June 11
1904 — Bob Wicker of the Chicago Cubs pitched 9 1-3 hitless innings before Sam Mertes of the New York Giants singled. Wicker won a 1-0, 12-inning one-hitter.
1938 — Johnny Vander Meer hurled the first of two consecutive no-hitters, and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Braves 3-0.
1967 — The Chicago Cubs hit seven homers and the New York Mets four in the second game of a doubleheader, tying the major league record set by the New York Yankees (6) and Detroit Tigers (5) in 1950. Adolfo Phillips hit four home runs in the doubleheader for Chicago.
1981 — Following Seattle’s 8-2 win over Baltimore, major league players went on strike.
1985 — Von Hayes became the first player in major league history to hit two home runs in the first inning. Hayes connected twice in a nine-run first, powering the Philadelphia Phillies to a 26-7 victory over the New York Mets.
1988 — Rick Rhoden of the New York Yankees became the first pitcher since the inception of the designated hitter (1973) to start a game as the DH. He was seventh in the lineup and grounded to third out in the third inning and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Jose Cruz pinch-hit for him in the fifth of the 8-6 win over Baltimore.
1990 — Nolan Ryan pitched the sixth no-hitter of his career to extend his major league record, and the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 5-0. Ryan, 43, was the first to pitch no-hitters for three teams and the oldest to throw one.
1995 — Lee Smith set a major league record with a save in his 16th consecutive appearance, pitching a scoreless ninth inning to preserve the California Angels’ 5-4 victory over Baltimore. Smith broke the mark of 15 straight set by Doug Jones in 1988.
2002 — Jared Sandberg became the 16th AL player to homer twice in an inning, and the third this season, when Tampa Bay beat Los Angeles 11-2.
2003 — Houston’s Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner combined for the first no-hitter against the New York Yankees in 45 years, winning 8-0. The sextet set a record for the highest number of pitchers to throw a no-hitter in major league history — four accomplished the feat twice.
2017 — Rookie sensation Aaron Judge hit two more home runs, including a drive that cleared the distant bleachers at Yankee Stadium and sent New York romping past Baltimore 14-3. The 6-foot-7 Judge led the majors with 21 homers and topped the AL with 47 RBIs and a .344 average.
June 12
1922 — Hub Pruett struck out Babe Ruth three consecutive times, and the St. Louis Browns beat the New York Yankees 7-1.
1928 — Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees had two triples and two homers in a 15-7 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
1939 — The Baseball Hall of Fame was dedicated at Cooperstown, N.Y.
1954 — Milwaukee’s Jim Wilson pitched the year’s only no-hitter, blanking the Philadelphia Phillies 2-0.
1957 — Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals broke the National League record for endurance when he played in his 823rd consecutive game. The previous mark was established in 1937 by Pirates first baseman Gus Suhr.
1959 — The San Francisco Giant’s Mike McCormick tossed a 3-0, five-inning no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies. Richie Ashburn singled in the top of the sixth for the Phillies, but the hit didn’t count because the game was stopped by rain.
1962 — In Milwaukee’s 15-2 rout of Los Angeles at County Stadium, the Aaron brothers both homer in the same game with Tommie connecting in the bottom of the eighth after his older brother Hank had hit one out in the second.
1970 — Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates hurled a 2-0 no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader against the San Diego Padres. Ellis walked eight and hit a batter, and Willie Stargell hit two homers.
1981 — Thirteen games were canceled due to the players’ strike.
1997 — After 126 years, baseball broke its tradition and played interleague games. The San Francisco beat the Texas Rangers 4-3.
1999 — Cal Ripken went 6-for-6, homering twice and driving in six runs as the Baltimore Orioles scored the most runs in franchise history with a 22-1 rout of the Atlanta Braves.
2006 — Jason Grimsley was suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball, less than a week after federal agents raided his home during an investigation into performance-enhancing drugs.
2007 — Justin Verlander pitched a no-hitter to lead the Detroit Tigers over the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0. Verlander struck out a career-high 12, walked four and benefited from several stellar defensive plays.
2009 — Chicago right fielder Milton Bradley had a bad day at Wrigley Field. Bradley lost Jason Kubel’s pop-up in the sun for a single, couldn’t catch Michael Cuddyer’s RBI bloop double, made a baserunning blunder and, most egregiously, flipped the ball into the stands after catching Mauer’s one-out sac fly.
2009 — New York Mets second baseman Luis Castillo dropped Alex Rodriguez’s lazy popup with two outs in the ninth inning as two runs scored, helping the Yankees escape with a wild 9-8 victory over the Mets.
2010 — Daniel Nava hit the first pitch he saw as a big leaguer for a grand slam — only the second player to do it — leading the Boston Red Sox to a 10-2 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies. Nava connected on a fastball from Joe Blanton in the second inning. Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a slam on the first pitch he saw Sept. 2, 2006, for Cleveland against Texas.
2016 — Sam Cohen put UC Santa Barbara into its first College World Series with a pinch-hit grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 4-3 victory over second-seeded Louisville 4-3 in the Super Regionals.
June 13
1905 — Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants pitched his second no-hit game, beating the Chicago Cubs and Mordecai Brown 1-0. Mathewson and Brown matched no-hitters for eight innings. The Giants got two hits in the ninth for the win.
1912 — Christy Mathewson recorded his 300th career victory with a 3-2 triumph over the Chicago Cubs.
1921 — Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees pitched the first five innings and hit two home runs in an 11-8 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
1937 — New York’s Joe DiMaggio hit three consecutive home runs to give the Yankees an 8-8, 11-inning tie against the St. Louis Browns in the second game of a doubleheader.
1947 — In the first night game played at Fenway Park, the Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3.
1948 — Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium drew 49,641 fans who saw Ruth’s No. 3 retired and the Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 5-3.
1957 — Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hit three home runs and drove in five runs in a 9-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians as Williams became the first AL player to have two three-homer games in a season.
1973 — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ infield of Steve Garvey (first base), Davey Lopes (second base), Ron Cey (third base) and Bill Russell (shortstop) played together for the first time in a 16-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. The quartet would set a major league record for longevity by playing 8 1/2 years in the same infield.
1998 — For the fourth time in major league history, teammates hit back-to-back homers in consecutive innings. Atlanta’s Javy Lopez and Andruw Jones each homered in the second and third inning of the Braves’ 9-7 win over Montreal at Turner Field.
2003 — Roger Clemens reached 300 wins and became the third pitcher with 4,000 strikeouts, leading the New York Yankees over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2. Clemens, the 21st pitcher to make it to 300, allowed two runs in 6 2-3 innings and struck out 10, raising his total to 4,006. Clemens joined Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Steve Carlton (4,136) in the 4,000-strikeout club.
2008 — Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell hit consecutive home runs in the first inning of Philadelphia’s 20-2 rout of St. Louis.
2012 — Matt Cain pitched the 22nd perfect game in major league history and first for San Francisco, striking out a career-high 14 batters and getting help from two running catches to beat the Houston Astros 10-0. Cain’s 125-pitch masterpiece featured a pair of great plays by his corner outfielders. Left fielder Melky Cabrera chased down Chris Snyder’s one-out flyball in the sixth, scurrying back to make a leaping catch on the warning track. Right fielder Gregor Blanco ran into right-center to make a diving catch on the warning track and rob Jordan Schafer for the first out of the seventh.
June 14
1952 — Warren Spahn of the Boston Braves struck out 18 Cubs in a 3-1, 15-inning loss to Chicago. Spahn also homered.
1953 — The New York Yankees swept Cleveland, 6-2 and 3-0, to extend the team’s winning streak to eighteen consecutive games.
1963 — Duke Snider hit his 400th career home run to highlight a 10-3 triumph by the New York Mets over the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field.
1965 — Jim Maloney struck out 18 and no-hit the New York Mets for 10 innings, but Johnny Lewis’ leadoff home run in the 11th inning gave the Mets a 1-0 win.
1969 — Reggie Jackson knocked in 10 runs with two homers, a double and two singles in Oakland’s 21-7 win over the Red Sox in Boston. In the eighth, he drove in three runs with a single when he easily could have made second base.
1974 — Nolan Ryan struck out 19 batters in 12 innings to give the California Angels a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox in 15 innings. Cecil Cooper of the Red Sox struck out six times.
1978 — Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds had two hits in a 3-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs to start his 44-game hitting streak.
1995 — Mike Benjamin went 6-for-7, setting a major league record with 14 hits in three games, and drove in the winning run in the 13th inning as the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3.
2002 — Aaron Boone hit a pair of homers — one to tie the game in the ninth inning and one to win it in the 11th — off Pittsburgh closer Mike Williams as Cincinnati beat the Pirates 4-3.
2002 — With all 14 interleague games — and one NL game — taking place in National League parks, the DH was not employed anywhere throughout Major League Baseball.
2005 — Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki became the third player since 1900 to reach 1,000 hits in fewer than 700 games when he singled in the bottom of the first inning in Seattle’s 3-1 win over Philadelphia. Suzuki’s 1,000th hit came in his 696th game. Chuck Klein reached the mark in 1933 in 683 games, and Lloyd Waner reached it in 1932 in 686 games.
2013 — Major League Baseball came down hard on the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks, handing out eight suspensions and a dozen fines as punishment for a bench-clearing brawl on June 11. Arizona pitcher Ian Kennedy got 10 games and infielder Eric Hinske five for their roles in the fight.
MORE
