June 17

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 June 17.

[edit] Events

1880 - John Montgomery Ward of the Providence Grays pitched a perfect game against the Buffalo Bisons, winning 5 - 0. Losing pitcher Pud Galvin became the last out. This was the second perfect game in the National League in six days, which was pitched by Lee Richmond on June 12. The next perfect game by a National League pitcher wouldn't happen for 84 years, when Jim Bunning turned the trick on Father's Day in 1964.
1907 - The Boston Red Sox signed their fourth manager with Deacon McGuire replacing Bob Unglaub.
1915 - Zip Zabel came out of the Chicago Cubs bullpen with two outs in the first inning to face the Brooklyn Robins. Zabel won the game in the 19th inning, 4 - 3, in the longest relief effort in major league history. Brooklyn starter Jeff Pfeffer scattered 15 hits as he labored 18 1/3 innings, only to lose on an errant throw by second baseman George Cutshaw.
1916 - The Chicago White Sox pounded Babe Ruth in eight innings with 12 hits, including three by Shoeless Joe Jackson, to beat the visiting Boston Red Sox, 5 - 0. The loss dropped Boston into sixth place.
1917 - The Giants and Yankees played the first Sunday game in New York for a war charity in front of 21,000 spectators.
1931 - Longtime umpire and future Hall of Famer Tom Connolly announced his retirement. Connolly, who had worked the first game in American League history in 1901, will become the supervisor of AL umpires.
1935 - Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ruled that Alabama Pitts, a former jailed player, may suit up for the Albany Senators of the International League. Landis' ruling stipulated that Pitts may play only in regular season games, but not in exhibitions.
1936 - Red Ruffing of the New York Yankees set an American League record for pitchers by recording up to 10 total bases. Ruffing hit two home runs as part of a four-hit day, helping the Yankees to a 15 - 4 crushing of the Cleveland Indians.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees was credited with a hit in his 30th consecutive game when an easy grounder to shortstop bounced up and hit Luke Appling on the shoulder. The Chicago White Sox beat the Yankees 8 - 7.
1943 - Boston Red Sox player-manager Joe Cronin inserted himself as a pinch-hitter in both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics as he hit three-run home runs in each at-bat, becoming the first major leaguer to pinch-hit home runs in both ends of a doubleheader. The Red Sox won the opener, 5 - 4, but lost the second game, 8 - 7. Cronin will pinch-hit 42 times this year with 18 hits, including an American League record five pinch-hit homers.
1956 - Milwaukee Braves slugger Joe Adcock became the only player to hit a home run onto the roof of Ebbets Field. Adcock hit three home runs during the doubleheader sweep of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He will go on to hit 13 career home runs at Ebbets Field, more than any other visiting player.
1958 - Ozzie Virgil, who became the first black to play for the Detroit Tigers 11 days before, hit 5-for-5 in his first home game at Briggs Stadium. The Dominican's performance helped Detroit to beat the Washington Senators, 9 - 2.
1960 - Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hit his 500th career home run against the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium. Williams' two-run shot off Wynn Hawkins helped the Red Sox beat Cleveland, 3 - 1. Williams became the fourth player in major league history to hit 500 home runs, joining Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Mel Ott.
1962 - Chicago Cubs outfielder Lou Brock hit a home run into the right-center field bleachers at the Polo Grounds, 460 feet from home plate, in the first game of a Chicago doubleheader sweep over the New York Mets, 8 - 7 and 4 - 3. Known more for his speed than power, Brock became the second player to reach that section of seats. Joe Adcock was the first.
1967 - A nine-hour and five-minute doubleheader between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Athletics set a major league record for the longest ever. The first game included a rain delay, and the second went 19 innings before a Dave Duncan home run gave the Athletics a 6 - 5 victory. Detroit won the opener, 7 - 6.
1970 - At Candlestick Park, Giants' legend Willie Mays (615) and Ernie Banks of the Cubs (504) both hit home runs making it the first time two big leaguers with 500 home runs did it in the same game.
1971 - Don Kessinger of the Chicago Cubs went 6-for-6, with five singles and a double, in a 7 - 6, 10-inning decision over the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
1978 - Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees struck out 18 batters in a four-hit, 4 - 0 shutout of the California Angels, to set an American League record for a left-handed pitcher in a single game. Guidry, who struck out 15 in the first six innings, posted his 11th consecutive victory without a loss. The performance will help coin a new nickname for Guidry as the team's announcer, Phil Rizzuto, began to refer to him as 'Louisiana Lightning', inspiring a new Yankees tradition as the fans began to clap rhythmically each time there was two strikes on the batter.
1987 - Former Kansas City Royals manager Dick Howser died from brain cancer at the age of 51. The popular Howser, who led the Royals to the 1985 World Championship, fell ill during the 1986 season. He attempted to return to managing in the 1987 spring training, only to give up the comeback because of his weakened condition. His uniform number, 10, will be retired by the club on July 3.
1993:
- Baseball owners voted overwhelmingly, 26-2, in favor of expanding the playoffs for the first time since 1969. The new system, which will begin in 1994, will double the number teams that qualify to eight by realigning each league to three divisions with two teams qualifying as wildcards.
- San Francisco Giants outfielder Darren Lewis set a major league record by playing his 243rd consecutive game without committing an error. It is also the most ever by any outfielder at the start of his career.
- Carlos Baerga of the Cleveland Indians hit three home runs in a 9 - 5 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Detroit hit five home runs of their own, including a pair each by Travis Fryman and Dan Gladden. Baerga, Fryman and Gladden also tied an American League record for three players with two or more home runs in a nine-inning game.
1995 - Relief pitcher Mitch Williams was released by the Anaheim Angels. Williams, considered retired last year after being released by Houston, ended his career with a unique statistic on his resume: 526 hits and 537 walks in 684-2/3 innings pitched. He is the only pitcher in major league history with more than 250 innings to allow more walks than hits.
1997 - The Freeway Series hits the street in Los Angeles, CA, and the Dodgers drove home with the first victory in this interleague play on Todd Zeile's second home run of the game. The Dodgers trailed the Angels by one run in the ninth inning, but tied it on a wild pitch and won it 4 - 3 on Zeile's homer.
2000:
- Darin Erstad hit a double, to get his 100th hit of the season, in the Angels 10 - 3 win over Arizona. Erstad's hit came in his 61st game, and he was the fastest to reach 100 hits since Heinie Manush, in 1934.
- LSU defeated Stanford, 6 - 5, to win its fifth College World Series since 1991.
2001 - Blake Stein of the Kansas City Royals struck out eight straight batters, and 11 in five 2/3 innings, but the Milwaukee Brewers beat Kansas City, 5 - 2. Only Nolan Ryan (twice), Ron Davis and Roger Clemens have struck out eight in a row in the American League. Tom Seaver hold the major league record with 10 consecutive strikeouts, which was set in 1970.
2003:
- Pitchers Jae Seo, David Weathers and Armando Benitez combined for a one-hitter as the New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins 5 - 0. It was the third straight game the Mets were involved in a one-hitter.
- The Philadelphia Phillies entered a 25-year agreement with Citizens Bank, one of the nation's largest commercial bank holding companies, which includes naming the Philadelphia's new baseball facility, Citizens Bank Park. At the new ball park, a gigantic Liberty Bell towering 100 feet above street level will come to life after every Phillies home run.
2005:
- In interleague play, the Arizona Diamondbacks gave up 10 runs in the third inning of its 13 - 6 loss to the Cleveland Indians. The Diamondbacks, who allowed 10 runs in the sixth inning on June 15 to the Cubs, became the first team since the 1969 Mets to allow 10 runs in an inning in consecutive games. The Mets did it on one day, during a doubleheader against Houston.
- Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore Orioles played in his 822nd consecutive game, tying Gus Suhr for ninth place on the all-time list.
- Former Red Sox Brian Daubach started at first base for the Mets, drawing three walks and scoring two runs one day after being called up from Triple-A Norfolk. Daubach was drafted by the Mets in the 17th round in 1990, but this was his first big league game for the club.
2007:
- Brandon Watson of the Columbus Clippers hits in his 43rd consecutive game, breaking the 95-year-old International League record previously held by Jack Lelivelt. The record-shattering blow is a single off of J.D. Durbin.
- Frank Thomas cracks his 244th home run as a DH, going deep against Micah Bowie. He breaks Edgar Martinez's career home run record for designated hitters with that blow.
2008 - In the small hours of the morning after beating the Los Angeles Angels 9-6 on the West Coast, the New York Mets fire manager Willie Randolph and two of his coaches with the team in 4th place. Bench coach Jerry Manuel is named interim manager.