Today in Baseball History: August 15 th

• 1902 - The Athletics move into first place to stay as 18,675 see them beatChicago, 2 - 1.
• 1903 - Toledo native George Mullin, pitching for the Tigers, helps the attendance today (6,000) as the Tigers take on New York in a Sunday game in Toledo. Mullin is racked for eight runs, but Detroit scores 12, led by the hitting of Sam Crawford, who is 5 for 6.
• 1904 - The Pirates disappoint 23,000 at the Polo Grounds by sweeping two from the Giants, 7 - 2 and 4 - 1. The Bucs jump on Christy Mathewsonfor five runs in two innings of the opener. It's the first doubleheader loss for New York this year.
• 1907 - The Washington Post reports that Browns SS Bobby Wallace is the highest-paid player in either league at a salary of $6,500.
• 1908 - The Cardinals deal a blow to the Giants' pennant hopes by defeating them twice in St. Louis. With Christy Mathewson refusing to pitch on Sundays, Red Ames and Joe McGinnity take the losses.
• 1909:
  • New York and Pittsburgh play to a 2 - 2 tie, stopped after eight innings because of a drenching downpour. Off Christy Mathewson, Ham Hyatthits his third pinch triple of the year, a record that won't be matched till1970. Outfielder Red Murray prevents a loss for Matty with one of the greatest catches ever seen at Forbes Field. With two outs and two on,Dots Miller belts a long line drive off Matty into the growing darkness. With everyone straining to follow the ball, a bolt of lightning flashes and Murray is seen making a bare-handed grab on the dead run to end the inning. Bill Klem then calls the game.
  • The A's jump on Walter Johnson, scoring six runs in five innings, before relief comes in. Before exiting, Johnson hits his first major league homer, off Harry Krause, who will lead the AL in ERA with a sparkling 1.39.
• 1910 - The Tigers top the Senators, 8 - 3, with Ty Cobb stealing home for the second time in his career. It comes in the 4th inning with Bob Groomon the mound.
• 1911:
  • At Brooklyn, Honus Wagner suffers a serious ankle injury rounding first in the 1st inning. He will miss 13 games, play one at first base, then miss another 12. With Wagner out, the Pirates will lose eight of 13 and drop out of the race.
  • In the 4th inning, Wildfire Schulte busts his record 4th grand slam of the season to help the Cubs maul the Boston Rustlers, 13 - 6. Pitching, it's Brown over Brown as Mordecai tops Buster.
  • Philadelphia OF Sherry Magee is reinstated, following his suspension for attacking umpire Bill Finneran several weeks earlier.
  • At the Polo Grounds, it takes Christy Mathewson just 92 pitches to top the Reds, 6 - 1. Big Six allows just two Cincy hits in beating George Suggs. It is Matty's 22nd straight win over the Ohioans.
• 1912:
  • Behind Earl Hamilton's seven-hitter, the lowly Browns beat the front-running Red Sox, 3 - 2. Hamilton gives up six hits to beat O'Brien.
  • In Chicago, the Giants score twice in the opening frame off Jimmy Lavender to knock out the would-be Giant-killer and go on to win, 7 - 4. Fred Merkle and Larry Doyle pull off a double steal in the inning, with Doyle on the front end. Jeff Tesreau puzzles the locals and the Cubs drop six games behind the Giants.
  • Walter Johnson and Joe Wood are in pursuit of Rube Marquard's 19-game win streak. Johnson picks on the White Soxfor his 14th straight, a two-hitter, tying Jack Chesbro's 1904 mark. The Washingtonians win, 2 - 0, beating "our meatball expert" (Chicago Record-Herald) Joe Benz with eight hits. A week later Joe Wood will win number 13 in a row.
• 1913 - For the second time in two weeks, a Brooklyn player hits two inside-the-park homers. This time it is Bob Fisher in a nitecap 14 - 5 win at St. Louis. Brooklyn also beats the Cards in the opener, 1 - 0.
• 1915:
  • In the second game of a doubleheader, Tiger rookie Bernie Boland no-hits Cleveland through 26 batters before Ben Paschal singles, his first and only hit of the year. Boland wins, 3 - 1.
  • In the Federal League, Alex Main of Kansas City pitches a 5 - 0 no-hitter versus Buffalo.
  • At Boston, Smoky Joe Wood fires a 1 - 0 shutout over Washington. The Nationals have lost all 11 games at Fenway Park this year.
• 1919 - The Browns set an American League record with 53 total chances against the A's, but lose, 7 - 4. The Browns have 26 assists and St. Louis 1B George Sisler has 17 putouts. With no putouts, the St. Louis outfielders have the day off.
• 1920 - Cleveland SS Ray Chapman, 29, is beaned by a Carl Mays pitch. A righthanded batter who crowds the plate, Chapman freezes and fails to get out of the way of the submarine delivery. He is carried from the field and dies the next day from a fractured skull. Mays, a surly, unpopular pitcher, is the target of fans' and players' outrage. Chapman, a Cleveland favorite since breaking in in 1912, had been married the previous year. In October his wife will receive a fullWorld Series share, $3,986.34. The incident has no effect on Mays's pitching. One week later he will blank Detroit, 10 - 0, and go on to win 26 and lose 11. Joe Sewell will be called up to take Chapman's place, and for 14 years he will be the hardest man to strike out in the Major Leagues.
• 1921 - The Braves' Walton Cruise connects off the Cubs' Pete Alexander for the second home run hit out of mammothBraves Field. The first home run, also to right field, was hit by Cruise in 1917. There will be 38 home runs in Braves Field this year: 34 inside the park, three bounce home runs, and Cruise's missile. Braves pitcher Dana Fillingim is the beneficiary of the offense as he beats Alexander, 8 - 6.
• 1922:
  • In Pittsburgh, trailing, 7 - 6, the Pirates load the bases with two outs before Walter Schmidt drives a ball to deep left center. Giants LF Casey Stengel makes a dramatic catch on the dead run to preserve the New York win.
  • The Browns beat Walter Johnson and the Senators again, 11 - 2. Brownie star George Sisler is 1 for 5 with a run scored.
• 1927 - Teeing off on a Tommy Thomas pitch, Babe Ruth becomes the first player to homer over the roof of Chicago'sComiskey Park.
• 1930:
  • Lefty Grove (20-4) wins his 6th in a row, beating the Browns in Philadelphia, 4 - 2. Grove drives in the first two runs in the 2nd off Dick Coffman, who gives up nine hits in the loss. The Browns net 10 hits off Grove.
  • At Wrigley Field, the league-leading Cubs nip the Phillies, 10 - 9, in the first game of a doubleheader, then play to a 3 - 3 tie in 11 innings before darkness intervenes. In the first game, the Phils score eight runs in the 7th to take a 9 - 8 lead, but Gabby Hartnett's drive wins the game for Chicago. Hack Wilson hits his 41st homer in the opener. The Phils manage just two hits in the nitecap, but take a 3 - 0 lead into the 9th. Chicago comes back when Riggs Stephensonscores on a balk, then Woody English cracks a two-run homer to tie. Meanwhile, 2nd place Brooklyn splits with thePirates, 7 - 5 and 2 - 6.
• 1939 - The Giants suspend 2B Burgess Whitehead, who will show up the next day in full uniform at Yankee Stadium and ask to work out. Yankee manager Joe McCarthy refuses. Whitehead rejoins the Giants a few days later, but he will be suspended again in mid-September after leaving the team.
• 1940 - Jimmie Foxx smashes two homers to help the Red Sox beat the Senators. The two round trippers move him ahead of Lou Gehrig on the all-time list with a total of 495.
• 1942 - In the first 1942 East-West Game, the East wins yet again, 5 - 2. Leon Day retires all seven batters he faces, five of them by strikeout for the East, while Satchel Paige bombs for the West.
• 1947 - Ralph Kiner hits three successive home runs for the host Pittsburgh Pirates, in a 12 - 7 win over the Cardinals in a game in which the two clubs bang out a major-league record 10 homers (since topped). Two other Bucs, Hank Greenberg and Billy Cox, and one Cardinal, Whitey Kurowski, each contribute two home runs to set a major-league record for most players with two or more homers in a game. Kiner matches the major league mark of seven home runs in four games, six in three games, five in two games, and four in consecutive at bats. By the end of the month, Big Ralph will still trail Johnny Mize 39 to 43 in a head-to-head home run competition that will only be matched by Roger Maris andMickey Mantle in 1961. Starters Roger Wolff and the Cards' Ken Burkhart both exit in the 1st inning.
• 1948 - Babe Ruth dies of throat cancer at age 53 in New York. He will lie in state at Yankee Stadium and be viewed by more than 100,000 mourners.
• 1950:
  • At the Polo Grounds, Hank Thompson hits two inside-the-park home runs as the Giants drub the Dodgers, 16 - 7.
  • Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers denies news reports that Jackie Robinson, last year's MVP, will be traded. The latest tempest was started by the second baseman's comments after he was removed from the lineup on August 12th by Burt Shotton after making an error. "I wouldn't be surprised if I was traded," Jackie was quoted as saying.
  • The Phils polish off the second place Braves, 5 - 1, on Robin Roberts' three-hitter. The Phils score four in the 4th offVern Bickford, concluding the scoring with Del Ennis' 26th homer.
• 1951:
• The Cards score six runs in the 7th inning to defeat the Pirates, 9 - 6. Murry Dickson, trying for his 17th win, takes the loss. Stan Musial hits a three-run homer in the 6th to start the scoring for St. Louis. His inside-the-park homer is his first hit in 13 at bats, and his second one in four days.
• The Browns end the Indians' win streak at 13 when Tommy Byrne pitches and bats St. Louis to a 4 - 0 win. Byrne allows two hits in seven innings and drives in all the runs before retiring with back spasms. Mike Garcia loses to drop the Indians' lead to 1 1/2 games over the Yankees.
• Sal Maglie outpitches Don Newcombe, 2 - 1, to cut the Dodger lead over the Giants to 9 1/2 games. Maglie allows four hits, including Billy Cox's 300-foot homer, in winning his 17th. The Giants score the winner in the 7th when Bobby Thomson scores on a wild pitch. Pee Wee Reese goes hitless, ending his 22-game streak.
• At Elmira, NY, minor leaguer Don Zimmer marries Jean Carol Bauerle at home plate. Teammate Ed Roebuck is supposed to make it a double wedding, but opts for a church instead.
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• 1954 - In a throwing contest between Jimmy Piersall and Willie Mays before a Red Sox-Giants charity game in Boston, Piersall hurts his arm. He starts the game but leaves midway. He wakes up the following morning with a sore arm that stays with him a year, and he will never throw quite as well again.
• 1958 - Pirate Frank Thomas clouts three consecutive home runs in a 13 - 4 pasting of the Redlegs. Pittsburgh is now 7 games behind Milwaukee.
• 1960 - Following three straight bunt singles by Pittsburgh to start off the 9th, a visibly rattled Robin Roberts administers an utterly unintentional four-pitch free pass to Roberto Clemente, who, despite his free-swinging and prideful reputation, is evidently not entirely inflexible in his determination to accept no handouts. Thus is broken the 3 - 3 tie produced by Clemente's 6th-inning RBI single. Making his 50th appearance of the year, reliever Elroy Face makes the one-run lead stand up, retiring Philly in order in the 9th.
• 1961:
• Cincinnati takes the National League lead for good with a shutout sweep, 6 - 0 and 8 - 0, at Los Angeles before 72,140, a record crowd for a NL doubleheader. Bob Purkey gives up four hits and Jim O'Toole just two in handing theDodgers their first twinbill whitewash since July 18, 1935.
• Roger Maris ties an American League record with his 7th home run in his 6th straight game, as New York beatsChicago, 5 - 4, in the 9th inning. His two blasts off Billy Pierce give him 48, three more than Mickey Mantle.
• Just five outs shy of career shutout No. 53, Milwaukee starter Warren Spahn is denied when Dick Stuart delivers an RBI single, thus bringing home the bullet Spahn has just dodged. That bullet came off the bat of Roberto Clemente, a loud double just a few feet shy of clearing Milwaukee County Stadium's left centerfield fence. Disappointed but undaunted, Spahn will settle for career win No. 301 – a complete-game 2 - 1 decision over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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• 1962 - For the second night in a row, Frank Robinson clouts two homers to power the Reds to a 7 - 1 win over theBraves. Robby now has nine homers in eight games, and 11 in the last 12. Lee Maye's home run off Jim Maloney is the only Braves score.
• 1964 - Sandy Koufax pitches a 3 - 0 shutout win against St. Louis, but he will miss the rest of the season because of an elbow injury suffered when he slid into second base against Milwaukee back on August 8th. In the nightcap, Curt Simmons matches Koufax with a 4 - 0 shutout of the Dodgers. Card CF Curt Flood has eight straight hits in the doubleheader split.
• 1965 - At Fenway Park, Earl Wilson is all the Boston offense as he bangs a pair of two-run home runs. But the righty still takes the loss to the White Sox, 5 - 4.
• 1966 - Willie Mays hits his 534th home run, matching Jimmie Foxx's record for right-handed batters, as Gaylord Perrybeats the Cardinals, 3 - 1.
• 1967 - Reds P Jim Maloney retires all 19 batters he faces, but has to leave the game with one out in the 7th when he steps in a hole and injures his ankle. Reliever Billy McCool allows two hits and the Reds win, 2 - 0, in Pittsburgh.
• 1968:
  • Philadelphia's Richie Allen ties a National League record by drawing five bases on balls in one game, but the Dodgerswin, 7 - 5.
  • Detroit's Denny McLain is 16-0 on the road after blanking the Red Sox, 4 - 0, in Boston. Tigers catcher Bill Freehan ishit by a pitch in three consecutive plate appearances, painfully tying a major league record. He will be hit a record-tying 24 times this season.
• 1969:
  • The Phillies rack up their 4th straight shutout victory when Rick Wise pitches a four-hitter to defeat the Astros, 7 - 0. The Phils set a modern club record with the streak. Dick Allen hits a homer and Wise joins in with a homer and a single.
  • In an 8 - 1 win in Atlanta, St. Louis P Bob Gibson reaches 200 strikeouts (en route to 269) for the 7th season, aNational League record.
  • Seattle's Sicks Stadium shakes when 250-pound Boog Powell legs out an inside-the-park homer in the 9th against ex-teammate Steve Barber. It really isn't that vital, as Baltimore romps, 15 - 3.
• 1970:
  • In a 5 - 3 Montreal win over the Astros, Bob Bailey hits one of the longest home runs in Astrodome history.
  • Down 3 - 0 in the 8th, the Brewers score four runs, three of them on a Danny Walton bases-loaded double, to beat the Indians, 4 - 3. Gus Gil's single drives in the last run. The biggest crowd of the season, 44,387, is on hand for bat day, allowing Bernie Brewer to leave his perch in right field after 40 days. Bernie had vowed to stay there until the crowd topped 40,000, and when the attendance is announced, Bernie slides down his slide.
• 1971 - Harmon Killebrew, who has a higher percentage of his hits (28.6%) go for home runs than any other player, collects his annual triple in a 11 - 2 win over the Indians. It marks his 8th season when he will hit exactly one three-bagger.
• 1975 - In a 9 - 1 win over Cleveland, the Twins set a major league mark with nine batters getting 2 or more hits. Jim Hughes is the recipient of the largesse.
• 1976:
  • With the help of three picked-off Oakland runners at first base, the first such occurrence in the American League since1910, the Brewers beat Oakland, 4 - 3. Another oddity happens when Oakland's Billy Williams is called out on strikes after refusing to enter the batter's box. He is then thrown out of the game.
  • Lou Brock collects five hits in a losing cause as the Cardinals fall to the Padres, 11 - 7.
• 1977:
• At Yankee Stadium, New York blows a 9 - 4 lead in the top of the 9th when Chicago scores six runs, but a two-run homer by Chris Chambliss in the bottom of the inning gives the Yankees an 11 - 10 win.
• At Montreal, the Phillies win their 13th straight, a 20th century club record, beating the Expos, 7 - 5. Warren Brusstaris the winner over Joe Kerrigan.
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• 1978 - Boston's Luis Tiant wins his 200th major league game, beating Nolan Ryan and the Angels, 4 - 2. Jim Rice's 2-run home run is the difference.
• 1982 - Richie Hebner returns to the Pirates, who buy the veteran from the Tigers.
• 1986 - Dale Holman, of the International League's Richmond Braves becomes the first professional player ever to play for two teams in one game. The game was suspended because of rain on June 16th when he was in the lineup forSyracuse. By the time the game is completed today, Holman had been traded to Richmond and is in the lineup for the other side.
• 1987:
  • The wind is blowing out at Wrigley Field as the Mets pound the Cubs, 23 - 10, setting a club record for runs scored in a game.
  • Tim Raines goes 5 for 5 and hits for the cycle to lead the Expos to a 10 - 7 win over Pittsburgh.
• 1988 - The Dodgers trade Pedro Guerrero to the Cardinals for pitcher John Tudor, whose 2.29 ERA is leading theNational League.
• 1989:
  • Yankees OF Luis Polonia is arrested in his hotel room for having sex with a 15-year-old girl. He will be sentenced to 60 days in jail after the season.
  • Lefty Tom Drees, 26, pitches his third no-hitter of the season for AAA Vancouver, beating Las Vegas, 5 - 0, in the 7-inning opener of a doubleheader. He fired consecutive 1 - 0 no-hitters, beating Calgary in nine innings (May 23rd) andEdmonton in seven (May 28th). Drees, now 12-11, will pitch 7+ innings for the White Sox in 1991 for his only major league action.
• 1990 - In a 7 - 5 loss to the Indians, the Twins' Kirby Puckett starts off in RF and then moves to SS, 3B, and 2B in the 8th inning. Al Newman switches from 3B to SS back to 3B in the frame. Cleveland fails to score.
• 1991 - The Red Sox obtain P Dan Petry from the Braves in exchange for a player to be named later.
• 1992 - Greg Maddux allows four hits as the Cubs beat Houston, 1 - 0. Maddux goes the route, winning his 15th, beatingBrian Williams.
• 1996:
  • Trailing, 2 - 0, the Orioles score 14 runs over the final three innings to defeat the Athletics, 14 - 3, in the first game of a doubleheader. Rafael Palmeiro drives home six runs for Baltimore, and each member of the starting lineup, with the exception of leadoff man Roberto Alomar, gets at least two hits. The Orioles stroke 19 hits for the second day in a row off Oakland pitching. Baltimore also takes the nightcap, 5 - 4 in 10 innings.
  • San Diego OF Steve Finley homers in the Padres game against the Mets in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. By doing so, he becomes the first major league player to have homered in three different countries, having previously hit four-baggers in the USA and Canada. The Padres win the first regular-season game to be played outside of the US or Canada, 15 - 10, belting four homers. Leadoff batter Tony Gwynn is 3 for 5 and will repeat it tomorrow in the 7 - 3 loss to the Mets.
  • Playing for his 7th team in six years, Mark Whiten hits a pinch hit homer in his first at bat for Seattle to help beat theYanks. In his last at-bat for the Braves before being traded for farmhand Roger Blanco, Whiten belted a three-run pinch homer to beat the Phils, 5 - 2. Whiten is the 45th player used by Seattle this season.
• 1998:
  • The Padres defeat the Brewers, 4 - 0, in the first game of a doubleheader behind Kevin Brown's one-hitter. Brown fans 11 and allows only a single to OF Jeromy Burnitz. The Brewers bounce back to take the nightcap, 4 - 2.
  • Baltimore OF Eric Davis has his 30-game hitting streak snapped in a 5 - 3 loss to the Indians.
• 1999:
  • The Indians obtain 2B Carlos Baerga from the Padres in exchange for a player to be named later.
  • The Reds' Juan Guzman has to leave his start in Pittsburgh after seven innings because his shoes are too small. After he was traded to the Reds, he arrived with only his size 10 1/2 orange and black Orioles shoes. Puma sent him a size 9 1/2 in red which he wears today until blisters develop. The Reds still win, 9 - 2.
  • Alex Rodriguez homers for the 5th straight game to pace the Mariners to a 7 - 5 win over Toronto. He'll go homerless tomorrow.
• 2000:
  • The Rangers shut out the Yankees, 5 - 0, as P Brian Sikorski hurls scoreless ball into the 8th inning in his major league debut. Texas OF Gabe Kapler goes hitless in the game, ending his 28-game hitting streak. During the streak, Kapler batted .375 (42 for 112) and his average jumped from .241 to .289. The outfielder's streak is the 10th of at least 28 games in the American League since 1950.
  • The Astros defeat the Pirates, 11 - 10, hitting six home runs in a game for the second time in four days. Houston has now hit a National League-record 18 homers in its last four contests.
• 2001:
  • After piloting the team to 13 games above .500 in spite of numerous injuries to key players, manager Jimy Williams is fired by the Red Sox. The ousted skipper is replaced by the club's well-respected pitching coach, Joe Kerrigan, but will fade completely down the stretch.
  • Barry Bonds' second home run of the game and 53rd of the season breaks the franchise record established by his godfather, Willie Mays. With his first homer, the left fielder eclipses the National League record for home runs by a left-handed batter established in 1947 by another Giant, Johnny Mize.
  • The Padres defeat the Mets, 6 - 5. San Diego rookie P Jeremy Fikac gets the win in his major league debut as he strikes out the side in his only inning.
• 2002:
  • The Twins down the Red Sox, 5 - 0, in the process ending Pedro Martinez's scoreless inning streak at 35. It is the longest such streak in the majors since 2000.
  • After four days of delaying the decision, the executive board of the Major League Baseball Players Association votes 57-0 to set an August 30th strike date. All eight previous negotiations since 1972 have resulted in work stoppages in the national pastime.
  • During opening ceremonies of the Little League World Series at Volunteer Stadium, the 1955 Little League Team fromCharleston, SC, is honored. The fourteen boys from the Cannon Street YMCA team, who were banned from their own state's post-season tournament 47 years ago due their skin color, were invited to Williamsport at the time as guests after the other 61 South Carolina all-white leagues were told by Little League officials the winner of their state finals would not be permitted to participate in the tournament because they refused to play a duly-franchised league.
• 2006 - Bruce Froemming umpires in his 5,000th game, becoming the second major league umpire to ever reach that figure. Bill Klem was the first.
• 2007:
  • The World Youth Championship is canceled by the International Baseball Federation after Venezuela refuses to issue visas to Taiwan's entry. Australia and the Netherlands had backed out due to security concerns. The Championship is held anyways without IBAF sponsorship.
  • The Puerto Rican Winter League's 2007-2008 season is canceled due to financial concerns. It is the first time since the league's founding in 1939 that it will not hold a season.
  • Trevor Hoffman saves his 30th game of the season for the Padres. It gives him a record 12 consecutive 30-save campaigns.
• 2008:
  • In the Olympics, Cuba improves to 4-0 with a 1 - 0 win over Taiwan. Elier Sánchez and Norberto González combine on the whitewash while Frederich Cepeda homers off of Cheng-Chang Lee.
  • South Korea edges Japan, 5 - 3, in a duel of melting bullpens. Hitoki Iwase allows 3 runs in the 9th while South Korean closer Ki-joo Han allows a triple and double to two of the three batters he faces. Dae-ho Lee and Takahiro Arai both hit two-run homers in the Asian showdown.
  • Team USA rallies to beat Team Canada, 5 - 4, and avoid falling to 1-3. Brian Duensing provides fine relief after replacing Brett Anderson while Canadian veterans Chris Reitsma and Rheal Cormier allow the tying and losing runs.
  • The Netherlands beats host China, 6 - 4, thanks to home runs from Sharnol Adriana, Sidney de Jong and Bryan Engelhardt. This ensures that for the fifth straight Olympics (all of those in which baseball has been a Medal event) no team will go 0-7.
  • For the first time in Arizona Diamondbacks history, the team gets two grand slams in a game. Both Miguel Monteroand Chris Young hit the first grand slams of their careers in the 11 - 5 win over the Astros.
• 2009:
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  • The Angels score 9 runs in the 13th inning against Baltimore, in a 17 - 8 victory marking Torii Hunter's return after more than a month spent on the disabled list. Hunter lines into a bases-loaded double play in the 11th, but redeems himself in the 13th with a dribbler up the middle in the same situation which opens the floodgates. Juan Rivera hits a three-run home to cap the onslaught.
  • Derek Jeter hits an RBI double off Seattle's Doug Fister in the 3rd for his 2,674th hit as a shortstop, surpassing Luis Aparicio's all-time leading total for the position. The Yankees lose the game, however, 10 - 3, as Fister records his first win in the majors.
  • One day after being hit in the head by a pitch, the Rangers' Ian Kinsler homers and drives in two runs in Texas's 4 - 3 win over Boston. Dustin Nippert is the winner and Frank Francisco records the save in a game that pushes Texas a half-game ahead of Boston in the American League wild card race.
• 2010:
  • On the final deadline for signing players selected in this year's amateur draft, the Nationals agree to a last-minute major league contract worth $9.9 million with first overall pick Bryce Harper. A number of other top draftees sign as well, leaving only 3 of the top 32 picks unsigned.
  • The Saraperos de Saltillo win the 2010 Mexican League pennant, topping the Pericos de Puebla 4 games to 1 in the finals. Today's game 5 is a 21 - 2 rout. Refugio Cervantes drives in five, scores four and homers twice while 42-year-old Noé Muñoz (15 years since his last major league appearance) goes 3 for 4 with two doubles and four runs. Jose Mercedes goes the distance, throwing 90 of 120 pitches for strikes, for the win, while Guadalupe Perez takes the loss.
  • Shaun Marcum only allows a 7th-inning homer to Conor Jackson in beating the Oakland Athletics, 3 - 1, pitching aone-hitter for the first complete game of his career. He joins Blue Jays teammate Brandon Morrow who pitched a one-hitter on August 8th. All the Jays' runs come on homers: a solo shot by José Bautista that is originally ruled an inside-the-park homer before the umpires state that it had in fact hit the foul pole, and a two-run shot by Edwin Encarnacion.
  • Jonathan Albaladejo earns his 39th save of the season for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in a 7 - 4 win overToledo, breaking the International League single-season mark held by Matt Whiteside since 2004.
  • Bobby Thomson, who hit what is arguably the most famous home run in baseball history - the Shot Heard 'Round the World - dies at home in Savannah, GA. The memorable walk-off homer off Brooklyn's Ralph Branca on October 3,1951, sent the New York Giants to the 1951 World Series. Thomson was a star outfielder mostly with the Giants andMilwaukee Braves during the 1950s.
• 2012:
  • Major League Baseball approves the sale of the San Diego Padres from John Moores to a group headed by local businessman Ron Fowler, which also includes former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley and pro golfer Phil Mickelson. The sale is for $800 million. In the game that follows, the Padres are shut out by Kris Medlen of the Braves, 6 - 0, as Chipper Jones hits a pair of homers.
  • Garrett Jones homers twice, both three-run shots, to lead Pittsburgh to a 10 - 6 win over the Dodgers. A.J. Burnettwins his 15th game, over Joe Blanton, who is ejected in the 5th inning. Also being shown the door for Los Angeles are Matt Kemp tossed in the 2nd inning by Angel Campos for uttering words while teammate Andre Ethier is at bat, and manager Don Mattingly, who gets the thumb from crew chief Tim Tschida for coming to his star centerfielder's defense. For his part, Blanton is already on his way out of the game after giving up 8 runs in 4 1/3 inning when Campos throws him out too.