TODAY IN BASEBALL courtesy of National Pastime
1979 – At Yankee Stadium, over 51,000 mourners attend a memorial service for Thurman Munson. The Bronx Bombers’ captain was killed yesterday piloting a plane that crashed 1,000 feet short of the runway at Akron-Canton Airport.
1987 – Home plate umpire Tim Tschida throws out Joe Niekro after discovering an emery board in the possession of the Twins’ starting pitcher. The 42 year-old knuckleballer will receive an automatic ten-day suspension from the American League for defacing the ball.
2006 – The home run ball hit by Barry Bonds to pass Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time career list fetches $220,100 during a ten-day eBay auction. The money, which will go to Andrew Morbitzer, the fan who caught #715, is much less than the $800,000 dished out in 2004 for the ball the Giants’ left fielder hit for his 700th career homer.
And finally…in 2012, in the span of about an hour, the Upton brothers go deep to both record their 100th career home run on the same night in different ball parks when Diamondback outfielder Justin goes yard off Kyle Kendrick at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, and older sibling B.J., playing center field, hits a Tropicana Field round-tripper for the Rays off Baltimore’s Tommy Hunter. On July 20th, the boys from Norfolk, Virginia also hit their 99th homers on same day.
PLAYERS BORN TODAY
Henry Heilmann (1894), Kevin Elster (1964), Rod Beck (1968) and Mark Reynolds (1983)
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