This Date in Baseball-Week Ahead
June 17
1915 — George “Zip” Zabel of the Chicago Cubs was called into the game against the Brooklyn Dodgers with two outs in the first inning. He won 4-3 in the 19th inning in the longest relief effort in the majors.
1943 — Player-manager Joe Cronin of the Boston Red Sox hit a three-run pinch homer in both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A’s. The Red Sox won the opener 5-4 and lost the second game 8-7.
1960 — Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox connected for his 500th career home run off the Cleveland Indians. Williams, the fourth to accomplish the feat, hit a two-run homer off Wynn Hawkins in a 3-1 win.
1971 — Don Kessinger of the Chicago Cubs went 6-for-6, with five singles and a double, in a 7-6, 10-inning decision over the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
1978 — Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees struck out 18 California Angels to set an American League record for left-handers. Guidry, who struck out 15 in the first six innings, ended with a 4-0 four-hitter.
1993 — Baseball owners voted 26-2 in favor of expanding the playoffs for the first time in 25 years, doubling the teams that qualify to eight starting in 1994.
2007 — Brandon Watson extended his hitting streak to 43 games, breaking a 95-year-old International League record with a base hit in the Columbus Clippers’ 9-8 loss to the Ottawa Lynx. Jack Lelivelt set the IL record for the Rochester Hustlers in 1912.
2007 — Frank Thomas hit his record-breaking 244th homer as a designated hitter in Toronto’s 4-2 loss to Washington. The solo shot in the third inning moved Thomas past Edgar Martinez for the most homers by a DH in major league history.
2009 — Ivan Rodriguez catches the 2,227th game of his career, breaking Carlton Fisk’s record, in Houston’s 5 - 4, 10-inning loss to his former team, the Texas Rangers. For Texas, Omar Vizquel, the all-time leader for games played at shortstop, picks up his 2,677th hit, tying Luis Aparicio for most hits by a Venezuelan player.
2008 — Seattle’s Felix Hernandez struck out the side on nine pitches in the fourth inning of a 5-4 win over Florida, becoming the 13th pitcher in American League history to accomplish the feat.
2016 — Michaeal Saunders leads the Toronto Blue Jays to a 13-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles with three home runs and 8 RBIs.
2021 — The Arizona Diamondback set a new all-time mark with their 23rd consecutive road loss losing to the Giants 10-3.
_____
June 18
1938 — The Brooklyn Dodgers signed Babe Ruth to coach for the remainder of the season.
1947 — Cincinnati’s Ewell Blackwell tossed a 6-0 no-hitter against the Boston Braves.
1950 — In the nightcap of a doubleheader, the Cleveland Indians scored 14 runs in the first inning for an American League record as they trounced the Philadelphia A’s 21-2.
1953 — At Fenway Park, Dick Gernert’s home run highlighted the 17-run, 14-hit seventh inning as the Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 23-3. The Red Sox were up 5-3 after 6 1/2 innings. The Red Sox scored the 17 runs on 14 hits and six walks and left the bases loaded. Gene Stephens collected three hits and Sammy White scored three runs and Tom Umphlett also reached base three times in the inning.
1960 — The San Francisco Giants fired Bill Rigney and selected Tom Sheehan as manager. At 66 years, 2 months and 18 days, Sheehan was the oldest man to debut as a manager of a major league team.
1967 — Houston Astro Don Wilson tossed the first of his two career no-hitters by blanking the Atlanta Braves 2-0, facing 30 batters and striking out 15.
1975 — Fred Lynn batted in 10 runs with three homers, a triple and a single in a 15-1 Boston Red Sox victory over the Detroit Tigers. Lynn’s 16 total bases tied an AL record.
1976 — Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the sale of Oakland Athletics stars Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi. Athletics owner Charlie Finley sold Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million and Rudi and Fingers to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million each. Kuhn ordered the players to return to Oakland on grounds that they would upset the sport’s competitive balance.
1977 — New York Yankees outfielder Reggie Jackson and manager Billy Martin get into a dugout confrontation at Fenway Park that’s seen on national television. Martin removed his right fielder for loafing on a ball hit to the outfield. Jackson questioned Martin in the dugout and the two are eventually separated by coach Elston Howard.
1986 — California’s Don Sutton pitched a three-hitter for his 300th career victory as the Angels beat the Texas Rangers 5-1. The 41-year-old right-hander became the 19th pitcher in baseball history to win 300 games.
2002 — Luis Castillo of the Florida Marlins ties Rogers Hornsby’s 80-year-old record for the longest hitting streak by a second baseman, beating out a dribbler to the pitcher in the 6th inning to make it 33 games in a row. Florida beats the Cleveland Indians, 2 - 1.
2007 — Chone Figgins went 6-for-6 and drove in the game-winning run in the ninth inning to lift the Los Angeles Angels over Houston 10-9.
2011 — Connor Harrell hit the first College World Series home run in the new TD Ameritrade Park to break a sixth-inning tie and first-time qualifier Vanderbilt defeated North Carolina 7-3.
2012 — R.A. Dickey became the first major league pitcher in 24 years to throw consecutive one-hitters and Ike Davis hit a grand slam in the New York Mets’ 5-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The previous pitcher to throw consecutive one-hitters was Dave Stieb for Toronto in September 1988.
2012 — Aaron Hill hit a solo homer in the seventh inning to become the fifth Arizona player to hit for the cycle, lifting the Diamondbacks to a 7-1 win over the Seattle Mariners.
2014 — Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers throws the second no-hitter of the year, shutting out the Colorado Rockies, 8 - 0. It comes less than a month after his teammate Josh Beckett had pitched a no-hitter on May 26th. He strikes out 15 without giving up a walk, the only baserunner coming on a two-base error by SS Hanley Ramirez in the 8th.
2017 — Nolan Arenado completed the cycle with a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Colorado Rockies stunned the San Francisco Giants by rallying for a 7-5 victory.
2024 — Hall of FamerWillie Mays, in the conversation for the greatest player ever and one of the last survivors from the Negro Leagues in the days when they were major leagues, passes away at 93.
_____
June 19
1927 — Jack Scott of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched two complete games in a doubleheader. Scott beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 and lost 3-0 in the second game. Scott was the last pitcher in major league history to complete two games on the same day.
1938 - Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Vander Meer coming off two straight no-hitters, extended his string of hitless innings to 21 2/3 against the Boston Bees. Vander Meer gave up a single to Debs Garms in the fourth inning. The Red won 14-1 behind Vander Meer’s four-hitter.
1941 — En route to 56, Joe DiMaggio hit in his 32nd consecutive game, going 3-for-3, including a home run, against the Chicago White Sox.
1942 — Paul Waner got hit number 3,000 — a single off Rip Sewell — but the Boston Braves lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-6.
1952 — Brooklyn Dodger Carl Erskine pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs at Ebbets Field.
1961 — Roger Maris’ ninth-inning homer off Kansas City’s Jim Archer was his 25th of the year, putting him seven games ahead of Babe Ruth’s pace in 1927.
1973 — Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds and Willie Davis of the Los Angeles Dodgers both collect their 2,000th hits. It is a single for Rose against the San Francisco Giants and a home run for Davis against the Atlanta Braves.
1974 — Steve Busby of the Kansas City Royals hurled his second no-hitter in 14 months and gave up just one walk in beating the Brewers 2-0 at Milwaukee.
1977 — The Boston Red Sox hit five home runs in an 11-1 triumph over the New York Yankees. The five homers gave the Red Sox a major league record 16 in three games. Boston hit six homers on the 17th and five on the 18th, also against the Yankees. In the series the Yankees had no homers.
1990 — Gary Carter plays in his 1,862nd career game as a catcher to break the National League mark set by Al Lopez.
1994 — John Smoltz became the 14th major league pitcher to give up four homers in an inning when he was tagged by Cincinnati. The Reds set a team record for home runs in an inning, connecting four times in the first inning. Hal Morris, Kevin Mitchell, Jeff Branson and Eddie Taubensee homered. Smoltz allowed 20 total bases in the first inning, the most given up in the NL since 1900.
2015 — Alex Rodriguez homered for his 3,000th career hit as the New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 7-2.
2017 — Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger launched two more home runs, setting a major league record with his powerful start, and Clayton Kershaw became the first 10-game winner in the National League despite giving up a career-high four long balls as Los Angeles held on for a 10-6 victory over the New York Mets. Bellinger reached 21 homers in 51 career games — faster than any other player in big league history.
2019 — One day after fouling a bunted ball in his face during batting practice and breaking his nose, Max Scherzer takes the mound for the Nationals against the Phillies sporting a prominent black eye. He still stymies the opposition with 7 scoreless innings in a 2 - 0 win. “Trust me, this thing looks a lot worse than it actually feels,” he explains to journalists.
_____
