This Weekend in Baseball History
September 11th, 2010: Jim Thome passes Frank Robinson on the all time home run list. The Indians slugger's 587th is the only score of the game, as Cleveland holds off the Twins 1-0.
September 11th, 2009: Derek Jeter's 3rd inning single off the Orioles' Chris Tillman is the 2722nd of his career, breaking Lou Gehrig's Yankee record for most career hits (which had stood for 70 years!). The rest of the game proved forgettable, as Baltimore pounded relievers Damaso Marte and Edwar Ramirez for seven runs en route to a 10-4 victory.
September 11th, 2006: Frank Thomas homers for the sixth consecutive game. His blast off Minnesota's Carlos Silva, is the A's big moment in a 9-4 loss at the Oakland Coliseum.
September 11th, 2002: Whitey Ford and Phil Rizzuto unveil a Yankee Stadium monument dedicated to the September 11th terrorist victims. The team also has a ceremonial tree planting in Monument Park in honor of the heroes and victims of the previous year's horrific attacks.
September 11th, 1997: John Olerud hits for the cycle in the Mets 9-5 victory over the Expos at Shea Stadium.
September 11th, 1995: For just the fourth time in history a team completed a game without registering a fielding assist. As the Yankees blanked the Indians 4 -0, pitcher Jack McDowell had eight strikeouts; there were two grounders to 1st Baseman Don Mattingly, along with 17 fly balls, line drives and pop-outs. Interestingly, one of the previous "unassisted games" was also a Yankees/Indians contest -- the first game of a July 4th, 1945 doubleheader. The other two occasions: August 8th 1943 (Indians and St. Louis Browns) and June 25th, 1989 (Mets/Phillies).
September 11th, 1991: Kent Mercker, Mark Wohlers, and Alejandro Pena team up for the first combined no-hitter in National League history as the Braves freeze out the Padres 1-0 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
September 11th, 1985: Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's record for hits in a career. Number 4192 comes off the Padres' Eric Show during the Reds 2-0 victory at Riverfront Stadium.
September 11th, 1985: John Tudor throws his third consecutive shutout, going all 10 innings as the Cardinals hold off the Mets 1-0 on Cesar Cedeno's home run.
September 11th, 1974: The Mets and Cardinals play a 25-inning marathon at Shea Stadium. Bake McBride led off the top of the decisive inning with a single and came around to score after New York pitcher Hank Webb's wild pickoff went down the right field line as the Cardinal speedster came all the way around with the go-ahead run in a 4-3 St. Louis victory. The game lasted seven hours and four minutes, and featured a record 202 batters.
September 11th, 1968: Jim McAndrew of the Mets outpitches Cubs Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins. New York's 1-0 victory marks the fifth time Jenkins loses a 1-0 decision that season. (Another fun fact: Jenkins went 20-15, but won every time the Cubs scored behind him; he was 0-9 otherwise).
September 11th, 1966: Mets rookie pitcher Nolan Ryan strikes out the first batter he faces in the major league, the Braves' Pat Jarvis, fort the first of his record total of 5714. The fireballing righthander works the 6th and 7th innings at Shea Stadium, giving up a home run to Joe Torre, in a game Atlanta wins 8-3.
September 11th, 1966: John Miller also makes a splash in his debut. Facing Lee Stange, the rookie outfielder becomes the first Yankee player to hit a home run on the first pitch ever thrown to him in a big league game. It scores Joe Pepitone to give the Yanks an early 2-0 lead in a game they went on to win 4-2. It was the only home run Miller would hit in six games as a Yankee. He returned to the majors with the 1969 Dodgers -- where he homered in his last time at bat for his only other career homer, a notable pair of bookend appearances.
September 11th, 1959: Robin Roberts pitches a three-hit shutout, as the Phillies hold off the Giants 1-0 -- and protects a record for a teammate. Roberts holds Willie McCovey without a hit -- snapping the San Francisco rookie's 22-game hitting streak, one shy of the mark held by Richie Ashburn.
September 11th, 1954: Whitey Lockman's pinch hit grand slam in the 7th inning lifts the pennant-bound Giants to a 7-5 win over the Reds at the Polo Grounds.
September 11th, 1942: Paul Gillespie of the Cubs homers in his first big league at bat, off Harry Feldman of the Giants, in a game Chicago would lose 4-3. And just like John Miller, of the Yankees -- whose similar debut took place on the same date 24 years later -- Gillespie would also homer in his final at-bat three seasons later!
September 11th, 1928: Ty Cobb, appearing as a pinch hitter for the Philadelphia A's, pops out to Yankee shortstop Mark Koenig. Six days later, baseball's all time leader in hits -- and the player with the highest career batting average -- will announce his retirement.
September 11th, 1918: The Red Sox, behind pitcher Carl Mays, edge the Cubs 2 - 1 at Fenway Park to take the World Series in six games. It would be their final championship of the 20th century.
September 12th, 2000: On the rare evening when both New York teams play at home, they each win their games by identical (and not that common) scores of 10-2: the Yankees defeat the Blue Jays and the Mets rout the Brewers.
September 12th, 1984: Doc Gooden, days after breaking the National League rookie record for strikeouts, gets Marvell Wynne to erase Herb Score's major league mark that had stood for more than 30 years. The Mets sensation gets 16 k's and shuts out the Pirates 2-0.
September 12th, 1979: Carl Yastrzemski gets his 3000th hit off off Jim Beattie as his Red Sox
September 12th, 1976: Minnie Minoso, age 53, becomes the oldest major leaguer to get a hit in game -- a 2nd inning single off Sid Monge in a game the White Sox go on to beat the Angels 2-1.
September 12th, 1972: Mike Schmidt replaces Don Money at 3rd Base for the Phillies in the 3rd inning of a game with the Mets at Veterans Stadium. In the bottom half, he strikes out off New York's Jim McAndrew. Two innings later, he'll get his first hit (a single) off the same pitcher.
September 12th, 1969: The red-hot Mets take both ends of a twi-nighter from the Pirates by identical 1-0 scores -- with the games' only runs driven in by the starting (and winning pitchers): Jerry Koosman and Don Cardwell.
September 12th, 1965: Dick Selma, in just his second major league start. fires a 10-inning shutout against the Braves and strikes out 13 as the Mets win 1-0 at Shea Stadium. Charley Smith's walk off single brings home Joe Christopher for the game's only run.
September 12th, 1963: Duke Snider Night at the Polo Grounds: Winding down his career with the Mets, the Brooklyn icon is saluted at the park where his Dodgers had long been the hated foe. Several of Snider’s former Brooklyn teammates were introduced — Robinson, Campanella, Erskine, Furillo, Newcombe and Branca. The New York Times quotes Snider from his speech: “I look up into the stands and it looks like Ebbets Field... The Mets are wonderful, but you can’t take the Dodger out of Brooklyn.”
Oddly, the Dodgers aren't the Mets opponents that night -- the now San Francisco Giants are! Playing for the final time in their former home, Juan Marichal and the Giants blank the Mets 6-0. (Marichal fires a four-hitter, strikes out 13 and blasts a 5th inning home run.)
September 12th, 1962: Tom Cheney of the Senators sets a major league record with 21 strikeouts. He works all 16 innings of a 2-1 victory at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, a 228-pitch effort. Washington 1st baseman Bud Zipfel snaps the deadlock when he homers off Dick Hall.
September 12th, 1959: "Toothpick" Sam Jones of the Giants wins his 20th game of the season, a 9-1 San Francisco pounding of the Phillies -- and a nice counterbalance to Jones' 20-loss season as a Cub just four years earlier.
September 12th, 1952: The Pirates become the first team to wear batting helmets. They sport foam-lined plastic hats in a twi-night doubleheader against the Braves in Boston. They win the opener 8-1 (with Ralph Kiner homering twice and Bob Friend firing a complete game), but are shut out by Ernie Johnson Sr. in the nightcap, 16-0.
September 13th, 2014: Brett Bochy comes in to relieve for the Giants, becoming the first pitcher ever to play for a club managed by his dad. The 27 year old rookie walks Juan Uribe of the Dodgers with the bases loaded, then gets AJ Ellis on a pop fly for the final out of the 6th inning. L.A. dominated on this night, defeating Bruce Bochy's playoff-bound Giants 17-0.
September 13th, 2011: Mariano Rivera reaches 600 career saves. But catcher Russell Martin is responsible for the final out -- throwing out Ichiro Suzuki trying to steal second to preserve the Yankees win over the Mariners.
September 13th, 2006: Mike Piazza hits his 396th and last home run as a catcher -- the most ever at his position -- as his Padres crush the Reds 10-0 in Cincinnati.
September 13th, 1996: Alex Rodriguez becomes the first Mariners player to have 200 hits in a season with a first inning single off Travis Miller of the Twins.
September 13th, 1995: Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell, appear in the same game for the 1,915th time to set an American League record for joint appearances by teammates. The Tigers longtime middle infield combo surpass the mark established in 1990 by George Brett and Frank White of the Royals.
September 13th, 1985: Todd Worrell earns his first save, striking out four of the six batters he faces, as the Cardinals beat the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
September 13th, 1965: Willie Mays blasts his 500th home run off Don Nottebart of the Astros, in the Giants 5-1 victory.
September 13th, 1964: The Cardinals are the first National League club since 1923 to score in every inning as they pound the Cubs 15-2 at Wrigley Field. Julian Javier and Lou Brock homer; Dick Groat adds four hits; Mike Shannon, with a homer, sacrifice fly and ground out, drives in four.
September 13th, 1963: Chris Short strikes out 14 in the Phillies 3-2 victory over the Dodgers at Connie Mack Stadium.
September 13th, 1953: Bob Trice becomes the first Black player to play for the Philadelphia A's. He pitches the first eight innings and is tagged with the loss as the Athletics fall 5-2 to the St. Louis Browns. Trice will post a 2-1 record that season and win seven more in 1954, the club's final year in Philadelphia.
September 13th, 1949: Ralph Kiner hits four consecutive home runs for the second time in his career. After belting a pair to close out the Pirates previous game a couple of days earlier, the future Hall of Famer homers his first two times up in an 11-6 Forbes Field victory over the Phillies.
September 13th, 1936: Bob Feller, age 17, strikes out 17 A's in the Indians 5-2 win at Shibe Park.
September 13th, 1932: The Yankees clinch the American League pennant with a 4-1 win over the Indians in Cleveland -- making Joe McCarthy, whose Cubs did the same in 1929, the first manager to finish first in each league.
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