May 7

Events, births and deaths that occurred on May 7.

[edit] Events

• 1917 - Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox allows only two hits as he outpitches Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, 1 - 0, at Griffith Stadium. Ruth helps himself by driving in the winning run with a sacrifice fly.
• 1922 - Jesse Barnes of the New York Giants pitches the only no-hitter of the year, beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 6 - 0, at the Polo Grounds.
• 1925 - At Forbes Field, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Glenn Wright turns an unassisted triple play in the 9th inning against the St. Louis Cardinals when he catches Jim Bottomley's line drive, steps on second base to double Jimmy Cooney, and tags Rogers Hornsby coming from first. Despite Wright's effort, the Cardinals win, 10 - 9.
• 1940 - The Brooklyn Dodgers become the first National League team to fly when they travel by air to Chicago from St. Louis.
• 1957 - Cleveland Indians pitcher Herb Score is hit on the right eye by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees' Gil McDougald in the 1st inning. The ball breaks Score's nose and damages his eye; he will miss the rest of the season.
• 1959 - A crowd of 93,103 comes to the Los Angeles Coliseum on Roy Campanella Night to show their affection for the paralyzed former Dodger catcher. The Dodgers are beaten by the New York Yankees, 6 - 2, in an exhibition game that follows the ceremonies. The crowd sets a record for a baseball game that will not be broken until the Dodgers return to the Coliseum for another exhibition contest on March 29, 2008.
• 1960 - Norm Sherry, a back-up catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hits a walk-off home run in the 11th inning to give his brother, relief pitcher Larry Sherry, a 3 - 2 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
• 1966 - After only four victories in the first twenty games, New York Yankees manager Johnny Keane is fired and replaced by the team's general manager and former skipper, Ralph Houk.
• 1970 - Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker completes the cycle by hitting a triple in the 10th inning to beat the New York Mets, 7 - 4, at Shea Stadium. Parker becomes the first Dodger to hit for the cycle since Gil Hodges did it with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949.
• 1975 - The Atlanta Braves trade holdout first baseman Dick Allen and catcher Johnny Oates to the Philadelphia Phillies for catcher Jim Essian, outfielder Barry Bonnell, and cash. Allen had refused to report to the Braves after being acquired in an off-season deal with the Chicago White Sox.
• 1986 - Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Garry Maddox announces his retirement at the age of 36. Properly nicknamed "Secretary of Defense", the slick-fielding Maddox won eight Gold Gloves.
• 1995 - Former All-Star outfielder Gus Bell dies at the age of 66. As the patriarch of a three-generation baseball family, Bell reached the 100-RBI mark four times while starring for the Cincinnati Reds. His son, Buddy, and his grandsons, David and Mike, later played in the major leagues.
• 1997 - The Montreal Expos score 13 runs to set a National League record for runs in a 6th inning during their 19 - 3 win over the San Francisco Giants. Montreal adds five runs in the 5th to set a National League record for runs in consecutive innings with 18.
• 1999:
  • Carlos Lee becomes the first player in Chicago White Sox history to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat in the Sox's 7 - 1 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
  • In the biggest comeback in Jacobs Field history, the Cleveland Indians score 18 runs in the final three innings to overcome a 9 - 1 deficit and beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 20 - 11. Tampa Bay's first baseman Fred McGriff sets a major league record by homering in his 34th major league ballpark.
  • Rookie Bruce Aven hits the first pinch-hit grand slam in Florida Marlins history, helping his team to beat the Dodgers, 6 - 3.
  • Hideki Irabu of the New York Yankees opposes Mac Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners in the first match-up of Japanese starting pitchers in major league history.
  • Larry Walker hits a two-out home run in the 1st inning as the Colorado Rockies tie a National League record by scoring in 14 consecutive innings. The mark was established by the 1894 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1949 New York Giants. The major league mark is 17 set by the Boston Americans in 1903.
• 2003 - Seventy-nine-year-old Wayne Terwilliger becomes the oldest manager in minor league history. Terwilliger, who has managed 12 minor league teams, will lead the Fort Worth Cats to the Central Baseball League championship in 2005. He will retire after the season with a record of 1,224 wins and 1,089 losses. Only Connie Mack (at 87) is ahead of Terwilliger in being the eldest manager ever in professional baseball.
• 2005 - Julio Franco of the Atlanta Braves goes 3 for 4, including his first home run of the season, in a 4 - 1 victory over the Houston Astros. Franco, who turns 47 on August 23rd, becomes the second-oldest player in major league history to homer at 46 years, 257 days. Jack Quinn, a pitcher who accomplished the feat when he was 100 days older, hit a home run for the Philadelphia Athletics on June 27, 1930; Franco will eventually pass him as well.
• 2008:
  • In a 13 - 1 win by the Twins, Carlos Gomez hits for the cycle, the first Twins player to do so since Kirby Puckett in 1986. Gomez homers off Mark Buehrle in the 1st, triples in the 5th, doubles in the 6th and singles in the 9th, driving in runs on each of the first three hits.
  • Rookie Joey Votto becomes the 23rd member of the Cincinnati Reds to hit three home runs in a game. Votto, who starred for Canada in the 2005 Baseball World Cup, goes deep off Jon Lieber, Sean Marshall and Sean Gallagher in a 9 - 0 win over the Cubs. The Reds still have the worst record in their division.
  • The Pirates top the Giants, 3 - 1, as Phil Dumatrait gets his first major league win. Barry Zito falls to 0-7, the first Giants hurler since Bill Clarkson in 1927 to reach such depths in just 7 starts.
• 2009:
  • The Dodgers' star outfielder Manny Ramirez is suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance. He is the most prominent player yet caught under Major League Baseball's PED policy implemented in 2005.
  • The Red Sox score 12 runs in the 6th inning before recording an out in their 13 - 3 win over Cleveland. Jason Bay drives in four of the runs with a double and a three-run homer in the record-tying scoring spree.
  • Arizona fires manager Bob Melvin after losing, 4 - 3, to the Padres in 10 innings. The D-Backs have started the year 12-17 and are already 8 1/2 games back of Los Angeles.
• 2010:
  • Starlin Castro, the youngest shortstop in Chicago Cubs history at age 20, makes a memorable major league debut. Just called up from AA, he hits a three-run homer in his first major league at-bat and adds a bases-loaded triple as the Cubs top the Reds, 14 - 7. The long ball off Homer Bailey makes him the 6th player in Cub history to go deep in his first at-bat; his 6 RBI are a modern record for a player in his debut game. He is also the first player born in the 1990s to play in the major leagues.
  • On the other side of the age scale, Jamie Moyer still baffles opposing hitters at age 47. He tosses a two-hit shutout as the Phillies defeat the Braves, 7 - 0. He is the oldest pitcher to record a shutout in major league history; the mark was held by Hall of Famer Phil Niekro who was 46 at the time of his last whitewash on October 6, 1985. He also becomes the first hurler to toss shutouts in four different decades.
  • The Minnesota Twins suffer their first rainout at home since 1980, being forced by weather to re-schedule today's game against the Orioles as part of a day-night doubleheader on May 8th. The Twins played indoors at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome from 1982 to 2009, before moving to outdoors Target Field this year.
• 2011:
  • Justin Verlander pitches the second no-hitter in the majors in less than a week, following Francisco Liriano's gem on May 1st, when the Tigers shut down the Blue Jays, 9 - 0. Only an 8th-inning walk to J.P. Arencibia, who is then erased in a double play, keeps Verlander from a perfect game. Verlander becomes the 28th pitcher in major league history with two no-hitters.
  • Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers also makes a bid to join the no-hitter club until giving up a single to Daniel Descalso in the 8th inning. He ends up combining with John Axford for a 4 - 0 one-hitter over the Cardinals that snaps a seven-game losing streak for the Brew Crew.
  • Andre Ethier's 30-game hitting streak ends in a 4 - 2 Dodgers loss to the Mets. Ethier, who goes 0 for 4, ends up one game short of the franchise record of 31 games held by Willie Davis since 1969.
• 2012:
  • Carlos Zambrano records his first win as a Miami Marlin, shutting out the Astros, 4 - 0, on a three-hitter. It is Miami's 7th straight win. Giancarlo Stanton hits a two-run homer, his sixth long ball in 10 games.
  • The Twins would be happy if they never again face Jered Weaver; in his first start since no-hitting Minnesota, the Angels' ace gives up only 3 hits over 6 innings to lead Los Angeles to an 8 - 3 win, improving his record to 5-0.
  • Jordany Valdespin makes his first major league hit count, with a 9th-inning three-run pinch homer off Philadelphia's Jonathan Papelbon to give the Mets a 5 - 2 win.
• 2013:
  • Toronto's 6 - 4 win over the Rays is overshadowed by a scary accident suffered by starting pitcher J.A. Happ. In the 2nd inning, Desmond Jennings lines a pitch that strikes the side of his head and caroms into the outfield. Happ lies motionless on the ground, as teammates are unsure whether to rush to attend their stricken teammate, or play the ball which ends up as a two-run triple. The bloodied Happ is removed on a stretcher after lying prone for 10 minutes; his injuries will turn out to be only superficial.
  • The legend of Matt Harvey keeps growing. The Mets' sophomore starter is perfect against the White Sox before allowing a two-out single to Alex Rios in the 7th. He is removed after allowing only that hit through 9 innings, but with the game still scoreless, having fanned a career-high 12 opponents. Pinch-hitter Mike Baxter lines an RBI single off Nate Jones in the 10th for a 1 - 0 Mets victory, credited to reliever Bobby Parnell. It is the second time Harvey has taken a no-hitter into the 7th inning this year and he is 4-0 with a 1.28 ERA.

[edit] Births

• 1866 - Joe Neale, pitcher (d. 1913)
• 1868 - Masao Matsukata, NPB executive; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (d. 1942)
• 1874 - Case Patten, pitcher (d. 1935)
• 1880 - Mickey Doolan, infielder (d. 1951)
• 1887 - Henri Rondeau, outfielder (d. 1943)
• 1888 - Paul Smith, outfielder (d. 1958)
• 1888 - Gus Williams, outfielder (d. 1964)
• 1889 - Wilson Collins, outfielder (d. 1941)
• 1892 - Allan Travers, pitcher (d. 1968)
• 1893 - Bill Hobbs, infielder (d. 1945)
• 1896 - Tom Zachary, pitcher (d. 1969)
• 1898 - Gabriel Atristain, minor league umpire (d. 1990)
• 1899 - Eddie Pick, infielder (d. 1967)
• 1902 - Sal Gliatto, pitcher (d. 1995)
• 1905 - Dave Barbee, outfielder (d. 1968)
• 1906 - Syd Cohen, pitcher (d. 1988)
• 1908 - Harry Davis, infielder (d. 1997)
• 1909 - Ed Heusser, pitcher (d. 1956)
• 1913 - Art Doll, pitcher (d. 1978)
• 1917 - Al Papai, pitcher (d. 1995)
• 1918 - Al Epperly, pitcher (d. 2003)
• 1921 - Tokuji Kawasaki, NPB pitcher and manager (d. 2006)
• 1924 - Al Cihocki, infielder
• 1929 - Dick Williams, infielder, manager, Hall of Fame (d. 2011)
• 1937 - Claude Raymond, pitcher; All-Star
• 1940 - Mike Gillespie, college coach
• 1942 - John Flavin, pitcher
• 1943 - Steve Whitaker, outfielder
• 1944 - Billy Murphy, outfielder
• 1948 - Ken Hottman, outfielder
• 1952 - Wilmer Aaron, minor league outfielder
• 1955 - David DiMarco, Italian Baseball League infielder
• 1955 - Bob Ferris, pitcher
• 1961 - Manny Hernandez, pitcher
• 1969 - Masahito Kohiyama, NPB pitcher
• 1970 - Brook Fordyce, catcher
• 1970 - Mark Smith, outfielder
• 1971 - Orlando Muñoz, minor league infielder
• 1976 - Derrick Lewis, minor league pitcher
• 1977 - Donny León, minor league infielder
• 1977 - Casey Smith, minor league infielder
• 1978 - Masato Kawano, NPB pitcher
• 1979 - Gus Panagotacos, Greek national team outfielder
• 1979 - Ryan Prahm, minor league player
• 1979 - Jim Ed Warden, minor league pitcher
• 1982 - Conor Jackson, infielder
• 1982 - Luis Jimenez, infielder
• 1984 - James Loney, infielder
• 1985 - James Barksdale, minor league outfielder
• 1985 - Linoy Croes, Hoofdklasse outfielder
• 1986 - Phil Bando, minor league infielder
• 1987 - Kyle Conley, minor league outfielder
• 1988 - Sam Dyson, pitcher
• 1988 - Osvaldo Martínez, infielder
• 1988 - Diana Tovar, Venezuelan womens' national team pitcher
• 1988 - Isaias Velasquez, minor league infielder

[edit] Deaths

• 1905 - Al Mays, pitcher (b. 1865)
• 1912 - Gus Alberts, infielder (b. 1860)
• 1935 - Sid Farrar, infielder (b. 1859)
• 1943 - Bill Coughlin, infielder (b. 1878)
• 1946 - Walter Cazen, minor league outfielder (b. 1911)
• 1946 - Bill Fincher, pitcher (b. 1894)
• 1946 - Bill Fox, infielder (b. 1872)
• 1947 - Mike McDermott, pitcher (b. 1864)
• 1948 - Hi Ladd, outfielder (b. 1870)
• 1949 - John Durham, pitcher (b. 1881)
• 1951 - Ezra Lincoln, pitcher (b. 1868)
• 1952 - Red Bluhm, pinch hitter (b. 1894)
• 1956 - Tommy Atkins, pitcher (b. 1887)
• 1966 - Bing Miller, outfielder (b. 1894)
• 1969 - Ray Mack, infielder; All-Star (b. 1916)
• 1973 - Ralph Miller, pitcher, oldest living player (b. 1873)
• 1979 - Johnny Berger, catcher (b. 1901)
• 1979 - Marty McHale, pitcher (b. 1886)
• 1987 - Boom-Boom Beck, pitcher (b. 1904)
• 1989 - Howie Moss, outfielder (b. 1919)
• 1993 - Thurman Tucker, outfielder; All-Star (b. 1917)
• 1995 - Gus Bell, outfielder; All-Star (b. 1928)
• 2001 - Dick Kimble, infielder (b. 1915)
• 2009 - Danny Ozark, manager (b. 1923)
• 2011 - Lewis Hull, minor league outfielder (b. 1931)
• 2011 - Mark Koeth, minor league pitcher (b. 1978)
• 2012 - Gene Visich, AAGPBL player (b. 1926)