This Date in Baseball-Week Ahead

July 18

1882 — Ambidextrous pitcher Tony Mullane of Louisville pitched with both hands in a major league game at Baltimore. Normally a right-hander, Mullane switched to the left hand in the fourth inning. He eventually lost 9-8.

1912 — The Chicago Cubs had 21 hits in 11 innings but still lost to the Philadelphia Phillies when Gavvy Cravath stole home.

1921 — Babe Ruth achieves 139 home runs and becomes the all-time home run leader in Major League Baseball, taking the title from Roger Connor.

1927 — Ty Cobb of the Philadelphia Athletics doubled off the glove of Harry Heilmann for his 4,000th hit.

1948 — Pat Seerey of the Chicago White Sox hit four home runs in a 12-11, 11-inning victory over the Philadelphia A’s in the opener of a doubleheader. Seerey hit two mammoth shots off Carl Scheib, one off Bob Savage and the game-winner off Lou Brissie in the top of the 11th.

1962 — Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins each hit grand slams in the first inning of a 14-3 rout of the Cleveland Indians.

1970 — Willie Mays bounced career hit number 3,000 through the left side of the infield off Mike Wegener in the second inning of the San Francisco Giants’ 10-1 romp over the Montreal Expos. Mays becomes the 10th player to get 3,000 hits.

1987 — New York’s Don Mattingly tied Dale Long’s 31-year-old major league record when he hit a home run for the eighth consecutive game in the Yankees’ 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers.

1999 — With Don Larsen on hand to help celebrate Yogi Berra Day at Yankee Stadium, David Cone pitched a perfect game. Cone dazzled the Montreal Expos, throwing the 14th perfect game in modern history to lead the New York Yankees to a 6-0 victory.

2001 — Roger Cedeno was 4-for-5 with a double, triple, two homers and six RBIs in Detroit’s 12-4 win over the New York Yankees in the second game of a day-night doubleheader.

2006 — Atlanta became the first team since the 1930 New York Yankees to score 10 or more runs in five straight games following a 14-5 victory over St. Louis. The Braves have scored 65 runs during their offensive explosion that included two 15-run games.

2016 — A federal judge sentenced the former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals to nearly four years in prison for hacking the Houston Astros’ player personnel database and email system in an unusual case of high-tech cheating involving two Major League Baseball clubs. Christopher Correa had pleaded guilty in January to five counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer from 2013 to at least 2014, the same year he was promoted to director of baseball development in St. Louis.

2018 — As has been rumored for some time, the Dodgers trade for All-Star SS Manny Machado, who will become a free agent at the end of the season. The price is steep for what amounts to a short-term rental: five prospects, including AA OF Yusniel Diaz, one of the stars of the most recent Futures Game. The Dodgers have a gaping hole to fill, however, having recently lost SS Corey Seager for the remainder of the season.

2022 — Youth is served in the annual Home Run Derby, held at Dodger Stadium on the eve of the All-Star Game as 23-year-old Juan Soto defeats 21-year-old rookie Julio Rodríguez in the final round, but not before 42-year-old Albert Pujols manages to upset NL home run leader Kyle Schwarber in the initial round. Two-time defending champion Pete Alonso goes down before Rodríguez in the semi-finals. Soto misses the title of youngest-ever winner ever by one day, behind 1993 winner Juan Gonzalez.

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July 19

1909 — Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball pulled off the first unassisted triple play in modern major league history.

1910 — Cy Young registered his 500th career victory as the Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators 5-4 in 11 innings.

1933 — Rick Ferrell of the Boston Red Sox hit a home run off brother Wes, pitching for the Cleveland Indians. Wes also homered in that game, marking the only time the two connected in the same contest.

1940 — Buddy Rosar of the New York Yankees hit for the cycle in a 15-6 rout of the Cleveland Indians.

1960 — Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants made his major league debut by pitching a one-hit, 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. He retired the first 19 batters before walking Pancho Herrera in the seventh inning. Clay Dalrymple singled to center with two outs in the eighth inning. Marichal struck out 12 and walked one.

1974 — Dick Bosman of the Cleveland Indians pitched a no-hit, 4-0 victory over the world champion Oakland A’s.

1977 — Joe Morgan opened the All-Star game with a home run off Jim Palmer and the National League jumped out to an early lead by scoring four runs in the first inning. The Nationals added three more runs and held on for a 7-5 win. It was the NL’s sixth straight win. NL starter Don Sutton gave up one hit over three innings and was named MVP.

1982 — In the first Old-timer’s All-Star Classic, played at Washington’s RFK Stadium before 29,000 fans, the AL won 7-2. Luke Appling, 75, led off for the AL and hit a home run over the shortened left-field fence off Warren Spahn.

1994 — The Kingdome, home of the Seattle Mariners, was closed after four ceiling tiles fell nearly 180 feet into the stands behind home plate. The Mariners were forced into a 22-day road trip before the season was cut short by the players’ strike.

2001 — Randy Johnson struck out 16, a major league record for a reliever, and came within four outs of combining with Curt Schilling on a no-hitter as Arizona beat San Diego 3-0 in the completion of their suspended game. Wiki Gonzalez hit an opposite-field single to right with two outs in the eighth for the Padres.

2013 — Rookie Brad Miller hit his first two major league homers and drove in five runs, and Seattle overcame rookie Brandon Barnes’ cycle in a 10-7 win over Houston. After doubling in the eight to complete his cycle, Barnes singled in the ninth to finish 5 for 5 and become the first Astro to collect five hits since Hunter Pence did it in May 2008.

2015 — After 20 years and 1,609 consecutive home games, the Los Angeles Angels finally lost another game to rain. Heavy downpours turned Angel Stadium’s outfield into virtual marshlands, forcing the postponement of their game against the Boston Red Sox. The Angels were rained out at home for just the 16th time in their 55-year franchise history.

2022 — The American League wins its 9th straight All-Star Game, 3 - 2 over the National League. The NL scores twice against Shane McClanahan in the bottom of the 1st, but is then limited to a single hit over the final 8 innings. In the 4th inning, the AL gets all its runs against Tony Gonsolin on a two-run homer by Giancarlo Stanton and a solo shot by Byron Buxton. Stanton is named the game’s MVP.

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July 20

1906 — Malcolm Eason of Brooklyn pitched a 2-0 no-hitter against the Cardinals in St. Louis.

1925 — Brooklyn’s Dazzy Vance struck out 17 batters as the Dodgers tripped the Chicago Cubs 4-3 in 10 innings.

1933 — Babe Herman hit three home runs, including a grand slam, to pace the Chicago Cubs in a 10-1 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field.

1941 — New York’s Joe DiMaggio had three doubles and a homer in a 12-6, 17-inning Yankee victory over the Tigers in Detroit.

1958 — Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers threw a no-hitter, beating the Boston Red Sox 3-0 in the first game of a doubleheader.

1970 — Bill Singer of the Dodgers pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies for a 5-0 victory in front of 12,454 at Los Angeles.

1973 — Wilbur Wood of the Chicago White Sox lost both ends of a doubleheader to the New York Yankees, 12-2 and 7-0.

1976 — Hank Aaron hit the 755th and final home run of his career to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 win over California.

2008 — Francisco Rodriguez became the fastest pitcher to 40 saves in big league history when he closed out the Los Angeles Angels’ 5-3 victory over Boston. Rodriguez, who struck out the side in the ninth inning, reached 40 saves in 98 games — 10 faster than John Smoltz did five years ago.

2009 — Matt Holliday homered twice, including a tying grand slam in the seventh inning, and Jack Cust followed with another shot, helping the Athletics rally from a 10-run deficit — the largest comeback in Oakland history — and beat the Minnesota Twins 14-13.

2013 — The Seattle Mariners manage only one hit but manage to beat the Astros 4-2.

2015 — Women’s baseball is played in The Pan American Games for the first time.

2017 — Matt Carpenter hits three home runs and two doubles as the Cardinals defeat the Cubs 17-5.

2021 — The Oakland, CA City Council votes to approve a non-binding term sheet for the Oakland Athletics′ ballpark project at Howard Terminal. A negative vote would have almost certainly meant the departure in short order of the team from what has been its home city for over half a century, but even with the positive vote, relocation could still happen. team President Dave Kaval having stated earlier that the A’s were not satisfied with the terms proposed for the vote. At issue is the A’s wish to see the city invest up to $855 million in public funds for land development around the project, something that may prove impossible in the current pandemic environment.

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