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This Day in All Teams History
May 11th

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48 Fact(s) Found
1904 After 23 innings of pitching no-hit baseball, Cy Young's streak ends. The stretch includes six innings today, two innings on April 25th, six on April 30th, and the perfect game against the A's on May 5th.
1919 Reds' right-hander Hod Eller throws a no-hitter, defeating the Cardinals, 6-0. The ace of the eventual world champs strikes out eight while walking three batters on a cold day at Cincinnati's Redland Field.
1923 Establishing several Pacific Coast League marks, Pete Schneider hits five home runs and a double, driving in 14 runs as Vernon routs Salt Lake City, 35-11.
1932 Eighth-grader Joe Schultz, Jr. singles, swipes two bases, and scores as a pinch-hitter in a Texas League game. The manager's fourteen-year-old will become a second-string catcher in the major leagues.
1946 The Red Sox's early-season winning streak ends at 15 consecutive victories when right-hander Tiny Bonham, giving up just two hits in the Yankee Stadium contest, blanks the team, 2-0. Boston, who will easily capture the AL pennant, started the season 21-3 before today's loss against New York.
1946 Boston loses to the Giants, 5-1, in the first night game played at Braves Field. The 37,407 fans, the largest crowd in thirteen years, are surprised when their hometown heroes take the field wearing shiny satin uniforms designed to reflect the light generated by the electricity used for the evening contest.

1949 The White Sox beat the Red Sox, 12-8, scoring in every inning of the Comiskey Park contest. A team tallying in every frame has occurred only five times in American League history.

1950 Connecticut Senator Abe Ribicoff introduces legislation designating June 26th as National Baseball Day, honoring the birthday of Major General Abner Doubleday, once promoted to be the inventor of the national pastime. The bill, which did not pass, would authorize the President to issue an annual proclamation urging citizens to celebrate the day with special events and ceremonies.
1950 Although traveling by air is still a rarity in the major leagues, a train strike forces many clubs to fly to their next scheduled games. By the mid to late 50s, teams will begin flying regularly, coinciding with franchises moving further west and an increasing number of night games.
1950 After fans boo him for misplaying a ball, Ted Williams makes inappropriate gestures directed at the Red Sox fans sitting in the outfield stands, first toward left field, then center field, and finishing with right field. As the jeering continues, the Splendid Splinter becomes the Splendid Spitter during his next at-bat, when he steps out of the box and expectorates to show his displeasure.
1955 At Wrigley Field, with the help of an Ernie Banks first-inning grand slam off Russ Meyer, Chicago snaps Brooklyn's 11-game winning streak, 10-8. The bases-filled homer will be Mr. Cub's first of five this season.
1956 In the bottom of the ninth inning at Forbes Field, Danny Kravitz's walk-off grand slam off Jack Meyer erases a three-run deficit, giving the Pirates a dramatic 6-5 victory over the Phillies. It is the first career round-tripper hit by the 25-year-old rookie backup backstop.
1956 The Cardinals and Phillies swap hurlers, with St. Louis sending Harvey Haddix, Stu Miller, and Ben Flowers to Philadelphia in exchange for Herman Wehmeier, Murry Dickson, and a player to be named. The trade is completed and expanded a few days later when infielder Solly Hemus is sent to the 'City of Brotherly of Love' for Redbird utility player Bobby Morgan.
1962 Minnie Minoso suffers a fractured skull and breaks his wrist when he runs into the left-field wall chasing Duke Snider's triple in the Cardinals' 8-5 loss to L.A. at Busch Stadium. In mid-July, the St. Louis outfielder will return to the lineup, only to have a bone in his forearm broken with a pitch thrown by Craig Anderson of the Mets a month later.

Amazon Just Call Me Minnie: My Six Decades in Baseball

1963 Sandy Koufax takes a perfect game into the eighth inning before walking Ed Bailey on a 3-and-2 pitch but will finish the Dodger Stadium contest with the second of four career no-hitters, blanking the Giants, 8-0. The Los Angeles southpaw beats San Francisco ace Juan Marichal, who will also author a no-hitter next month.
1971 In front of a sparse crowd of 2,992 at Cleveland Stadium, Indians starter Steve Dunning hits a second-inning grand slam off A's right-hander Diego Segui in Cleveland's 7-5 victory over Oakland. It will take another 37 years before another American League hurler goes deep with the bases loaded when Felix Hernandez of the Mariners accomplishes the feat against the Mets in 2008.
1972 After promising the club would never trade him, the cash-strapped Giants send Willie Mays, the only remaining player that moved to the West Coast with the team, to New York, the city where he began his Hall of Fame career in 1951, for right-hander Charlie Williams and $50,000 cash. Horace Stoneham, unable to guarantee his aging superstar an income when the outfielder retired, extracts a promise from the Mets that they will pay the 'Say Hey Kid' $50,000 annually for ten years after the future Hall of Famer stops playing.
1977 Trying to snap the Braves' 16-game losing streak, Ted Turner, the team's owner, takes over as field manager. The skid continues as the Pirates defeat Atlanta, 2-1, and National League president Chub Feeney informs the new skipper he cannot manage again because a rule prohibits a manager from owning a financial stake in the club.
1980 In the top of the seventh inning, Phillies' leadoff batter Pete Rose steals home after swiping second and third base to become the first National League player in 52 years to complete the stolen base cycle in one frame. In 1928, Brooklyn's Harvey Hendrick accomplished the feat in the eighth inning of an Ebbets Field contest against Chicago.
1991 After a heckler calls him 'Joey,' a name he dislikes, and references his problems with alcohol, Albert Belle responds by picking up a foul ball and nailing the offensive offender in the chest from 15 feet away. Although the fans supported his action, the Indian outfielder was fined and suspended for one week.
1993 In the top of the seventh of a tied game at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, Jay Bell leads off the inning by grounding out to Phillies' shortstop Juan Bell. Of course, umpire Wally Bell rings up the Pirate infielder at first base.
1994 At Shea Stadium, en route to a two-inning save in Montreal's 4-3 victory over the Mets, Expo right-hander Mel Rojas strikes out the side in the top of the ninth, needing just nine pitches to end the game. The 28-year-old reliever fans David Segui, Todd Hundley, and Jeff McKnight to complete his immaculate inning, each swinging at strike three.
1996 On 'John Franco Day,' the New York veteran reliever and eight other players are ejected from the game due to participating in a fifth-inning bench-clearing brawl at Shea Stadium. After the team celebrated his 300th career save, the closer's unavailability in the ninth resulted in three hurlers combining to give up the tying runs in the team's eventual 7-6 walk-off win over Chicago.
1996 Al Leiter pitches the first no-hitter in the Marlins' brief existence, beating the Rockies, 11-0. The news earlier of the ValuJet crash in the Everglades tempers the celebration at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium.
1998 Striking out 13 Diamondbacks, Cubs' Kerry Wood sets a major league record for strikeouts in consecutive games with 33 in two games. Luis Tiant (1968 - Indians), Nolan Ryan (1974 - Angels), Dwight Gooden (1984 - Mets), and Randy Johnson (1997 - Mariners) shared the previous record for strikeouts (32) in two starts.
1999 For the first time this century, two opposing starting major league pitchers with the same name face one another. The Rockies' southpaw Bobby M. Jones bests right-hander Bobby J. Jones and the Mets in the Coors Field contest, 8-5.
2000 At 37, Joe Strong becomes the oldest player to make his big-league debut since pitcher Diomedes Olivo played for the Pirates in 1960 as a 41-year-old. The 'seasoned' rookie throws 1â…“ hitless innings.
2000 Manny Ramirez tags a first-inning grand slam and adds a two-run homer in the sixth, leading the Indians to a 16-0 rout of the Royals. The victory, stopping Kansas City's winning streak at five games, is Cleveland's most lopsided shutout in 45 years when the Tribe beat the Red Sox 19-0.
2000 The Brewers beat the Cubs, 14-8, at Wrigley Field in four hours and twenty-two minutes. The length of the contest breaks the National League record and ties the mark set by the Orioles and Yankees on September 5, 1997, for the longest non-extra inning game ever played.
2000 Aaron and Bret Boone, sons of former major league catcher Bob and the grandsons of Ray, also a former big leaguer, hit home runs in the same game for the second time in their careers. Bret's pair of two-run homers, a shot in the top of the first and an inside-the-parker in the sixth, is offset by his younger sibling's walk-off round-tripper in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Reds an 11-9 victory over the Padres at Cinergy Field.
2001 The Cardinals send Rick Ankiel (1-2, 7.13), who threw five wild pitches to the backstop yesterday, to their Triple-A club in Memphis to work on overcoming his unexplainable lack of control. The young lefthanded fireballer has walked 25 batters in 24 innings this season.
2001 In the sixth inning of a 7-2 loss to the Mariners, Carlos Delgado surpasses Joe Carter as the Blue Jays' all-time home run leader as he hits his 204th homer with the team. The Toronto first baseman, the current American League leader with 14 round-trippers, acknowledges the standing ovation from the SkyDome crowd with a curtain call.
2002 The Devil Rays snap their 15-game losing streak, a franchise record, thanks to Randy Winn's three-run walk-off homer. The right fielder's ninth-inning two-out blast comes off Jorge Julio, giving Tampa Bay a 6-4 victory over Baltimore at Tropicana Field.

(Ed Note: Our thanks to Adam Sanford for suggesting this entry.)

2002 At Citizens Bank Park, Arizona reliever Byung-Hyun Kim strikes out the side in the bottom of the eighth on nine pitches, whiffing Scott Rolen and Mike Lieberthal swinging and then fans Pat Burrell, taking a third strike to complete his immaculate inning. The Diamondback right-hander blows a save in the next frame but picks a win when the team scores a run in the tenth for an eventual 6-5 victory over the Phillies.
2003 The Marlins, six games under .500, fire manager Jeff Torborg, criticized for the poor performance of the pitching staff after a rash of recent injuries to the team's young arms. Veteran 72-year-old skipper Jack McKeon becomes the franchise's sixth manager, posting a 75-49 record for the remainder of the season en route to winning the National League pennant and beating the Yankees in six games to become World Champions.
2003 In his last at-bat on the current homestand, 38-year-old first baseman Rafael Palmeiro drives a 3-2 fastball thrown by Indian hurler David Elder to become the second player this season and 19th overall to hit his 500th career home run. The 370-foot shot over the right-field wall at The Ballpark in Arlington makes Raffy the first native of Cuba to reach the coveted milestone.
2004 Playing for the St. Paul Saints, Marc Turndorf pops up a $5,601 pitch in an auctioned at-bat. The Los Angeles man had the winning eBay bid for the opportunity to hit for the Northern League team.
2004 Pittsfield city officials and historians release a 1791 document they believe is the earliest written reference to baseball. The 213-year-old bylaw, used to protect the windows of the town's new meeting house by prohibiting anyone from playing baseball within 80 yards of the building, was uncovered by baseball historian John Thorn while researching the origins of baseball.
2004 After missing yesterday's game to become an American citizen, Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez, much to the delight of the Fenway faithful, leads his teammates out of the dugout waving an American flag to celebrate his first day as a citizen of the United States. As the 31-year-old native of the Dominican Republic comes to bat, the PA system plays Neil Diamond's song America.

2005 The Red Sox end a game for the second consecutive day by hitting a walk-off home run off the same pitcher, a feat accomplished only five previous times in major league history. A's closer Octavio Dotel, who also gave up Kevin Millar's decisive blast yesterday, is victimized today by Boston backstop Jason Varitek, who goes deep in the ninth to beat Oakland, 6-5.

2006 After he breaks his left wrist while attempting to make a diving catch, Hideki Matsui's streak of playing in every game since starting his MLB career in 2003 ends at 518 games. The 31-year-old Yankees' left fielder established the big-league record for consecutive games to start a career, surpassing Hall of Fame infielder Ernie Banks, who played in 424 contests at the start of his playing days with the Cubs from 1953 to 1956.
2008 At Shea Stadium, a 13-minute delay occurs at the beginning of the ninth of the Mets' 8-3 victory over the Reds when David Ross bats out of order, making an out in Corey Patterson's place in the lineup. The confused umpires eventually make the correct call, telling Ross to bat again, now with one out, without his teammate having an opportunity to come to the plate.
2009 At AT&T Park, Randy Johnson records his 298th career victory when the Giants beat the Nationals, 11-7, in a game that featured pitchers with a combined height of 163 inches, making the matchup the tallest in baseball history. The 6-foot-10' Unit' and 6'9" Daniel Cabrera reached new heights by an inch, surpassing the previous mark established in 2004 by Cabrera and Mark Hendrickson, a southpaw that is 81 inches tall.
2009 In a 13-5 loss to the Reds at Chase Field, Josh Wilson keeps his career ERA at 0.00 by hurling a scoreless ninth inning to become the fifth Diamondbacks position player to pitch for the team. The Diamondbacks infielder also threw one inning for the Devil Rays in 2007.
2012 The Mets play their 8,000th game in franchise history, dropping a 6-5 decision in Miami when closer Frank Francisco allows the tying and winning runs to score in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Amazins have compiled a 515-485 record during the thousand-game span, with third baseman David Wright being the team's top home run hitter and run producer with 143 round-trippers and 595 RBIs.
2014 Aroldis Chapman, in his first appearance of the season, strikes out three consecutive batters after issuing a leadoff walk, recording a save in Cincinnati's 4-1 victory over Colorado. During a spring training game in March against Kansas City, the Reds All-Star closer was struck in the head by a line drive that resulted in surgery to repair fractures near his nose and left eye.
2016 Max Scherzer ties a major league mark when he strikes out 20 batters in a nine-inning game, joining Roger Clemens (1986, 1996 Red Sox), Kerry Wood (1998 Cubs), and Randy Johnson (2001 Diamondbacks). The 31-year-old right-hander, who goes the distance in Washington's 3-2 victory over the Tigers at Nationals Park, has an opportunity to establish a new record with two out in the ninth, but James McCann grounds into a force out at second base, ending the contest.

2022 With his triple in the ninth inning, Christian Yelich completes his third career cycle, having hit a ground-rule double in the first inning, a two-run homer in the third, a single in the fifth in the Brewers' 14-11 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Milwaukee outfielder becomes the sixth major leaguer to accomplish the feat, joining Trea Turner, Adrián Beltré, Babe Herman, Bob Meusel, and John Reilly.

(Ed. Note: All three of Christian Yelich's cycles occur while playing the Reds. In 2018, he 'cycled' twice against the team in a span of twenty days. - LP)


48 Fact(s) Found