This Date in Baseball-Week Ahead
July 31
1930 — Lou Gehrig drove in eight runs with a grand slam and two doubles, and the New York Yankees outlasted the Boston Red Sox 14-13.
1932 — Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium opened and Lefty Grove and the Philadelphia A’s beat the Indians 1-0 before 76,979 fans.
1934 — The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-6 in 18 innings at Cincinnati as Dizzy Dean and Tony Freitas both went the distance.
1954 — Joe Adcock hit four home runs and a double to lead the Milwaukee Braves to a 15-7 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. Adcock’s 18 total bases set a major league record at the time. Adcock homered in the second inning off Don Newcombe, doubled in the third and homered in the fifth off Erv Palica. He connected off Pete Wojey in the seventh and off Johnny Podres in the ninth. Adcock saw only seven pitches and his double off the left-center field fence just missed going out by inches.
1961 — The All-Star Game ended in a 1-1 tie at Fenway Park because of heavy rain.
1981 — The second baseball strike ended after 42 days.
1990 — Nolan Ryan, 43, won his 300th game, reaching the milestone in his second try, as the Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.
2002 — Mike Mussina became the second pitcher in major league history to give up six doubles in one inning, during the New York Yankees’ 17-6 loss to Texas. Hall of Famer Lefty Grove allowed that many with Boston in 1934 against Washington.
2003 — John Smoltz broke his own record as the fastest pitcher to record 40 saves by pitching a scoreless ninth in Atlanta’s 7-4 win over Houston. Last year, he got his 40th save on Aug. 8, en route to breaking the NL record with 55.
2007 — The New York Yankees tied a franchise record by hitting eight home runs, including two by Hideki Matsui, in a 16-3 rout of the Chicago White Sox. New York last hit eight homers in a game in a doubleheader opener at the Philadelphia Athletics on June 28, 1939.
2010 — Carlos Gonzalez hit a game-ending home run to complete the cycle, and Colorado rallied to a 6-5 win after blowing a three-run lead in the eighth inning to the Chicago Cubs.
2011 — Ricky Nolasco scattered 12 hits, Emilio Bonifacio homered and Florida handed the Atlanta Braves the 10,000th loss in franchise history. With the 3-1 loss, the Braves become the second big league team with 10,000 losses. The Phillies reached that mark in 2007.
2015 — New York’s Mark Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate for the record 14th time, hitting his 10th grand slam and a two-run homer that led the Yankees past the Chicago White Sox 13-6.
2021 — Seby Zavala becomes the first player in MLB history to record his first three home runs in the same game.
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Aug. 1
1906 — Harry McIntire of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched 10 2-3 innings of no-hit ball before Claude Ritchey of Pittsburgh singled. McIntire weakened in the 13th and lost 1-0 to the Pirates on an unearned run, finishing with a four-hitter.
1937 — Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees hit for the cycle in a 14-5 rout of the St. Louis Browns. It was the second cycle of Gehrig’s career. Gehrig hit a two-run homer in the first inning, doubled in the second, singled in the fourth and tripled in the seventh.
1941 — New York Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez walked 11 St. Louis batters in a 9-0 victory to set a major league record for walks in a shutout.
1962 — Bill Monbouquette of the Boston Red Sox pitched a no-hitter to beat the White Sox 1-0 at Chicago.
1970 — Willie Stargell of Pittsburgh hit three doubles and two home runs to power the Pirates to a 20-10 rout of the Braves in Atlanta.
1972 — Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres drove in 13 runs in a doubleheader with five home runs and two singles. San Diego beat the Atlanta Braves in both games, 9-0 and 11-7.
1977 — Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants hit two home runs, including his 18th career grand slam, a total that still leads the National League.
1978 — Pete Rose went 0-for-4 against Atlanta pitchers Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber to end his 44-game hitting streak as the Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds 16-4.
1986 — Bert Blyleven threw a two-hitter and struck out 15 to become the 10th major league pitcher with 3,000 career strikeouts and Kirby Puckett hit for the cycle to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 10-1 victory over the Oakland A’s. Puckett tripled in the first inning, doubled in the fifth, singled in the sixth homered in the eighth. Puckett finished 4 for 5 with three runs and two RBIs. It was the first cycle to happen at the Metrodome.
1994 — Baltimore’s Cal Ripken became the second major leaguer to play 2,000 straight games, and the Orioles edged Minnesota 1-0.
1998 — Switch-hitter Tony Clark set an AL record by homering from both sides of the plate for the third time this year, powering the Detroit Tigers past Tampa Bay 8-0.
2005 — Rafael Palmeiro was suspended 10 days following a positive test for steroids, less than five months after the Baltimore Orioles first baseman emphatically told Congress: “I have never used steroids. Period.”
2006 — Carlos Guillen hit for the cycle in Detroit’s 10-4 victory over Tampa Bay.
2009 — The Oakland A’s retire Rickey Henderson’s uniform number 24.
2017 — Evan Longoria hits for the cycle, becoming the second player in team history to pull off the feat, as the Rays defeat the Astros, 6 - 4. It takes a video review to confirm that he slid safely into second base in the 9th for the missing double that completes the quartet of hits.
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Aug. 2
1906 — The “Hitless Wonder” Chicago White Sox began their AL record 19-game winning streak with a 3-0 win over Boston. The record would be tied by the 1947 New York Yankees.
1907 — Walter Johnson made his major league debut with the Washington Senators and lost 3-2 to the Detroit Tigers. The first hit he yielded was a bunt single by Ty Cobb. The Tigers beat “The Big Train” 7-6 exactly 20 years later on Walter Johnson Day in the nation’s capital.
1933 — Mickey Cochrane of the Philadelphia A’s hit for the cycle, the second of his career, in a 16-3 win over the New York Yankees.
1938 — The Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals used a yellow baseball in the first game of a doubleheader as an experiment. The two teams went back to the white ball in the second game as the Dodgers swept the doubleheader 6-2 and 9-3.
1940 — Joe Cronin of the Boston Red Sox hit for the cycle in a 12-9 win over the Detroit Tigers. It was the second cycle for Cronin. Cronin cycled in 1929 to become the first player ever to cycle in two different games a decade apart.
1959 — Bill Bruton of Milwaukee hit three triples, including two with the bases-loaded, to lead the Braves to an 11-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the nightcap of a doubleheader.
1979 — New York Yankees captain Thurman Munson died in the crash of his private plane while practicing takeoffs and landings at the Canton, Ohio, airport.
1982 — Oakland’s Rickey Henderson steals his 100th base of the season in a 6 - 5 win over Seattle, tying the American League record he set last season and leaving him with 56 games to break Lou Brock’s single-season record of 118. Henderson is the first player ever to steal 100 bases twice since the modern definition of a stolen base was put in place.
1987 — Kevin Seitzer went 6-for-6, hit two homers and drove in seven runs to pace a 20-hit Kansas City attack as the Royals beat the Boston Red Sox 13-5 in 102-degree heat.
1998 — The Cuban national team claimed its 22nd gold medal at the World Baseball Championships, beating South Korea 7-1 and extending its winning streak at the event to 41 games since 1986.
2007 — Jermaine Dye homered twice and doubled twice, including a go-ahead drive that led the Chicago White Sox to a 13-9 victory over the New York Yankees. The White Sox and Yankees each scored eight runs in the second inning. It was the second time in major league history both teams scored eight or more in an inning.
2009 — Melky Cabrera became the first Yankees player in 14 years to hit for the cycle, leading New York to an 8-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
2010 — Travis Snider hit two of an AL record-tying six doubles in a seven-run fifth inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays an a 8-6 victory over the New York Yankees. Snider began the barrage of doubles with a leadoff hit against A.J. Burnett and finished it with a drive off Sergio Mitre. In between, Fred Lewis, Jose Bautista, Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill all doubled off Burnett.
2011 — New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira set a major league record when he homered from both sides of the plate in a 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. It was the 12th time the switch-hitting Teixeira has homered from both sides in a game, breaking a tie with Eddie Murray and Chili Davis. Teixeira hit a two-run homer batting right-handed against John Danks in the third and added a slot shot batting left-handed against Jason Frasor in the seventh.
2018 — Cody Bellinger hit a grand slam, Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig hit two homers each, and the Los Angeles Dodgers cruised past the Milwaukee Brewers 21-5. Brian Dozier and Justin Turner also went deep as the Dodgers finished with their highest scoring total at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles hit a season high-tying seven homers, and also set season highs for runs in a game, and in an inning when they had nine in the seventh.
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Aug. 3
1901 — Cleveland pitcher Ed Scott pitched a complete game and hit a solo home run off Bill Reidy in the top of the 10th for an 8-7 win against Milwaukee. It was the last game of Scott’s major league career.
1906 — Washington pitcher Tom Hughes hit a solo home run off Fred Glade in the tenth inning for 1-0 win over the St. Louis Browns. He became the first pitcher to win a 1-0 extra-inning game with his own home run.
1914 — New York Yankee catcher Les Nunamaker threw out three Detroit Tigers trying to steal second base on one inning. It will be the only time a backstop has accomplished this feat this century.
1923 — Major League Baseball canceled all games following the death of U.S. President Warren G. Harding in San Francisco on Aug. 2.
1933 — Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia A’s became the first pitcher since Aug. 2, 1931 — a span of 308 games — to shut out the New York Yankees, winning 7-0.
1944 — Tommy Brown, 16 years and 8 months old, played shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers in both games of a doubleheader loss, 6-2 and 7-1, to the Chicago Cubs. He had a double and scored a run.
1948 — Cleveland’s Satchel Paige made his first major league start and went seven innings to lead the Indians to a 5-3 victory over the Washington Senators.
1959 — The second game of All-Star play this year was won by the AL 5-3 at Los Angeles’ Memorial Stadium. Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox singled in the deciding run in the seventh inning.
1961 — The Pittsburgh Pirates scored a 19-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals for the largest shutout score in an NL night game.
1969 — The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 19-17 in a wild game at Connie Mack Stadium. Trailing 9-6, the Reds scored 10 runs in the fifth inning to take a seven-run lead. The Reds tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning for an 18-9 lead. The Phillies responded with seven runs on the home half of the sixth and another run in the seventh to get within one run. Cincinnati’s Tony Perez homered in the eighth to make it 19-17. The Phillies two-out rally in the ninth ended with Ron Stone lining out to right with runners on first and second.
1969 — Pinch-hitter Rich Reese hit a grand slam to power the Minnesota Twins to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles and end Dave McNally’s 15-game winning streak. His two victories at the end of 1968 had given him 17 straight wins.
1982 — Frank White of the Kansas City Royals hit for the cycle in a 6-5 win over the Detroit Tigers. It was the second cycle of his career.
1987 — Minnesota’s Joe Niekro was caught with a file on the mound and was ejected during the fourth inning of the Twins’ 11-3 win over the California Angels. Niekro would be suspended for 10 games by American League president Bobby Brown, who didn’t believe Niekro’s story that he had been filing his nails on the bench and stuck the file in his back pocket when the inning started.
2004 — Tony Batista hit a grand slam in the 12th inning after tying the game with a two-run homer in the ninth, leading Montreal over St. Louis 10-6.
2006 — Chase Utley singled in the first inning of Philadelphia’s 8-1 win at St. Louis to extend his hitting streak to 35 games.
2006 — Matt Murton tied a major league record with four doubles and drove in five runs to help the Chicago Cubs salvage a split of a doubleheader with Arizona 7-3.
2015 — Adrian Beltre became the first major leaguer since the 1930s to hit for his third career cycle and the Texas Rangers held on for a wild 12-9 victory over Houston. Beltre hit a solo homer in the fifth inning for the Texas Rangers, completing the cycle in his first four at-bats.
2024 — By stealing three bases in a 10 - 0 Dodgers win over the Athletics, Shohei Ohtani becomes the first member of the 30-30 club this season (he has already hit 33 homers). In reaching the two marks in 108 games, he is the third fastest to do so in history, beaten only by Eric Davis (90 games in 1987) and Alex Rodriguez (107 games in 1998).
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Aug. 4
1884 — Pud Galvin pitched the most lopsided no-hitter in major league history as the Buffalo Bisons routed the Detroit Wolverines 18-0. It is the second career no-hitter for Galvin.
1910 — Jack Coombs of the Philadelphia A’s and Ed Walsh of the Chicago White Sox hooked up in a 16-inning scoreless tie. Coombs struck out 18 and allowed three hits.
1945 — Bill Salkeld of Pittsburgh hit for the cycle in a 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirate catcher went 5 for 5 and drove in all five runs.
1945 — Boston’s Tom McBride became the third player to drive in six runs in an inning as the Red Sox pounded Washington 15-4. McBride had a bases-loaded double and triple during the Red Sox’s 12-run fourth inning.
1953 — New York’s Vic Raschi set a record for a pitcher by driving in seven runs in a 15-0 win over the Detroit Tigers.
1963 — New York’s Mickey Mantle, batting for the first time in two months after breaking his left foot, hit a pinch home run as the Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 11-10 for a split of a doubleheader.
1973 — John Briggs of the Milwaukee Brewers went 6-for-6 in a 9-4 win over the Cleveland Indians.
1979 — Atlanta knuckleballer Phil Niekro set modern major league records with four wild pitches in one inning (fifth) and six in one game. The Braves lost to Houston 6-2.
1982 — Joel Youngblood became the first player in major league history to play and get a base hit for two different teams in two different cities in the same day. In the afternoon, his hit drove in the winning run for the New York Mets in a 7-4 victory at Chicago. After the game, he was traded to the Montreal Expos and played that night in Philadelphia. He entered the game in right field in the fourth inning and later got a single.
1985 — Tom Seaver, 40, became the 17th 300-game winner in major league history with a six-hitter — all singles — as the Chicago White Sox defeated the New York Yankees 4-1 on Phil Rizzuto Day.
1985 — Rod Carew of the California Angels got his 3,000th hit in a 6-5 win over the Minnesota Twins, his first major league team.
2006 — Chase Utley went 0-for-5 night in Philadelphia’s 5-3 victory over the New York Mets, ending a 35-game hitting streak that tied him for the 10th longest in major league history and the fourth longest in National League history.
2007 — In the 2nd inning of a 3 - 2 loss to the Padres, Barry Bonds hits his 755th career home run to tie Hank Aaron for the all-time record.
2007 — Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player in major league history to hit 500 home runs with a first-inning homer in a 16-8 victory over Kansas City.
2010 — Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th home run and became the youngest player to attain the milestone. His two-run, first-inning drive off Toronto’s Shaun Marcum put New York ahead, and the Yankees coasted to a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays.
2021 — Japan moves into the gold medal game in the Tokyo Olympics.
2022 — The Angels tie a record by hitting seven homers but still losing the game, 8 - 7 to the A’s, also setting a record for most runs scored in a game, all on solo homers. Shohei Ohtani hits a pair, followed by Kurt Suzuki, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell, Jared Walsh and Mickey Moniak. However, Oakland scores six times in the 3rd and adds a two-run blast by Ramon Laureano in the 4th to negate the Angels’ long balls.
2024 — With a 13 - 7 loss to the Twins, the White Sox’s losing streak reaches historic proportion at 20 games. It is a new franchise record and tied for third all-time, trailing only the 21 losses by the 1988 Baltimore Orioles to start that season, and the 23 consecutive losses by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies.
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Aug. 5
1921 — Pittsburgh radio station KDKA and announcer Harold Arlin provided listeners with the first broadcast of a major league game. The Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5.
1927 — Philadelphia’s Cy Williams hit for the cycle, drove in six runs and scored three times to lead the Phillies to a 9-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1931 — For the second time in his career, Jim Bottomley got six hits as the St. Louis Cardinals beat Pittsburgh 16-2 in the second game of a doubleheader.
1932 — Detroit pitcher Tommy Bridges lost his bid for a perfect game on a bloop single by the 27th Washington batter, pinch-hitter Dave Harris. The Tigers beat the Senators 13-0.
1933 — Sammy West of the St. Louis Browns had four extra-base hits in a 10-9, 12-inning win over the Chicago White Sox.
1942 — Don Kolloway’s two-out steal of home in the fifth inning was the only run as the Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 1-0.
1969 — Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell became the only player to hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium. Stargell’s shot off of Los Angeles’ Alan Foster cleared the right-field pavilion and landed 506 feet from home plate.
1973 — Phil Niekro of the Atlanta Braves pitched a 9-0 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. He walked three and struck out four in recording the first no-hitter by the franchise in Atlanta.
1975 — The first eight batters for Philadelphia Phillies got hits for a major league record, en route to a 13-5 win over the Chicago Cubs.
1984 — Cliff Johnson of the Blue Jays hit his 19th career pinch homer to set a major league record as Toronto beat the Orioles 4-3 at Memorial Stadium.
1999 — Mark McGwire became the 16th member of the 500-home run club, hitting two homers — Nos. 500 and 501 — in the St. Louis Cardinals’ loss to San Diego.
2001 — The Cleveland Indians tied a major league record and became the first team in 76 years to overcome a 12-run deficit to win, defeating the Seattle Mariners 15-14 in 11 innings.
2005 — Albert Pujols became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs in each of his first five seasons, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves 11-3.
2006 — Trevor Hoffman set a major league record with his 11th 30-save season and the San Diego Padres defeated the Washington Nationals 6-3.
2007 — Tom Glavine earned his 300th victory in an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The 41-year-old left-hander became the 23rd pitcher with 300 victories and only the fifth lefty to win 300.
2013 — Alex Rodriguez was suspended through 2014 (211 games) and All-Stars Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera were banned 50 games apiece when Major League Baseball disciplined 13 players in a drug case — the most sweeping punishment since the Black Sox scandal nearly a century ago. Ryan Braun’s 65-game suspension last month and previous punishments bring to 18 the total number of players disciplined for their relationship to Biogenesis of America, a closed anti-aging clinic in Florida accused of distributing banned performing-enhancing drugs.
2019 — Jonathon Villar of the Orioles hits for the cycle in a 9-6 loss to the Yankees.
2021 — Team USA is headed to the Olympic Gold Medal Game for the first time in 21 years, beating South Korea, 7 - 2 at the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Teenager Eui-lee Lee holds the US to two runs in five innings, one a mammoth homer by Jamie Westbrook, but five relievers are called on in the 6th when the US scores five times. Jack López drives in two for the US while Hye-seong Kim goes 3 for 3 in a losing cause. Ryder Ryan gets the win in relief of Joe Ryan.
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Aug. 6
1908 — John Lush threw a six-inning, rain-shortened no-hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0. It was Lush’s second no-hitter against the Dodgers.
1933 — Pinky Higgins of the Philadelphia Athletics hit for the cycle and drove in five runs in a 12-8 win over the Washington Senators.
1952 — Satchel Paige, 46, became the oldest pitcher in major league history to pitch a complete game or a shutout when he beat Virgil Trucks and the Detroit Tigers 1-0 in 12 innings.
1972 — Hank Aaron hit his 660th and 661st career home runs to break Babe Ruth’s record for most home runs with one club. The 661st came in the 10th inning to give the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 triumph over the Cincinnati Reds.
1981 — As a result of a seven-week strike, major league baseball players approved a split-season format. The New York Yankees, Oakland A’s, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers were declared the first-half champions and automatically qualified for the divisional series.
1985 — The Major League Baseball Players’ Association went on strike.
1986 — The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 13-11 in a record-setting battle of grand slams. Texas’ Toby Harrah hit a grand slam in the second inning before Larry Sheets and Jim Dwyer connected for grand slams in Baltimore’s nine-run fourth.
1988 — Rich Gossage registered his 300th career save, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4.
1999 — Tony Gwynn went 4-for-5, singling in his first at-bat to become the 22nd major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits, as the San Diego Padres beat the Montreal Expos 12-10.
2001 — Boston’s Scott Hatteberg performed the ultimate baseball opposite. Hatteberg hit a grand slam one at-bat after lining into a triple play as the Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 10-7. Hatteberg lined into a triple play in the fourth inning and in the sixth he hit his second career grand slam to move Boston ahead for good.
2002 — At 32, Robb Nen became the youngest player to record 300 saves, as San Francisco beat the Chicago Cubs 11-10. Nen became the 16th member of the 300-save club.
2007 — St. Louis tied a major league record with 10 straight hits in a 10-run fifth inning, with pitcher Braden Looper and Aaron Miles getting two apiece in a 10-5 victory over San Diego.
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