This Weekend in Baseball History


Aug. 13th, 2018:  Ronald Acuña Jr. becomes the fourth player ever to lead off both games of a doubleheader with a home run. The Braves sweep the Marlins 9-1 and 6-1 at SunTrust Park as Acuña joins Harry Hooper (Red Sox, May 30, 1913), Rickey Henderson (A,s, July 6, 1993), and Brady Anderson (Orioles, Aug. 21, 1999) as the only players in that select circle.


Aug. 13th, 2009: Hideki Matsui homers twice, Deren Jeter adds a solo shot and CC Sabathia wins his 13th, holding the Mariners to a run and three hits over eight innings, while striking out 10. The Yankees win 11-1 in Seattle. 


Aug. 13th, 2007:  Placido Polanco of the Tigers sets a new record for 2nd basemen as he completes his 144th straight game without an error. But Detroit loses 7-2 to the A's at Comerica Park.


Aug. 13th, 2005: The Athletics retire Dennis Eckersley's number 43. He saved 320 games during his nine seasons with Oakland and won both the 1992 Cy Young and AL Most Valuable Player awards.


Aug. 13th, 1995: Baseball icon Mickey Mantle dies of liver cancer at age 63.

Aug. 13th, 1987: Billy Williams becomes just the second Cubs player ever to have his number (26) retired by the club.


Aug. 13th, 1979: Lou Brock reaches 3000 hits against the team that traded him away in one of the most infamous deals ever. He singles off Dennis Lamp's pitching hand in the Cardinals 3-2 victory over the Cubs at Busch Stadium.  The future Hall of Famer becomes the 14th member of the 3000 hit club.


Aug. 13th, 1976: Toronto announces that its expansion team, to debut the following season, will be known as the Blue Jays.


Aug. 13th, 1969: Orioles ace Jim Palmer throws a no-hitter against the Oakland A's. It's not quite perfection, as he walks six, while striking out eight, in Baltimore's 8-0 win at Memorial Stadium.


Aug. 13th, 1964: CBS buys majority ownership of the Yankees, paying owners Dan Topping and Del Webb $11.2 Million for 80% of the club. The deal didn't pan out for the broadcast giant – the Yanks would not win a title and would fall far behind the cross-town Mets in attendance during the network's 8-1/2 year stewardship -- before selling it in the winter of 1973 to a group led by George Steinbrenner.


Aug. 13th, 1961: Roger Maris gets the Yankees off to a fast start with a three-run homer in the top of the 1st inning at Griffith Stadium off Marty Kutyna. It's his 45th of the season. Jim Coates tosses a complete game in the Yanks 9-4 win over the Senators.


Aug. 13th, 1948: Satchel Paige's first major league complete game is a five hit shutout. The Indians blank the White Sox 5-0


Aug. 13th, 1926: Lou Gehrig homers twice off Walter Johnson in the Yankees' 7-5 victory over the Senators at Griffith Stadium. It's only the second time in the Big Train's 20-year career that he gave up two homers in the same game to the same batter. 


Aug. 13th, 1910: In one of the most statistically unique games ever played, the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates battle to a 8-8 tie. Each team sends 38 men up to bat; each side got 13 hits, 12 assists, two errors, five strikeouts, three walks, one hit batsman and one passed ball.

Aug. 14th, 2015: Matt Kemp is the first Padres player to hit for the cycle. He completes it with a 9th inning triple, after a 1st inning home run in the first, a single in the 3rd, and a double in the 7th contribute as San Diego beats the Rockies 9-5 at Coors Field.


Aug. 14th, 2008: Mark Kotsay is just the second Atlanta Brave to hit for the cycle. His five-for-five day still isn't enough to produce a victory, as Atlanta falls the Cubs 11-7.


Aug. 14th, 2006: Matt Diaz ties a National League record and sets a Braves mark by getting a hit in 10 consecutive at-bats. He goes 4-for-5 a 10-4 victory over the Nationals at RFK Stadium.


Aug. 14th, 1999: Ivan Rodriguez becomes the first catcher ever to reach 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season. After a leadoff single in the 3rd inning, he steals 2nd base and later comes around to score, in the Rangers-White Sox game at Comiskey Park.


Aug. 14th, 1993: The Yankees retire Reggie Jackson's number 44. Isn't it weirdly ironic that Reggie's plaques are placed next to those of Billy Martin, a man he detested, in Monument Park?


Aug. 14th, 1991: Dave Winfield hits his 400th career home run off David West in the Angels 7 -4 win over the Twins at the Metrodome.


Aug. 14th, 1987: Mark McGwire's 39th home run snaps the rookie record shared by Wally Berger (1930 Boston Brave) and Frank Robinson (1956 Reds). The A's 1st baseman will finish the season with an AL-leading 49.


Aug. 14th, 1986: Pete Rose singles off the Giants' Greg Minton is the 4256th and final hit of his career. It caps a three for four day for the Reds player- manager in a 2 - 0 win over the Giants in Cincinnati.


Aug. 14th, 1981: Mike Schmidt belts the 300th home run of his career off Mike Scott at Shea Stadium. The Phillies roll to an 8-4 victory over the Mets, which also features what's considered the longest home run in Shea's 45 year history -- as Dave Kingman drove a Larry Christenson pitch well past the left field fence, an estimated 515 feet.


Aug. 14th, 1971: Just ten days after notching the 200th win of his career, Bob Gibson throws a no-hitter for the Cardinals. Fellow Hall of Famer Willie Stargell takes a called strike three for the final out at Three Rivers Stadium... an 11-0 St. Louis victory. Gibson gets support on key defensive plays by 3rd Baseman Joe Torre and center fielder Jose Cruz.


Aug. 14th, 1964: Was this Teen Idol Day at Shea Stadium? In the nightcap of a twi-night doubleheader, 19 year old Ed Kranepool homers twice off 18 year old Phillies pitcher Rick Wise. But the rest of the Mets couldn't hold up their end of the deal, as the Phils and Wise (who works the first 7-2/3 innings) come away with a 6-4 victory.


Aug. 14th, 1962: Hank and Tommie Aaron each hit home runs in the Milwaukee Braves 5-4 win over the Reds at Crosley Field. It was the third time that season both brothers homered in the same game.


Aug. 14th, 1958: Vic Power is the first player in 70 years to steal home twice in the same game. His 10th-inning theft gives the Indians a 10-9 "slide off" win over the Tigers.


Aug. 14th, 1955: Carl Furillo homers twice and drives in Duke Snider on a 13th inning walk-off single,as the Dodgers beat the Phillies 5-4 in the nighcap of an Ebbets Field doubleheader. (In the opener, Robin Roberts outpitched Don Newcombe in a 3-2 Phils victory.)


Aug. 14th, 1954: On Old-Timers Day in the Bronx, the Yankees beat the Red Sox‚ 3-1. The win goes to Ralph Branca‚ his first and only decision in a Yankee uniform. The pre-game exhibition features 18 Hall of Famers‚ and is won by the American Leaguers on Joe DiMaggio's 3-run homer off Carl Hubbell.  


Aug. 14th, 1932: Dizzy Dean strikes out six straight batters -- one shy of the existing record --  during the Cardinals 2-1 10-inning win over the Cubs. 


Aug. 15th, 2015: Ichiro Suzuki slaps a ball into shallow right field for the 4,192nd hit of his professional career — 1,278 in Japan and 2,914 in Major League Baseball — to tie the all time mark set by Pete Rose. It happens in the Marlins-Cardinals game at Busch Stadium.


Aug. 15th, 2001: Shawn Green becomes the first Dodger to hit three home runs in a game at Dodger Stadium. The blasts help LA defeat Montreal 13-1. Up till then, four opposing players had three homer games at Dodger Stadium.


Aug. 15th, 1995: Bob Costas delivers the eulogy at Mickey Mantle's funeral in Dallas, highlighted by the passage: "For reasons that no statistics, no dry recitation of facts can possibly capture, he was the most compelling baseball hero of our lifetime. And he was our symbol of baseball at a time when the game meant something to us that perhaps it no longer does."


Aug. 15th, 1993: Nolan Ryan's 324th and final career victory comes in the Rangers 6-4 win over the Indians.


Aug. 15th, 1990: Terry Mulholland of the Phillies fires a no-hitter against the Giants. It's the first no-no thrown at Veterans Stadium.


Aug. 15th, 1965: The Indians get the most from a pair of pinch hit homers. Max Alvis ties their game with the Twins in the 9th inning and Leon Wagner belts a walk-off shot in the 11th for a 6-4 victory over Minnesota.


Aug. 15th, 1951: Willie Mays turns a long fly ball into a remarkable double play. With one out in the top of the 8th inning at the Polo Grounds, the rookie sensation pulls in Carl Furillo's rocket to center field. Mays then spins around and fires home to nail Billy Cox, who was attempting to score, in a game the Giants go on to win 3-1 over the arch rival Dodgers.


Aug. 15th, 1916: Babe Ruth outpitches Walter Johnson in the Red Sox 1-0, 13 inning victory over the Senators at Fenway. 

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