the last team standing was truly “New York’s baseball team”.

Things continued to go the Giants way as they went on to shock the Yankees in a 5-1 Series opening triumph. Dave Koslo held the Yankees to just seven-hits and Alvin Dark came up big with a three-run homer. Monte Irvin was the game’s “MVP” though with three singles, a triple and the first Series steal of home plate since the Yankees’ Bob Meusel snatched the bag in 1928. Eddie Lopat got his team back in the running in Game 2 while pitching a five-hitter and adding a run-scoring single in the 3-1 victory. However, the biggest play of Game 2 involved a devastating injury that would haunt the New York Yankees for years to come. Willie Mays had led off the top of the fifth with a high shot to right-center in what was to be an easy fly-out. Centerfielder Joe DiMaggio prepared to make the catch while Mickey Mantle followed from rightfield in pursuit. According to several sources, Yankees manager Casey Stengel had instructed Mantle earlier to “take everything he could get” as ” Joe D” was in the twilight of his career. The nineteen-year old speedster pulled up at the last second as DiMaggio made the play and caught his foot on the wooden cover of a drainage outlet. His knee buckled forcing him out of the Series and instigating the start of several leg problems that would haunt Mantle for the rest of his eighteen-season career.

Game 3 remained anyone’s for 4½ innings as the Giants held on to a slim 1-0 lead. All that would change though as the National League champs would capitalize on a crucial error by their American League rivals. With one out in the fifth, Eddie Starky managed to coax a walk off of Series veteran Vic Raschi. The Yankees, thinking the Giants were about to play a “hit-and-run”, “run-and-hit” or “straight steal”, called for a “pitchout” and catcher Yogi Berra responded with a perfect throw to shortstop Phil Rizzuto in plenty of time to catch Stanky. However, the determined veteran kicked the ball out of Rizzuto’s hand on the slide and scrambled up and onto third. Instead of two out and nobody on, Stanky was standing firm on third with only one out. Dark scored him in on his next single and Whitey Lockman delivered the final blow, a three-run homer for the 6-2 victory at the Polo Grounds.

With a two-games-to-one lead in the Series and Games 4 and 5 also at home, the Giants were in a favorable position. Their momentum was slightly stalled though as Game 4 was postponed for a single day due to rain. The inclement weather had allowed the Yankees to rest Game 1 loser Allie Reynolds and the “Bomber’s” ace responded the following day with a clutch, 6-2 win over the Giants’ Sal Maglie. “Joe D” added his eighth (and final) World Series homer and the Yanks were back in business. The victory by Reynolds inspired his fellow pinstripes and they went on to crush the Giants 13-1 in a Game 5 massacre. Yankees utility infielder Gil McDougald, who alternated between second and third for Stengel’s club, nailed a bases-loaded homerun in the third off Larry Jansen. The rocket, which broke a 1-1 tie, was only the third World Series grand-slam (Cleveland’s Elmer Smith in 1920 and the Yankees’ Tony Lazzeri in 1936).

Game 6 was a real nail-biter as both teams went head-to-head for over five innings. With the bases loaded and two out in the sixth, Yankees outfielder Hank Bauer stepped up to the plate against Dave Koslo attempting to break through the 1-1 tie. For Bauer, it was the perfect opportunity to shake off his World Series despair. In thirty-eight previous at-bats in the Fall Classic, Bauer had collected only five hits (all singles), a .132 Series batting average and only one RBI in postseason play. This time the former United States Marine came through with “flying colors” with a bases-clearing triple. Then in the ninth, after the Giants closed within one and had the potential tying run in scoring position, a racing Bauer made a sensational 4-3 game-winning catch on a hit by pinch-hitter Sal Yvars.

Once again, the Yankees had ended the Giants “Cinderella” season and although the Series was nothing compared to the National League playoff in terms of memorable moments (“The Giants Win The Pennant!”), it was a sweet ending for some and a new beginning for others; Game 6 marked the final Major League game for the Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio, who was headed for retirement at age thirty-six, Mantle would appear in eleven more World Series, and Mays would compete in the Fall Classic three more times. The Yankees were now 14-4 in World Series appearances and 1951 marked the start of what would become their second dynasty.

MLB PLAYER PROFILE- EARL AVERILL

There are few instances in baseball history of a player beginning his career at a late age and still going on to achieve Hall of Fame status. One of those to accomplish such a feat is Earl Averill who debuted with the Cleveland Indians a little over a month short of his 27th birthday and went on to become one of the top hitters of his era. 

Averill began his career playing semi-pro ball and eventually signed with San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League in 1926. After three solid seasons in the PCL (he had one-hundred seventy-three runs batted in during 1928) he was signed by the Indians in 1929 and immediately became their starting centerfielder. Averill broke in with a flourish, homering in his first Major League at-bat (the second American League player to do so) and went on to hit .332. Although he didn’t possess a strong arm, he played solid defense and led American League outfielders in putouts. 

In 1930, Averill followed up his brilliant rookie season by batting .339 and reaching the one-hundred runs batted in mark for the first time (119). In September of that year the small but compactly built slugger hit three homeruns in the first game of a doubleheader and belted another round tripper in the nightcap becoming the first Major League player to homer four times in a twin bill. In that same doubleheader he knocked in a still American League record eleven runs. The next two seasons Averill produced career highs of thirty-two home runs, one-hundred forty-three runs batted in, one-hundred forty runs scored, and he reached the two-hundred hit plateau for the first time in 1931 (209). In the 1932 season the Red Sox showed the ultimate respect for Averill by walking him five consecutive times in a game. “He was treated with the kind of respect usually reserved for imposing specimens like Foxx and Gehrig”, said Boston’s Ted Williams. 

After six consecutive seasons of .300 or better, Averill slumped to .288 in 1935, but bounced back to rack up career highs in 1936 in average .378 (finishing second to Luke Appling’s .388) and hits (two-hundred thirty-two). In June of 1937 began being bothered by temporary paralysis in his legs. The final diagnosis was a congenital spinal malformation which forced Averill to alter his batting style in order to continue playing and be a productive player. He made the 1937 All-Star team (it was his line drive in that All-Star game that struck and broke Dizzy Dean’s toe that eventually caused Dean a sore arm and his career) but his overall numbers were below his normal standards. He came back in 1938 to hit .330 but managed just fourteen home runs and shortly into the 1939 season the Indians dealt him to the Tigers in a deal that enraged Cleveland fans. As a part-time player for Detroit he contributed to the Tigers pennant winning season of 1940. Averill’s playing days ended after a brief stop with the National League’s Boston Braves in 1941. 

In his thirteen big league seasons Earl Averill batted .300 eight times, scored one-hundred runs nine times, and drove in one-hundred or more runs in five seasons. He led the American League in hits in 1936 (two-hundred thirty-two) and triples (fifteen). He had ten or more triples eight times and thirty or more doubles in nine seasons. He was the only American League outfielder named to their first six All-Star teams (1933-38). “He supports my contention that you don’t have to be a muscle-bound giant to be a great major league hitter”, said Ted Williams. Earl Averill was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the by The Committee on Baseball Veterans in 1975.