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This Day in Baseball History
September 21st

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55 Fact(s) Found
1892 John Clarkson becomes the fifth pitcher in major league history to record his 300th victory when the Spiders beat the Pirates, 3-2, at Cleveland's League Park. The 31-year-old right-hander will compile a 328-178 record during his 12-year Hall of Fame career in the big leagues.
1896 Connie Mack announces he is leaving the Pirates to manage the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers of the Western League. The light-hitting catcher retires as a full-time player to accept the deal, including twenty-five percent of the club, a precursor to his 54-year reign as the American League A's owner.
1925 Barney Friberg catches an inning in a 9-7 loss against Pittsburgh, the only position on the field the Phillies utility man hadn't yet played this season. Ripley's Believe or Not highlights his achievement in its syndicated cartoon.
1934

"If I'da known he was gonna throw one, I'da thrown one, too." - DIZZY DEAN, after his brother tosses a no-hitter in the nightcap of a doubleheader.

In the second game of a twin bill at Ebbets Field, 22-year-old Cardinal hurler Paul Dean, called Daffy by his teammates, becomes the fifth rookie to throw a no-hitter, beating the Dodgers, 3-0. His brother Dizzy held Brooklyn hitless until the eighth inning in the opener, settling for a two-hitter in the team's 13-0 blanking of the Bums.

1941 The Giants become the first major league team to start four Jewish players when Harry Danning (C), Harry Feldman (P), Morrie Arnovich (LF), and Sid Gordon (CF) take the field at the Polo Grounds. The game also marks the first time a Jewish pitcher and a Jewish catcher form the battery when 30-year-old backstop Danning calls the pitches for 21-year-old rookie right-hander Feldman, who is making his second big league start.
1947 W8XCT, the station to become known as WLWT, carries the first televised Reds game. An estimated home audience of 10,000 viewers watches their hometown heroes lose to the Pirates in the Sunday afternoon contest at Crosley Field, 11-7.
1947 At Fenway Park, Johnny Pesky finishes the day with 202 hits when he collects two hits in both ends of a doubleheader against the Senators. The 28-year-old shortstop surpasses the 200-hit mark for the third time in as many seasons, becoming the first player to lead a league in hits in his first three seasons.
1949 At Wrigley Field, the Phillies beat Chicago, 3-1, for their 78th victory. The win guarantees the club its first winning season since 1932, snapping a 16-year streak of futility.
1951 In his major league debut, Cardinals hurler Jack Collum throws a two-hit shutout against the Cubs at Sportsman's Park, 6-0. The 24-year-old rookie southpaw, who developed a natural screwball due to losing part of his index finger in a farm accident, will post a 32-28 record during his nine-year tenure with six big-league teams.
1952 In front of the season's second-largest crowd, with many of the 8,822 fans rooting for the Dodgers, the Braves play their final home game in Boston. Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella hits the last home run at Braves Field in an 8-2 victory over the Milwaukee-bound club.
1954 Rookie pitcher Bob Grim wins his 20th game when the Yankees defeat the Senators, 3-1. Due to arm troubles, the 24-year-old right-hander will eventually be used exclusively in relief, becoming a selection for the All-Star team in that role for the American League squad in 1957.
1956 At Fenway Park, the Yankees strand 20 runners, losing to the Red Sox, 13-7. The number of players left on base sets a big-league record for a nine-inning game.
1959 With an eight-inning 12-hit effort in the Braves' 8-6 victory over Pittsburgh at Forbes Field, lefty Warren Spahn earns his 20th victory for the fourth consecutive season and the tenth time in his career. The southpaw will compile 13 seasons with twenty or more wins during his 21-year Hall of Fame tenure in the major leagues.
1963 When first base umpire Doug Harvey tosses skipper Danny Murtaugh and coach Frank Oceak, Gene Baker takes over the club's reins in the final two innings, becoming the first black to manage a major league team. The former Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago Cubs, and Pirates infielder's historic moment is spoiled when Willie Davis hits a three-run walk-off home run, giving the Dodgers a 5-3 victory over the Bucs in the Chavez Ravine contest.
1964 In the first of ten consecutive losses, the front-running Phillies lose to the Reds at Connie Mack Stadium, 1-0. The game's only run scores in the sixth inning when Chico Ruiz steals home, a play many fans believe is the harbinger of the season-ending collapse, which will see the team blow a 6½ game lead with 12 left to play.
1964 Returning from a West Coast road trip, the Phillies are greeted at the airport by over 2,000 pennant-fever fans when they arrive in Philadelphia early in the morning. In front of the National League by 6½ games with only 12 games remaining, the team will suffer a ten-game losing streak and not make it to the postseason.
1966 The smallest crowd in the 46-year-old history of Chicago's Wrigley Field watches the Cubs beat Cincinnati, 9-3. The 530 fans in attendance for the Wednesday afternoon contest see Billy Williams and Adolfo Phillips go deep in a game that takes only two hours and twenty-four minutes to complete.
1969 In a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the tenth inning at Candlestick Park, LA's Pete Mikkelsen retires the first two Giants batters before intentionally walking Willie McCovey, who is 4-for-4 in the game. The Dodger reliever then issues free passes unintentionally to the next two hitters to load the bases, losing the game when shortstop Maury Wills boots pinch-hitter Jim Davenport's ground ball.
1970 Oakland southpaw Vida Blue, in his eighth major league start, becomes the 11th rookie to throw a no-hitter. The A's 21-year-old freshman, who will become the AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner next season, beats the Twins at Oakland Coliseum, 6-0.
1971 By a 10–2 vote, the American League gives the cash-strapped Senators approval to move to Arlington next season, with only the Orioles and White Sox casting negative votes. In 1961, Charlie O. Finley had explored shifting his Kansas City A's to the welcoming Metroplex in Texas but received no support from his fellow owners.
1971 Dave McNally wins his 20th game for the fourth consecutive season when he blanks New York at Yankee Stadium, 5-0. The southpaw becomes the first of the four 20-game winners on the club, which will include Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, and Pat Dobson.
1973 In Detroit, John Hiller goes 3.2 innings in the Tigers' 5-1 victory over the Red Sox, notching his 38th save, a club record. Two years ago, the southpaw reliever suffered a heart attack as a 27-year-old.
1973 On the day they get to .500, the Mets move into first place for the first time since May 27th, half a game ahead of Pittsburgh in the 'NL Least.' Thanks to Tom Seaver's complete-game five-hitter, New York evens its record at 77-77 with a 10-2 victory, the 21st in the last 29 games.
1975 Jim Rice suffers a broken bone in his hand after being hit by a Vern Ruhle pitch in the first inning of the team's 6-5 victory over the Tigers in Detroit. The injury will cause the 22-year-old Red Sox rookie sensation to miss the remainder of the season, including the World Series.
1975 Gaylord Perry goes the distance, limiting Chicago to six hits in the team's 8-2 win at White Sox Park. The victory gives the Ranger right-hander the identical career win-loss record (215-174) of his brother, Jim, released by the A's in August after getting his final major league decision earlier in the month.
1979 In the Royals' 13-4 rout of the A's at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, U.L. Washington hits two three-run home runs, one left-handed and one right-handed. The pair of round-trippers will be the only ones the Kansas City shortstop hits in the 101 games he plays this season.
1981 Phillies southpaw Steve Carlton becomes the all-time National League strikeout leader when he fans Andre Dawson in the third frame of the team's 1-0 loss in 17 innings at Montreal. Lefty, who tosses ten shutout innings and fans a dozen batters in the Olympic Stadium contest, surpasses Cardinal legend Bob Gibson with his 3,118th career strikeout, taking over the top spot in the Senior Circuit.
1986 Jimmy Jones tosses a one-hit shutout in his major league debut when San Diego blanks Houston, 5-0. The 22-year-old # 1 draft pick, who will post a 43-39 record during his eight-year big league career with the Padres, Yankees, and Astros, allows only a third-inning triple to the opposing pitcher Bob Knepper.
1987 Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson become the first teammates to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in the same season when the 'Straw' swipes two bags in the Mets' 7-1 victory over Chicago at Wrigley Field. The southpaw swinger is only the tenth member of the 30-30 club but is the fourth player, along with HoJo, Indians' right fielder Joe Carter, and Reds' center fielder Eric Davis to accomplish the feat this season.
1987 Howard Johnson breaks a 53-year-old National League record when he strokes his 36th home run as a switch hitter in the Mets' 7-1 victory over Chicago at Wrigley Field. The third baseman's historic homer, the team's franchise-high seventh grand slam of the season, surpasses the mark established by Cardinals' first baseman Ripper Collins in 1934 but is far less than the major league record of 54 set in 1961 by Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle.
1988 Kevin McReynolds steals his 21st and final base of the season when he swipes second base in the fifth inning of the Mets' 4-3 victory over the Phillies at Shea Stadium. The New York outfielder finishes the campaign without being caught, surpassing the major league record set by the A's Jimmy Sexton with 16 stolen bases not being thrown out in 1982.
1988 Astros' right-hander Bob Knepper tosses a one-hitter, beating Pete Smith, who also throws a complete game, and the Braves, 1-0. Dale Murphy's second-inning infield single is the only Atlanta hit in the two-hour-and-four-minute Astrodome contest.
1995 John Vander Wal sets a major league record with his 26th pinch-hit of the season. The Rockies pinch-hitter's historic hit is a seventh-inning solo home run off Sergio Valdez in Colorado's 5-3 loss to the Giants at Candlestick Park.
1997 At Kauffman Stadium, Indians starter John Smiley breaks his arm, throwing a curveball warming up in the bullpen. The southpaw, obtained in a midseason trade from the Reds, was recently placed on the disabled list due to tendinitis.
1998 Jason Kendall sets a new National League record for catchers when he swipes his 26th base in an 8-1 loss to the Giants at Candlestick Park. The Pirates' backstop surpasses the previous mark set by John Stearns, playing for the Mets in 1978.
2000 In the team's 10-3 victory over Florida, Vladimir Guerrero establishes an Expo single-season home run record by hitting his 43rd round-tripper. 'Vlad the Impaler,' who breaks the record he set last year, goes deep to center field off A.J Burnett in the fifth inning of the Olympic Stadium contest to establish the new mark.
2001 Ranger infielder Alex Rodriguez hit his 47th home run, tying the major league mark for round-trippers by a shortstop in a season. The Cubs' legend Ernie Banks established the record in 1958.
2001 The Mets donate their day's pay, totaling approximately $500,000, from tonight's game with the Braves at Shea to a rescue fund for the families of the firefighters and policemen killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. The contest is the first professional baseball game played in New York since the tragedy.
2001 A crowd of 41,235 at Shea Stadium witnesses baseball's return to New York City for the first time since the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Uplifting ceremonies before and during the game, including performances by Diana Ross, Marc Anthony, Lisa Minnelli, and NYPD bagpipers, pay tribute to victims of the tragedy. Mike Piazza's eighth-inning home run gives the Mets a 3-2 dramatic victory over the Braves.

2003 Greg Maddux, with Atlanta beating the Marlins, 8-0, becomes the first pitcher to win at least 15 games in 16 consecutive seasons. The Braves' righty, who pitched five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit en route to his 288th career victory, had shared the record with Cy Young.
2004 Raul Ibanez, in the Mariners' 16-6 rout over LA, ties an American League record shared by 20+ players when he collects six hits in the nine-inning contest. The mark for the most hits in an AL game is nine, accomplished by Cleveland's Johnny Burnett in an 18-inning marathon against Philadelphia.
2005 At Shea Stadium, Mudcat Grant and Al Downing welcome Marlins' southpaw Dontrelle Willis to the "Black Aces," an African-American fraternity of 20-game winners in a big-league season. Beating the Nationals earlier in the month, the D-Train became the 13th black to accomplish the feat and plans to join the Aces' foundation to promote baseball in the African-American community.
2006 David Ortiz, hitting his 51st and 52nd homers, breaks the Red Sox's franchise record of 50 in a single season, established by Jimmie Foxx in 1938. 'Big Papi' also surpasses his own major league mark for home runs set by a DH with 45, two more than the standard he set last season.

2008 Behind southpaw Scott Kazmir's solid outing, throwing six scoreless innings, the Rays, who have never finished higher than fourth in the American League East Division during the first decade of their existence, clinch a postseason berth with a 7-2 victory over Minnesota. Carlos Pena's two doubles and solo home runs by Cliff Floyd and Fernando Perez provide the offensive in Tampa Bay's historic win at Tropicana Field.
2008 After a moving ceremony celebrating the history of the 85-year-old ballpark, New York beat the Orioles in the last game ever played at Yankee Stadium, 7-3. Babe's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, throws out the ceremonial first pitch, with team captain Derek Jeter at the end of the game, surrounded on the mound by his teammates, bids farewell to 'House Ruth Built,' addressing 54,610 fans attending the Bronx finale.

2009 Dave Clark, the team's third-base coach, replaces Cecil Cooper as the slumping Astros manager. 'Coop,' after signing a contract extension to manage until the end of the 2010 season, piloted his club to a 171-170 record, including a disappointing 70-79 mark this season, during his two-year tenure in the Houston dugout.
2010 A 6-4 come-from-behind victory over Cleveland at Target Field and Chicago's loss in Oakland clinches the AL Central Division for the Twins. Minnesota, who had to play a 163rd game the previous two seasons to determine a division winner, becomes the first club to secure a postseason berth this season.
2010 Obtained in an off-season trade with the Blue Jays, Roy Halladay becomes the Phillies' first 20-game winner since Steve Carlton reached the milestone 28 years ago and the first right-hander to accomplish the feat for the club since Robin Roberts posted a 23-14 record in 1955. The 5-3 victory over Atlanta, Philadelphia's ninth straight win that increases the team's NL East lead to five games over the fading Braves, makes 'Doc' the 17th pitcher to accomplish the feat in both leagues, having compiled two 20-win seasons with the Blue Jays.
2013 Matt Carpenter breaks Stan Musial’s 1953 Cardinals single-season record for two-baggers hit by a left-handed batter when he doubles for the 54th time this season, reaching the milestone in the fifth inning of the team’s 7-2 victory over the Brewers at Miller Park. Joe Medwick established the overall franchise mark, hitting 64 during the 1936 campaign.

2013 Mariners left fielder Raul Ibanez's 29th round-tripper, his 300th career home run, ties him with Ted Williams for the most hit in a season by a player who is 41 or older. In his final year as a major leaguer, the' Splendid Splinter hit that many in 1960 while playing with the Red Sox.

2013 The Tigers tie the game with a six-run rally in the bottom of the ninth, then beat the White Sox in extra innings, 7-6. Omar Infante ends the Comerica Park contest by hitting a bases-loaded infield single in the 12th for the walk-off victory.
2018 In the Mets' 4-2 victory over the Nationals in Washington, Jacob deGrom delivers his 23rd consecutive quality start to break the single-season major league record, previously shared by Cardinal aces Bob Gibson (1968j and Chris Carpenter (2005). The 30-year-old right-hander allowed one run in seven innings, lowering his E.R.A. to 1.77 and improving his record to 9-9.
2019 With two years left on his contract, the Padres fired manager Andy Green, citing communication issues. During his four seasons with the Friars, the 42-year-old skipper compiled a 274-366 (.428) record, never finishing higher than fourth in the five-team NL Western Division.
2020 The A's become the first team to clinch a division in the shortened Covid-19 season, securing the flag on an off day when an Astros' loss to Mariners puts the second-place club 6.5 games behind with six to play. The victory marks Oakland's first championship since 2013, but the team will be making their third straight postseason appearance, facing the White Sox in the new three-game Wild Card series.
2022 The Mets establish a National League mark literally when Brewers' right-hander Jake Cousins hits Luis Guillermo with a pitch, setting the single-season record for most hit by pitches with 106. New York skipper Buck Showalter asks for the ball after the team surpasses the 2021 Reds.
55 Fact(s) Found