Last Updated on August 15, 2013 11:39 am by admin
Compiled by PAUL MONTELLA
By The Associated Press
Aug. 16
1920 – Shortstop Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit in the head with a pitch in the fifth inning by New York’s Carl Mays. Chapman suffered a fractured skull and died the next day. It is the only field fatality in major league history.
1927 – Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees became the first player to clear the roof at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ruth’s home run came off White Sox pitcher Tommy Thomas in the 8-1 win.
1947 – Ralph Kiner hit three successive home runs to become the first Pirates player to accomplish the feat as Pittsburgh beat the St. Louis Cardinals 12-7 at Forbes Field.
1950 – Hank Thompson hit two inside-the-park home runs in the Giants’ 16-7 rout of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds.
1964 – Curt Flood of the St. Louis Cardinals had eight straight hits in a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers won the first game 3-0 and the Cardinals took the second, 4-0.
1967 – Jim Maloney of Cincinnati retired 19 consecutive Pirates, but had to leave the game after he injured his ankle by stepping in a hole at Forbes Field. Billy McCool allowed two hits over the final 2 2-3 innings to give the Reds a 4-0 victory over Pittsburgh.
1996 – With 23,699 fans at the 25,644-seat Estadio Monterrey, the San Diego Padres defeated the New York Mets 15-10 in the first major league regular-season game played outside the United States or Canada.
2005 – Bobby Bragan became the oldest manager of a pro baseball game when the 87-year-old managed the Fort Worth Cats of the Central League for one game against Coastal Bend. Hall of Famer Connie Mack previously held the record, but Bragan eclipsed Mack by eight days. Bragan was tossed out of the game in the third inning after he went on the field following the ejection of a player.
2006 – Bruce Froemming umpired his 5,000th major league game – second-most in big league history. Bill Klem worked 5,374 games from 1905-40.
2011 – Albert Pujols of St. Louis reached 30 home runs for the 11th consecutive season in a 5-4, 11-inning loss to Pittsburgh. Pujols connected in the sixth inning off the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Jeff Karstens. The NL home runs leader became the first player in major league history to hit 30 homers in each of his first 11 seasons.
Today’s birthdays: Yu Darvish 27; Martin Maldonado 27; Matt Harrison 28; Ryan Hanigan 33.
Aug. 17
1904 – Jesse Tannehill of the Boston Red Sox pitched a no-hitter, beating the Chicago White Sox 6-0.
1920 – Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman died from a beaning by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees on Aug. 16. This was the only on-field fatality in major league history.
1933 – Lou Gehrig played in his 1,308th straight game to break Everett Scott’s record of 1,307.
1944 – Johnny Lindell of the New York Yankees hit four consecutive doubles in a 10-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Lindell drove in two runs and scored twice.
1972 – Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies won his 15th consecutive game with a 9-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
1990 – Carlton Fisk broke Johnny Bench’s major league record for catchers with his 328th homer as the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 for a split of a doubleheader.
1992 – Kevin Gross pitched a no-hitter as Los Angeles beat San Francisco 2-0 at Dodgers Stadium.
1999 – Jesse Orosco set a major league record by pitching in his 1,072nd game, breaking a tie with Dennis Eckersley atop the career list. The 42-year-old Orosco took the mound with two outs in the seventh inning of Baltimore’s victory over Minnesota.
2001 – Jeff Frye became the second Toronto player to hit for the cycle as the Blue Jays beat Texas 11-3. Frye tripled in the second inning, doubled in the fifth, homered in the sixth and hit a shot to the right-center field gap in the seventh. With the game in hand, he held up at first.
2002 – Alex Rodriguez became the sixth player in major league history to have five straight 40-homer seasons.
2004 – Tampa Bay’s B.J. Upton, 19, became the first teenager in more than six years to homer in a major league game, helping Tampa Bay snap a six-game losing streak with an 8-3 victory over Anaheim.
2008 – Melvin Mora had two homers and two doubles among his five hits and drove in a career-high six runs to pace Baltimore’s 22-hit attack in a 16-8 win over Detroit.
2008 – Alex Rios went 5-for-6 and matched a club record with four doubles and Toronto knocked Boston ace Josh Beckett out after 2 1-3 innings in a 15-4 victory over the Red Sox.
Today’s birthdays: Dustin Pedroia 30; Brett Myers 33; Chad Qualls 35.