TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY courtesy of National Pastime
1935 – Braves outfielder Babe Ruth announces his retirement from baseball. The 40 year-old former Yankees slugger wanted to retire three weeks sooner, but team owner Emil Fuchs persuaded him to continue to play because Boston hadn’t played in every National League park.
1987 – Using their number one pick overall in the draft, the Seattle Mariners select Ken Griffey, Jr. The signing of ‘Junior’, son of major leaguer Ken Griffey, will play a major role in Seattle’s success in the mid-1990’s.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjPxxOwlVvI]1990 – Randy Johnson, blanking the Tigers, 2-0, becomes the first Mariner in franchise history to pitch a no-hitter. The southpaw strikes out eight while walking six in the first hitless game thrown in the 14-year existence of the Kingdome.
And finally…in 1995, the Expos pick Serra High School (San Mateo, CA) standout Tom Brady in the 18th round, the 507th player selected overall, in baseball’s amateur draft. The tall athletic 17 year-old catcher with a powerful left-handed swing and a rocket arm elects to play football at the University of Michigan, before making his record-setting six Super Bowl appearances as the quarterback for the NFL Patriots.
STAT OF THE DAY provided by @HighHeatStats
75 years ago today, on the 16th anniversary of the first game of his 2,130 consecutive-game streak, Lou Gehrig died due to complications from ALS. He’s the only player in MLB history with more than one 170-RBI season–he did it in 1927, 1930, and 1931.
PLAYERS BORN TODAY
Gene Michael (1938), Darnell Coles (1962), Bryan Harvey (1963) and Raul Ibanez (1972)
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