TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY courtesy of National Pastime
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9yrupye7B0]1905 – With the Giants leading the Superbas, 11-1, Archibald ‘Moonlight’ Graham makes his major league debut in the bottom of the eighth inning as a defensive replacement in right field at Brooklyn’s Washington Park. The career minor leaguer, who will not have a major league at-bat in his only appearance in the big leagues, will become immortalized by W.P. Kinsella’s book “Shoeless Joe” and the movie based on the author’s work, “Field of Dreams.”
1990 – For the first time since 1917 (Hippo Vaughan and Fred Toney), two no-hitters are thrown on the same day when the A’s Dave Stewart shuts out the Jays 5-0 and the Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela blanks the Cardinals, 6-0.
2004 – At Bank One Ballpark, Diamondbacks’ 40 year-old fireballer Randy Johnson records his 4000th career strikeout, whiffing Padres’ third baseman Jeff Cirillo, a fellow USC Trojan, to become the fourth player in major league baseball history to reach the plateau. The ‘Big Unit’ (3,237 1/3) needs less innings than Nolan Ryan (3,844 2/3), Roger Clemens (4,151), and Steve Carlton (4,991 1/3) to accomplish the feat.
And finally…in 2005, Craig Biggio breaks Don Baylor’s record for being hit by a pitch when he is plunked for the 268th time in his career. At Coors Field, Rockies starter Byung-Hyun Kim hits the Astros’ second baseman on the left elbow in the fourth inning to establish a new mark, both literally and figuratively.
STAT OF THE DAY provided by @HighHeatStats
50 years ago today, Mickey Mantle hit the last two of his 38 career homers at Fenway Park. He and Babe Ruth are tied for the most there among Yankees. Joe DiMaggio is third with just 29 Fenway blasts.
PLAYERS BORN TODAY
Wilbert Robertson (1864), Harmon Killebrew (1936), Rick Honeycutt (1954) and Pedro Guerrero (1956)
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