This Day in Baseball History

1960 - Braves' Spahn fans 15 in first career no-no

Milwaukee Braves left-hander Warren Spahn tosses nine masterful innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, establishing a new team record with 15 strikeouts in his first career no-hitter, a 4-0 victory at County Stadium.

Spahn's performance ranks among the greatest nine-inning outings of the live-ball era, as only eight other pitchers have enjoyed complete-game no-hitters while notching at least 10 strikeouts.

Though no Braves pitcher has ever recorded 16 strikeouts in a single game, right-hander John Smoltz twice tied Spahn's lofty mark, with 15-strikeout outings in both 1992 and 2005.

1996 - The Ignitor joins the 3,000-hit club

Minnesota Twins veteran Paul Molitor deposits a base hit into right-centre field off Jose Rosado for the 3,000th hit of his Hall of Fame career, becoming the first player to reach the plateau with a triple.

[Courtesy: MLB.com]

Molitor, a seven-time All-Star, finishes the campaign with a .341 batting average while leading the American League with 225 hits at age 39. Only one player since Molitor managed such a robust batting line at a comparably advanced age: seven-time MVP Barry Bonds, who hit .362 in 2004 as a 39-year-old.

Birthdays

1955 - Robin Yount
1958 - Orel Hershiser
1959 - Tim Raines
1983 - Brandon Moss
1985 - Matt Harrison