A M-W-F digest, replete with #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB content, gathered from reputable sources. We got your no-hitters right here. But wait! There’s more! Happy birthday, Ben Brown and many others.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.
“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly.
Today in baseball history:
- 1914 - George Davis of the Boston Braves pitched a 7-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies.
- 1915 - Sporting goods manufacturer Al Spalding, one of the original players, managers, and executives of the National League, dies at 65 in San Diego, CA. (1,2)
- 1916 - Hippo Vaughn and Jimmy Lavender shut out the Pirates, 3-0 and 2-0, for a Cubs doubleheader victory. (2)
- 1918 - In Game 4 of the World Series, Babe Ruth bats in two runs on a triple in the fourth and pitches seven scoreless innings before the Cubs tie it in the eighth, ending Ruth’s World Series record of 29⅔ scoreless innings. Phil Douglas relieves Lefty Tyler for Chicago in the last of the eighth and throws away the game, first by a wild pitch, then with an error. Ruth is the winning pitcher, but Carl Mays relieves with two on and no out in the 9th. (2)
- 1928 - At age 37, Yankee P Urban Shocker dies of pneumonia in Denver, CO, where he had gone for his health. Only now does it become known that he had suffered from an enlarged heart and was unable to sleep lying down for two years. Shocker, who never had a losing season, was 18-6 in 1927 but appeared in only one game in 1928. (2)
- 1945 - Dick Fowler of the Philadelphia Athletics pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns.
- 1948 - Rex Barney of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched a 2-0 no-hitter against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.
- 1958 - The Cardinals beat the Cubs, 8-7, with Jim Brosnan earning the win over his old team. Don Elston takes the loss. Ernie Banks hits his first home run in St. Louis in two years while Eddie Kasko cracks a grand slam. (2)
- 1965 - Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched his fourth no-hitter, a perfect game, against the Chicago Cubs. Koufax fanned 14 in the 1-0 victory while Cubs pitcher Bob Hendley allowed only one hit - a double by Lou Johnson. (2)
- 1969 - With a 3-2 win, Tom Seaver hands Chicago its sixth straight loss, giving the Mets a sweep of two games. New York now trails the Cubs by one half game. (2)
- 1975 - The Cubs’ Bill Madlock suffers an “incomplete fracture” of his right thumb when hit by a Bruce Kison pitch in a 6-5 win over the Pirates. (2)
- 1988 - Bruce Sutter joins Rollie Fingers and Rich Gossage as the only pitchers to save 300 games as Atlanta beats San Diego, 5-4, in 11 innings. It is the last save of his career. (1,2)
- 1989 - The Cubs’ Luis Salazar singles in the tying run in the eighth, then doubles in the winner in the 10th to give Chicago a 3-2 win over St. Louis. The Cubs now lead the Cards by one and a half games. Yesterday, the Cubs blew a 7-2 lead to lose 9-8 to the Cards. (2)
- 1992 - Brewer owner Bud Selig is selected by the owners to serve as acting baseball commissioner until a permanent successor can be found. It will take nearly six years to name a permanent commissioner - and it will be Selig himself. (2)
- 1993 - Baseball joins the other major sports and expands the postseason as well as its divisions. The measure passes by a 27-1 vote with Texas, one of two teams other than the new expansion teams never to go to the postseason by the old setup, as the lone dissenter. (1,2)
- 1999 - In the Cubs’ 5-3 loss to the Reds, Sammy Sosa hits his 59th homer. Sosa has more homers than the Cubs have wins: 56. They’ve lost 31 of their last 39 games. (2)
- 2000 - The Astros kick the Cubs, 14-4, hitting a team-record seven home runs in the process. Richard Hidalgo, Lance Berkman and Tim Bogar each hit a pair, with Daryle Ward adding another. (2)
- 2014 - Cubs 3B prospect Kris Bryant is named the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year after leading the minor leagues with 43 homers and a .661 slugging percentage between the Double-A Tennessee Smokies and Triple-A Iowa Cubs. (2)
- 2022 - Major League Baseball announces the adoption of a number of changes to the rules to be introduced at the start of the 2023 season. They include a pitch clock, limits on defensive shifts, and larger bases. All of these changes have already been successfully tested in minor league games and aim to improve pace of play, reduce injuries and create more in-game action. (2)
Cubs Birthdays: Abner Dalrymple, Frank Chance HOF, Ed Mickelson, Earl Averill, Jerry Mumphrey, Todd Zeile, Edwin Jackson, Michael Bowden, Ben Brown*. Also notable: Frankie Frisch HOF, Waite Hoyt HOF.
- 1000 - Battle of Svolder, Baltic Sea: King Olaf on board the Long Serpent defeated in one of the greatest naval battles of the Viking Age. He leaps to his death overboard.
- 1543 - Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is crowned “Queen of Scots” in the central Scottish town of Stirling.
- 1839 - English scientist and astronomer John Herschel takes 1st glass plate photograph.
- 1850 - California is admitted as the 31st state of the Union.
- 1908 - Orville Wright makes the first one-hour airplane flight, Fort Myer, Virginia.
Common sources:
- (1) — Today in Baseball History.
- (2) — Baseball Reference.
- (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
- (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
- (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
- For world history.
*pictured.
Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid. We are trying to set the record as straight as possible. But it isn’t brain surgery.
Also, the ‘history’ segment is highly edited for space and interest. Of course a great many other things happened on those days. We try to follow up on the interesting or unfamiliar ones.
Thanks for reading.
