This Date in Baseball-Week Ahead
July 25
1918 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators pitched a four-hitter in 15 innings to beat the St. Louis Browns 1-0. The only hit off him in the first 11 innings was a triple by George Sisler.
1930 — The Philadelphia Athletics came up with a triple steal in the first inning and again in the fourth in a 14-1 win over the Cleveland Indians.
1939 — Atley Donald of the New York Yankees set a rookie pitching record in the AL when he registered his 12th consecutive victory since May 9, with a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Browns.
1941 — Lefty Grove of the Boston Red Sox won his 300th and last game, beating the Cleveland Indians 10-6.
1949 — Stan Musial of St. Louis hit for the cycle, going 4-5 and driving in four runs to lead the Cardinals to a 14-1 rout of the Broolyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
1956 — Roberto Clemente hit a game-winning inside-the-park grand slam to give Pittsburgh a 9-8 win over the Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field.
1961 — En route to his 61-homer season, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit four homers against the Chicago White Sox in a doubleheader to give him 40 for the year. The Yankees took both games, 5-1 and 12-0, and Maris moved 25 games ahead of Babe Ruth’s 1927 pace.
1962 — Stan Musial of St. Louis became the all-time RBI leader in the NL. His two-run home run, in a 5-2 loss to Los Angeles, gave him 1,862 RBIs, passing Mel Ott.
1978 — Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds singled to left off New York’s Craig Swan in the third inning to set a NL record of hitting safely in 38 consecutive games. The Mets won the game 9-2.
1990 — Kansas City’s George Brett hit for the cycle in the Royals 6-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
2000 — Mike Lansing of Colorado hit for the cycle. The Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 19-2.
2011 — Ian Kinsler homered and drove in four runs as the Texas Rangers pounded out the most runs and hits in the majors this season with a 20-6 rout of the Minnesota Twins.
2014 — Yasiel Puig tied a franchise record with three triples and added a double and two RBIs as Los Angeles moved within a half-game of NL West-leading San Francisco with an 8-1 win over the Giants.
2015 — Cole Hamels became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs in 50 years while leading Philadelphia to a 5-0 win. There was drama down to the final out, when rookie center fielder Odubel Herrera stumbled on the warning track, but managed to lean forward and catch Kris Bryant’s flyball to end the game. Hamels struck out 13 in the first no-hitter versus the Cubs since Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game in 1965.
2023 — The Braves turn the first triple play of the MLB season and it comes in highly unusual fashion. The play goes 8-3-5, a combination of outs not seen since 1884, as with runners on first and second in the 3rd, CF Michael Harris II catches a fly ball hit by Triston Casas of the Red Sox and fires to 1B Matt Olson to retire Adam Duvall, who had misjudged the force with which the ball was hit. Olson then fires to 3B Austin Riley to nab Masataka Yoshida, who had tagged up and was trying to advance while the Braves were busy attending to the other runner. In spite of the triple killing, Boston wins the game handily, 7 - 1.
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July 26
1928 — Bob Meusel of the New York Yankees hit for the cycle for the third time in his career. The Yankees scored 11 runs in the top of the 12th to beat the Detroit Tigers 12-1 in 12 innings.
1939 — The New York Yankees tied a major league record by scoring in every inning against the St. Louis Browns. Bill Dickey hit three home runs in the 14-1 win.
1962 — Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves set the National League record for home runs by a pitcher when he hit his 31st off New York’s Craig Anderson. Spahn dealt the Mets their 11th straight loss with a 6-1 victory.
1970 — Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds hit three straight homers off Steve Carlton of the St. Louis Cardinals. On the same day, Orlando Cepeda of the Atlanta Braves connected for three consecutive homers in an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
1984 — Pete Rose of the Montreal Expos tied Ty Cobb on the career singles list, No. 3,052, with a base hit in the eighth inning in a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1991 — Montreal’s Mark Gardner became the first to pitch nine no-hit innings against a Dodger home team since Johnny Vander Meer beat Brooklyn at Ebbets Field on June 15, 1938, for his second straight gem. But the Dodgers won in the 10th on two singles off Gardner and Darryl Strawberry’s RBI single off Jeff Fassero.
1998 — Trevor Hoffman’s bid to set a major league record with 42 straight saves ended when the San Diego closer gave up a home run to Moises Alou on his first delivery in the ninth inning, tying the game. The Padres wound up beating Houston 5-4 in the 10th, but Hoffman blew his chance at history.
2005 — Greg Maddux reached 3,000 career strikeouts, striking out Omar Vizquel in the third inning of a 3-2, 11-inning victory for San Francisco.
2008 — Skip Schumaker went 6-for-7 to help St. Louis beat the New York Mets 10-8 in 14 innings. He became the first Cardinals player to have six hits in a game since 1935 when Terry Moore did it against Boston.
2009 — Rickey Henderson, Jim Rice and Joe Gordon are inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Cooperstown, NY. Gordon is the first player to be voted in by the Veterans Committee since its rules were reformulated following the controversial election of Bill Mazeroski in 2001.
2010 — Matt Garza pitched the first no-hitter in Tampa Bay Rays history and the fifth in the major leagues this season, beating the Detroit Tigers 5-0. Garza faced the minimum 27 batters, allowing only a second-inning walk.
2013 — Edwin Encarnacion hit two home runs in one inning, including his sixth career grand slam, to power the Toronto Blue Jays past the Houston Astros 12-6.
2014 — The Hall of Fame announces a change in voting rules, as players will now be able to stay on the BBWAA ballot for a maximum of 10 and not 15 years, as long as they meet the minimum 5% threshold. The move is designed to prevent the ballot from becoming overly crowded because of players tainted by steroids staying on the ballot for years on end with no realistic chance of election, but drawing votes away from more legitimate candidates. However, a number of inductees with an untainted record have had to wait over 10 years for election in recent years, such as Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven or Andre Dawson, making it likely that the rule change will have the effect of also squeezing out some worthy candidates.
2015 — Zack Greinke’s shutout streak ended at 45 2/3 innings when the Mets scored the first of two scratch runs against him. The streak was the longest in the majors since Orel Hershiser set the record with 59 for the Dodgers in 1988. New York beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Juan Uribe’s single off the wall in the 10th.
2015 — Four players, all elected by the BBWAA, are inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY as the Class of 2015: pitchers Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz, all elected on their first presence on the ballot, and 2B Craig Biggio. Martinez steals the show by dancing on stage and entertaining the large contingent of visitors from the Dominican Republic who have come to witness his induction.
2017 — Dee Gordon homered on the first pitch by Yu Darvish, and Miami set a franchise scoring record with a 22-10 rout of the Texas Rangers.
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July 27
1918 — Brooklyn rookie Henry Heitman completed one of the shortest careers in major league history. Heitman appeared on the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals, gave up four consecutive hits and then left the game, never to play a major league game again.
1930 — Ken Ash of Cincinnati got his last major league victory by throwing one pitch. Ash came into relieve in the fifth inning and got Chicago’s Charlie Grimm to hit into a triple play. Ash was removed for a pinch hitter and the Reds beat the Cubs 6-5.
1946 — Rudy York of Boston hit two grand slams and drove in 10 runs as the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns 13-6.
1950 — Del Ennis of the Philadelphia Phillies drove in seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings of a 13-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Ennis doubled with the bases loaded in the seventh and hit a grand slam in the eighth.
1959 — New York lawyer William Shea announced the formation of the Continental League. New York, Houston, Toronto, Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul were the five cities named and Branch Rickey was named league president.
1978 — Duane Kuiper of Cleveland tied a major league record by becoming the third player in the 20th century to hit two triples in a game. Both came with the bases loaded as the Indians beat the New York Yankees 17-5.
1984 — Montreal’s Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb for the most singles in a career with No. 3,053, against the Philadelphia Phillies.
1986 — Two 300-game winners faced each other , with Don Sutton going six strong innings to outpitch Tom Seaver and give the California Angels a 3-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
1996 — The San Diego Padres pounded the Florida Marlins 20-12. Wally Joyner led the way with five RBIs and John Flaherty hit a grand slam. The Padres were the sixth club to score 20 runs in a game this season. The last time that happened was 1929.
2008 — Oakland reliever Brad Ziegler recorded six outs to set a major league record with 27 scoreless innings to begin his career. Ziegler broke the previous mark of 25 innings set by Philadelphia Phillies right-hander George McQuillan in 1907.
2009 — Washington’s Josh Willingham became the 13th player to hit two grand slams in a game, doing so in the Nationals’ 14-6 win at Milwaukee. Willingham’s eight RBIs were the most in Nationals history and tied the franchise mark.
2011 — Major League Baseball acknowledged umpire Jerry Meals made the wrong call in Atlanta’s 4-3, 19th-inning win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates filed a complaint hours after the longest game in team history.
2011 — Ervin Santana pitched the first solo no-hitter for the Angels in nearly 27 years, striking out 10 and leading Los Angeles over Cleveland 3-1. Santana allowed two runners — an error on the leadoff batter that resulted in a first-inning run and a walk in the eighth.
2011 — The Tampa Bay Rays broke one of baseball’s oldest records when they played their 705th consecutive game with a starting pitcher younger than 30 years old. The Rays lost to Oakland 13-4.
2013 — Tampa Bay Rays rookie Chris Archer helped American League teams pitch a trio of 1-0 games, the first time that’s happened on the same day in nearly a half-century. The last time three AL games ended 1-0 on the same day was Sept. 4, 1965. Archer and Tampa Bay edged New York at Yankee Stadium, Justin Masterson and the Cleveland bullpen blanked Texas and Wade Davis and Royals relievers shut out the Chicago White Sox by the same 1-0 score.
2014 — A huge crowd estimated at 48,000 is on hand for the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, NY. This year’s class is unusually large and prestigious, featuring three players elected on the first ballot: 300-game winnersGreg Maddux and Tom Glavine and slugger Frank Thomas, a member of the 500 home run club. Joining them are three managers who stand at #3, 4 and 5 on the all-time win list in Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre. Maddux, Glavine and Cox all found their greatest success in the great Atlanta Braves teams of the late 1990s.
2015 — Alex Rodriguez became the fourth player in major league history to homer as a teen and in his 40s, marking his birthday by lining an opposite-field shot to right against his former team to help the New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 6-2. Ty Cobb, Rusty Staub and Gary Sheffield are the only other players to achieve the feat.
2017 — The Nationals tied a franchise record with eight home runs, including two apiece by Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman, in a 15-2 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers. Washington matched two major league records in a seven-run third inning: Most consecutive home runs (four) and most home runs in an inning (five).
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July 28
1931 — Bob Fothergill of Chicago hit a home run and a triple in an 11-run eighth inning. The White Sox set an American League record with 12 hits in the inning and beat the New York Yankees 14-12.
1940 — King Kong Keller hit three homers to give the New York Yankees a 10-9 win over Chicago in the first game of a doubleheader split.
1951 — Clyde Vollmer of Boston hit a grand slam in the 16th inning, the latest ever hit in a major league game. The Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 8-4.
1971 — Sixteen-time Gold Glove winner Brooks Robinson committed three errors in the sixth inning against the Oakland A’s. Frank Robinson’s three-run homer in the ninth won the game for the Orioles.
1976 — John Odom (five innings) and Francisco Barrios (four innings) combined on a no-hitter, and the Chicago White Sox defeated Oakland 2-1.
1983 — AL President Lee McPhail ruled that George Brett’s “pine tar” home run against New York on July 24 should count. The umpires had disallowed the homer because the pine tar on Brett’s bat exceeded the 18-inch limit. The rest of the game was played Aug. 18 with the Kansas City Royals beating the Yankees, 5-4.
1989 — Atlanta’s Dale Murphy tied two major league records by hitting two homers and driving in six runs in the sixth inning in the Braves’ 10-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Murphy’s two home runs equaled the record shared by 13 others and the six runs batted in matched a record shared by nine players.
1990 — Shawon Dunston tied a major league record with three triples and led the Chicago Cubs to a 10-7 win over the Montreal Expos.
1990 — Cal Ripken’s errorless streak ends at 95 consecutive games, as Baltimore loses to Kansas City, 10 - 9. The streak is a new major-league record for a shortstop, eclipsing Kevin Elster’s 89-game mark.
1991 — Dennis Martinez pitched a perfect game for the Montreal Expos, who topped Los Angeles 2-0 at Dodger Stadium.
1993 — Ken Griffey Jr. tied a major league record by homering in his eighth consecutive game, but it wasn’t enough for the Seattle Mariners in a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins.
1994 — On the night the baseball players set an Aug. 12 strike date, Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers pitched a perfect game for a 4-0 victory over California.
2004 — Troy Percival recorded his 300th save after John Lackey allowed three hits over 8 1-3 innings to help Anaheim beat Texas 2-0.
2006 — Houston rookie Luke Scott hit for the cycle and drove in five runs, but the Astros lost to Arizona 8-7.
2018 — Rookie Francisco Arcia had a homer and six RBIs, giving him a major league-record 10 RBIs in two career games, and Los Angeles Angels rolled past Seattle 11-5.
2021 — In the first Olympic baseball game in thirteen years, Japan rallies to defeat the Dominican Republic 4-3.
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