TODAY IN BASEBALL courtesy of National Pastime
1951 – Forty-three inch tall Eddie Gaedel walks on four pitches in his only major league appearance. Bill Veeck’s idea of playing the midget was legal at the time but is later outlawed.
1997 – Wade Boggs makes his pitching debut, throwing 16 knuckleballs and one fastball in a 12-4 loss to the Angels at Anaheim Stadium. The Yankee third baseman, a future Hall of Famer, hurls a scoreless eighth inning, giving up no hits, walking one batter, and striking out Todd Greene swinging to end the frame.
2006 – John Hattig becomes the first person born in Guam to appear in a major league game. The 26 year-old Toronto third baseman from Tamuning, who replaces Troy Glaus in the bottom of the fourth, bats clean-up and strikes out looking in both his at bats in the Orioles’ 15-0 rout of the Blue Jays.
And finally…in 2007, John Smoltz becomes the Braves’ all-time strikeout leader when Diamondbacks’ third baseman Mark Reynolds becomes the 40 year-old right hander’s 2,913th victim. Phil Niekro previously established the franchise record pitching for the club in Milwaukee and Atlanta for twenty seasons (1964 to 1983).
PLAYERS BORN TODAY
Gary Gaetti (1958), Ron Darling (1960), Woody Williams (1966) and J.J. Hardy (1982)
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