Baseball History
This Day in Baseball History
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On July 20th, 1925, Brooklyn’s Dazzy Vance struck out 17 Cubs’ batters. The Dodgers beat Chicago 4-3 in 10 innings. What has happened to all the great baseball nicknames players used to have? Names like Dizzy, Dazzy, or Babe? My childhood team, the Oakland A’s, had an owner who loved nicknames, thought it was good for business… Read more
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On July 14th in 1967 and 1968, two different players went into the history books by hitting their 500th Major League homer. In 1967, Eddie Mathews of the Astros hit his 500th home run off San Francisco’s Juan Marichal at Candlestick Park helping the Houston defeat San Francisco 8-6. Then exactly a year later, in 1968, Hank Aaron got… Read more
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On July 13th, 1993, Minnesota Twins great Kirby Puckett homered and doubled in the 1993 All-Star Game at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Kirby was awarded the MVP award as the American League defeated the National League 9-3. I was lucky enough to move to the Twin Cities and to begin going to Twins games regularly in… Read more
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On July 10th, 1968, The National league announced that it planned to break into two divisions for 1969. The Eastern Division would include the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals. The Western Division would include the Los Angeles Dodges, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds,… Read more
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On July 9th, 1986, Atlanta’s Dale Murphy ended his consecutive-game streak at 740 and does not play in the Braves 7-3 win over the Phillies. Murphy hadn’t missed a game since September 1981. Dale Murphy, who won back to back National League MVP awards in 1982 & 1983, is still not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.… Read more
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On July 8th, 1997, Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar, Jr., slammed a two-run home run in front of the hometown crowd at Jacobs Field to give American League a 3-1 win in the All-Star Game. Alomar, who had a 30-game hitting streak to end the first half of the season, is named the game’s MVP for… Read more
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Yesterday (July 6th), Sue and I took the bus from Eden Prairie to downtown Minneapolis to take in the afternoon Twins-Astros game at Target Field. Believe it or not, it was only my second Twins game of the 2024 season, and Sue’s first. While everyday at the ballpark is a good one, yesterday’s was special.… Read more
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On July 6th, 1933, the first major-league All-Star Game was played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Babe Ruth hit the first home run of the All-Star game, a two-run homer in the bottom of the third driving in Charlie Gehringer. The American League defeated the National League 4-2. Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez was the winning pitcher. Cardinals second baseman… Read more
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On July 5th, 1947, Larry Doby of the Cleveland (then) Indians became the first Black player in the American League (Jackie Robinson played in the National League for the Brooklyn Dodgers). Doby struck out as a pinch hitter. The Cleveland lost to the Chicago White Sox 6-5. I was born in 1960, 13 years after Larry… Read more
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On July 4th, 1905, in the afternoon game of a doubleheader, Philadelphia’s Rube Waddell bests Cy Young in a 20-inning marathon as the Athletics down Boston 4-2. A’s catcher Ossee Schreckengost worked 28 innings that day, a Major League record. The Baseball season is too long. It is in all sports these days. I went to the season opener in Oakland… Read more
