Free of charge for the discerning reader.
Happy birthday to Jeremy Jeffress*, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1934 – The Deans shut out the Dodgers. After Dizzy gives up just three hits in a 13 – 0 victory, allowing no hits until the 8th, Paul wins a no-hitter, 3-0. Diz says: “If’n Paul had told me he was gonna pitch a no-hitter, I’d of throwed one, too,” and 1997 – The Cubs beat the Phils, 11-3, but Curt Schilling racks up eight strikeouts to match J.R. Richard for the most Ks by a National League righty (313). He’ll finish with 319 strikeouts. Ryne Sandberg, in his final game at Wrigley Field, is 2 for 3 before leaving for a pinch runner in the fifth. He makes a curtain call in the seventh when Harry Caray sings “Take Me Out to the Ball Game“, and other stories as well.
Today in baseball history:
- 1901 – Tom Hughes of Chicago and Boston Beaneater Bill Dinneen pitch 16 scoreless innings before the Orphans score in the 17th on an error, hit batter, force out, and a single by Clarence Childs. Each pitcher gives up eight singles. This will stand as the longest shutout ever by a Cub pitcher. Hughes fans 13 in 17 frames.
- 1903 – Christy Mathewson, pitching for the third time in four games, keeps the Giants in second place by beating Chicago’s Clarence Currie, 8-3. For Matty, it is his 30th win of the year.
- 1916 – Tris Speaker goes 4 for 6 and drives in a run as Cleveland edges Washington and Walter Johnson, 3-2.
- 1928 – At St. Louis, Boston’s Red Ruffing smashes a three-run homer in the seventh and pitches the Red Sox to a 5-3 win over the Browns.
- 1966 – The players almost outnumber the fans at Wrigley Field, as the Cubs draw just 440 for a game with the Reds. Chicago wins, 9-3, behind Ken Holtzman, with Sammy Ellis taking the loss.
- 1973 – At Los Angeles, Tony Perez has five hits to lead the Reds to a 4-1 win over the Dodgers. Tony’s last hit is a three-run homer in the 10th.
- 1981 – Steve Carlton fans 12 Expos in ten innings to break Bob Gibson‘s National League strikeout record (Carlton now has 3,128), but the Phillies lose to the Expos, 1-0 in 17 innings.
- 1985 – In a Boston 7-6 win over Detroit, Wade Boggs ties Tris Speaker‘s club mark of 222 hits with a single in the second inning. His fifth-inning single, his 185th, sets a new American League record for singles, breaking the mark set by Willie Wilson in 1980. Wade will end with 187, a mark that will stand until 2001.
- 1992 – Oakland P Dennis Eckersley becomes the second pitcher in history to record 50 saves in a season as he preserves the Athletics’ 6-5 win over Chicago. The White Sox’ Bobby Thigpen had 57 saves in 1990.
- 1999 – The Red Sox defeat the Blue Jays, 3-0, as Pedro Martinez fans 12 for his 22nd win. He joins Randy Johnson as the only pitchers to strike out at least 300 in both leagues, and breaks Roger Clemens‘ club mark of 291 strikeouts.
- 2000 – In a 10-3 victory over the Marlins, Expo right fielder Vladimir Guerrero establishes a franchise single-season home run record by hitting his 43rd round tripper.
- 2001 – A crowd of 41,235 at Shea Stadium witness the return of baseball to New York City for the first time since the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Mike Piazza‘s eighth-inning home run gives the Mets a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Braves.
Cubs Birthdays: Jeremy Jeffress*, Doug Davis, Jim Todd.
Today in history:
- 1780 – Benedict Arnold gives British Major John André plans to West Point.
- 1915 – Cecil Chubb buys the prehistoric monument Stonehenge for £6,600 and later donates it to the British nation.
- 1955 – In his last fight, undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano KOs light heavyweight Archie Moore in the ninth round at Yankee Stadium, NYC.
- 1970 – “Monday Night Football” created by Roone Arledge, premieres on ABC. Final score: Browns 31, Jets 21.
- 1976 – Asylum Records releases “Small Change”, the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Tom Waits; his best-selling album until 1999, features the songs “Tom Traubert’s Blue” and “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)”.
- 1985 – Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 to become Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
- 1993 – Melissa Etheridge releases her breakthrough second album “Yes I Am”, featuring the single “I’m the Only One”.
- 2004 – Green Day releases their album “American Idiot” in the US.
- 2017 – Discovery of the first brainless animal that sleeps, the jellyfish Cassiopea, with research published in “Current Biology” by Caltech scientists.
*pictured.
