July 4

From BR Bullpen


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Stats of players who were born this day
Stats of players who died on this day
Standings on this day
Permanent link to Today's Entry
Sources
Baseball Library Chronology
Today in Baseball History

Events, births and deaths that occurred on July 4.

[edit] Events

1881 - At Riverside Grounds in Buffalo, Mickey Welch throws two complete game victories as the Troy Haymakers sweep a doubleheader from the Bisons in National Association action, 8-3 and 12-0.
1884 - In American Association action, Guy Hecker of the Louisville Eclipse pitches complete games to win both ends of a doubleheader. The Youngsville, Pennsylvania native does not walk a single batter as he beats the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, 5-4 and 8-2.
1900 - In Chicago, the Colts sweep Philadelphia, winning 10 - 4 and 5 - 4, in 12 innings. A number of fans fire pistols to celebrate the holiday but no injuries occur.
1900 - At Cincinnati, in the 3rd inning of game 2, Giants 1B Jack Doyle slugs ump Robert Emslie after being called out on a steal attempt. Fans jump from the stands as the two get into it and players finally separate the two fighters. Two policemen chase the fans back into the stands and then arrest Doyle and take him to the York street station. He'll be fined for the assault. The Reds lose the nitecap, 6 - 3, after winning the opener, 8 - 1.
1904 - Jack Chesbro, the New York Highlanders spitballer, wins his 14th in a row, an American League record until Walter Johnson wins 16 straight in 1912. The A's lose both today, as the Highlanders sweep the three games series.
1904 - At the Polo Grounds, the Giants sweep a doubleheader from the Phils to run their win streak to 18 games. This ties the record of the 1894 Orioles. New York wins the opener, 4 - 1, behind Dummy Taylor then take the nitecap 11 - 3 behind Christy Mathewson. Matty leaves after seven innings, leading 11 - 1. The streak of 18 games matches one rung up by the 1885 White Stockings and the 1894 Baltimore Orioles: the record is 20 games, held by the 1884 Providence Grays.
1904 - In Pittsburgh, the Colts and Pirates celebrate the holiday by racking up record nine triples in the afternoon end of a doubleheader. Pittsburgh has six of the triples and wins, 11 - 6. Chicago wins the morning game, 7 - 2.
1905 - In an A.M.-P.M, doubleheader between Boston and Philadelphia, the A's take the morning game 5-2, using pitchers Eddie Plank, Andy Coakley and Rube Waddell on the mound to beat Jesse Tannehill. The afternoon contest proves a classic as Philadelphia's Rube Waddell bests Cy Young in a 20-inning marathon, when the Athletics prevail, 4-2. Boston outhits the A's, 15 to 13, but the 38-year-old Young loses on an error, hit batsman and two hits. Young walks nobody in the 20 innings, while 1B Bob Unglaub records 31 putouts. Philadelphia C Ossee Schreckengost works 28 innings in one day, a ML record.
1905 - Bugs Raymond of the Charleston Sea Gulls (South Atlantic League), pitches the morning and afternoon games of a doubleheader, throwing a no-hitter in each game.
1905 - The Cardinals trade INF Dave Brain to Pittsburgh for George McBride.
1905 - At Baker Bowl, the Phillies split with the Giants, winning the first game 2-0 as Jack Sutthoff outpitches Christy Mathewson. Sutthoff allows just three hits. Joe McGinnity earns the split in the nitecap with a 6-3 victory. The Giants are now seven games ahead of the Pirates.
1906 - The visiting Cubs and Pirates deal aces today with Chicago coming out on top in both games. Three-Finger Brown beats Lefty Leifield, 1-0 in the lid lifter with both pitchers allowing just one hit. It is just the 2nd double one-hitter in history, the first occurring on August 20, 1886. Lefty collects the only Buc shot while holding Chicago hitless until Jimmy Slagle's safety in the 9th inning. Slagle scores on a sacrifice, error, and ground out. Brown will toss nine shutouts this year. In the 2nd game, Carl Lundgren tosses another 1-0 shutout for Chicago, beating Vic Willis. When Brown and Leifield face off on September 6, Brown will again allow just one hit.
1906 - Major league attendance for today's holiday games has the AL with 75,000 and the NL at 68,000.
1908 - Lefthander Hooks Wiltse pitches a 10-inning no-hitter for the Giants over the Phillies 1 - 0. He loses his bid for a perfect nine innings when, with two outs, he hits Phils P George McQuillan with a pitch on an 1-and-2 count. Ump Charles Rigler calls the pitch earlier a ball, to the dismay of Hooks and the fans, who thought it a strike. Art Devlin scores the winner in the 10th after singling off McQuillan and coming around on two errors. New York wins the nitecap more easily, 9 - 3.
1908 - In Pittsburgh, an A.M.-P.M. doubleheader with the Cubs draws 50,000 fans. Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown wins the morning game, 2 - 0, for his 4th straight shutout. Ed Reulbach takes the afternoon affair, 9 - 3. The Cubs and Bucs play five games in three days with the Cubs winning three: Brown cops 2, tossing two shutouts - a 6-hitter and a 2-hitter.
1911 - In the morning game between Chicago and Detroit, Ed Walsh stops Ty Cobb's 40-game hitting streak, as the White Sox win, 7 - 3. Though neither Detroit paper mentions the streak, Cobb has hit .491 since the skein started on May 15th.
1911 - In game one in Chicago, Wildfire Schulte, hits a 3rd inning grand slam off Bobby Keefe to lead the Cubs to an 8 - 3 win over the Reds. Reggie Richter is the victor. The second game ends at 2-2 after ten innings.
1911 - Armando Marsans and Rafael Almeida become the first Cuban natives to appear in a major league game as they both make their debut for the Reds. Steve Bellan had played in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players previously and had been born in Cuba when it was part of Spain; if one considers the NA a major league, Bellan has a claim as the first Cuban player.
1911 - The Phillies mug the Giants, 7 - 5, literally knocking New York P Doc Crandall out of the box, when he is hit with a line drive by Red Dooin. Doc gets relief from Rube Marquard, but Pete Alexander picks up the win. Fred Luderus strokes two homers for the Quakers.
1912 - The Brooklyn Dodgers end the New York Giants win streak of 16 games by sweeping a doubleheader, 10 - 3 and 5 - 2. The Superbas take the a.m. game, cuffing Christy Mathewson for five runs on five hits in three innings. Hooks Wiltse is the loser in the afternoon contest, but the Giants are still in the lead by 14 1/2 games.
1912 - Three weeks after the Tigers ask waivers on George Mullin, he pitches himself a 32nd birthday present at Detroit, a 7 - 0 no-hitter over the Browns. Mullin helps his victory with three hits and two RBIs. In the morning game, a 9 - 3 Detroit win, Ty Cobb steals 2B, 3B, and home in the 5th inning against the battery of George Baumgardner and Paul Krichell. Cobb has stolen home five times this season; this is his first swipe of home in his last eight successes that didn't occur in the 1st inning.
1912 - Boston's Smoky Joe Wood suffers his worst loss of the year, a 16 - 4 shellacking at the hands of the Athletics. Eddie Plank beats Wood, who will finish the year at 34 - 5. Wood will win his next start on July 8th, the first of 16 in a row.
1913 - Red Sox pitcher Joe Wood smokes two doubles in the 4th inning against the A's, setting a record for pitchers.
1914 - The Dodgers drum the Braves, sweeping a doubleheader, 7 - 5 in 11 innings and 4 - 3 in the nitecap. The nitecap is especially hard fought: Lefty Tyler plunks Dodger SS Ollie O'Mara on the neck and when Jake Daubert crosses the plate with the winning run in the 9th, he collides with Braves C Hank Gowdy and is knocked unconscious. Boston (26 - 40) is 10 1/2 games in back of New York.
1914 - At the Polo Grounds, the Giants sweep an A.M.-P.M. twinbill from the Phils, winning 5 - 4 and 3 - 0. Christy Mathewson, in winning the shutout, records his 350th victory.
1914 - Turnabout is fair play. The Pittfeds sweep a pair from Baltimore, winning 5 - 1 and 8 - 7. In the 8th inning of the opener, Pitt SS Ed Holly nabs Harvey Russell with the hidden ball trick. Baltimore's Otto Knabe pulled it against Pittsburgh five weeks ago.
1916 - Joe Jackson goes 3-for-5 against the Athletics. In 30 games since May 31st, he has hit 55-for-104, a .524 BA.
1924 - Phils SS Heinie Sand handles 18 chances against the Giants, falling one short of Danny Richardson's record set on June 20, 1892.
1925 - The Athletics' Lefty Grove battles the Yankees' Herb Pennock 15 innings before taking a 1-0 loss. Pennock is a model of control, issuing no walks and giving up four hits.
1928 - Ray Schalk resigns as White Sox manager; Lena Blackburne replaces him. Blackburne will last one year and in 1930 will start selling his Rubbing Mud from the Delaware River to the AL to use to take the shine off of baseballs. The NL will adopt it in the 1950s.
1932 - Baltimore's (IL) Buzz Arlett again hits four HRs in a game, one grand slam from the right side of the plate, and the other three HRs from the left side, with Reading again the victim. It is the second time Arlett has accomplished the feat in five weeks.
1932 - Bill Dickey punches and breaks Carl Reynolds's jaw after the Senator outfielder collides with him on a close play at home plate. The American League suspends the Yankee catcher for 30 days and fines him $1,000 for his one-punch fight.
1933 - The Washington Senators widen their lead over the 2nd-place Yankees to 21 1/2 games with a double-bill win before 77,365 holiday fans at Yankee Stadium, 6-5 in 10 innings and 3-2.
1934 - After the finish of the holiday doubleheaders by all the teams, the Giants, by winning two from the Braves at the Polo Grounds, have a clear lead. They are 3 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs and 4 1/2 in front of the Cardinals.
1934 - The AL race has seesawed between the Yankees and Detroit with New York only one game ahead. The improved Red Sox are 6 1/2 behind, and Washington, last year's winner, seven back and dropping fast.
1934 - When Dodgers manager Casey Stengel comes out to the mound to remove P Boom-Boom Beck from the game in Philadelphia's Baker Bowl, the frustrated Beck turns and fires the ball at the tin wall in RF. Dodgers OF Hack Wilson, not paying attention to the happenings, hears the ball, hurries to retrieve it, and fires a strike to 2B to prevent the imaginary runner from advancing.
1934 - Satchel Paige pitches a 4-0 no-hitter against the Negro League Homestead Grays in Pittsburgh, with only a walk and an error spoiling a perfect game. After this performance, Paige drives to Chicago to shut out the Chicago American Giants 1-0 in 12 innings, giving him two shutouts in two different cities in the same day.
1935 - The Cardinals move into second place with a twin win over the Cubs, but the Giants hold a 9-game lead at the season's midpoint.
1938 - The Phillies move into Shibe Park by splitting a twin bill with the Boston Bees losing the first game, 10-5, and winning the nightcap, 10-2. Problems with the Baker Bowl made it necessary for the Phils to share the Athletics' home field at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue.
1939 - It's Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium and "the Iron Horse"s' uniform number 4 will be the first ever to be retired. After emcee Sid Mercer informs the sell-out crowd the man of the hour is too moved to speak, Gehrig changes his mind when Skipper Joe McCarthy encourages him, and delivers the keynote address history describing himself as "the luckiest man on the face of the earth".
1939 - The Red Sox's Jim Tabor hits four HRs as Boston sweeps Philadelphia 17-7 and 18-12. Three of his HRs, including a record-tying two grand slams, come in the nightcap. He totals 19 bases and 11 RBI in the two slugfests.
1940 - Ab Wright of Minneapolis (AA) follows one HR in a morning game of a holiday doubleheader with five HRs and a triple -- 19 total bases -- against St. Paul.
1942 - In the eighth inning of an 8-4 Negro League victory over the Newark Eagles at Yankee Stadium, Baltimore Elite Giants spitball ace Bill Byrd beans Eagles manager Willie Wells. Wells is carried from the field, and the incident causes him to design a batting helmet. When he steps into the batter's box Thursday, he will be wearing a modified construction worker's hardhat.
1944 - Baltimore's Oriole Park, erected in 1914 for the Federal League, burns down. The team moves to the city's unroofed Municipal Stadium. It will be used this way until a second tier is added when the St. Louis Browns move in for the 1954 season.
1948 - Ted Williams faces three pitchers in the 7th inning, a first in American League history, as Boston snaps a 5 - 5 tie by scoring 14 runs on 14 RBIs to beat the visiting Philadelphia Athletics, 20 - 8. A's pitcher Charlie Harris retires one batter in 14 and coughs up 12 runs, before Bill McCahan takes over. Williams, who makes the final out in the inning, and Bobby Doerr, tie records by drawing two walks apiece. Pitcher Ellis Kinder has two hits, off Harris and McCahan. The 14 runs in one inning is a record, but five years later they will do even better with 17 in one inning.
1948 - Led by Roy Campanella's 1st two ML homers, the host Dodgers edge the Giants 13 - 12 in a wild game lasting three 1/2 hours. 37 players see action, 20 by Brooklyn, as both teams score four times in the 9th.
1948 - Braves rookie Johnny Antonelli, 18, makes his debut in the 8th inning of a 7 - 2 loss to the Phils, giving up one run on two hits. The Phils also win game two of the doubleheader.
1949 - The Dodgers increase their lead to two games over the Cardinals by winning the twin bill from the Phillies while the Redbirds, with Max Lanier dropping his first start since reinstatement, divide with the Cubs.
1950 - Braves slugger Sid Gordon ties the major-league record for season grand slams with four when he hits one against the Phillies. Boston's 12 - 9 win in game two gives the two teams a total of 40 runs, 55 hits, and 90 total bases for the day.
1951 - In a wild doubleheader featuring a double ejection of manager Charlie Dressen, the first-place Dodgers sweep the Giants, winning 6 - 5 in 11 innings, and 4 - 2. The Dodgers drive out Sal Maglie in the opener after the Giants built a lead on homers by Mueller and Mays. Brooklyn counters in the eighth with a pinch homer by Campanella, a homer by Reese, and a tying single from Hodges. Bobby Thomson's homer in the 11th puts the Giants ahead by one, but Preacher Roe wins it with a squeeze bunt. Ralph Branca wins the nitecap with homer help from Hodges and Snider. Dressen is tossed in the second inning of game two for protesting pitch calls; after he takes a seat behind the dugout umpire Robb tosses him a second time. The victories put Brooklyn six 1/2 games up.
1954 - Indians Mike Garcia, Ray Narleski and Early Wynn (in a rare relief role) shut down the White Sox 2-1, only allowing Minnie Minoso's ninth-inning single.
1957 - George Crowe of the Reds goes 5-for-5 against his old Braves teammates, but Milwaukee wins 10-7.
1959 - Yankee pitcher Bob Turley turns in another one-hit masterpiece at Washington. A lazy fly in the 9th by pinch-hitter Julio Becquer drops in front of LF Norm Siebern for the only Senator safety. SS Tony Kubek goes 8-for-10 in the doubleheader, as the Yanks sweep 10 - 6 and 7 - 0.
1960 - Mickey Mantle's 3-run first-inning home run off Hal Woodeshick is the 300th of his career. Mantle becomes the 18th player to join the 300 club, but the Yankees drop a 9 - 8 decision to Washington.
1961 - At Chicago, the Giants roll to a 19 - 3 win in game 1, collecting 22 hits including a homer by Orlando Cepeda that is one of the longest in Wrigley history. The Cubs come back in the nitecap to win, 3 - 2, overcoming Willie Mays' 300th homer.
1961 - At Metropolitan Stadium, the Twins sweep a pair from the White Sox, winning the opener 6 - 4 when Julio Becquer hits a 9th inning grand slam as a pinch hitter. Cal McLish shuts out the Twins in game two until the 8th inning when the Twins score four runs, two on Harmon Killebrew's only career inside-the-park-HR, off Cal McLish. It is the Met's first inside the park home run. The Twins win, 4 - 2, behind Jack Kralick.
1961 - Before 74,246 - the largest crowd at Yankee Stadium since 1947 - the Yankees split with the Tigers, winning the opener 6 - 2, before losing 4 - 3 in 10 innings.
1961 - Johnny Antonelli returns to the Braves as the Indians sell the veteran back to where he started as an 18-year-old pitcher.
1962 - The San Francisco Giants sign Santa Clara College P Bob Garibaldi for a $150,000 bonus.
1962 - The Angels win for the 14th time in 20 games and move into first place by sweeping Washington 4 - 2 and 4 - 1 in DC.
1964 - Manny Jimenez, who went the entire 1963 season without a home run, hits 3, and goes 4-for-4 for Kansas City against Baltimore. The game ends in a 6 - 6 tie when halted by a special curfew so a fireworks display can take place in Baltimore.
1966 - Ron Santo sets a modern-day Cubs record when he hits in his 28th straight game, as the Cubs lose the opener to the Pirates 7 - 5. The Cubs win the nightcap 6 - 4, but Santo is held hitless. In between the first and second game of the streak, the opener of a twinbill on June 1, Santo had no official at-bats. He received four walks and was HPB. The day before, however, he was 1-for-3, which counts as the actual start of the streak.
1967 - The Mets end a 19-game losing streak to Juan Marichal with their first win against the Dominican Dandy 8 - 7. Marichal's win streak started in 1962. Jack Fisher is the winning pitcher.
1967 - In Minnesota, Mudcat Grant stops the Yankees to give the Twins a 8 - 3 victory. Mickey Mantle drives in all three New York runs with two homers.
1967 - Atlanta's Phil Niekro gets the best of rookie brother Joe as the Braves beat the Cubs, 8 - 3. It is the first decision between the pair.
1967 - Philadelphia C Clay Dalrymple collects six walks in a 19-inning doubleheader against the Astros. The Phillies win the first 9 - 0 and take the nightcap 4 - 3 in 11 innings.
1969 - The Dodgers take first place in the National League West by sweeping a doubleheader against the Braves in Los Angeles, winning 6 - 7 and 7 - 3.
1970 - At Fenway, Tony Conigliaro & Billy Conigliaro homer for the Red Sox in a 5 - 1 win over the Indians. Sonny Siebert is the winner.
1970 - The Cards send three pinch hitters to the plate in the 8th inning and all three strike out. Steve Renko of the Expos fans 10 in the game, including Jim Beauchamp, Vic Davalillo and Leron Lee in the 8th, to give Montreal an 8 - 0 win.
1971 - Backed by a pair of homers. Mike Cuellar wins his 10th straight for the first-place O's, beating Detroit's Joe Coleman, 3 - 2.
1972 - Leron Lee singles in the 9th to break up Tom Seaver's no-hitter, but the Mets shut out the Padres 2 - 0, in the opener. Seaver strikes out 11. The Pads take the nitecap, 4 - 2, as Nate Colbert hits his 16th homer.
1972 - Denny McLain makes his National League debut in the 2nd game of a twinbill with the Cubs, called in the 8th inning because of rain. McLain gets no decision in the 3 - 3 tie, but gets a standing ovation at the end from the crowd of 50,597. Atlanta wins the opener, 5 - 1, as Ron Reed beats Juan Pizarro. Paul Casanova's first NL homer and Lum's 3-run homer in the 7th account for four runs.
1973 - Before 45,000 Twins fans, Eddie Bane, the top collegiate pitcher this year and Minnesota's top draft pick, makes his ML debut against the Royals. Bane pitches well for seven innings, but the Royals emerge with a 5 - 4 win, beating reliever Ray Corbin. Bane will finish the season at 0 - 5.
1973 - The Orioles win their 3rd come from behind win over the Brewers, this time scoring 10 runs in the last three innings to win, 10 - 7.
1974 - Toby Harrah's 3rd inning homer is the only hit for Texas, as Bert Blyleven and the Twins win, 3 - 1.
1976 - On the nation's bicentennial anniversary, Philadelphia splits a doubleheader with Pittsburgh, 10 - 5 and 7 - 1. In the first game, the Phils' Tim McCarver loses a grand slam when he passes a teammate on the bases.
1977 - In the first game of a doubleheader, Chicago outfielder Larry Biittner pitches the last one 1/3 innings for the Cubs, striking out 3. That's the good news. The bad news is he allows six earned runs on five hits and a walk as the Expos crush the Cubs, 19 - 3. Two of the three K's are of the opposing pitcher, Jackie Brown, and the last is Larry Parrish, who had homered on a 1 - 2 pitch from Biittner. Biittner also serves up homers to Valentine and Dawson, each of whom have five ribbies. Biittner is later fined $50 by the National League for throwing a "brush-back" pitch after surrendering the three home runs, but a collection is taken up to pay for his shave. Further bad news for the Cubs is that Bruce Sutter is knocked out for the first time this year, and a massive knot beneath his right shoulder will keep him out of the All-star game. The Cubs lose game 2, 7 - 6.
1977 - The Boston Red Sox end their nine game losing streak by walloping a ML-record, since topped, eight home runs, in beating Toronto 9 - 6 at Fenway. Seven of the homers are solo shots, another ML record. Four home runs (Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski, George Scott) come in the 8th inning. Only Scott's is not consecutive. Lynn and Scott each have 2, while Rice, Yaz, Butch Hobson and Bernie Carbo have one apiece. The Sox previous high for homers was six and they won't top that number until 1999.
1977 - New York stays a game ahead of the Red Sox by edging Cleveland, 7 - 5. The Yankees get home runs from Chris Chambliss, Roy White, Lou Piniella and Graig Nettles.
1977 - After eight straight hits, Ron Cey is called out on strikes in the 9th in a 4 - 0 Dodger win over San Francisco. Cey had five hits the day before and three straight today.
1979 - The Phillies' Steve Carlton shuts out the Mets 1 - 0 on a one-hitter, but the Phils manage to lose three other hurlers on the same day: Larry Christenson pulls a groin muscle, Dick Ruthven goes on the disabled list, and Randy Lerch fractures his thumb in a brawl.
1980 - Reggie Smith belts the 7,000th home run in Dodgers history and Don Sutton sets a team record with his 52nd career shutout in the Dodgers' 4-0 victory over the Giants.
1980 - Nolan Ryan fans the Reds' Cesar Geronimo to become the 4th pitcher ever to reach 3,000 career strikeouts. Ironically, Geronimo was also Bob Gibson's 3,000th career strikeout victim six years earlier. Despite the milestone, Ryan allows six runs in four 1/3 innings and Houston loses, 8 - 1.
1982 - Celebrating Independence Day at Mile High Stadium in Denver, 65,666 fans watch an American Association contest and enjoy a giant fireworks display after game. The gathering is the largest crowd in minor league history.
1983 - Dave Righetti pitches the Yankees' first no-hitter since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, handcuffing the Red Sox 4 - 0 before a holiday crowd of 41,077 at Yankee Stadium. It's the first no-hitter by a Yankee lefty since George Mogridge in 1917.
1984 - Yankee hurler Phil Niekro strikes out Ranger Larry Parrish to become the ninth major league player to reach 3,000 strikeout milestone. New York wins, 5-0.
1984 - Jim Rice caps a 5-for-6 day with a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Boston a 13 - 9 win over Oakland.
1985 - In a marathon game that borders on the surreal, the Mets endure two rain delays and 6:10 of playing time to beat the Braves 16 - 13 in 19 innings on Fireworks Night in Atlanta. The Mets had taken a 10 - 8 lead in the top of the 13th inning, only to watch the Braves tie it up. The Mets score again in the 18th, but relief hurler Rick Camp (a .060 hitter who was batting because Atlanta had no more position players available to pinch-hit) ties the score with his first ML home run on a 2-out 2-strike pitch in the bottom of the inning. No pitcher had ever homered that late in a game before. Finally the Mets erupt for five runs in the 19th off Camp and Atlanta can respond only with 2. Keith Hernandez hits for the cycle for the Mets, and the game ends at 3:55 A.M. on July 5th, the latest finish in ML history. At 4:01 A.M. the post-game fireworks display begins, causing local residents to think the city is under attack.
1986 - At Comiskey Park, with the score 1 - 1 in the bottom of the 8th, Sox OF John Cangelosi leads off with a drive to the RF corner. A fan leans out of the stands and appears to touch the ball as he tumbles onto the field. Anticipating an interference call, Yankee OF Claudell Washington slows down, while the speedy Cangelosi easily makes 3B. The umps don't see any interference and Cangelosi remains on 3B, and scores on a sac fly. The Sox win 2 - 1.
1987 - With the Phillies' 9-6 win over the Tigers, the Niekro brothers pass the Perrys (Gaylord and Jim) with 530 combined victories.
1987 - In a 7-player swap, the Padres trade pitchers Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts and OF Kevin Mitchell to the Giants for 3B Chris Brown and pitchers Keith Comstock, Mark Davis and Mark Grant. In 1989, Mitchell will win the MVP Award for the Giants, and Davis will win the Cy Young Award for the Padres.
1988 - As he did yesterday, Mark McGwire belts a 16th inning homer to give the A's a 4 - 2 win over Cleveland. Doug Jones pitches three shutout innings for Cleveland, but gets no decision, ending his ML-record streak of 15 consecutive saves.
1988 - Rangers P Charlie Hough strikes out four batters in the first inning of a 13 - 2 loss to the Yankees.
1988 - Kansas City releases pitcher Dan Quisenberry, whose 238 saves are the 4th most in ML history. He will sign with St. Louis next week.
1988 - National League umpire Lee Weyer, 51, dies of a heart attack after working the Cubs' 3 - 2 win over San Francisco.
1989 - Cincinnati's Tom Browning is three outs away from his 2nd career perfect game when Dickie Thon doubles, and Browning is eventually relieved by John Franco in a 2 - 1 win over Philadelphia.
1992 - In Atlanta's 4 - 2 win over the Cubs, Brave SS Jeff Blauser hits a 2 - run home run in the 1st inning to start the scoring. It is the 1,776th big league homer hit on the holiday. Brian Hunter adds a solo shot to back Charlie Leibrandt (7 - 3).
1992 - Montreal OF Larry Walker throws out Padre SS Tony Fernandez at 1B on a 1-hopper to right in the 1st inning of the Expos 3 - 2 win over San Diego. Fred McGriff has a solo home run off starter Chris Nabholz, with John Wetteland picking up his 1st win of the year.
1996 - The Yankees provide the fireworks, signing Darryl Strawberry. On June 24th, Yankee GM Bob Watson said five times that Strawberry "doesn't fit."
1997 - Giants P Shawn Estes holds the Rockies to one hit in eight 2/3 innings as SF shuts out Colorado, 4-0. Quinton McCracken's single is Colorado's only hit as Estes fans 11 and walks only 2. Rod Beck comes in to record the last out.
1998 - Dodger interim GM Tommy Lasorda sends blue chippers Dennys Reyes and Paul Konerko to the Reds for closer Jeff Shaw. Lasorda later admits he was unaware that Shaw, under terms of the Basic Agreement, has the right to demand a trade at the end of the season.
1998 - Three White Sox pitchers combine to shut out the Red Sox, 3-0, on five hits. John Snyder gets the win with seven 1/3 innings. Nomar Garciaparra has two walks but his 24-game hit streak ends.
1999 - The Royals defeat the Indians, 10-9, as C Mike Sweeney ties an American League record by recording an RBI in his 13th straight game. Taffy Wright of the White Sox set the mark in 1941. The major league standard is 17 games, set by Oscar Grimes of the Chicago Cubs in 1922. OF Jermaine Dye brings home six of Kansas City's runs with four hits, including a pair of homers.
1999 - The Pirates lose to the Brewers, 4-3, losing C Jason Kendall to a severely dislocated ankle in the process. Trying to break up Steve Woodard's perfect game, Kendall drags a bunt in the 5th inning and hits the 1B bag awkwardly, ripping the ankle bone from the joint. He will be out for the rest of the season.
1999 - The Blue Jays defeat the Devil Rays, 6-3, despite Jose Canseco's 30th home run of the season. Canseco becomes the first player in history to reach the 30 mark with four different teams, having previously done so with Oakland, Texas, and Toronto. Pat Hentgen wins his 100th career game and Shawn Green reaches the 100-HR mark with a pair of homers.
2000 - Becoming only the third player in Cardinal history to homer in his first career at-bat, Keith McDonald pinch hits a home run in a 14-3 victory over the Reds. Eddie Morgan [1936] and Wally Moon [1954] are the only other Redbirds to accomplish the feat.
2000 - In the Tigers' 11 - 0 blowout over Tampa Bay, Shane Halter takes over the catching duties in the 8th from Detroit's Brad Ausmus. Halter has now played every position in the majors: with the Royals, he pitched on July 17, 1998. Dave Mlicki is the winner with Dean Palmer powering a pair of home runs.
2001 - The fifty people stranded on the Ferris wheel ride at Comerica Park for two hours during the Royal-Tiger game are rescued by firefighters and emergency crews using a cherry picker and a fire truck ladder. The inconvenience fans will receive tickets to another game, free dinner and team autographs from the Tigers.
2001 - The Brewers' new home, Miller Park, continues to be jinxed as a parachutist breaks his ankle when he misses the opening in the retractable roof and lands on a beam several hundred feet off the ground. Another member of the Sky Knights Sports Parachute Club missed the stadium completely.
2002 - The Yankees defeat the Indians, 7 - 1. Jim Thome has his streak of consecutive games hitting a home run stopped at 7, one short of the ML record.
2003 - In 10-3 victory over New York, the Red Sox score all their runs with the long ball hitting a record seven home runs off the Yankees. Prior to today's Independence Day fireworks, the Bronx Bombers had given up six homers in a game four times including twice to Boston (1997 and 1977) and the Indians (1970).
2004 - The selection of Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa as starters in the NL All-Stars line-up marks the first time history three players with 500 career home runs have appeared on the same team. The trio will appear in the starting outfield in the 75th All-Star Game in Houston's Minute Maid Park.
2008:
- In the highest-scoring game at Coors Field since the implementation of the humidor, Colorado tops the Marlins, 18-17. They also set a Rockies record with a comeback from a 9-run deficit as Florida led 13-4 halfway through the 4th. Chris Iannetta singles home the winner for his 4th RBI of the day. Matt Holliday and Cody Ross each drive in five, Garrett Atkins has five hits, Holliday and Ryan Spilborghs each homer twice and both Spilborghs and Jorge Cantu score four in the slugfest. Taylor Buchholz gets the win with a scoreless 9th for Colorado.
- The Cardinals drop a 2-1 decision to the Cubs but Albert Pujols socks his 300th career home run. At 28 years, 170 days old, he becomes the fifth youngest player to hit 300, one day ahead of Mel Ott. The younger players were Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Ken Griffey Jr. and Andruw Jones.