This Date in Baseball-Week Ahead

May 6

1915 — As a pitcher for Boston, Babe Ruth had three hits, including his first major league home run when he connected off Jack Warhop of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds.

1917 — Bob Groom of the Browns duplicated teammate Ernie Koob’s feat of the previous day by pitching a 3-0 no-hit victory against the Chicago White Sox in the second game of a doubleheader in St. Louis.

1934 — Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell and Bucky Walters hit four consecutive triples in a 12-run fourth inning for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, en route to a 14-4 win over the Detroit Tigers.

1941 — In his last game before entering the U.S. military, Detroit’s Hank Greenberg hit two home runs with three RBIs to help the Tigers to a 7-4 victory over the New York Yankees.

1951 — Cliff Chambers of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a 3-0 no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader against the Braves in Boston.

1953 — Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics in his first major league start. He never pitched another complete game in the majors.

1955 — Roberto Clemente crashes Willie Mays’s birthday party in his second visit to the Polo Grounds, by banging a 430-foot triple over the birthday boy’s head in the midst of a decisive rally in a 3-2 Pirate win over the Giants.

1968 — San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Lindy McDaniel sets a National League record playing his 225th consecutive game without committing an error. The streak includes 108 chances handled successfully since June 16, 1964.

1974 — Oakland Athletics pitcher Paul Lindblad’s major league streak of 385 consecutive games without committing an error comes to an end when he makes an errant throw in a 6 - 3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

1982 — Gaylord Perry of the Seattle Mariners became the 15th major league pitcher with 300 victories when he defeated the New York Yankees 7-3 at the Kingdome.

1984 — Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles hit for the cycle in a 6-1 win over the Texas Rangers. Ripken completed the cycle with a solo homer in the ninth.

1994 — Anthony Young won as a starter for the first time in more than two years as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-1. The win ended Young’s 29-game losing streak as a starter. Young’s previous win as a starter came on April 9, 1992 with the New York Mets.

1998 — Rookie Kerry Wood tied the major league record with 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, pitching a one-hitter to lead the Chicago Cubs over the Houston Astros 2-0.

2005 — San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman became the third pitcher in major league history to reach 400 saves in the Padres’ 6-5 victory over St. Louis. Hoffman joined Lee Smith (478) and John Franco (424) in the 400-save club.

2007 — Hideki Matsui doubles to left in an at-bat against Jarrod Washburn. It is his 2,000th hit between Major League Baseball and Nippon Pro Baseball.

2012 — The Baltimore Orioles completed a three-game sweep at Boston with a 9-6 win in 17 innings. In the first major league game since 1925 in which both teams put a position player on the mound, Baltimore designated hitter Chris Davis overcame an awful 0-for-8 day at the plate by pitching two scoreless innings and getting the win over Darnell McDonald, an outfielder Boston called upon once the Red Sox bullpen was also depleted. Adam Jones hit a three-run homer in the top of the 17th off McDonald.

2012 — Albert Pujols finally hits his first American League homer, breaking the longest homerless drought of his career, when he connects off the Blue Jays’ Drew Hutchison with a runner on in the 5th inning of the Angels’ 4-3 win.

2015 — OF Bryce Harper has the first three-homer game of his career in leading the Nationals to a 7 - 5 win over the Marlins.

2021 — The Angels designate for assignment veteran slugger Albert Pujols, for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. Pujols is in the last season of a ten-year, $253 million contract, but his production has declined significantly in recent years and he has become a bench player of late. The 41-year-old Pujols is the active leader in games played, hits, home runs and RBIs. He states that he hopes to find another team that will give him a shot at a starting job. The Dodgers will take him on board in a few days.

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May 7

1917 — Babe Ruth of the Red Sox allowed two hits as he outdueled Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators 1-0. Ruth knocked in the winning run with a sacrifice fly.

1922 — Jesse Barnes of the New York Giants pitched the only no-hitter of the year, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 6-0.

1925 — Pittsburgh shortstop Glenn Wright made an unassisted triple play in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals when he caught Jim Bottomley’s line drive, stepped on second to double Jimmy Cooney, and tagged Rogers Hornsby coming from first. The Cardinals, trailing 9-4, scored six runs in the eighth inning to win 10-9 at Forbes Field.

1957 — Cleveland pitcher Herb Score was hit on the right eye by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald in the first inning. The ball broke Score’s nose and damaged his eye; he missed the rest of the season.

1959 — A crowd of 93,103 came to the Los Angeles Coliseum on “Roy Campanella Night” to show its affection for the paralyzed Dodger catcher. The Dodgers were beaten by the New York Yankees 6-2 in an exhibition game that followed the ceremonies.

1960 — Norm Sherry, a replacement catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit a home run in the 11th inning to give his brother, relief pitcher Larry Sherry, a 3-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies in Los Angeles.

1970 — Wes Parker of Los Angeles Dodgers hit for the cycle in a 7-4, 10-inning win over the New York Mets.

1973 — The Pittsburgh Pirates became the first team to score their five runs on five solo homers in a 5-4 win over Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. Willie Stargell, Dave Cash, Richie Hebner, Manny Sanguillen and Al Oliver homered.

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.

1997 — The Montreal Expos scored 13 runs to set an NL record for runs in a sixth inning during their 19-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.

1999 — Tampa Bay’s first baseman Fred McGriff sets a major league record by homering in his 34th major league ballpark.

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.

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 — Carlos Gomez became the first Minnesota player to hit for the cycle in 22 years in a 13-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

2009 — New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera gave up home runs to consecutive batters for the first time in his major league career, with Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria connecting in the ninth inning of Tampa Bay’s 8-6 victory. Rivera had not given up back-to-back homers in 862 games coming in.

2009 — The Boston Red Sox tied a modern major-league record with 12 runs in an inning before making an out in a 13-3 win over Cleveland. The Red Sox tied the mark set by the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 24, 1953.

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.

2010 — Starlin Castro hit a three-run homer in his first major league at-bat and drove in a record six runs during the Chicago Cubs’ 14-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Castro added a bases-loaded triple, sliding headfirst into the record books with six RBIs, the most ever in a modern day debut — one more than the previous mark shared by four players.

2011 — Justin Verlander threw his second career no-hitter, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 9-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The only runner Verlander allowed came with one out in the eighth inning when J.P. Arencibia walked on a full count.

2011 — 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.

2016 — Aaron Hill hit a grand slam in Milwaukee’s seven-run 10th inning for his third homer of the game, and the Brewers beat Cincinnati 13-7.

2016 — New York’s Bartolo Colon became the oldest player to hit his first major league home run, connecting less than three weeks before his 43rd birthday, to help the Mets to a 6-3 victory over the Padres.

2018 — George Springer ties an Astros team record by going 6 for 6 in a 16-2 win over the Athletics. He has a double, homer and single by the end of the 4th inning, but fails in his next three at-bats to get the triple that would have completed the cycle as he hits a single each time.

2019 — Mike Fiers pitches his second career no-hitter as the Athletics defeat the Reds, 2-0.

2022 — Less than two weeks after getting his 3,000th hit, Miguel Cabrera reaches another milestone with his 600th career double, only the 18th player to that total. Only two others - Hank Aaron and Albert Pujols - have compiled his combination of 3,000 hits, 600 doubles and 500 home runs.

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May 8

1906 — Philadelphia manager Connie Mack needed a substitute outfielder in the sixth inning of a game against Boston and called on pitcher Chief Bender. Bender hit two home runs, both inside the park.

1907 — Boston’s Big Jeff Pfeffer threw a no-hitter to give the Braves a 6-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Boston.

1929 — Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants pitched a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the first by a left-hander in the majors in 13 seasons.

1935 — In the first game of a doubleheader, Ernie Lombardi of the Cincinnati Reds hit four doubles in consecutive innings (sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth) off four different Phillies pitchers. Lombardi also singled to send the Reds past Philadelphia 15-4.

1946 — Boston shortstop Johnny Pesky scored six times, an American League record, in a 14-10 win over the White Sox. Pesky, who was 4-for-5 with a walk and two RBIs, matched Mel Ott’s National League mark for runs scored in a game.

1963 — A Stan Musial home run against the Dodgers gives him 1,357 extra-base hits, surpassing Babe Ruth’s major league record. He will get 20 more; his record will later be broken by Hank Aaron.

1963 — Pirates LF Willie Stargell’s first major league homer and Cubs P Bob Buhl’s first major league hit in 88 at-bats highlight a 9-5 Chicago win over Pittsburgh.

1966 — Frank Robinson became the only player to hit a home run out of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The shot over the left-field wall came off Cleveland right-hander Luis Tiant. The Orioles won 8-3.

1966 — The St. Louis Cardinals closed old Busch Stadium with a 10-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

1966 — Orioles outfielder Frank Robinson hits the only ball ever completely out of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The shot clears the left-field single-deck grandstand’s rear wall, 451-feet away, going an estimated 541 feet.

1968 — Jim “Catfish” Hunter of the Oakland A’s pitched a perfect game to beat the Minnesota Twins 4-0.

1983 — Darryl Strawberry gets his first major league hit, a single that scores Danny Heep, in a 10-5 Mets win over the Reds.

1984 — Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett had four singles in his first major league game, and the Twins beat the California Angels 5-0.

1994 — Danny Tartabull, Mike Stanley and Gerald Williams hit back-to-back-to-back home runs for the Yankees in the 6th inning of New York’s 8-4 win over Boston.

1994 — The Colorado Silver Bullets, the first women’s team to play a pro men’s team, lost 19-0 to the Northern League All-Stars. Leon Durham hit two homers and Oil Can Boyd started for the All-Stars. The Silver Bullets had two hits, struck out 16 times and made six errors.

1998 — Cardinals 1B Mark McGwire hits his 400th career home run in a 9-2 loss to the Mets. He is the 27th player to reach 400, and does so in fewer at bats than anyone in history, 4,726. Babe Ruth had taken 127 more at-bats, having held the old record.

2000 — Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hits his 12th home run of the season, against the San Francisco Giants. The homer ties “Big Mac” with Jimmie Foxx for ninth place on the all-time list with 534 career homers. McGwire needs just two taters to catch number eight on the list, Mickey Mantle, at 536.

2001 — Randy Johnson became the third pitcher to strike out 20 in nine innings, but didn’t finish the game in which the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Cincinnati 4-3 in 11 innings. Johnson, the first left-hander to strike out 20, missed a chance to join Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood as the record-holders for a nine-inning game because Arizona could not finish off the Reds in regulation.

2001 — The Devil Rays edge the Orioles, 4-3, as Tampa Bay’s Fred McGriff joins Mark McGwire, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Eddie Murray and Reggie Jackson as the only players to homer off 300 different pitchers in their career.

2009 — In his first game of the season after missing six weeks because of hip surgery, Alex Rodriguez hits the first pitch he sees from Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie for a three-run home run in a 4-0 Yankees win that ends a five-game losing streak. CC Sabathia pitches a four-hit shutout in his best performance since signing a huge free agent contract over the winter.

2010 — Jody Gerut hit for the cycle and drove in four runs, and the Milwaukee Brewers pounded the Arizona Diamondbacks 17-3. Gerut hit a solo home run in the second inning, singled in the third, drove in a run with a triple in the fifth and added a two-run double in the ninth.

2012 — Josh Hamilton became the 16th player to hit four home runs in a game. His four two-run drives came against three different pitchers, carrying the Texas Rangers to a 10-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

2015 — Bryce Harper hit two more home runs, giving him five in two games, and Danny Espinosa also connected twice to power the Washington Nationals to a 9-2 win over the Atlanta Braves. The 22-year-old Harper became the youngest in major league history to hit five homers in two games.

2018 — James Paxton of the Mariners becomes only the second-ever Canadian-born pitcher to throw a no-hitter, after Dick Fowler in 1945, turning the trick against the Blue Jays in a 5-0 win.

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