A M-W-F digest, replete with #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB content. The Hawk* hits three and other stories for the discerning reader. Happy birthday to Brandon Kintzler and others.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.
“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly.
Today in baseball history:
- 1904 – Pittsburgh Pirate hurler Charlie Case gives up 11 hits but shuts out Chicago, 4-0. (2)
- 1905 – Cubs manager Frank Selee resigns and is replaced by Frank Chance, who is elected manager in a narrow vote among the players. Selee, suffering from tuberculosis, had not been making road trips, and Chance has been serving as road manager. Selee, who fashioned the team that will dominate the second half of the decade, retires to Colorado. The visiting Phillies overcome a 5-0 deficit to down Chicago, 7-6, in 11 innings. (2)
- 1906 – Brooklyn’s Harry McIntire loses his no-hitter in the eleventh inning when Pittsburgh’s Claude Ritchey reaches on a single. McIntire loses the game 1-0 on an unearned run in the 13th. (1,2)
- 1912 – Heinie Zimmerman has two hits in the Cubs’ win over Brooklyn to raise his average over .400. Bill Sweeney will briefly pass Zim in mid-August before the Cubs star regains the batting lead for good. (2)
- 1913 – At Chicago, the Giants win, 5-2, on a controversial call in the eighth inning. Art Fletcher is called safe at second base by umpire Bill Byron on an steal attempt, prompting a shower of abuse from the crowd. Moments later, Fletcher scores the go-ahead run on a triple by Jack Meyers off Bert Humphries. The beneficiary of the offense is Christy Mathewson, who wins his 20th game, the 11th straight season he’s topped the mark. (2)
- 1915 – The Cubs beat the Phillies, 2-1. When OF Possum Whitted misses a shoestring catch on a line drive by Heinie Zimmerman, Zim circles the bases for a homer to beat Grover Cleveland Alexander. (2)
- 1942 – The Dodgers (71-29) top Johnny Schmitz of the Cubs, 9-6, to stretch their lead to nine games over St. Louis. (2)
- 1951 – The Cubs’ Eddie Miksis lines a ball to Willie Mays in CF, which caroms off his head for a double, as the Cubs nip the Giants, 3-2. Cal McLish wins over Larry Jansen. The Giants come back in the second game behind the shutout pitching of Al Corwin to top the Cubs, 2-0. Bob Kelly is the losing pitcher, while Corwin wins his first major league game. (2)
- 1959 – P Bob Purkey of the Reds hits a grand slam off John Buzhardt of the Cubs and wins, 12-3. Purkey allows six hits. Glen Hobbie takes the loss. (2)
- 1962 – Nothing less than Bill Monbouquette’s no-hitter is necessary to defeat Early Wynn and the White Sox, 1-0. The Red Sox pitcher improves his record to 9-10. (2)
- 1963 – Ellis Burton becomes the eighth player to hit home runs left- and righthanded in the same game, helping the Cubs bury the Braves, 10-2. (2)
- 1983 – Joe Carter of the Chicago Cubs gets his first major league hit — a single off Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium. The Phillies win, 2-1, as Carlton strikes out 12 Cubs batters. (2)
- 1985 – Vince Coleman steals two bases in the 1st inning of the Cardinals’ 9-8 loss to the Cubs to run his season total to 74, breaking the major league rookie record of 72 set the previous season by Juan Samuel. A squeeze bunt by Larry Bowa with the bases full in the 14th scores the winning run. Bowa had earlier tripled with the sacks full. The game takes five hours and three minutes to end. (1,2)
- 1987 – Andre Dawson* hits three home runs, his 29th, 30th and 31st, and drives in all five Chicago runs as the Cubs beat the Phillies, 5-3. (2)
- 2005 – Rafael Palmeiro becomes the highest-profile player to be suspended for violating Major League Baseball’s steroids policy. The Orioles first baseman, who denies knowingly taking any banned substances, stated this spring to the House Government Reform Committee that published allegations by Jose Canseco of his steroids use were “absolutely false” and had considered suing his former teammate over the accusation. (2)
- 2016 – The Cubs land P Joe Smith from the Angels. (2)
Cubs birthdays: Ed Gastfield, Harry Croft, Howard Freigau, Wayne Tyrone, Greg Gross, Brandon Kintzler.
Today in History:
- 30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
- 1315 – Robert the Bruce’s siege of Carlisle Castle ends in failure in Cumbria, England, during the First War of Scottish Independence.
- 1774 – English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state.
- 1876 – Colorado becomes the 38th state of the Union.
- 1900 – The first Michelin Guide is published by the brothers Édouard and André Michelin as a hotel and restaurant reference guide to encourage more road travel and thus boost tire sales (exact date beyond August 1900 is unknown).
- 1969 – Three-day Atlantic City Pop Festival opens at the Atlantic City Race Course in Hamilton Township, New Jersey; performers include Procol Harum, Joni Mitchell, Chicago, Santana, Little Richard, Booker T and the MG’s, Sir Douglas Quintet, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, B.B. King, The Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tim Buckley, Hugh Masekela, Dr. John, and The Mothers of Invention; attendance is estimated at 110,000.
- 1971 – George Harrison’s benefit concerts for Bangladesh (two shows) take place at Madison Square Garden, NYC; performers include Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, and Leon Russell.
- 1981 – Music video cable channel MTV debuts in the US at 12:01 a.m. with The Buggles’ song “Video Killed the Radio Star.”
Common sources:
- (1) — Today in Baseball History.
- (2) — Baseball Reference.
- (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
- (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
- (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
- (6) — Wikipedia.
- (7) — The British Museum.
- For world history.
*pictured.
Things are as near to the truth as we can get them. Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, so that we can correct the record, if need be.