June 15
From BR Bullpen
| 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 June 15.
[edit] Events
- 1902 - Corsicana defeated Texarkana 51 - 3 in a Texas League game. Nig Clarke of Corsicana took advantage of the small park and hit eight home runs. Some telegraph operators, thinking there was a mistake, reported the score as 5 - 3.
- 1925 - The Philadelphia Athletics went into the bottom of the eighth inning trailing 15 - 4 and scored 13 runs to defeat the Cleveland Indians 17 - 15.
- 1928 - Ty Cobb of the Philadelphia Athletics stole home plate for the 54th and final time in his 24-year career to extend his major league record. It came in the eighth inning against the Cleveland Indians. The Athletics beat Cleveland, 12 - 5, as Lefty Grove was the winning pitcher.
- 1931 - Cut-down day for major league rosters included the retirement of Eddie Collins and Harry Heilmann. Collins became a coach for the Philadelphia Athletics and Heilmann will return briefly to the Cincinnati Reds in 1932.
- 1938 - Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds stunned the baseball world by pitching his second successive no-hitter in five days, defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers, 6 - 0, as Brooklyn played the first night game ever at Ebbets Field. In front of 38,748 fans, including spectator Babe Ruth, Vander Meer struck out seven and walked eight, including three one-out walks in the ninth inning. A force at home and a fly ball ended the game. Vander Meer no-hit the Boston Braves, 3 - 0, on June 11.
- 1948 - The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4 - 1 ,before a crowd of 54,480 in the first night game at Briggs Stadium. The Tigers were the last American League team to install lights.
- 1949 - Eddie Waitkus of the Philadelphia Phillies was shot by 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. She will later be placed in a mental hospital. Waitkus battled for his life and came back to play the following season.
- 1952 - The St. Louis Cardinals set a National League comeback record by rallying from an 11 - 0 deficit to post a 14 - 12 victory over the New York Giants. St. Louis scored seven runs in the fifth inning, three in the seventh, two in the eighth and two in the ninth to cap off the incredible comeback.
- 1961 - The expansion Washington Senators were 30-30 after winning today. It was the latest date an expansion team will be at .500. Washington will lose it next 10 games.
- 1963 - Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants pitched a 1 - 0 no-hitter against the Houston Colts .45's. It was the first Giants franchise no-hitter since Carl Hubbell did it in 1929.
- 1964 - The St. Louis Cardinals made one of their best trades ever, acquiring outfielder Lou Brock from the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Ernie Broglio and Bobby Shantz and outfielder Doug Clemens. As a member of the Cardinals, Brock will set the all-time stolen base record and reach the 3,000-hit mark.
- 1965 - Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain made a first-inning relief appearance and struck out the first seven batters he faced, setting a major league record. He recorded 14 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings as Detroit rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox 6 - 5. Bill Freehan had a record-tying 19 putouts at catcher.
- 1969 - The New York Mets helped their power needs by adding first baseman Donn Clendenon. Clendenon had refused a January trade that would send him from Montreal to Houston, but he agreed to go to New York. In exchange, Montreal received Steve Renko, Kevin Collins, and two minor leaguers, and also acquired pitcher Dick Radatz from Detroit.
- 1973 - Former Atlanta Braves outfielder Tommie Aaron became the first black manager of a team located in the deep South. Aaron will manage Savannah which becomes the first Double-A team to employ an African-American manager.
- 1976:
- A game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros between was rained out at the Houston Astrodome. Only members of both teams were able to make it to the stadium. The game was postponed when heavy rains and flooding prevented umpires, fans and stadium personnel from arriving at the dome. It was the first rainout in Astrodome history.
- Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley sold three of his star players. Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers were sent to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million apiece and Vida Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million. Three days later, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn will void the moves, saying they are "not in the best interests of baseball."
- 1977 - In an unpopular move, the New York Mets traded franchise pitcher Tom Seaver just moments before the trading line. The Mets sent Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds for four lesser players: infielder Doug Flynn, outfielders Steve Henderson and Dan Norman, and pitcher Pat Zachry. Seaver will go on to win 75 games for the Reds in five and a half seasons. The same day, New York traded slugger Dave Kingman to the San Diego Padres for utility player Bobby Valentine and a minor league pitcher.
- 1980 - Jorge Orta of the Cleveland Indians hit a double and five singles and scored four runs in a 14 - 5 triumph over the Minnesota Twins. Toby Harrah recorded seven RBI for Cleveland.
- 1983 - In one of the worst trades in franchise history, the St. Louis Cardinals sent first baseman Keith Hernandez to the New York Mets in exchange for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey.
- 1992 - Jeff Reardon broke Rollie Fingers' career save mark of 341 when he preserved a 1 - 0 victory for the Boston Red Sox with one scoreless inning against the New York Yankees.
- 1997 - In one of the more surprising developments of the first weekend of interleague play, the Baltimore Orioles completed a sweep of the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, on Lenny Webster's tenth inning home run off Mark Wohlers. One byproduct of interleague play that wasn't a surprise was the increase at the turnstiles. Attendance was up nearly 10,000 per game for the weekend, and the Seattle Mariners averaged 52,074 for their four interleague games in the Kingdome.
- 2002 - Rafael Palmeiro of the Texas Rangers reached his 1,000 career extra base hit by hitting a double in the fifth inning in the 4 - 0 loss to the Houston Astros. Palmeiro became the 25th major leaguer to reach that mark.
- 2007 - Julio Franco comes to bat against Roger Clemens. Their combined age is 93 years, 246 days, the oldest pitcher-batter matchup in MLB since Rube Walberg and Nick Altrock on October 1, 1933. Franco and Clemens had first faced off on May 15, 1984, 19 months before the Mets starting left fielder in this game, Chris Gomez, was even born.
- 2008:
- Tom Baker strikes out four batters in an inning, the first Minnesota Twins hurler to accomplish the feat. In the third inning of a 4-2 loss to Milwaukee, Baker fans Ryan Braun. On a strikeout of Prince Fielder, the ball bounced away from backstop Mike Redmond, letting Fielder reach first. Baker struck out Russell Branyan and then got Mike Cameron looking to end the frame.
- Chien-Ming Wang, who is 8-2 after back-to-back 19-win seasons, breaks his right foot running the bases in an interleague game with the Astros, spoiling a 13-0 Yankee rout. Wang will miss at least six weeks.
[edit] Births
- 1840 - Washington Fulmer, outfielder (d. 1907)
- 1862 - Peek-A-Boo Veach, infielder (d. 1937)
- 1863 - Jerry Hurley, catcher (d. 1950)
- 1866 - Nick Wise, catcher/outfielder (d. 1923)
- 1869 - Tom Hart, catcher (d. 1939)
- 1876 - Charlie Dexter, outfielder (d. 1934)
- 1878 - Ed Wheeler, infielder (d. 1960)
- 1884 - Heinie Beckendorf, catcher (d. 1949)
- 1890 - Dutch Schirick, pinch hitter (d. 1968)
- 1890 - John Wilson, pitcher (d. 1954)
- 1891 - Frank Crossin, catcher (d. 1965)
- 1891 - Lou North, pitcher (d. 1974)
- 1894 - Mike Cantwell, pitcher (d. 1953)
- 1894 - Norm Glockson, catcher (d. 1955)
- 1896 - Ray Richmond, pitcher (d. 1969)
- 1897 - Cy Twombly, pitcher (d. 1974)
- 1904 - Ed Pipgras, pitcher (d. 1964)
- 1904 - Pid Purdy, outfielder (d. 1951)
- 1904 - Hank Winston, pitcher (d. 1974)
- 1906 - Monte Weaver, pitcher (d. 1994)
- 1912 - Babe Dahlgren, infielder; All-Star (d. 1996)
- 1912 - Mem Lovett, pinch hitter
- 1916 - Bud Stewart, outfielder (d. 2000)
- 1925 - Gene Baker, infielder; All-Star (d. 1999)
- 1927 - Ben Flowers, pitcher
- 1927 - Matt Zidich, minor league pitcher, outfielder (d. 2008)
- 1928 - Gene Hassell, minor league infielder and manager
- 1931 - Bernice Gera, minor league umpire (d. 1992)
- 1932 - Mario Cuomo, minor league outfielder
- 1934 - Harvey Tomter, minor league pitcher (d. 2005)
- 1938 - Billy Williams, outfielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer
- 1939 - Ty Cline, outfielder
- 1942 - Bruce Dal Canton, pitcher
- 1943 - Al Closter, pitcher
- 1946 - Ken Henderson, outfielder
- 1946 - Champ Summers, outfielder
- 1949 - Dusty Baker, outfielder, manager; All-Star
- 1956 - Lance Parrish, catcher; All-Star
- 1957 - Brett Butler, outfielder; All-Star
- 1958 - Wade Boggs, infielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer
- 1963 - Randy Smith, general manager
- 1966 - Dave Liddell, catcher
- 1969 - Tim Keuter, Hoofdklasse pitcher
- 1972 - Tony Clark, infielder; All-Star
- 1972 - Ramiro Mendoza, pitcher
- 1972 - Andy Pettitte, pitcher; All-Star
- 1972 - Carlos Subero, minor league infielder and manager
- 1973 - Jon Edwards, minor league pitcher
- 1975 - Chris Wakeland, outfielder
- 1977 - Bret Prinz, pitcher
- 1978 - Zach Day, pitcher
- 1979 - Matt Smith, pitcher
- 1980 - Jin-young Lee, KBO outfielder
- 1981 - Jeremy Reed, outfielder
- 1983 - Abel Moreno, minor league pitcher
- 1984 - Tim Lincecum, pitcher
- 1984 - Cliff Pennington, minor league infielder
- 1986 - Trevor Plouffe, minor league infielder
- 1986 - Sean West, minor league pitcher
- 1987 - Alexandre Periard, minor league pitcher
[edit] Deaths
- 1893 - Darby O'Brien, outfielder (b. 1863)
- 1906 - Sandy Nava, catcher (b. 1850)
- 1919 - Fred Tenney, outfielder (b. 1859)
- 1921 - Robert Foster, catcher (b. 1855)
- 1929 - Tim Flood, infielder (b. 1877)
- 1931 - Bill O'Hara, outfielder (b. 1883)
- 1937 - Al Krumm, pitcher (b. 1865)
- 1947 - Luke Stuart, infielder (b. 1892)
- 1949 - Jim Buchanan, pitcher (b. 1876)
- 1949 - Nig Clarke, catcher (b. 1882)
- 1954 - Lew Carr, infielder (b. 1872)
- 1956 - Scotty Ingerton, infielder (b. 1886)
- 1959 - Charlie Eakle, infielder (b. 1887)
- 1964 - Jim Spotts, catcher (b. 1909)
- 1965 - Jack Calvo, outfielder (b. 1894)
- 1967 - Ollie Welf, pinch runner (b. 1889)
- 1968 - Sam Crawford, outfielder; Hall of Famer (b. 1880)
- 1972 - Tom Long, outfielder (b. 1890)
- 1976 - Jimmie Dykes, infielder, manager; All-Star (b. 1896)
- 1977 - Bill Lee, pitcher; All-Star (b. 1909)
- 1987 - George Smith, infielder (b. 1937)
- 1987 - Don White, outfielder (b. 1919)
- 1988 - Hugh Willingham, infielder (b. 1906)
- 1989 - Judy Johnson Hall of Famer (b. 1900)
- 1990 - Bucky Jacobs, pitcher (b. 1913)
- 1991 - Happy Chandler Hall of Famer (b. 1898)
- 1992 - Ed Lopat, pitcher, manager; All-Star (b. 1918)
- 1997 - Bill Lawrence, outfielder (b. 1906)
- 1999 - Gene Markland, infielder (b. 1919)
- 2001 - Marcelino Solis, pitcher (b. 1930)
- 2005 - Carroll Sembera, pitcher (b. 1941)
- 2006 - Carl Thompson, minor league manager (b. 1921)
- 2007 - Larry Whiteside, writer (b. 1937)
- 2008 - John Buzhardt, pitcher (b. 1936)
- 2008 - Billy Muffett, pitcher (b. 1930)
