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Happy birthday to Doug Jones, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 2021, Four Cubs pitchers combine on the seventh no-hitter of the season, one shy of the all-time record, in a 4-0 win over the Dodgers. Zach Davies pitches the first six innings, then Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel add one inning each to complete the feat , and other stories as well.
Today in baseball history:
- 1908 – Honus Wagner does it all today, smacking a home run and double, then breaking a 3-3 tie with an eighth-inning single. He ends his scoring with a steal of home as the Pirates win, 5-3, over the Reds.
- 1933 – Arky Vaughan hits for the cycle, as the Pirates beat the Dodgers, 15-3.
- 1947 – The Dodgers win, 4-2, over the Pirates, as Jackie Robinson swipes home for the first of 19 times in his career.
- 1955 – In an 18-7 loss to the Tigers, Senators 18-year-old rookie third baseman Harmon Killebrew hits his first major league home run off Billy Hoeft. “Killer” will finish his 22-year Hall of Fame career with 573 homers.
- 1960 – Willie Mays hits two home runs, singles, steals home, and makes ten putouts to lead the Giants in a 5-3 win at Cincinnati. Mays has three RBI and three runs scored.
- 1983 – Milwaukee’s Don Sutton strikes out Alan Bannister in the eighth inning of a 3-2 win over Cleveland to become the eighth pitcher in major league history with 3,000 career strikeouts.
- 1991 – California’s Dave Winfield goes 5 for 5 and hits for the cycle as the Angels defeat Kansas City, 9-4. In so doing, he becomes the oldest player in history (39) to accomplish the feat.
- 1993 – Carlton Fisk of the White Sox, plays his 2,226th and final major league game, surpassing Bob Boone‘s record of 2,225 for most games caught. Fisk reluctantly retires with 3,999 total bases, the most ever for a catcher.
- 1994 – Aided by a nine-run 6th inning, Houston goes on to defeat the Dodgers, 16-4. 1B Jeff Bagwell drives home six of the Astros’ runs as he slugs three homers, including two in the sixth inning. He is the 28th player in major league history to homer twice in the same inning.
- 1997 – At Seattle, the Mariners fall to the Athletics, 4-1, despite a 19-strikeout performance by Randy Johnson. The 19 Ks are the most ever by an American League left-hander. Mark McGwire turns one Johnson fastball into a homer that travels an estimated 538 feet.
- 2000 – The Reds beat the Padres, 11-5, as Barry Larkin goes 5 for 5 with two home runs, four RBIs, and four runs scored.
Today in Cubs history:
- 1894 – The Chicago Colts score five runs in the top of the ninth to take the lead over Baltimore, but the National League leaders respond with three runs in the bottom of the inning to claim an 11-10 win.
- 1905 – Chicago Cubs rookie right-hander Ed Reulbach wins an 18-inning marathon duel with the Cards’ Jack Taylor, 2-1, in St. Louis. First baseman Frank Chance has 27 putouts and two assists for Chicago.
- 1915 – With two outs in the bottom of the 9th, Heinie Zimmerman swipes home to give Chicago a 14-13 win over the visiting Cardinals.
- 2023 –Major League Baseball returns to London for the first time since 2019 as the Cubs defeat the Cardinals, 9-1, at London Olympic Stadium in the London Series.
Cubs Birthdays:Christopher Morel, Doug Jones*, Ken Reitz, Rollie Hemsley, Bill Hanlon, Jack Katoll, Jake Stenzel.
Today in history:
- 1374 – Sudden outbreak of St. John’s Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion.
- 1853 – US President Franklin Pierce signs the Gadsden Purchase, buying 29,670 square-miles (76,800 square km) from Mexico for $10 million (now southern Arizona and New Mexico).
- 1889 – Butch Cassidy commits his first bank robbery with Warner and two McCarty brothers at the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride; they steal about $21,000, equivalent to about $735,000 today.
- 1963 – First demonstration of a home video recorder at BBC Studios in London.
- 1968 – Joe Frazier stops Mexican challenger Manuel Ramos in 2nd round TKO at NYC’s Madison Square Garden in his first heavyweight boxing title defense.
- 1973 – Marlene Raymond (15), limboes under a flaming bar at 6 1/8″.
- 2013 – Stanley Cup Final, TD Garden, Boston, MA: Chicago Blackhawks defeat Boston Bruins, 3-2 for 4-2 series victory; Blackhawks’ 5th Championship.
*pictured.