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This Day in Baseball History
May 3rd

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37 Fact(s) Found
1936 After being sidelined at the start of the season because of a foot injury, Joe DiMaggio makes his much anticipated major league debut. The 21-year-old rookie outfielder lives up to the hype, collecting three hits, including a triple, and scoring three runs in the Yankees' 14-5 victory over the Browns in New York.
1941 In his first major league start, Cardinal rookie Henry Gornicki throws a one-hitter, beating Philadelphia at Shibe Park, 6-1. The 30-year-old right-hander, who will win only fifteen games in his career, gives up the lone hit to rookie outfielder Stanley Benjamin.
1947 The Cardinals trade center fielder Harry Walker and right-hander Freddy Schmidt to the Phillies for right fielder Ron Northey. 'Harry the Hat' will finish the season .363 batting average, tops in the National League.
1947 The Pirates deal five-foot, six-inch reserve outfielder Al Gionfriddo to the Dodgers for five players and a hundred thousand dollars in cash, delivered by the diminutive flycatcher when he arrives in Brooklyn. The Bucs received Hank Behrman, Dixie Howell, Gene Mauch, Cal McLish, and Kirby Higbe, a former 20-game winner from South Carolina, made expendable due to his comments about playing with his new teammate Jackie Robinson, the first black to play in the major leagues this century.
1950 Although he beats the White Sox, 4-3, Vic Raschi balks four times during the contest. The Yankee pitcher cannot adjust to the new rule, which requires a pitcher to come to a rest for a full second.
1951 In a 17-3 rout over the Browns at Sportsman's Park, Gil McDougald ties a major league record with six RBIs in one inning. The Yankee rookie hits his first career home run, a grand slam, and then adds a two-run triple as the Bronx Bombers break out for 11 runs in the ninth inning.
1952 The Yankees trade Jackie Jensen and right-hander Spec Shea to the Senators for veteran fly chaser Irv Noren to fill the void in center field created by Joe DiMaggio's retirement and Mickey Mantle's recovery from last season's knee surgery. In 1958, Jensen will win the American League MVP playing for Boston.
1959 At Briggs Stadium, Charlie Maxwell hits four straight home runs in a doubleheader, helping the 2-15 Tigers, under new manager Jimmy Dykes, sweep the Yankees 4-2 and 8-2. It was Dykes' first day as skipper, and he put Charlie back in the lineup even though 'Ole Paw Paw' was hitting only .136 at the time.
1962 In a deal with the Indians, the Senators trade light-hitting outfielder Willie Tasby for southpaws Don Rudolph and Steve Hamilton. At the start of next season, Washington will obtain Jim Coates from the Yankees in exchange for Hamilton, who will post a 34-20 (.630) record during his eight-year tenure with the Bronx Bombers.
1963 Buster Narum goes deep off Cleveland southpaw Don Mossi in his only at-bat with the Orioles. Baltimore will option the 22-year-old rookie hurler to Triple-A Rochester in six days, making the right-hander the first pitcher to have more homers than wins in a season.
1966 After previously blanking Boston and Kansas City, Indian right-hander Luis Tiant tosses his third consecutive shutout when he beats the Yankees in the Bronx, 1-0. The 25-year-old 'El Tiante' has yet to surrender a single run this season.
1975 After taking the mound against the Rangers in the second inning at Arlington Stadium, Nolan Ryan finds a rubber snake and a giant rubber crab when he reaches for the rosin bag. The Angels right-hander, who gets the victory when the Halos beat Texas, 4-2, suspects opposing manager Billy Martin for the shenanigans, calling the prank a "Little League stunt."
1975 The Reds beat the Braves at Riverfront Stadium, 6-1, making Gary Nolan, who missed most of 1973 and the entire 1974 season due to arm problems, a winner for the first time in nearly two and half seasons. The right-hander's last win came on October 3, 1972, when he beat the Astros by an identical score in Cincinnati.
1979 In a 6-1 defeat to the Brewers, Indian outfielder Bobby Bonds hits his 300th home run off Moose Haas to become only the second player in major league history to steal at least 300 bases (413) and hit 300 round-trippers. Willie Mays was the first to accomplish the feat. (July 4, 1961).
1980 Willie McCovey homers for the final time, a solo shot off Scott Sanderson in the fourth inning of the Giants' 3-2 loss to Montreal at Olympic Stadium. The 42-year-old future Hall of Fame first baseman, who hit the first of his 521 round-trippers in 1959, joins Red Sox legend Ted Williams as the only other major leaguer to homer in four different decades.
1980 Ferguson Jenkins becomes only the fifth major league hurler to win 100 games in each league when he defeats the Orioles, 3-2. The Ranger right-hander joins Al Orth, Cy Young, Jim Bunning, and Gaylord Perry in accomplishing the feat.
1982 Facing the minimum 27 batters, Mike Flanagan and the Orioles beat Seattle, 6-0. The Baltimore southpaw gives up three hits and a walk, but two double plays, a pickoff, and a caught stealing attempt deprive the opposition of any men left on base.
1983 After returning from a stint on the disabled list, Dave Wilhelmi of the Shreveport Captains throws a perfect game, beating the Arkansas Travelers in Little Rock, 7-0. It takes two spectacular ninth-inning catches in the outfield to complete the second perfecto in Texas League history.
1986 In a 9-4 win over the Rangers in the Bronx, Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly becomes the sixth major leaguer to connect for three sacrifice flies in one game. The rare feat was last accomplished just two days ago by Cardinal outfielder Vince Coleman in a contest against the Padres.
1987 Joe Cowley, pitching in relief, makes his final major league appearance, giving up three runs in two-thirds of an inning in the Phillies' 9-6 loss to Cincinnati. The 28-year-old right-hander becomes the only pitcher in major league history never to win another game after pitching a no-hitter, which he accomplished last season against the Angels as a starter with the White Sox.
1996 Texas starter Ken Hill yields a one-out first-inning infield single to Bobby Higginson before retiring the next 26 batters in the team's 11-0 victory at Tiger Stadium. Tomorrow, the Ranger right-hander's effort will be matched by teammate Roger Pavlik's gem against Detroit, making it the first time in 79 years in the American League that a team has thrown consecutive one-hitters.
1998 Dan Wilson hits the first inside-the-park grand slam in the history of the Mariners. The backstop's first-inning bases-full round-tripper proves to be the difference in the M's 10-6 victory over Detroit at the Kingdome.

1999 In the second game of a home-and-home series, the Cuban national team, facing major league competition in the United States for the first time, defeats the struggling Orioles at Camden Yards, 12-6. In March, Baltimore prevailed at Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano, edging Cuba in 11 innings, 3-2, after being greeted by Fidel Castro.
1999 In a 12-11, 10-inning loss to the A's, Red Sox rookie Creighton Gubanich becomes only the fourth player to blast a grand slam for his first big-league hit. The reserve catcher, who will play only 15 more games in the major leagues, joins Bill Duggleby (1898 - Phillies), Bobby Bonds (1968 - Giants), and Orlando Mercado (1982 -Mariners) in accomplishing the feat.

2000 The Rockies set a franchise record, collecting 24 hits in a 16-7 rout of Montreal. Colorado's first baseman Todd Helton goes 5-for-5 in the Coors Field contest, with all nine starters getting at least one hit and driving in at least one run.
2001 Johnny Oates, finishing with an overall managerial record for the Rangers of 506-476 (.515) during his 6+ seasons at the helm, resigns 28 games into the new campaign, being replaced by the team's third-base coach Jerry Narron. A poor start of 11-17 due to a lack of pitching and owner Tom Hicks' high expectations after signing prized free agent Alex Rodriguez led to speculation of the imminent firing of the Texas skipper.
2001 Michael Orschlin, the third fan to jump onto the field at Kauffman Stadium this season, is taken away on a stretcher as a result of a broken ankle suffered from his 12-foot leap over the guard rail onto the ballpark's hard rubber warning track during the ninth inning of a Royals' 9-4 loss to the Indians. Trying to win a $400 wager from a friend, the 22-year-old, whose injury delays the game for 15 minutes, faces a $1,000 fine for trespassing.

(Ed. note - Each leaper jumped in the ninth inning of a loss by the home team. - LP)

2004 Similar to last season, the aging outfielder Rickey Henderson re-signs with the Atlantic League's Bears, hoping for a shot of returning to the big leagues. The 45-year-old future Hall of Famer batted .339, hit eight home runs, drove in 33 runs, scored 52 runs, and stole nine bases for the Newark team last season before joining the Dodgers in July.
2005 A state legislative committee votes 9-0 to approve a bill requiring the Los Angeles Angels, formerly the Anaheim Angels, to disclose in promotional materials, including tickets, ads, and publications, that the team plays in Anaheim. Using the example of an orange juice company selling OJ that contains no oranges, California Assemblyman Tom Umberg, the bill's sponsor, says he is trying to promote truth in sports advertising.
2005 With the best record in the majors, the White Sox establish a big-league mark, having led in all 28 games this season. The eventual World Champs will post a 99-63 record this season.
2006 Major League Baseball will sell the Washington Nationals to a group led by Theodore Lerner, a Maryland-based real estate developer, for $450 million. In 2002, the 29 other big-league owners collectively bought the Montreal Expos franchise for $120 million and then moved the failing franchise last season to the District of Columbia.
2008 With his three-run blast at Chase Field off Diamondbacks' ace Brandon Webb, Carlos Delgado moves ahead of Juan Gonzalez as the home run leader for players born in Puerto Rico. The Mets' first baseman's 435th career home run places the Aguadilla native 36th on the all-time major league list.

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2009 Defeating San Diego 2-1 in 10 innings, the Dodgers tie a franchise record, winning their ninth consecutive decision at home from the start of the season. The 1946 club also reeled off nine straight victories at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field at the beginning of the post-war campaign.
2009 In the eighth inning of the Rays' 5-3 victory over Boston Tropicana Field, Carl Crawford, who enjoys a 4-for-4 night at the plate, steals his sixth base, tying a modern major league record shared by three players. The 27-year-old perennial American League stolen base champ joins Eddie Collins (A's - twice 1912), Otis Nixon (Braves - 1991), and Eric Young (Rockies - 1996) as the only players to swipe a half dozen bags in a contest since 1900.
2011 Francisco Liriano's first complete game in his six-year major league career is a no-hitter, a 1-0 gem thrown against the White Sox at a chilly U.S. Cellular Field. The Twins' 27-year-old southpaw entered the game with a 2-4 record and a 9.13 ERA, fueling speculation that he was in danger of losing his spot in the Minnesota rotation.

2014 The Mets set the record for the longest hitless streak by a major league pitching staff to start a season when Jenrry Mejia grounds out to second, making the New York hurlers, collectively, 0-for-46 since Opening Day. The dubious mark, previously established by the 1914 St. Louis Browns, will be extended to 64 at-bats before Jacob deGrom singles off Yankee right-hander Chase Whitley in his first major league plate appearance.
2015 The Nationals blank the Mets at Citi Field, 1-0, on consecutive days, marking the first time in 19 years that a road opponent has recorded 1-0 victories against the same team on back-to-back days. The Cardinals last accomplished the feat in 1996 when they held the Phillies scoreless, scoring lone runs in the April 19 and 20th contests at Veterans Stadium.
37 Fact(s) Found