May 14
1913 — Washington’s Walter Johnson gave up a run in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Browns to end his streak of 56 scoreless innings. The Senators won 10-5.
1914 — Jim Scott of the Chicago White Sox pitched nine innings of no-hit ball against the Washington Senators, but lost 1-0 after giving up two hits in the 10th inning.
1920 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators recorded his 300th victory with a 9-8 win over the Detroit Tigers.
1927 — Chicago pitcher Guy Bush went the distance for the Cubs in a 7-2 18-inning win over Boston. Charlie Robertson of the Braves almost matched the feat, leaving with one out in the 18th.
1950 — Pittsburgh first baseman Johnny Hopp hit two home runs and four singles in six at-bats, leading the Pirates to a 16-9 victory over the Cubs in the second game of a doubleheader at Chicago.
1965 — Carl Yastrzemski of Boston hit for the cycle and added another home run for five RBIs in a 12-8 10-inning loss to the Detroit Tigers.
1966 — Roberto Clemente’s sixth and final career home run off Sandy Koufax is another no-doubter. It comes during Koufax’s final season, the net result being one less shutout for Sandy and one more moon shot for Clemente
1967 — Mickey Mantle’s 500th home run, off Stu Miller, lifted the New York Yankees to a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
1972 — In his first game with the New York Mets, Willie Mays hit a fifth inning home run off Don Carrithers for the difference in a 5-4 triumph over the San Francisco Giants.
1977 — Jim Colborn of the Kansas City Royals no-hit the Texas Rangers for a 6-0 victory.
1986 — California Angels slugger Reggie Jackson hits his 537th career home run to move past Mickey Mantle on the all-time list. Jackson delivers the milestone blast against Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox.
1988 — Jose Oquendo became the first non-pitcher in 20 seasons to get a decision, taking the loss in the 19th inning when Ken Griffey’s two-out, two-run double led the Atlanta Braves over the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5.
1989 — Benny Distefano became the first left-handed catcher in a major league game in nine years when he caught the ninth inning of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 5-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Mike Squires caught two games with the Chicago White Sox in 1980 and Dale Long caught two games for the Chicago Cubs in 1958.
1993 — Jay Gainer of the Colorado Rockies hit a home run on the first major league pitch he saw. The first baseman became the fifth National Leaguer and 12th major leaguer to accomplish this feat. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Rockies 13-5.
1996 — Dwight Gooden pitched a no-hitter as the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0. Gooden struck out five and walked six.
2000 — Although Sammy Sosa collects five hits, Henry Rodriguez has seven RBI and Eric Young steals five bases, the Chicago Cubs still manage to lose to Montreal, 16-15. Young’s five stolen bases are the most by a Cubs player since 1881 when George Gore stole seven.
2010 — After Twins manager Ron Gardenhire orders an intentional walk to Mark Teixeira and brings in righty Matt Guerrier to face Alex Rodriguez in the 7th, the Yankee third baseman blasts his 19th career grand slam to pass Frank Robinson for 7th on the all-time career home run list and give New York an 8-4 win.
2012 — Major League Baseball fires arbitrator Shyam Das after 13 years on the job. The Commissioner’s office was incensed at Das for overturning Ryan Braun’s suspension for PED use on a technicality on February 23rd, and the last straw comes when the same ruling is used today to justify ending Eliezer Alfonzo’s 100-game suspension early.
2016 — In his final season, David Ortiz is still a master of the clutch hit. Today, he hits a two-out 9th-inning triple off Luke Gregerson to drive in Xander Bogaerts and tie the game for the Red Sox against the Astros, then hits a two-out double in the 11th off Michael Feliz that again drives in Bogaerts and gives the Sox a 6-5 win. The double is the 600th of his career, making him only the third player after Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds to hit 500 homers and 600 doubles; he had hit homer #513 in the 3rd inning.
2017 — The Yankees officially retire uniform number 2 in honor of Derek Jeter and unveil a plaque in his name in Monument Park at New Yankee Stadium between games of a doubleheader against the Astros.
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May 15
1918 — Washington’s Walter Johnson pitched a 1-0, 18-inning victory over Lefty Williams of the Chicago White Sox, who also went the distance.
1919 — After 12 scoreless innings, Cincinnati scored 10 runs off Al Mamaux in the 13th to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 10-0.
1933 — The major leagues advance the cut-down date a month, limiting rosters to 23 players today instead of June 15th.
1935 — Lou Gehrig steals home in a 4-0 Yankee win over the Tigers. It is his 15th and last steal of home, all of which were double steals.
1941 — Joe DiMaggio began his 56-game hitting streak against Chicago’s Eddie Smith, going 1-for-4 with one RBI.
1944 — Clyde Shoun of the Reds tossed a no-hitter against the Boston Braves for a 1-0 victory in Cincinnati. Chuck Aleno’s only home run of the year was the difference.
1951 — At Fenway Park, the Red Sox celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first American League game in Boston.
1952 — Detroit’s Virgil Trucks pitched the first of his two no-hitters for the season, beating the Washington Senators 1-0. Vic Wertz’s two-out homer in the ninth off Bob Porterfield won the game.
1960 — Don Cardwell became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his first start after being traded. The Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 at Wrigley Field.
1973 — Nolan Ryan of the California Angels pitched the first of a record seven no-hitters, beating the Kansas City Royals 3-0. Ryan tossed his second gem two months later.
1978 — His 7th-inning, two-run homer moves Willie Stargell past the late Roberto Clemente into sole possession of second place on Pittsburgh’s all-time RBI list, his total of 1,307 now trailing only Honus Wagner’s 1,475.
1981 — Len Barker of Cleveland pitched the first perfect game in 13 years as the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 at Municipal Stadium.
1993 — The Montreal Expos retired their first number, No. 10 for Rusty Staub.
1996 — Chicago outfielder Tony Phillips went into the stands to confront a heckling fan during the White Sox’s 20-8 victory at Milwaukee. Phillips, who already had changed into street clothes after being taken out of the game in the sixth inning, went after a 23-year-old fan in the left-field bleachers.
2005 — Morgan Ensberg hit three home runs and finished 4-for-4 with five RBIs in Houston’s 9-0 victory over San Francisco.
2005 — New York’s Tino Martinez hit two homers and drove in three runs in the Yankees’ 6-4 win over Oakland. The two homers gave Martinez eight homers in his last eight games.
2018 — Two days after being sidelined by a broken bone in his hand, 2B Robinson Cano of the Mariners is suspended for 80 days for testing positive for a banned substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
2019 — Pitcher Edwin Jackson makes history by playing for his 14th team when he starts today’s game for the Blue Jays against the Giants.
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May 16
1933 — Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators made his major league debut with five hits in a 12-inning, 11-10 win over the Chicago White Sox.
1939 — The Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Athletics 8-3 in 10 innings in the first American League night game, held at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park.
1953 — The White Sox loaded the bases against the Yankees in the ninth inning, but Vern Stephens, who had 10 grand slams in his career, was lifted for a pinch hitter. Pitcher Tommy Byrne, the substitute batter, then hit a homer off Ewell Blackwell for a 5-3 win.
1965 — Jim Palmer, 19, won his first major league game and hit his first homer, off Jim Bouton. The Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 7-5.
1972 — Rick Monday hit three consecutive homers to lead the Chicago Cubs to an 8-1 win at Philadelphia. Greg Luzinski’s 500-foot home run hit the Liberty Bell monument at Veterans Stadium for the Phillies’ only run.
1978 — The White Sox trade OF Bobby Bonds to the Rangers for OF Claudell Washington and OF Rusty Torres.
1981 — Craig Reynolds of Houston hit three triples to lead the Astros to a 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
1996 — Sammy Sosa becomes the first Cub ever to hit two homers in one inning, hitting them in the eight-run 7th inning at Wrigley Field.
1997 — The Montreal Expos overcame an early nine-run deficit and rallied past the San Francisco Giants 14-13 on David Segui’s RBI single in the ninth inning. The Giants took an 11-2 lead after three innings. Montreal came back with four runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and three more in the sixth for a 12-11 lead. Glenallen Hill’s RBI single capped a two-run seventh that put the Giants ahead 13-12.
2000 — The Los Angeles Dodgers went into the Wrigley Field crowd after a fan ran off with Chad Kreuter’s cap in the ninth inning of Los Angeles’ 6-5 victory. The game was delayed for nine minutes while some Dodgers and fans fought.
2001 — Rickey Henderson leads off with a home run, extending his major-league record for leadoff home runs to 79. This is more than the combined total for the #2 and #3 players on the list: Brady Anderson (44), and Bobby Bonds (35).
2006 — The New York Yankees, down 9-0 in the second inning, matched the biggest comeback in Yankees history when Jorge Posada hit a game-winning, two-run homer with two outs in the ninth for a 14-13 victory over the Texas Rangers.
2008 — Jayson Werth of Philadelphia hit three home runs and tied the team record with eight RBIs in a 10-3 win over Toronto.
2009 — Gabe Gross and Akinori Iwamura pulled off a double steal in the fifth inning of a 4-2 win over Cleveland, giving Tampa Bay at least one stolen base in 18 straight games. It was the longest stretch in the AL since the New York Yankees had a 19-game run in 1914.
2012 — Is there anything the old man cannot do? 49-year-old Jamie Moyer picks up his second win of the year for Colorado by throwing 6 1/3 innings, during which he allows a single run, and helps his own cause with a two-run single in the 4th.
2015 — Miguel Cabrera hits the 400th home run of his career.
2020 — The owners release figures showing that on average, teams will lose $640,000 per game played without fans. This is done in the hope of convincing players to accept a form of revenue sharing in conjunction with their plan to play a truncated season starting around July 4th, with no spectators present – at least at the outset – due to the coronavirus pandemic. They also provide the Players Association with a detailed protocol on how such games would be played in order to minimize contact between persons present at the ballpark and maintain social distancing. All of these proposals still require the players’ approval before they can be implemented.
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