Classic Baseball Daily Highlights

September 20, 1919 - On Babe Ruth day at Fenway Park, the Bambino ties Ned Williamson's major league mark of 27 home runs in a season with a game-winner off Lefty Williams of the Chicago White Sox. Ruth also scores the winning run in both ends of the doubleheader. Ironically, it will be the last game he plays for the Boston Red Sox in Fenway as the sale of the century would have the Bambino in pinstripes for the remainder of his career. On the same date eight years later, Ruth would again raise the single season home run mark by hitting his 60...

September 19, 1968 – Detroit Tigers Pitcher Denny McLain's 31st win is overshadowed by Mickey Mantle's 535th homer which was good enough for 3rd on the all time list. McLain called Catcher Jim Price to the mound to have him inform Mantle he’d be seeing nothing but fastballs and Mantle delivered. Mantle tipped his cap to Denny as he rounded third base. Joe Pepitone, the next batter, signaled where he would like the ball, and McLain dusted him. The Tigers won the game, 6 - 2, the 12th straight complete game for the Tigers staff.September 19, 1970 Boston's Billy Conigliaro connects for a 4th inning home...

September 18, 1975 - The New York Mets defeat the Chicago Cubs, 7 - 5 at Shea Stadium. Rusty Staub becomes the first Mets' player to reach 100 RBIs in a season with a 2-run homer in the fifth. Dave Kingman sets a team record with his 35th home run of the season to win it in the ninth inning. Kingman would also hit his 35th homer of the year on this date in 1976 when he was named to the National League All Star Team for the first time.September 18, 1962 At LA, the Aaron brothers lead the Braves to a 10 - 5 pounding of the Dodgers...

September 17, 1968 Detroit clinches the American League pennant with a 2 - 1 win over the Yankees. Detroit is ahead 1 - 0 when Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey phones Tiger general manager Jim Campbell with the news that the Sox have beaten the Orioles, clinching the pennant for the Tigers. Campbell keeps the score off the radio and the scoreboard, fearing the news will send fans rampaging onto the field.

Don Wert singles home the winner in the 9th and the fans tear down the left field screen as Campbell suspected.

September 17, 1912 - Casey Stengel of the Dodgers makes...

September 16, 1968: One day after seeing their team mathematically eliminated, Candlestick Park's patrons show up in 'record' numbers, the smallest crowd to see a Giants game in San Francisco. The 2,361 fans witnessed the rare sight of Willie Mays being restrained from charging into the stands to confront two hecklers. 'Nice catch, Willie,' they jeered from the front row after Mays made a spectacular catch in the fourth.'For a $100,000 bum you're finally earning your money'." As Mays approached the dugout, he went after the two men but was intercepted by Bobby Bonds and manager Herman Franks. The two hecklers were...

September 15, 1990: Despite solo homers in the 5th by brothers Billy Ripken and Cal Ripken, both off David Wells, the Orioles lose 4 - 3 to Toronto. The brothers would homer together once more in 1996, again in the same inning. The Ripken Brothers joint stint in Baltimore, while managed by their father Cal Sr. from 1987 to 1988, marked the first time a father has managed two of his sons on the same team in the bigs.September 15, 2003: With his 2,063rd career base on balls, Barry Bonds passes Babe Ruth on the all-time walks list. The Giant left fielder now only trails Rickey Henderson, who...

September 14, 1994 - The remainder of the baseball season is canceled by acting commissioner Bud Selig after 34 days of the players' strike. The last 50 games of the season and post season were cancelled due to the strike called by the Players Association and their leader Don Fehr. The World Series would not be played for the first time in 90 years. The strike was finally ended by a ruling from future Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor.September 14, 1923: Red Sox first baseman George Burns completes an unassisted triple play against the Indians as he gathers in a Frank Brower line drive, tags Rube Lutzke...

September 13, 2011 Due to terrorist attacks against targets in New York and Washington,

D.C. Major League Baseball postpones all games through September 17. The 91 missed games are re-scheduled for the week after the regular season was supposed to end, meaning the World Series would extend into November for the first time in history. This would be the most regular-season contests not played since World War I forced the cancellation of the final month of the 1918 season.

September 13, 1965 - At the Astrodome, Giant outfielder Willie Mays becomes the fifth player in major league history to hit 500 career...

September 12, 1911 - In a game billed as a pitchers' duel, Boston's Cy Young and the Giants' Christy Mathewson face each other for the first time before 10,000, Boston's largest crowd of the year. Young gives up three homers and nine runsin less than three innings. With a 9 - 0 Giants lead, John McGraw lifts Mathewson, who pitched just two innings, preferring to save his ace for the pennant race against Chicago and Philadelphia. This would end up being the only time the two pitchers ever face each other. The Giants coast to an 11–2 win.September 12, 1979 - Carl Yastrzemski, an eighteen time All-Star, an...

September 11, 1918 - The Red Sox win the World Series in game six, on Carl Mays's 2nd victory, a 2-1 three-hitter. Cubs pitchers compile a 1.04 ERA, while Boston's .186 batting average is the lowest ever for a World Series winner. They compensated for their poor showing at the plate by making just one error, a record not beaten this century in a 6-game World Series. The Cubs each earned $671, and the Red Sox $1,102 , the smallest winner's share ever earned. The inning by inning results of the game are relayed to Fort Devens, 58 miles away, via nine homing pigeons.September 11, 1956 Yogi Berra ties...

Stan Coveleski makes his Debut: September 10, 1912 at age 23, as the 3,800th in major league history vs. the Detroit Tigers he pitched 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 SO, 1 BB, 0 ER

Using a fluttering spitball that dove sharply and broke inside on lefties and righties, Stan Coveleski helped two unlikely teams to the World Series. He won three games in the 1920 Series — the first championship for Cleveland, and in 1925 he helped the Senators to the World Series in his first year with that club, winning 20 games. He consistently topped 275 innings pitched and was a valuable pitcher well into his mid-thirties. Coveleski learned th...

September 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumber Yard across Trumbull Avenue. In June, 1985, Mantle's blow was retroactively measured at 643 feet, and was listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the longest Home Run in History. New research by National Baseball Hall of Fame, overturned that estimate and instead gives the mark to a 575 ft blast by Babe Ruth hit on July 18, 1921, also in Detroit.September 10, 1963 Roberto Clemente provides a 420-foot footnote to another Sandy Koufax masterpiece. Clemente’s fourth career home run off Sandy came off a...

September 9, 1953 - Mickey Mantle's 2-run home run off Chicago's Billy Pierce caps a 7-run 5th inning, as New York wins 9 - 3 at Yankee Stadium. Returning to Center Field after the 5th, Mantle is photographed blowing a huge bubble with a wad of gum. Manager Casey Stengel will publicly rebuke the Mick, who will apologize for the indiscretion. However, Mantle does get an endorsement fee from the Bowman Gum Company. Mantle was a Madison Avenue darling. He was so beloved that he was able to simultaneously endorse cigarettes and aids to quit smoking,September 9, 1931 – With the country in the grip of th...

September 8, 2007 - Alex Rodriguez continues to lead the Yankees in their playoff hopes with an 11-5 win over the Kansas City Royals. He homers twice off rookie pitcher Brian Bannister. The first of the homers is his 49th of the year and breaksthe record for homers by a third baseman. Previously, Mike Schmidt and Rodriguez (2005) had shared the record at 48 homers. Rodriguez already held the single-season record for shortstops, giving him the high watermark at two positions.September8, 2008 Gary Sheffield hits a grand slam for the official 250,000th homer in MLB history. The blow is Sheffield's 2nd homer of the...

On the seventh day of September 1978, the Boston Red Sox lead was just four games over a charging Yankee team who arrive in Boston for a crucial 4-game series, which would become known as the “Boston Massacre”. The Yanks dominate game one with a 15 - 3 rout as Willie Randolph accounts for five of the runs. On July 24, the Red Sox held a 14 game lead in the AL East but played only 25 - 24 ball leading up to this series. The Yankees, in that same time frame had won 35 of 49. When the bloodshed was over on September 9th, the Yankees pounded out 42 runs...

September 6, 1995 - Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles plays in his 2,131st consecutive Major League game to surpass Lou Gehrig's 56-year record. When the game becomes official in the middle of the fifth inning, Ripken takes a victory lap around Camden Yards during the 22-minute standing ovation from the sell-out crowd. Ripken went 2 for 4, including a home run, in Baltimore's 4 - 2 win over California.September 6, 2001 During the Diamondbacks – Giants game, Barry Bonds becomes the fifth player in major league history to hit 60 home runs in a season. He joins Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Bonds, th...

September 5th, 1954, Hank Aaron goes 4 for 4 in a 9 – 7 triumph over the Cubs, but breaks his ankle in the second game of a doubleheader and is lost for the remainder of the season.September 5th, 1995, Cal Ripken ties Lou Gehrig’s all-time mark by appearing in his 2,130th consecutive game. In the fifth inning, when the game became official the crowd erupted in applause. The 35 year old shortstop played every game of the Orioles schedule for 14 years and would continue to do so for another three seasons.September 5th, 1998: Giant’s 0utfielder Barry Bonds sets a new National League mark reaching base i...

September4, 2000, the Red Sox's defeat the Seattle Mariners, 5 – 1. Boston Outfielder, Carl Everett drives in his 100th ribbie of the year becoming only the sixth major-league switch-hitter to drive in 100 runs in both leagues. Pedro Martinez however, is the star of the day, striking out 11 in eight innings to go 7 - 0 over the M's.

Prior to the game, Boston retires Hall of Fame Catcher Carlton Fisk's uniform number 27. “Pudge”, as Fisk was known, was the author of perhaps the most famous homerun in Red Sox history, as he willed a towering shot to left to stay fair during game 6...

September 3, 2009 — Yankee Catcher, Jorge Posada hit his 20th homer of the season and drove in four runs to help New York beat Toronto 7-5. Posada's homer gave New York a major league-leading seven players with at least 20 dingers. The ’09 Yankees are the only team in franchise history to accomplish this feat. Only the ’96 Orioles, the 2000 Blue Jays and the ’05 Rangers have been able to collect 20 home runs from 7 players in a single season. No National league team has yet to reach that milestone.

September 3, 2008 — Baseball's first use of instant replay is used to support an on field call of a...

September 2, 2001 — A pitching duel between former Yankee teammates David Cone and Mike Mussina saw New York's Mike Mussina came within one strike of pitching the first perfect game in the 89-year history of Fenway Park. Over eight innings Mussina did not allow a single Red Sox baserunner. Red Sox pitcher David Cone kept pace keeping the Yankees scoreless till the top of the 9th when the Yanks would push one across the dish. Mussina's bid was broken up by a clean single from pinch hitter Carl Everett. Prior to this, Everett was 1 for 8 with seven strikeouts against Mussina. The Ya...

September 1, 2007 — Clay Buchholz throws a no-hitter in his second major league start just hours after being called up by the Boston Red Sox. Buchholz threw 115 pitches, striking out nine, walking three, with one hit batter to give the Red Sox a 10-0 victory over Baltimore. He became the 21st rookie to throw a no-hitter and the third MLB pitcher since 1900 to throw a no-hitter in his first or second major league start. He is the first Red Sox rookie and 17th Red Sox pitcher to pitch a no-hitter. In post game interviews,Manager Terry Francona and GM Theo Epstein in...

August 31, 1990, the Houston Astros make one of their best trades ever, acquiring minor league infielder Jeff Bagwell from the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Larry Andersen. Refusing to part with Triple-A third baseman Scott Cooper to get Larry Andersen from the Astros for the stretch run, Red Sox general manager Lou Gorman trades the Eastern League's MVP Jeff Bagwell for the right-handed relief pitcher.The University of Hartford standout will go on to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1991 and we will win the National League’s MVP Award in 1994 and become one of the gr...

On August 30, 2006, Boston right-hander Curt Schilling fans Oakland slugger Nick Swisher with his trademark splitter to record the 3,000th strikeout of his career. Schilling becomes the 14th pitcher to reach the milestone. Schilling ranks 2nd all time with 4.38 strikeouts for every walk allowed. Third on the all time list is 2004 team mate Pedro Martinez with a 4.15 ratio. After recording the strikeout Schilling said, "Earlier in my career, the two guys I wanted to emulate were Clemens and Maddux. I wanted Clemens' power with Maddux's control. I never quite got to either one of them, but I felt like I...

1977 - Cardinals outfielder Lou Brock steals second base in a 4-3 loss to the Padres. It is career steal 893 for Brock, breaking Ty Cobb's modern record. Brock wasted no time, leading the game off with a walk, he stole second base off the battery of Danny Freisleben and Dave Roberts, he advanced to third and scored on Jerry Mumphries single. Brock would steal another base in the seventh after a force out and was left stranded in the 7th at third in the Cardinal loss.

1972 - During a 3-0 win over St. Louis, San Francisco's Jim Barr...

August 28, 1990, Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs becomes the first second baseman in history to notch consecutive 30-home run seasons. Sandberg hits his milestone 30th home run against the Houston Astros, helping the Cubs to a 5-2 win. Sandberg went onto hit 40 homeruns, he is 1 of 9 men to hit 40 homeruns in a season and the cubs ar the only team to have 40+ homerun hitters at shortstop and secondbase.

August 28, 1967, the Boston Red Sox sign free agent first baseman/outfielder Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, who had been fired by the Kansas City A’s for making critical remarks about owner...

The king of thives:

August 27, 1982, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s breaks Lou Brock’s single-season stolen base record. Henderson steals his 119th base, surpassing Brock’s total of 118 thefts. Henderson stole the base in the 3rd inning off the battery of Doc Medith and Ted Simmions. Henderson, would steal three more bases in a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, he will finish the season with 130 stolen bases.

Inside the Park Homerun madness . . .

On August 27, 1977, Toby Harrah and Bump Wills of the Texas Rangers hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs agains...

August 26th

The Mariners fall to the Royals‚ 7-3‚ despite Ichiro Suzuki's 200th hit of the season. With the HR‚ Suzuki becomes the 1st player to reach 200 hits in each of his 1st 4 ML seasons. A trend that would continue through the 2010 season.

August 26, 1995, Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves ties a major league record by posting his 16th consecutive win on the road. Maddux earns a 7-2 win over his former team, the Chicago Cubs. Maddux will earn Cy Young Award honors after the season.

Them Bums! A trio a Brookl...

August 25, 1985, Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets becomes the youngest pitcher to win 20 games in a season. At 20 years, nine months, and nine days - one month younger than Bob Feller was when he won 20 games in 1939 - Gooden defeats the San Diego Padres, 9-3. Gooden will not follow Feller into the Hall of Fame but had 194 career wins and was part of two world champions, even though in 12 post season appereances he never won a game.

Holy Cow!

August 24, 1989, Pete Rose signs an agreement that bans him from baseball permanently. Commissioner Bart Giamatti announces that the agreement does not contain either “an admission or a denial” that Rose bet on baseball games. The ruling will prevent Rose from seeking employment in the major leagues.August 24, 1971, Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs hits his 512th and final career home run. Banks’ homer helps the Cubs to a 5-4 victory.How many fans wish they had a owner like this? August 24, 1951, St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck pulls off another one of his famous stunts. Veeck allows over 1,000 fans to act as...

Grease Discovery:

Hall of Fame Debut:

Historic Sale:

Cooperstwon Match up:

On August 22, 1989, Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers becomes the first major league pitcher to reach the 5,000 strikeout mark. Ryan fans Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s On a 96 mph fastball in the fifth inning. The "Ryan Express" strikes out 13 and gives up only five hits, but loses the game 2-0.

On August 22, 1965, San Francisco Giants ace Juan Marichal hits Los Angeles Dodgers catcher John Roseboro over the head with a bat. Marichal became angered when he thought Roseboro was throwing the ball too close to his head while returning throws to...

August 20th, 1923 - A four-piece bat used by Babe Ruth is banned by American League president Ban Johnson because of the glue used on it. Johnson rules that all bats must be one piece with nothing added except tape extending to 18 inches up the handle.

On August 20th, 1934 Lou Gehrig hits a first-inning grand slam off A’s pitcher Buck Ross in an 11-3 Yankee win. It is the 23rd and last grand slam of his career for a still-standing record.

August 20th, 1960, Ted Williams joins Babe Ruth as the only batters to collect 2,000 walks du...

August 19th, 1917 While Coaching at third base for Detroit in a 1-1 tie against The Senators, Ty Cobb shoves base runner George Burns as he pulled up at third on a long hit. Burns headed home scoring the winning run.

Senators Manager and future Hall of Famer Clark Griffith protested and American League President Ban Johnson upheld the protest, as the rule bans coaches from touching a runner. The game is replayed and Washington wins 2-0.

On August 19th, 1921 Ty Cobb becomes the youngest player to collect 3000 hits singling off Red Sox hurler Elmer Myers...

August 18th, 1967 During the Red Sox “Impossible dream” season, tragedy strikes when Tony Conigliaro is beaned by the Angels' Jack Hamilton. Hit just below his left eye, Conigliaro would miss the rest of the season and all of ‘68. The injury effectively ended the career of a player who by the time he was 22 had become the youngest in American League history and second-youngest player in major-league history to hit 100 career homers.

August 18th 1989, in a 9-2 Toronto win, Baltimore shortstop Cal Ripken plays in his 1,208th consecutive game passing Steve Garvey for the 3rd longest streak in major...

August 17th, 1966 San Francisco Giant outfielder Willie Mays moves into second place on the all-time home run list with a 4th-inning blast off Ray Washburn. Seven years to the day later, in 1973, the 42-year old Mays, now with the Mets hits the 660th and final home run of his career off Reds lefty Don Gullett.

August 17th, 1923. After 111 games, Babe Ruth has 31 homers and is hitting .401. He ends the season with his highest single season batting average, .393, a major league record 170 walks, and 4 times hit by pitches. Ruth collected 205 hits and reached base a record 379 times.

“The Babe”, George Herman Ruth, was the first sports superstar. He had the potential to be baseball’s greatest left-handed pitcher. Instead, he moved to the outfield and became its greatest hitter. Until Ruth arrived in New York in 1918, the Yankees had never won a pennant. Babe Ruth dies of throat cancer at age 53 in New York on August 16th 1948. He lied in state at Yankee Stadium and St. Patrick’s Cathedral more than 100,000 mourners would show their respects.

August 16th, 2010 New York Giant Great, Bobby Thompson passes away. On October 3rd 1951, dubbed the "Shot Heard 'Round the Worl...

On August 15th, 1971 - Vida Blue raised his record to 22-4 as the A's beat the Yankees, 6 - 4. Blue masterfully scattered 10 hits and scored the tie breaking run on a wild pitch. He would finish the season at 24-8, with a 1.82 ERA earning him not only the American League Cy Young Award, but also the American League MVP.

On August 15th, 1977 In a 2 - 1 win over Kansas City, Boston's Jim Rice hits a 3rd-inning double and became the first Boston player since Ted Williams in 1939 to hit 20 homers, 20 doubles and 10 triples in a season. Between Williams and...

For two straight years, August 14th belonged to Pitcher Lynwood "Schoolboy" Rowe. In 1934 the largest weekday crowd in history watched the Tigers' win their 14th straight at Yankee stadium as Schoolboy Rowe notched his 13th consecutive “W”. One year later to the day, in 1935, the “Schoolboy” tossed an 18-2 victory over the Senators while going 5 for 5 at the dish.

“Holy Cow!!!!” On August 14th 1942, led by the double play combo of Phil “The Scooter” Rizzuto and Joe Gordon, the Yankees turn a record seven double plays in an 11-2 win over the A’s. The Yankees would finish the season...

During the second game of a doubleheader in Boston on August 13th 1900, Pirate Honus Wagner steals second base, third base, and home in the 7th inning. Wagner also accomplished the feat in 1899.

August 13th, 1910, in the most evenly played game ever, the Pirates and Brooklyn Superbas each have eight runs, 13 hits, 38 at bats, five strikeouts, three walks, one hit batter, one passed ball, 13 assists, 27 putouts, two errors, and use two pitchers. The game would finally be called on account of darkness.

On August 13th 1921, Boston Braves Pitcher John "Mule" Watson tosses two complete-game victories over...

August 12, 1912 three men attack Ty Cobb on his way to the Detroit rail station. Cobb sustains a cut on his shoulder but catches one of his attackers and pistol-whips him. To no one’s surprise, Cobb then travels to Syracuse and gets two hits in an exhibition game.

There was no joy in Mudville on August 12th, 1940 as Ernest Lawrence Thayer, author of "Casey at the Bat", dies in Santa Barbara, CA at age 77.

Cleveland and Detroit square off to decide ownership of the division lead. In a duel between the two aces‚ Bob Feller tops...