TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY courtesy of National Pastime
1960 – Ted Williams becomes the fourth major leaguer to hit 500 career home runs when he goes deep off Tribe’s moundsman Wayne Hawkins. ‘Teddy Ballgame’s’ two-run blast proves to be difference when the Red Sox beat the Indians at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, 3-1.
2004 – At New Hampshire’s Holman Stadium, the Nashua Pride of the independent Atlantic League celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the Watergate break-in by giving away Richard Nixon bobbleheads to the first 1,000 fans in attendance. The minor league promotion, which included free entrance to anyone named Woodward or Bernstein and 18 1/2 minutes of silence to match the time of the gap in the infamous Watergate tape, had no reports of stolen signs during the game.
2007 – At the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Blue Jay Frank Thomas strokes his record-setting 244th round-tripper as a designated hitter in a 4-2 loss to Washington. The third-inning solo shot off Micah Bowie moves the 39-year-old veteran past Edgar Martinez for the most home runs hit by a DH in major league history.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO7Y_r19v1Y]And finally…in 2009, at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Astros catcher Ivan Rodríguez passes Carlton Fisk for the most games caught in a career when he makes his 2,227th appearance behind the plate. The veteran backstop, also known as Pudge, establishes the mark against the Rangers, the team he broke in with as a 19 year-old in 1991.
STAT OF THE DAY provided by @HighHeatStats
80 years ago today, Red Ruffing tied a record for American League pitchers with ten total bases in a game. That’s been done just twice since, last by Jack Harshman in 1958. It’s tough to imagine any American League pitcher tying that record again, at least until the Yankees sign Madison Bumgarner. Ha.
PLAYERS BORN TODAY
Pete Browning (1861), Dave Concepcion (1948), Joe Charboneau (1955) and Shawn Abner (1966)
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