Today in Baseball History: July 21st

2008 The Tigers beat the Royals, 19 - 4. It is their third time scoring 19 or more runs this season, the first time a MLB team had done that since the 1950 Red Sox. Miguel Cabrera drives in six and Matt Joyce five in the rout.

2007 Shinnosuke Abe is named MVP after his 3-run homer off Masahiro Tanaka helps the Central League top the Pacific League 11 - 5 in the 2nd NPB All-Star Game of the year. It is the 6th straight win by the CL.

2007 The Pittsburgh Pirates retire Paul Waner's number 11. It is the 10th retired number in the history of the franchise and the first in 10 years. The last player to wear the number was Humberto Cota, earlier in the season.

2007 Outfielder Willie Harris goes six for six with two triples, a steal and 6 RBI to help the Braves top the Cardinals, 14 - 6. Harris is the second Atlanta player to get six hits in a game; Felix Millan had done it 27 years earlier.

2007 Jamie Moyer and David Wells face off. The two combine for 88 years and 307 days of age, making it the second-oldest matchup of starting pitchers in MLB history. The only older duel was Don Sutton and Phil Niekro in June of 1987.

2004 A third piece of concrete, which apparently fell from the park's upper deck, is discovered at Wrigley Field by a club employee. Two other chunks have also fallen recently in different sections of the 90-year-old stadium, prompting Mayor Richard Daley to say he would not hesitate to close sections - or all - of the facility to protect fans from potential harm.

2004 Mark Buehrle faces the minimum 27 batters as the White Sox rout the Indians, 14 - 0. Throwing just ninety pitches, the 25-year old southpaw allows only two hits with both runners being erased as result of a double play.

2002 The Royals score a run in the bottom half of the 10th inning to pull out a 13 - 12 win over the Indians. Milton Bradley gets five hits for Cleveland, including three doubles and a home run.

2002 Orioles P Scott Erickson is arrested after getting into a domestic dispute with his girlfriend. He is charged with second-degree assault.

2001 The Angels defeat the Orioles, 6 - 5, in 10 innings. 3B Troy Glaus hits a pair of home runs, making him the fastest Angel ever to the 100 career home run mark.  The Dodgers set a LA team record as they trounce the Rockies, 22 - 7, the most runs scored by a Dodgers team since July 10, 1943, when they beat the Pirates. LA breaks open the game with nine runs in the 8th inning. The Dodgers last scored 20 runs at home in 1957, beating the Braves, 20 - 4. For the Rockies, it is the 5th time they have had a team run up 20 runs on them; they've yet to do it themselves. The franchise record for the Blue is 25, done on May 20, 1896 and September 23, 1901.

1997 Wilson Alvarez strikes out four Detroit batters in the 7th inning, with Phil Nevin fanning on a wild pitch, in leading the White Sox to a 3 - 0 win over Detroit. Alvarez is the first White Sox pitcher and 28th player to strike out four batters in an inning.

1990 In his first ML start, Baltimore's Big Ben McDonald shuts out Chicago 2 - 0. McDonald was the first pick in the 1989 June draft. It is the first shutout in a American League debut in 15 years.

1988 Red Sox veteran Jim Rice is suspended for three games by the club for shoving manager Joe Morgan. Rice was angered when Morgan replaced him with pinch hitter Spike Owen in the 8th inning of Boston's eventual 9 - 7 win over Minnesota.

1988 On July 21, 1988, the New York Yankees make the infamous "Ken Phelps Trade" with the Seattle Mariners. The Yankees acquire the veteran first baseman/DH for promising outfield prospect Jay Buhner. Phelps will remain with the Yankees for parts of only two seasons, while Buhner will emerge as a star, reaching the 40-home run mark in 1995, '96, and '97.

1975 On July 21, 1975, Joe Torre of the New York Mets grounds into a record four double plays against the Houston Astros. Mets second baseman Felix Millan collects four singles but is erased each time when Torre hits into double plays. The Mets lose the game to the Astros, 6-2.

1973 On July 21, 1973, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 700th career home run. The 39-year-old star connects against Ken Brett of the Philadelphia Phillies, but the Braves lose the game, 8-4.

1972 On July 21, 1972, the Los Angeles Dodgers release longtime major league pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm, ending the career of the 48-year-old right-hander. A 21-year veteran, Wilhelm retires with 227 saves and 143 victories. In 1985, he will become the first reliever to earn election to the Hall of Fame.

1970 On July 21, 1970, San Diego Padres manager Preston Gomez lifts starter Clay Kirby for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, even though the right-hander has a no-hitter in progress. With the Padres trailing 1-0, Gomez decides to play for the win instead of letting Kirby finish. The Padres eventually lose both the game and the no-hitter.

1969 On July 21, 1969, Major League Baseball celebrates the national pastime's centennial anniversary with a gala banquet at the All-Star Game. The festivities include the announcement of an all-time team. Hall of Famer Babe Ruth is voted the "Greatest All-Time Player." Another Hall of Famer, Joe DiMaggio, is selected the "Greatest Living Player."

1963 Jerry Lynch's ML record-tying 14th pinch-hit home run, a 3-run shot off the Cubs' Lindy McDaniel in the 9th inning, ties the game, and the Bucs win 6 - 5 in 14 innings. The Cubs take the opener 5 - 1.

1960 Robin Roberts pitches his third career one-hitter, and the third one-hitter of the season in new Candlestick Park. Felipe Alou spoils Roberts' no-hit bid in the 5th inning of a 3 - 0 Philadelphia win. 3B Joe Morgan fields the hit, but falls down and cannot make a throw.

1959 On July 21, 1959, the Boston Red Sox become the last team to debut a black player when Elijah "Pumpsie" Green appears in a game as a pinch-runner and shortstop. Green's debut with Boston comes 12 years after Jackie Robinson's historic debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1952 On July 21, 1952, two new members are inducted into the Hall of Fame: outfielders and batting champions Harry Heilmann and Paul Waner.

1947 On July 21, 1947, Mickey Cochrane, Frankie Frisch, Lefty Grove, and Carl Hubbell are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Cochrane and Grove had made their major league debuts in the same game for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1926. Frisch and Hubbell were stars in the National League, Frisch having served as player/manager for the Gashouse Gang Cardinals, while "King Carl" hurled for the Giants.

1945 On July 21, 1945, the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers play 24 innings and settle for a 1-1 deadlock. Les Mueller hurls a modern major league record of 19 and two-thirds innings.

1942 On July 21, 1942, in one of the most famous moments in the history of the Negro leagues, Satchel Paige strikes out Josh Gibson on three pitches with the bases loaded, fulfilling a prediction he had made years earlier.

1936 Cardinals slugger Joe Medwick has 10 hits in succession to equal the National League record. He had seven hits in his last seven times at bat in a doubleheader on the 19th, and he hits safely in his first three today. He is finally stopped by the Giants' Carl Hubbell. The Giants break a 1 - 1 tie on Dick Bartell's homer in the 10th off Dizzy Dean to win, 2 - 1.

1930 Four pinch-hit home runs are hit in a doubleheader between Brooklyn and St. Louis. Hal Lee and Harvey Hendrick connect for Brooklyn, and George Puccinelli and Jim Bottomley, for the Cards. The homers are the first major-league hits for both Lee and Puccinelli.

1928 Jimmie Foxx hits the longest drive ever seen out of Shibe Park as the A's take two from St. Louis, increasing their lead over the third-place Browns to 10 games.

1915 Babe Ruth pitches and bats the Red Sox to a 4 - 2 win over the host St. Louis Browns. Ruth is 4-for-4 with a tremendous homer and two doubles, and knocks in three runs. He scatters five hits with the two St. Louis runs coming on Heinie Wagner errors.

1914 Dick Rudolph throws a 3-hitter to give the Braves their second straight whitewash of the Pirates, winning 6 - 0. Rudolph will end the year with 27 victories, tied with Grover Cleveland Alexander; one of his credited wins is a game in which he started and left after three innings. The Braves move ahead of the Reds and Phils into 4th place.

1911 The Rustlers acquire SS Al Bridwell and C Hank Gowdy from the Giants for Buck Herzog. For Bridwell and Herzog, it is their second tours of duty with their teams, while the young Gowdy will be the Boston catcher for the next ten years.

1902 At Brooklyn, the Superbas maul the Phillies, 10 - 1, nicking Doc White for 14 hits. Doc gets his due in the 4-run 5th inning when he strikes 4 batters out, the first pitcher to strike out 4 in an inning since 1888 and the first to do it at 60' 6" (the record books list Hooks Wiltse in 1906 as the first this century). Bill Dahlen and Charlie Irwin strike out while 2 runs score. Ed Wheeler's swinging 3rd strike gets past Red Dooin with Hughie Hearne scoring. Frank Kitson singles and Jimmy Sheckard strikes out for the 4th K. White fans 5 in the game.

1900 In the last of the 9th at Brooklyn, with two outs and the score tied at 5 - 5 with the Reds, an intentional walk to Deacon McGuire goes awry. McGuire reaches out and taps a Noodles Hahn pitch, but the catcher picks it up, then drops it, and the winning run scores.

1892 In a match up of 300-game winners at Philadelphia Baseball Grounds, Phillies' submariner Tim Keefe sinks Jim "Pud" Galvin and the Browns, 2 - 0. The next time two National League pitchers with 300 or more victories will face each other will occur in 2005 when Greg Maddux of the Cubs beats Astros ace Roger Clemens at Minute Maid Park, 3 - 2.