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6 Fact(s) Found
| 1971 | Ralph Garr ties a major league record for the round-trippers in extra innings, going deep in the 10th and the 12th frame with a walk-off homer against the Mets in the Braves' 4-3 victory. The Atlanta left-fielder, called the 'Road Runner' by his teammates, is the fourth player to accomplish the feat and the first to do so since 1966, when New York's Art Shamsky went yard in the 10th and 11th in a losing cause for the Reds at Crosley Field. |
| 1973 | At Anaheim Stadium, a horrific injury dampens Bobby Valentine's promising major league career when his spikes get caught in the outfield's chain-link fence attempting to catch a home run ball hit by Dick Green. The 23-year-old speedster, who had started the season hitting .400 in April, suffers a multiple compound leg fracture and will miss the rest of the season, eventually finishing his playing days as a utility player with the Padres, Mets, and Mariners. |
| 1979 | The Phillies beat the Cubs in a fifty-hit slugfest in the Windy City, 23-22. The 11 home runs hit in the game tie a major league mark, shared by Chicago and their opponents, 1967 Reds and 1977 Mets, while playing in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. |
| 1985 | The Rangers fire skipper Doug Rader and replace him with the Mets' third-base coach Bobby Valentine. Before returning to New York in 1996 to manage his former team, 'Bobby V' will compile a 581-605 record (.490) during his eight seasons in Texas. |
| 2007 | Shea Stadium, home of the Mets, becomes a huge recording studio when Sesame Street's Bob McGrath and a chorus of 15,000 school children sing an uplifting tune to Ronald Sterling, a seven-year-old with the Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome immune deficiency disorder. The non-profit group, Songs of Love Foundation, which creates personalized songs for sick children throughout the country, arranged for the '... You're a Grand Slam' tune to be sung and recorded at the ballpark, with the baseball-loving youngster listening on the phone. |
| 2016 | The Braves dismiss manager Fredi Gonzalez after the team gets off to a 9-28 start, a game worse than the first 37 games played by the 1962 Mets, historically considered one of the worst teams in baseball history. During the departed skipper's first three seasons in Atlanta, the club won 279 games from 2011 to 2013, the best record in the National League during that span. |
6 Fact(s) Found