May 26
1929: Pinch-hitters Pat Crawford of the Giants and Les Bell of the Boston Braves both hit grand slams in New York’s 15-9 victory.
1930: Joe Sewell of Cleveland, who fanned only three times in 353 at-bats during the season, was struck out twice in the same game by Pat Caraway of the White Sox.
1959: Harvey Haddix of Pittsburgh pitched 12 perfect innings before losing to Milwaukee 1-0 in the 13th on an error, a sacrifice and Joe Adcock’s double.
1962: Sandy Koufax struck out 16 Phillies in a 6-3 Dodgers victory.
1996: The White Sox became the 16th team in AL history to hit four homers in one inning in their 12-1 win over Milwaukee. Frank Thomas, Harold Baines and Robin Ventura hit consecutive homers and Chad Kreuter added another in an seven-run eighth.
1997: The Cubs’ Sammy Sosa and the Pirates’ Tony Womack hit inside-the-park homers in the sixth inning of the Cubs’ 2-1 win–the first time two inside-the-park homers were hit in the same inning in 20 years.
May 27
1904: Dennis McGann of the New York Giants stole five bases in one game to set a major-league record.
1937: Carl Hubbell, working in relief for the New York Giants, won his 24th straight game over two seasons. Hubbell pitched two innings and Mel Ott hit a ninth-inning home run to beat Cincinnati 3-2. Hubbell’s string started on July 17, 1936.
1955: Norm Zauchin of the Boston Red Sox knocked in 10 runs with three home runs and a double in the first five innings of a 16-0 victory over the Washington Senators.
1960: Baltimore catcher Clint Courtney used the “big mitt” for the first time to catch knuckleball pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm. The mitt, designed by Paul Richards, was 50 percent larger than the standard catcher’s mitt. Nothing got by Courtney as the Orioles beat the Yankees 3-2.
1968: Montreal and San Diego were awarded NL franchises.
1997: Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. broke his 1994 major-league record for home runs hit through May by connecting for his 23rd of the season in an 11-10 loss to Minnesota.
May 28
1946: The Washington Senators beat New York 2-1 in the first night game at Yankee Stadium. The first ball was thrown out by General Electric President Charles E. Wilson.
1951: After going 0-for-12 in his first three major-league games, Willie Mays of the New York Giants hit a home run off Warren Spahn in a 4-1 loss to the Boston Braves.
1956: Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit a home run in his eighth consecutive game, a major-league record. Long connected off Brooklyn’s Carl Erskine at Forbes Field.
1986: Joe Cowley of the White Sox set a major-league record by striking out the first seven batters he faced. He only lasted 4 2/3 innings in a 6-3 loss to the Texas Rangers.
1995: The White Sox and Tigers set a major-league record with 12 homers and combined for an AL-record 21 extra-base hits in the Sox’s 14-12 victory in Detroit.
1998: Arizona manager Buck Showalter intentionally walked Barry Bonds with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Diamondbacks won 8-7.
May 29
1916: Christy Mathewson defeated the Boston Braves 3-0 for the New York Giants’ 17th consecutive win on the road.
1922: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that organized baseball was primarily a sport and not a business, and therefore not subject to antitrust laws and interstate commerce regulations.
1965: Philadelphia’s Richie Allen hit a 529-foot home run over the roof of Connie Mack Stadium off the Cubs’ Larry Jackson in a 4-2 victory.
1990: Oakland’s Rickey Henderson broke Ty Cobb’s 62-year-old AL stolen base record of 893, but it didn’t play any part in the scoring as Toronto beat the Athletics 2-1.
2000: Oakland second baseman Randy Velarde turned the 10th unassisted triple play in regular-season history during a 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees. With runners on first and second in motion, Shane Spencer hit a line drive to Velarde, who caught the ball, tagged out Jorge Posada running from first and stepped on second to beat Tino Martinez.
May 30
1922: Between the morning and afternoon games of a Memorial Day twin bill, Max Flack of the Cubs was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Cliff Heathcote. They played one game for each team.
1927: In the fourth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates, shortstop Jim Cooney of the Cubs caught Paul Waner’s liner, stepped on second to double Lloyd Waner and then tagged Clyde Barnhart coming from first for an unassisted triple play.
1977: Cleveland’s Dennis Eckersley pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against the California Angels.
1987: Eric Davis hit a grand slam in the third inning of the Reds’ 6-2 victory over Pittsburgh. Davis became the first NL player to hit three grand slams in a month, and his 19 homers broke the NL record for most homers in April and May.
1992: Scott Sanderson became the ninth pitcher to beat all 26 major-league teams as New York beat Milwaukee 8-1. He joined Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez, Rick Wise, Gaylord Perry, Doyle Alexander and Rich Gossage.
May 31
1914: Joseph Benz of the White Sox pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians for a 6-1 victory.
1927: Detroit first baseman Johnny Neun made an unassisted triple play against Cleveland. He caught Homer Summa’s liner, tagged Charlie Jamieson between first and second and then touched second base before Glenn Myatt could return. The Tigers beat the Indians 1-0.
1937: Carl Hubbell’s 24-game winning streak ended with a 10-3 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hubbell’s last defeat came on July 13, 1936, 1-0 to the Cubs.
1964: The New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants played the longest doubleheader in major-league history– 9 hours 52 minutes.
1997: Ila Borders became the first woman to pitch in a regular-season professional game, in the sixth inning of the St. Paul Saints’ Northern League game against Sioux Falls.
1999: Umpire Frank Pulli used TV replay to take away a home run from Cliff Floyd in the fifth inning of Florida’s 5-2 loss to St. Louis.
June 1
1923: The New York Giants scored in every inning to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 22-8 at the Baker Bowl.
1925: Lou Gehrig batted for Pee Wee Wanninger in the eighth and replaced Wally Pipp at first base to start his streak of 2,130 consecutive games. The Washington Senators beat the New York Yankees 5-3.
1937: Bill Dietrich of the White Sox pitched a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns in an 8-0 win.
1975: Nolan Ryan of the California Angels pitched his fourth no-hitter, striking out nine. Ryan tied Sandy Koufax’s record by beating the Baltimore Orioles 1-0. It was Ryan’s 100th major-league victory.
1987: Cleveland’s Phil Niekro pitched the Indians to a 9-6 victory, his 314th, over the Detroit Tigers. The win gave himself and his brother, Joe, a major league record 530 combined victories, surpassing Gaylord and Jim Perry.
2000: Pawtucket’s Tomo Ohka became the third pitcher in the 117-year history of the International League to throw a nine-inning perfect game, beating Charlotte 2-0.
