TODAY IN BASEBALL: June 20

june 20

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TODAY IN BASEBALL courtesy of National Pastime

2004 – On Father’s Day with his dad in attendance, 34 year-old Ken Griffey, Jr. blasts a sixth-inning Matt Morris fastball over the right field wall at Busch Stadium for his 500th career home run. The Reds’ center fielder becomes the twentieth Major Leaguer, and the sixth youngest, to reach the milestone.

2007 – Connecting on a fifth inning hanging breaking ball thrown by Cubs’ hurler Jason Marquis, Sammy Sosa becomes the fifth Major League player to hit 600 career home runs. The Rangers designated hitter, who missed the entire season last year, joins Hank Aaron (755), Barry Bonds (748), Babe Ruth (714), and Willie Mays (660) in reaching the milestone.

2009 – Jeff Weaver beats his kid brother Jered when the visiting Dodgers best the Halos, 6-5, at Angel Stadium. The Northridge, California natives become the eighth set of siblings in Major League history to start against one another.

And finally…in 2009, a Major League oddity happens when two games end on walk-off wild pitches in extra innings on the same day. Jason Jennings’ errant throw allows Nate Schierholtz to score the winning run for the Giants with two outs in the 11th inning to beat Texas, 2-1, and Andres Blanco comes home on Kerry Wood’s miscue, giving the Cubs a 6-5 victory over the Indians in 13 innings.

PLAYERS BORN TODAY

Jim Delahanty (1879), Dickie Thon (1958), Carlos Lee (1976) and Kendrys Morales (1983)

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