May 27

Events, births and deaths that occurred on May 27.

[edit] Events

• 1880 - Fred Goldsmith of the Chicago White Stockings shuts out the Buffalo Bisons, 11 - 0, on two hits. Chicago extends its winning streak to 13 games, to set a new National League record.
• 1896 - The Cleveland Spiders takes advantage of 13 bases on balls and three wild pitches by a severely discontrolled Jouett Meekin, to beat the New York Giants, 11 - 5.
• 1897 - The Cincinnati Reds acquire slick first baseman and good hitter Jake Beckley from the New York Giants.
• 1904 - Dan McGann of the New York Giants collects five stolen bases in one game against the Brooklyn Superbas to set a major league record, a feat not duplicated until August 24, 1974, by Davey Lopes. Otis Nixon eventually will set a new mark with six stolen bases on June 16, 1991.
• 1909 - In an American League game featuring a major league record-setting 44 assists by both teams, the Cleveland Naps defeat the St. Louis Browns, 5 - 2. The National League-high assist marks of April 23, 1903 and May 15, 1909 (both between the New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds) fall short of today's record. Addie Joss for Cleveland and Barney Pelty for St. Louis are the pitchers as each team records 22 assists.
• 1911 - Art Fromme allow just one hit - a double by Honus Wagner in the 2nd inning - in pitching the Cincinnati Reds to a 1 - 0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• 1912 - New York Giants pitcher Red Ames steals home in the 5th inning of a 6 - 2 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• 1923 - At the Polo Grounds, Philadelphia Phillies slugger Cy Williams hits his 18th home run of the season, and his 15th of May, to set a new major league record for the month. The homer comes off New York Giants pitcher Rosy Ryan.
• 1937 - Carl Hubbell earns his 24th consecutive victory over two seasons and Mel Ott hits a 9th-inning home run as the New York Giants defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 3 - 2. Hubbell wins the game in relief. His 24-win string started on July 17, 1936.
• 1939 - For the first time in his career, Charlie Gehringer of the Detroit Tigers hits for the cycle, in a 12 - 5 win against the St. Louis Browns. Gehringer does it in order - single, double, triple, home run.
• 1946 - The outlaw Mexican League scuttles its competition, Mexico's only league entry in organized baseball. There are now 43 minor leagues for 1946. No other minor leagues will fold this year.
• 1955 - Norm Zauchin of the Boston Red Sox hits three home runs with a double and 10 RBI in the first five innings of a 16 - 0 victory over the Washington Senators.
• 1960 - Baltimore Orioles catcher Clint Courtney uses an oversized mitt in an effort to handle the pitches of knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm. The mitt, designed by Baltimore manager Paul Richards, is 50 percent larger than the standard. Courtney handles Wilhelm's pitches flawlessly in a 3 - 2 win over the Yankees. The oversized mitt will later be banned.
• 1964 - Roberto Clemente's longest clout? Not nearly. His longest out? Could be. In the 8th inning, with a runner on second and two men out, with the Pirates down by two, Clemente tees off and delivers what is quite possibly the longest out of his career, a missile headed for the deepest reaches of Forbes Field. Collared by the Phillies' Tony Gonzalez near the flag pole, this 450-foot blast is called by Clemente, in a conversation with Les Biederman of The Sporting News, one of the hardest balls he's ever hit.
• 1968 - Major League Baseball expands outside the confines of the United States as the National League announces expansion for the first time in seven years, awarding franchises to Montreal as well as San Diego, to begin play next season.
• 1974 - Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Ken Brett no-hits the San Diego Padres until the 9th inning, settling for a two-hit, 6 - 0 shutout in the first game of the doubleheader. In the second game, Brett's two-run pinch-triple gives Pittsburgh an 8 - 7 victory.
• 1988 - Dwight Evans of the Boston Red Sox collects his 2,000th career hit in a 3 - 2 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
• 1993 - Former Atlanta Braves All-Star Dale Murphy announces his retirement from baseball. The two-time National League MVP retires with a .265 batting average, 398 home runs and 1,266 runs batted in.
• 1997 - Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Seattle Mariners breaks his own major league record for home runs hit through May by connecting for his 23rd of the season in an 11 - 10 loss to Minnesota. Griffey breaks the mark he set in 1994 with 22 homers. In the same game, Mariners second baseman Joey Cora extends his hitting streak to 22 games, to set a team record and tie the American League mark for switch-hitters.
• 2000:
  • The St. Louis Cardinals pay tribute to Dizzy Dean by dedicating a statue of the Hall of Fame pitcher by sculptor Harry Weber outside Busch Stadium. Dean joins Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Enos Slaughter, Bob Gibson, and Lou Brock who have also been honored in such a manner.
  • The Cincinnati Reds retire the Number 24 jersey worn by Hall of Famer Tony Perez, making it just the sixth to be retired by the oldest professional baseball organization. The former first baseman joins Fred Hutchinson (1), Johnny Bench (5), Joe Morgan (8), Ted Kluszewski (18) and Frank Robinson (20) in this hallowed club. Ken Griffey, Jr., after being acquired by the Reds in the off-season, agrees to switch his uniform number from 24 to 30, the number worn by his father, Ken Griffey Sr., as a member of the Big Red Machine.
• 2001 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits the 12,000th home run in Giants history. The home run comes off Colorado Rockies pitcher Denny Neagle in the 1st inning of a Giants 5 - 4 victory at Pacific Bell Park.
• 2003 In Atlanta, Georgia, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a decision preventing the Florida attorney general from investigating Major League Baseball's 2001 attempt to eliminate two teams. The 11th circuit decision, by Judges Gerald B. Tjoflat, Susan H. Black and Richard W. Goldberg, is based on the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and state law rather than the sport's antitrust exemption and is considered to be a major victory by the commissioner's office.
• 2004 - Carlos Peña of the Detroit Tigers goes 6 for 6 with two home runs, five RBI and four runs in a 17 - 7 victory over Kansas City.
• 2006 - At Fenway Park, Curt Schilling becomes the 104th pitcher in major league history to reach 200 wins in the 6 - 4 triumph over Tampa Bay. Trot Nixon has three RBI, Mark Loretta goes 3 for 5 with an RBI, and Jonathan Papelbon notches his 18th save in as many opportunities, extending his major league record. Schilling becomes only the fourth pitcher to earn his 200th win while in a Red Sox uniform, joining Lefty Grove (1934), Ferguson Jenkins (1976) and Luis Tiant (1978).
• 2008 - The Indians complete a triple steal during a 8 - 2 win over the ChiSox. It is the first in the majors in 21 years. With a 5 - 2 score in the 6th and the bases loaded, Ehren Wassermann tries to pick Jamey Carroll off first base. While Carroll is in a rundown, David Dellucci dashes for home and beats Paul Konerko's throw to Toby Hall. Grady Sizemore swipes third on the play while Carroll successfully makes it to second.
• 2009 - The Twins beat the Red Sox, 4 - 2, taking advantage of Boston wildness. The Red Sox throw six wild pitches, tying the modern major league record. Daisuke Matsuzaka throws four, the first Red Sox hurler to do so since Milt Gaston in 1929.
• 2010:
  • Mike Pelfrey pitches the Mets' third consecutive shutout over the Phillies, 3 - 0 at Citi Field. The Phillies' hitting woes started even before coming to New York, when they were shut out for eight innings by veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield two days before facing the Mets. The Mets' own knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey, baffled the Phils in the first game of the series, followed by Japanese rookie Hisanori Takahashi in the second game. The Mets have only swept a series with three shutouts one other time in their history, during their Amazin' year of 1969, also against Philadelphia.
  • Jason Hammel of the Rockies sets a personal best with 8 strikeouts before he runs into trouble in the 6th inning of a game against the Diamondbacks. He departs with a 3 - 2 lead, but the Rockies' hitters go on a late-game power surge, with Seth Smith, Carlos Gonzalez and Ryan Spilborghs hitting consecutive 7th-inning home runs to seal an 8 - 2 win. The Rockies have won 7 of 8, keeping pace in the surprisingly competitive NL West with the San Diego Padres, who have been making headlines with a sub-3.00 team ERA, and the surging Los Angeles Dodgers, who are 17-7 in May.
• 2011:
  • The Red Sox win their 12th game in their last 14 to move into first place in the AL East. Today, they roll for a 6 - 3 win over Detroit behind ageless pitcher Tim Wakefield and homers by Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford.
  • SS Brandon Crawford hits a grand slam in his first major league game to lead the Giants to a 5 - 4 win over Milwaukee. Tim Lincecum is the winner over Shaun Marcum. The Giants get a scare in the 8th when Prince Fielder bowls over C Eli Whiteside in a collision at the plate; the play comes only two days after starting catcher Buster Posey was lost for the season with a broken ankle as the result of a similar collision, but Whiteside is okay and can complete the game.
• 2012:
  • The Rockies and Reds combine for 9 home runs, the most ever hit in a single game at Great American Ballpark, as the Reds prevail, 7 - 5. Mat Latos allows 5 hits in 7 1/3 innings - all of them solo homers - to pick up the win; Jamie Moyer who has surrendered more long balls than anyone in major league history, adds another four to his total. 8 different players go deep, with Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez the only man to do so twice.
  • Paul Konerko hits his 400th homer in a White Sox uniform, a three-run shot off Ubaldo Jimenez in the 4th, to lead Chicago to a 12 - 6 win over Cleveland, completing a three-game sweep. Konerko is now batting .399 for the year and the Sox have moved to within half a game of the AL Central-leading Indians.
• 2013 - Yu Darvish adds to his major league-leading strikeout total by fanning 14 batters, matching a career high, but he gives up a two-run game-tying homer to Didi Gregorius in the 8th, and the Rangers surrender another run in the 9th, as Arizona completes a doubleheader sweep, 5 - 3 and 5 - 4. The D-Backs' Tyler Skaggs strikes out 9 and picks up the win in the opener in a one-day call-up from the minors.

[edit] Births

• 1849 - Jimmy Hallinan, infielder (d. 1879)
• 1862 - Ed Crane, pitcher (d. 1896)
• 1874 - Lefty Hopper, pitcher (d. 1959)
• 1882 - Bill Ludwig, catcher (d. 1947)
• 1894 - Frank Snyder, catcher (d. 1962)
• 1895 - Manuel Oliveros, minor league manager; Salon de la Fama (d. 1983)
• 1908 - Euel Moore, pitcher (d. 1989)
• 1908 - Sad Sam Thompson, Negro League pitcher (d. 1978)
• 1909 - Pinky Higgins, infielder, manager; All-Star (d. 1969)
• 1912 - Terry Moore, outfielder, manager; All-Star (d. 1995)
• 1913 - Hal Spindel, catcher (d. 2002)
• 1914 - Johnny Welaj, outfielder (d. 2003)
• 1916 - John Dudra, infielder (d. 1965)
• 1924 - Tom Hurd, pitcher (d. 1982)
• 1926 - Harvey Gentry, pinch hitter
• 1929 - George O'Donnell, pitcher (d. 2012)
• 1934 - Ray Daviault, pitcher
• 1935 - Jerry Kindall, infielder
• 1938 - Fred Bruckbauer, pitcher (d. 2007)
• 1941 - Dan Ardell, infielder
• 1944 - Jim Holt, outfielder
• 1948 - Gary Nolan, pitcher; All-Star
• 1949 - Terry Collins, , manager
• 1949 - Mark Connor, coach
• 1954 - Mike Ondina, minor league outfielder
• 1954 - Nobuhiro Takashiro, NPB infielder
• 1955 - Ross Baumgarten, pitcher
• 1956 - Bud Anderson, pitcher
• 1956 - Mark Clear, pitcher; All-Star
• 1958 - Hua-Wei Lin, Taiwan national team infielder and manager
• 1959 - Ron Tingley, catcher
• 1963 - Scott Jordan, outfielder
• 1963 - Edwin Nunez, pitcher
• 1965 - Jacob Brumfield, outfielder
• 1966 - John Jaha, infielder; All-Star
• 1966 - Jaime Roseboro, minor league outfielder
• 1966 - Jim Vatcher, outfielder
• 1968 - Jeff Bagwell, infielder; All-Star
• 1968 - Frank Thomas, infielder; All-Star
• 1969 - Todd Hundley, catcher; All-Star
• 1969 - Dennis McCaffery, minor league outfielder
• 1974 - Kazuhiko Shiotani, NPB catcher
• 1976 - Joel Fuentes, minor league infielder
• 1977 - Mike Caruso, infielder
• 1981 - Danny Betancourt, Cuban League pitcher
• 1983 - Justin Orenduff, minor league pitcher
• 1984 - Miguel Gonzalez, pitcher
• 1984 - Justin Vaclavik, minor league pitcher
• 1985 - Chien-Ming Chiang, NPB pitcher
• 1985 - Takehiro Donoue, NPB outfielder
• 1988 - Brad Boxberger, pitcher
• 1994 - Orlando Berrios, minor league pitcher

[edit] Deaths

• 1917 - Tom Ford, pitcher (b. 1866)
• 1921 - Gil Hatfield, infielder (b. 1855)
• 1937 - Frank Grant, Negro League infielder; Hall of Famer (b. 1865)
• 1945 - Walter Carlisle, outfielder (b. 1883)
• 1947 - Ed Konetchy, infielder (b. 1885)
• 1947 - Harry Sage, catcher (b. 1864)
• 1949 - Jim Canavan, infielder (b. 1866)
• 1952 - Lew Ritter, catcher (b. 1875)
• 1953 - Jesse Burkett, outfielder; Hall of Famer (b. 1868)
• 1956 - Freddy Sale, pitcher (b. 1902)
• 1963 - Dave Jolly, pitcher (b. 1924)
• 1964 - Lou Jorda, umpire (b. 1893)
• 1968 - Herman Bronkie, infielder (b. 1884)
• 1968 - Rip Collins, pitcher (b. 1896)
• 1968 - Charlie Jackson, outfielder (b. 1894)
• 1969 - Lou Jackson, outfielder (b. 1935)
• 1971 - Jack Doscher, pitcher (b. 1880)
• 1979 - Norm Glaser, pitcher (b. 1894)
• 1981 - Elmer Leonard, pitcher (b. 1888)
• 1990 - José Del Vecchio, promoter (b. 1917)
• 1992 - Akira Takahashi, NPB pitcher (b. 1931)
• 1993 - Tomás Arroyo, minor league pitcher; Salon de la Fama (b. 1926)
• 1993 - Rex Carr, minor league manager, scout (b. 1915)
• 2010 - Lou Arnold, AAGPBL pitcher (b. 1923)