TODAY IN BASEBALL courtesy of National Pastime
1992 – During a pregame ceremony at Anaheim Stadium, the Angels become the first of three teams to retire Nolan Ryan’s number. The hard throwing right-hander, who compiled a 138-121 record along with a 3.06 ERA in 291 games with California, will also have his number retired by the Astros and Rangers in 1996.
1996 – At the age of 83, Hall of Fame broadcaster Mel Allen, best known for his years doing play-by-play for the Yankees, dies of heart failure. His “How about that” signature line will become familiar to another generation of fans through the syndicated This Week in Baseball show, which he hosted from the show’s inception in 1977.
2001 – John Olerud becomes the twenty-first player to hit for the cycle more than once in his career, and only the second, along with Bob Watson, to have accomplished the feat in both leagues. Among all of the players who have managed to hit a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game, the Mariners’ first baseman has the fewest career three-baggers with just a dozen during his 13-year major league stint.
And finally…in 2014, Tony Gwynn, surrounded by his family at Pomerado Hospital in Poway, CA, loses his battle to salivary gland cancer at the age of 54. The Hall of Fame outfielder, who became the head baseball coach for San Diego State University after spending his entire major league career with the Padres, compiled a.338 career batting average over 20 seasons, collecting 3,141 hits, en route to tying Honus Wagner’s mark of eight National League batting titles.
PLAYERS BORN TODAY
Ron LeFlore (1948), Wally Joyner (1962), Kerry Wood (1977) and Jonathan Broxton (1984)
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