This Weekend in Baseball History
Tino Martinez walks with the bases loaded that caps a six-run rally putting the Yanks on top in the 4th. Paul O'Neill, Mariano Duncan and Jim Leyritz (who had two other hits and finished with six RBI) all homered.
Aug. 20th, 1985: Dwight Gooden strikes out 16 and shuts out the Giants 3-0 at Shea Stadium. The 20-year old sensation also makes history as the first National Leaguer to strike out 200 or more batters in each of his first two seasons. (Herb Score of the 1955-'56 Indians was the first big leaguer to begin his career with back to back 200k seasons.)
Aug. 20th, 1974: Davey Lopes has the greatest game of his career, with three home runs, a double and single as the Dodgers crush the Cubs 18-8.
On the bus following a 5-0 loss to the White Sox, who finished off four game series sweep, backup infielder Phil Linz whips out his harmonica and starts to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb." The music annoys Berra, who sitting up front on the bus. He orders his shortstop to be quiet. Instead, Linz -- supposedly egged on by Mickey Mantle -- keeps playing, as Berra soon walks back to his player and slaps the harmonica out of his mouth.
In truth, the Yankees then lost the first two games of their series in Boston, before catching fire to win the pennant -- their fifth in a row, but last one for a dozen years.
Aug. 20th, 1961: The Phillies snap their record 23-game losing streak, beating the Braves 7-4 in the nightcap of a County Stadium doubleheader -- as wells as Milwaukee's 10-game win streak! Ironically, winning pitcher John Buzhardt -- wearing uniform #23 -- also earned the last Philadelphia victory before the streak began (as the winning pitcher in a 4-3 victory over the Giants on July 28th).
Aug. 20th, 1955: Starting pitcher Karl Spooner triples (and later scores) in the top of the 2nd inning, but runs out of the steam in the 4th. Reliever Don Bessent works 5-2/3 innings and gets credit for the win as the 1st place Dodgers beat the Giants 8-5 at the Polo Grounds.
Aug. 20th, 1945: 17 year-old shortstop Tommy Brown of the Dodgers becomes the youngest major leaguer ever to hit a home run. He connects off Pirates lefthander Preacher Roe at Ebbets Field. It's Brooklyn's only run in an 11 – 1 loss to Pittsburgh. To be precise, Brown was 17 years 8 months and 14 days old.
With Pee Wee Reese among the many players serving in the military, Brown was in his second major league season (he debuted as a 16 yr old in 1944). At age 93, he is the second oldest living Dodger -- wartime teammate Eddie Basinski is still with us and will turn 99 in November.
August 21st, 2013: Ichiro Suzuki singles off Toronto's R.A. Dickey in the bottom of the 1st inning, becoming just the third player to reach 4000 career hits. Combining his totals between the Japanese and American major leagues, he achieves the milestone previously reached by Ty Cobb and Pete Rose. Ichiro shares the game spotlight with Alfonso Soriano, whose two-run home run off Dickey in the bottom of the 8th inning pushes the Yankees to a 4 - 2 victory.
August 21st, 2007: Garret Anderson drives in 10 runs -- with a grand slam, a three-run homer and a pair of run-scoring doubles -- to set an Angels club record in their 18-9 pounding of the Yankees.
August 21st, 2006: The Yankees wrap up a five-game series sweep at Fenway Park, holding off the Red Sox 2-1. Nick Green scores what turns out to be the deciding run, coming home on an 8th inning wild pitch by Boston's Keith Foulke. It's the Yanks' first five game sweep at Fenway since 1943.
August 21st, 2005: Mike Jacobs becomes the ninth Met to homer in his first at-bat with the club, and the fourth to do so kicking off his Major League career. Appearing as a pinch hitter, his three-run , fifth inning shot off Washington's Esteban Loaiza comes in the Mets 7-4 loss to the Nationals.
August 21st, 2001: Mike Piazza belts the 300th home run of his career as a catcher in the Mets 5-2 win over the Colorado Rockies at Shea Stadium.
August 21st, 1999: Brady Anderson becomes the third player in major league history to lead off both games of a doubleheader with a home run. It doesn't help as his Orioles drop both games to the White Sox.
August 21st, 1990: The Phillies erase an eight-run deficit, scoring nine in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk's pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game. Two batters later, Carmelo Martinez's RBI double brings Rod Booker for the go-ahead score.
August 21st, 1980: The Phillies outlast the Padres 9-8 in 17 innings as Bake McBride triples in Mike Schmidt for the winning run.
August 21, 1980: Charles Finley announces the sale of the Athletics to Levi Strauss chairman Walter A. Haas, Jr., his son Walter J., and son-in-law Roy Eisenhardt. The price to keep the club in Oakland: $12.7 million.
August 21st, 1977: Tom Seaver makes his return to Shea Stadium, two months after the Mets traded him to the Reds. He holds his old team to six hits, and adds a pair of hits in leading Cincinnati to a 5-1 victory.
August 21st, 1977: Over 40,000 fans are at Veterans Stadium, to watch the Phillies first Sunday night game. Behind Steve Carlton, the Phils beat the Astrros 7-3.
August 21st, 1930: Babe Ruth's 600th career homer comes off George Blaeholder of the Browns in an 11-7 Yankee victory at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Teammate Lou Gehrig followed Ruth's blast with one of his own -- one of 19 times the duo combined for back-to-back home runs! (Teammates for 10 years, Babe and Lou homered in the same game 72 times.)
August 22nd. 2008: Derek Jeter joins Lou Gehrig (with 2,721) and Babe Ruth (2,518), as the only players with 2500 hits with the Yankees. He gets there with a bloop first-inning single off Radhames Liz in New York's 9-4 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards.
August 22nd, 2007: The Rangers are the first big league team of the 20th or 21st century to score 30 runs in a game, when they put up a football score on the Orioles, 30-3, in the opener of a doubleheader (while setting a club single-game record 29 hits). Texas then takes the nightcap, 9-7, to set another AL mark with 39 runs on one day established by the 1937 Tigers.
August 22nd, 2007: Jose Reyes sets a new Mets club record with his 67th stolen base of the season. Still, it wasn't enough to overcome the Padres, who win it 7-5.
August 22nd, 1992: A dual no-hitter in minor league ball. The Clearwater Phillies Andy Carter and Winter Haven Red Sox Scott Bakkum hold the opposing teams without hits. The game turned in the 7th inning when Clearwater put together two walks and two sac bunts for the game's only run. Yet neither pitcher made their mark in the majors, Carter was winless in 24 appearances for the 1994 and '96 Phils, while Bakkum never advanced past Triple-A.
August 22nd, 1989: At Arlington Stadium, 42 year old Nolan Ryan gets the A's Rickey Henderson swinging on a 3-2 fastball to become the first pitcher ever to reach 5000 strikeouts. It was one of 13 k's for the Rangers' ace -- who was outpitched by Oakland's Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley, who teamed up for a 2-0 shutout of the Rangers.
August 22nd, 1984: Dwight Gooden strikes out Garry Templeton in the 8th inning of the Mets' 5-2 victory at San Diego to become the 11th rookie pitcher to reach 200k's -- joining Bob Feller (1938 Indians) and Gary Nolan (1967 Reds) in that select circle.
August 22nd, 1982: Ernie Banks becomes the first Cubs player have his number (14) retired.
August 22nd, 1971: The A's beat the Red Sox 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum on bookend home runs: Bert Campaneris leads off the game with a solo shot and, with two out in the 9th inning, Reggie Jackson ends the game with another.
August 22nd, 1961: All that stands between Art Mahaffey and a no-hitter is Ron Santo's 1st inning single, as the Phillies blank the Cubs 6-0 at Connie Mack Stadium.
August 22nd, 1961: Roger Maris homers off Angels righthander Ken McBride for his 50th home run -- the earliest date any player reached that total. But, before a season-high home crowd of 19,930 at Wrigley Field in L.A., the Halos get home runs from Leon Wagner, Lee Thomas and Earl Averill Junior for a 4-3 victory.
August 22nd, 1949: The Yankees pick up Johnny Mize from the Giants, who becomes a valuable left platoon hitter for Casey Stengel, playing on five consecutive World Series champs.
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