This Date in Baseball

"I don't like losing a ball game anymore than a salesman likes losing a sale. I've got the right to knock down anybody holding a bat." -EARLY WYNN, Hall of Fame pitcher (1939-63)


1925 White Sox Ted Lyons loses his no-hit bid when Senator Bobby Veach hits safely with two outs in the ninth. Washington's outfielder Sam Rice's streak of nine consecutive hits is stopped.
1929 Joe Sewell sets a major league record by playing in his 115th consecutive game without striking out. The Indian third baseman will be fanned only four times in 578-at-bats this season.
1931 Lefty Grove becomes the first pitcher since 1920 to win 30 games when he beats the White Sox, 2-1.
1935 The Cubs win their 16th consecutive game as they beat Carl Hubbell completing a four-game sweep of the Giants. The mark is the most since the 1924 Dodgers won 15 straight games.
1937 Tigers' first baseman Hank Greenberg's becomes the first player to hit a homer into the center field bleachers at Yankee Stadium.
1951 Indian Larry Doby walks five times in a 15-2 drubbing of the Red Sox as Early Wynn picks up his 20th victory.

1955 Cubs' infielder Ernie Banks hit his fifth grand slam of the season to establish a new major league mark, but Rip Repulski's 12th inning homer off of Jim Davis proves to be the difference as the Cardinals beat Chicago, 6-5.
1973 Braves' Davey Johnson hits his 43rd (42nd as a second baseman) homer tying Rogers Hornsby's record for the most home runs for a second baseman.
1977 With two singles in his first two at bats, Ted Cox ties and then breaks Senators' Cecil Travis 1933 record of five consecutive hits at the start of a career. The Red Sox rookie designated hitter had gone 4-for-4 in Baltimore yesterday and is 6-for-6 in his first six major league plate appearances.
1980 At Tiger Stadium, Al Kaline becomes the first player in franchise history to have his uniform number retired. The Hall of Famer, who wore the number 6, roamed the outfield for Detroit from 1953 to 1974.
1982 Mariner rookie Orlando Mercado becomes third player to hit a grand slam for his first major league hit. Bill Duggelby (1898 - first at bat) and Bobby Bonds (1968 - third at bat) were the other two players to accomplish the feat.
1986 Joe Cowley's final win in the majors is a no-hitter as the White Sox beat the Angels, 7-1. The Henryville, Tennessee native will finish his career with the Phillies the following year with 0-4 record.

1998 In a 5-3 loss to the Angels at Edison International Field, Mariner shortstop Alex Rodriguez hits his 40th home run of the season off Jack McDowell becoming the first infielder and third player in major league history to have 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in the same season. Jose Canseco (A’s - 1988) and Barry Bonds (Giants - 1996) are the other members of the 40-40 club.
1998 Indian Manny Ramirez belts two homers to raise his five-game total to eight becoming only the second player in history to do so. Frank Howard accomplished the feat twice in 1968.
2000 A Dodger fan, in addition to other court ordered decisions, has been banned from attending home games for 18 months because he threw coffee in the face of a Met fan cheering a grand slam hit by catcher Todd Pratt.
2001 Defeating White Sox, 6-3, Roger Clemens becomes the first major league pitcher to have season won-loss record of 20-1. The five-time Cy Young Award winner has won his last 16 decisions for the Yankees.

2001 Cardinal freshman Albert Pujols sets a National League rookie mark with 120 RBIs. The 21-year-old infielder broke the mark of 119 established in 1930 by Wally Berger of the Boston Braves.
2001 Major League Baseball and the Players Association announce the creation of the MLB-MLBPA Disaster Relief Fund. The organizations will each donate $10 million to aid the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
2002 In his major league debut, Twins' rookie Mike Ryan strokes two singles, scores two runs and drives in two runs in the nine-run first inning against the Tigers. Unfortunately, the game is rained out in the second inning meaning none of the statistics will be official.

2006 Heritage Toronto commemorates the spot where Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run with a plaque at Canada's Hanlan's Point. The historic home run, the only one the Bambino would hit as a minor leaguer, came on September 5, 1914, as the visiting Providence Grays' hurler goes deep against the Maple Leafs in the International League contest.