This Day in Red Sox History

August 20

1901: At Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds Denton True “Cy” Young pitches a 6-0 shutout over the Milwaukee Brewers.

1903: “Buck” Freeman is the first player to hit a ball over the right filed score board in Chicago South Side Park. Alas Boston loses the Game 9-5.

1960: Ted Williams picks up his 2000th career walk, as the Red Sox split a doubleheader with Baltimore. In doing so Williams joins “The Bambino” as the only batters to have 2,000 walks. “Teddy Ballgame” also bashes his 514 and 515^th home runs.

1967: In the first game of a double header, switching OF Reggie Smith hits a home run from both sides of the dish. The first is a three run shot, while the second is for two runs. This not only marks the first time this feat has ever been done by a Red Sox it is also the first time it has happened at Fenway Park. He joins Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, and a host of others to pull this off. Smith however is not the only person to hit two dingers today, Carl Yastrzemski also nets 2 homers, one in each game. The Sox take the night cap 9-8. The Sox need to come from behind in this one. The Angles surge to an 8-0 lead, but Smith and hits his third home run of the day, to complete a four game sweep of the California Angels, avenging a four game sweep earlier in season in Anaheim.

1997: Boston take two from the A’s in Oakland. Nomar Garciaparra hits in both games to set a Major League record for a rookie by safely hitting in 22 games in a row.

By Mac Stepp Jr