this day in baseball

[blue911]

Of course, I was just making a rhetorical point.

I had a colleague who was a nationalized US citizen, she was originally from South Africa.  She was an honest to goodness "African-American", but was whiter than Mathguy.

Ain't nobody whiter than Mathguy 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Ain't nobody whiter than Mathguy 

Also:

Nobody puts baby in a corner.

[OldNatsFan]

Hairston is half Mexican correct?

I think so because Jerry Jr. was on the Mexican team in the WBC last year.

[ajcartwright]

05/03
1961 - Warren Spahn just misses his second second no-hitter in a row, when left fielder Mel Roach's misplay leads Spahn to go all Stras and give up two hits in Milwaukee's win over the dodgers 4-1.
1980 - Giants first baseman Willie McCovey hits his 521st and final home run. the shot, off Montreal's Scott Sanderson ties him with Ted Williams on the all-time list. McCovey retires about a month later, on June 6.
2000 - the rockies set a franchise record of 24 hits in a rout of the Montreal Expos. Todd Helton goes 5 for 5 and all nine Colorado starters gets at least one hit AND one rbi.
2006 - major league baseball will sell the Nationals to a group led by Theodore Lerner, a Maryland-based real estate developer, for $450 million. in 2002 the other 29 owners collectively bought the Montreal Expos franchise for $120 million, and then moved the franchise to Washington, D.C. for the 2005 season.
2014 - the Washington Nationals win the second game of a three game sweep of the phillies as Tanner Roark tosses his second shutout in a row.

[spidernat]

  you're pushing it

[ajcartwright]

  you're pushing it

i can dream have a nightmare can't i ?

[spidernat]

i can dream have a nightmare can't i ?

So far it looks that way.

[ajcartwright]

05/04
1960 - the cubs make a trade with WGN - lou boudreau comes out of the broadcast booth to replace charlie grimm as manager, jolly cholly takes lou's chair behind the mike. cubs win 5 - 1 over pirates.
(are you reading this Rizzo and/or Lerner? feel sure Matt Williams could fit in with Johnny!)
1937 - with the bases loaded in the 11th inning, the Washington Senators pull off a triple steal to break a 5 - 5 tie. the Sens go on to score 7 in the inning and win 12 - 5.
( we haven't always played scared )
1987 - Tim Wallach hits 3 homers and has 6 rbi's , but Montreal loses at altanta, 10 - 7.
(bullpen failure to become thorn in franchise's side)
1992 - During kansas city's 11-6 win over cleveland, albert bell charges the mound after 2 of neal heaton's pitches sail behind him. in the bullpen, indian pitcher ted power gets up from his chair to join the fight at the mound and suffers a strained right calf muscle which puts him on the DL.
(so THAT"S why the relievers seem reluctant to join the fracas)
1995 - the Expos lose to the mets in 10 on todd hundley's pinch-hit grand slam.
(didn't realize Clippard had been around that long)
2006 - groundbreaking ceremony for the new, $611 million Washington Nationals ballpark.
2014 - Nationals win the rubber match to take the series from the phillies beating both roberto hernandez and fausto carmona who had to take the mound after supposed starter cole hamels backed out due to fear of retribution for plunking Bryce Harper in the back on purpose in 2012

[ajcartwright]

05/05

1875 - the athletics trounce the Washington club 20-8. this is the 5th game in a row that Washington has lost with the winning team scoring 20+ runs. (see, our pitching has improved)
1904 -  the Washington Nationals beat the new york highlanders for their first win of the season, snapping a 13 game losing streak to start the season. (imagine the LOD that year)
1919 - Washington pitcher Jim Shaw hits a grand slam to lead the way to a 10-7 victory & sweep of philadelphia. (what were you saying about a DH?)
1927 - the Senators beat the yankees 6-1 to even the series at 2-2. for the 4th game in a row Rice is out with a sinus infection and  Goose Goslin has pleurisy. (it is possible to win with stars on the DL)
1953 - Washington Senators pitcher Bob Porterfield throws 9 shutouts in the '53 season
1953 - Washington Senators pitcher Bob Porterfield hits a grand slam as the Nats beat detroit 14-4. (about that DH?)
1954 - the Senators Roy Sievers draws a bases loaded walk to beat the white sox 1-0 - the Washington pitcher? - Bob Porterfield with another shutout.
1955 - the musical "damn yankees" opens on broadway. set in Washington D.C. in the '50's, it tells the tale of an aging Washington Senators fan's bargain with the devil to help his hapless team. (anyone volunteer?)
1978 - pete rose singles off Montreal pitcher Steve Rogers for his 3000th hit. Expos win the game though 4-3.
1981 - paced by the smiths, atlanta whipped Montreal 13-3. zane smith pitched the win and lonnie smith had a homer and scored 5 runs. (are there any smiths on the dodgers?)
1992 - the Expos OF Larry Walker hits a homerun off a speaker hanging from the roof of Olympic Stadium in Montreal's 5-2 win over san diego.
1999 - the dodgers beat the Expos 8-2 as pitcher jamie arnold makes his major league debut by limiting Montreal to just 1 hit in 6 2/3 innings. Orlando Cabrera led off the 6th with a single for the only hit against arnold. ( seems we've always helped out young pitchers)
2014 - dodgers pitcher zach greinke, who came into the game sporting a 5-0 record with an era of 2.04 was rocked by the Washington Nationals, who knocked out greinke in the second inning for his shortest stint of the year.
(truth - rain knocked out greinke after 3)Washington pitcher Jordan Zimmermann improved his record to 3-1, pitched well but did not get the win, scattering 4 5 hits and striking out 6 3. JZ got plenty a little run support as the Nationals scored early and often, not led by Nate McLouth, who brought saw his BA up to over .100 drop to .085

[spidernat]

  Pretty cool stuff aj.

[ajcartwright]

05/06

1898 - Washington holds a 9-4 lead going into the 9th inning but gives up 6 runs to lose to brooklyn 10-9.
1915 - at the polo grounds, red sox rookie pitcher, Babe Ruth, collects 3 hits, one of them being his first home run.
1920 - Washington scores 6 runs in the first 2 innings,  then holds on to defeat the yankees 6-5. Joe Judge is 5-for-5 for the Nats.
1931 -  Willie Mays is born in westfield, alabama.
1933 - in a 6-2 loss to detroit, Washington Senators second baseman, Buddy Myer is carried off the field unconscious after being hit by a whit wyatt pitch.
1946 - in Washington's 7-4 win, Cecil Travis gets his 6th straight hit over 2 games before being stopped by cleveland's steve gromek. Travis has few other starring moments as a player after suffering from frozen feet in combat in europe.
1962 - in the first game of a doubleheader, the Nats beat the yankees 4-2. both yankee runs are accounted for by a Mickey Mantle home run while batting left-handed. in the second game, the yankees win 8-0 with Mantle hitting a home run batting both left and right-handed, the 9th time he has done this. the shutout is jim bouton's first major league start. he was nearly removed from the game in the first inning when 11 of his first 12 pitches are called balls. bouton gave up 7 hits and walked 7. in his book "Ball Four" he called this game "the worst shutout in the history of the game"
1997 - following a 3-2 victory over the dodgers, reds' manager Ray Knight fines himself $250 for not knowing how many outs there were when he called for a bunt.
2012 - after being deliberately drilled by a first inning pitch from cole hamels, 19 year-old Nationals' rookie sensation Bryce Harper gets even by stealing home when hamels is too casual trying to pick a runner off first base. dirtbag hamels admits to intentionally beaning Harper and is suspended for 5 games. Washington GM Mike Rizzo is fined for his "incendiary" comments in which he label hamels "gutless".
2014 - the Washington Nationals make sure dodger starter clayton kershaw doesn't
overwork his arm in his first start in about 6 weeks by forcing an early exit for the lefty. Blake Treinen, making his first start for the Nats makes a case to be put in the starting rotation as he keeps the dodgers off balance all night. the Nats offense is led by Jayson Werth
and Ian Desmond as each has multiple rbi's as the Nats take their second in a row from the los angeles team. - didn't happen as foreseen

[OldNatsFan]

I'm so old I remember that grand slam by Bob Porterfield in 1953.

[mitlen]

Happy Birthday Say Hey Kid !!

[ajcartwright]

05/07

1894 - Al Maul is the losing pitcher as the Washington Senators lose to baltimore 17-0. this marks the 2nd time Al Maul  has been on the short end of a lopsided mauling.
1906 - during the new york americans 7-2 win over Washington umpire tim hurst strikes manager Clark Griffith in the mouth after Griffith accidently steps on his shoe during a ten-minute argument following a close play on the 5th inning. Griffith is tossed from the game but hurst gets suspended for 5 days.
1917 - Washington pitcher Walter Johnson loses to red sox pitcher Babe Ruth 1-0. the third time Johnson has lost to Ruth by a 1-0 score.
1918 - in Washington, Walter Johnson beats the red sox 7-2. both sox runs are accounted for by a Babe Ruth homer, only the 6th homer to clear the barrier, Ruth earns a big ovation from the Washington fans.
1921 - in front of  former President Wilson, Walter Johnson loses to the yankees 6-5. bob meusel of the yankees hits for the cycle. Johnson strikes out Babe Ruth 3 times but serves him a home run ball in the 8th that lands in a tree outside of right field.
1928 - trailing the browns 15-1, the Senators let reliever Clay Van Alstyne bat in the 9th inning. Clay had earlier scored the only Nats run and responds with his first ML homer, it was also his last ML homer AND his last at bat.
1950 - in Washington the Senators beat the indians 10-5. Connie Marrero gave up 2 home runs to al rosen, his first two in the ML. Washington won in the 7th on a grand slam by Gil Coan off bob lemon that was hit into the new left field stands which were temporarily put up to take advantage of the Senator's new power hitters. Coan is the only Nat to reach the stands but 9 visitors hit homers there prompting Washington to take the stands down two days later.
1970 - the Expos score the most runs in their 2-year history, beating the giants 15-8. Jim Fairey has a homer & 4 rbi's for Montreal while Willie Mays homers for the giants. right fielder Rusty Staub throws out the giants ron hunt 9-3
1978 the Expos beat the reds in the first game of a doubleheader at riverfront 19-5. Pete Rose sits out the nightcap because of stomach cramps, ending his consecutive games played streak at 678. the reds win anyway 4-2.
1997 the Expos score a NL record 13 runs in the 6th inning on the way to a 19-3 victory over the giants. Montreal sent 17 batters to the plate in the 6th and Mike Lansing homered twice in the inning. Henry Rodriguez had a grand slam in the Expos 5 run 5th inning.
2003 a man wanted by the police on drug & parole violations is apprehended at the great American ballpark when his parole officer recognized him on the stadium scoreboard kissing his girlfriend during "kiss cam".
2006 the giants rookie, Kevin Frandsen sets a ML record by getting hit by a pitch for the 5th time in his first 10 games.
2009 - Ryan Zimmerman becomes only the fourth player in Washington, DC baseball history to have a 25 game consecutive hit streak. RZIMM had a 1st inning single in the Nats 11-9 victory over the dodgers.
2014 - the Washington Nationals take the rubber match from the dodgers in the afternoon, then watch both the braves & marlins lose later as the Nats
move back into first place in the NL east.

[metssuck]

wow I'm embarrassed. I did not realize Scott Hairston was African American

I thought he was was.  He's the same complexion as me.

[imref]

here's something interesting (and Nats related).  Last year we also got off to a 19-15 start as Dan Haren beat Doug Fister for win #19.  We got as high as 20-15 before dropping eight out of eleven.

[ajcartwright]

here's something interesting (and Nats related).  Last year we also got off to a 19-15 start as Dan Haren beat Doug Fister for win #19.  We got as high as 20-15 before dropping eight out of eleven.

interesting - very,......trepidationary - some

[GburgNatsFan]

interesting - very,......trepidationary - some

Yes. Almost undauntless-ish.

[nats2playoffs]

interesting - very,......trepidationary - some

[ajcartwright]

05/08

1912 - the white sox beat Washington 7-6, snapping Walter Johnson's five game win streak. a Johnson fastball breaks the arm of of the chisox third baseman, lee tannehill, an injury that will hamper his throwing ability and ends the career of the 10 year veteran.
1914 - when the Senators use Walter Johnson as a reliever, the a's greet him with 6 runs in three innings to send him to the showers. Johnson throws the one and only beanball of his career, a fast ball at the head of frank "home run" baker, a particular nemesis of Johnson's. the beanball misses baker, who Johnson calls the "most dangerous batter i've ever faced". baker had hit .385 against Johnson up til this game: he hit just .207 off Johnson in the next nine years.
1937 - Washington's Bobo Newsom ( the talkative one ) who will pitch in four decades, hit his only major league home run off tiger ace schoolboy rowe. Senators win 8-3.
1968 - jim "catfish" hunter throws the first AL perfect game in 46 years in front of only 6,298 fans. as of today, 800,031 people claim to have been there for the gem.
1971 - Willie Mays & Hank Aaron both hit home runs in the braves 5-2 victory over the giants. it is the first time in baseball history two players with 600 career home runs go deep in the same game.
1981 - oakland's Steve McCatty beats the brewers 2-0.
1998 - the rockies top the Expos 7-5, despite 5 hits by Montreal shortstop Mark Grudzielanek.
2013 - in Washington, the Nats beat the tigers 3-1 behind Jordan Zimmermann's 7 inning, 7 strikeout performance, Zim with two n's scattered 7 hits, walked 2 and only gave up 1 earned run. the Nats offense was led by Denard Span, Adam
LaRoche, and Danny Espinosa, who each had 2 hits. Bryce Harper hit a home run. Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless 8th , striking out 2 and walking 2. Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect 9th for his 11th save.
2014 - the Nats enjoyed a leisurely flight to california. in-flight movie choices were, "fear strikes out", "bang the drum slowly", "sugar", "moneyball", "the bad new bears", "the love guru", and "yentl"

[wpa2629]

LOL

These are great, well done AJC

[welch]

05/05

1875 - the athletics trounce the Washington club 20-8. this is the 5th game in a row that Washington has lost with the winning team scoring 20+ runs. (see, our pitching has improved)
1904 -  the Washington Nationals beat the new york highlanders for their first win of the season, snapping a 13 game losing streak to start the season. (imagine the LOD that year)
1919 - Washington pitcher Jim Shaw hits a grand slam to lead the way to a 10-7 victory & sweep of philadelphia. (what were you saying about a DH?)
1927 - the Senators beat the yankees 6-1 to even the series at 2-2. for the 4th game in a row Rice is out with a sinus infection and  Goose Goslin has pleurisy. (it is possible to win with stars on the DL)
1953 - Washington Senators pitcher Bob Porterfield throws 9 shutouts in the '53 season
1953 - Washington Senators pitcher Bob Porterfield hits a grand slam as the Nats beat detroit 14-4. (about that DH?)
1954 - the Senators Roy Sievers draws a bases loaded walk to beat the white sox 1-0 - the Washington pitcher? - Bob Porterfield with another shutout.
1955 - the musical "damn yankees" opens on broadway. set in Washington D.C. in the '50's, it tells the tale of an aging Washington Senators fan's bargain with the devil to help his hapless team. (anyone volunteer?)
1978 - pete rose singles off Montreal pitcher Steve Rogers for his 3000th hit. Expos win the game though 4-3.
1981 - paced by the smiths, atlanta whipped Montreal 13-3. zane smith pitched the win and lonnie smith had a homer and scored 5 runs. (are there any smiths on the dodgers?)
1992 - the Expos OF Larry Walker hits a homerun off a speaker hanging from the roof of Olympic Stadium in Montreal's 5-2 win over san diego.
1999 - the dodgers beat the Expos 8-2 as pitcher jamie arnold makes his major league debut by limiting Montreal to just 1 hit in 6 2/3 innings. Orlando Cabrera led off the 6th with a single for the only hit against arnold. ( seems we've always helped out young pitchers)
2014 - dodgers pitcher zach greinke, who came into the game sporting a 5-0 record with an era of 2.04 was rocked by the Washington Nationals, who knocked out greinke in the second inning for his shortest stint of the year.
(truth - rain knocked out greinke after 3)Washington pitcher Jordan Zimmermann improved his record to 3-1, pitched well but did not get the win, scattering 4 5 hits and striking out 6 3. JZ got plenty a little run support as the Nationals scored early and often, not led by Nate McLouth, who brought saw his BA up to over .100 drop to .085

Proud to say that I saw both Porterfield and Sievers at Griffith Stadium. Porterfield was the last Washington pitcher before Gio to win 20 games, and Sievers was the first Washington player to lead the league in homers...hit 42 in 1957, when he also led the league in RBI's and hit over .300. If you think RBI's are a weak statistic, consider that the 1957 Senators only won about 50 games. Consider how many RISP Roy hit behind, and still had more than 110 RBI's and an OPS of about .950.

I think Bob Wolff's "home run call" was nothing more pompous than "Sievers hits a long fly ball to deep left field...it's going...going...gone. Home run Roy Sievers!" [Note: in Griffith Stadium, a long fly ball to left or center was a monster-shot] Unlike the Yankees' radio guy who shouts "It is high! It is DEEP! IT IS...caught a few steps from the warning track...a disappointment for Al-fon-so Sor-i-ano".

(Can't resist the ref to Soriano. When Soriano was a rookie, the Yankee radio guys blubbered on and on about him. Not Jeter. Not Bernie Williams. Soriano, the super-star. Note: Washington had no Nationals/Senators/Nats in 2001.)

[ajcartwright]

05/09

1896 - Washington defeats pittsburgh in a beanball battle. Nationals pitcher Win Mercer hit 3 pittsburgh batters while pirate pitcher "pink" hawley hit 3 Washington batters in the 11 run 7th inning.  hawley retired in 1900 after only 9 seasons with a still-standing NL record of 195 hit batters. all told, 8 batters were plunked in this game, with hawley hitting 5.
1899 - Washington commits 10 errors in losing to new york 19-1.
1918 - Washington sends in pitcher Walter Johnson as a pinch hitter in the 9th inning. Johnson responds with a rbi sac fly, which gives Washington a 4-3 lead. Johnson then pitches a scoreless 10th to earn his 3rd win in 9 days against boston. the only 10th inning hit Johnson surrendered was a double to boston starting pitcher Babe Ruth, who was thrown out trying to steal third. Ruth allowed 11 hits and had 1 strikeout. as the cleanup hitter, Ruth was 5-5 with 3 doubles and a triple and ran his hitting streak to 10 games.
1958 - after six straight home rainouts, the yankees play their first home night game of the year and defeat Washington 9-5. Mickey Mantle broke a 2-2 tie in the 3rd with an inside-the-park homer off Pedro Ramos.
1990 - at new york the a's beat the yankees 2-1 in 11 innings. the a's first run was scored by Rickey ( no last name needed ) when he scored from second on a 6-3 ground out. READ THAT AGAIN!!!
2013 - the visiting tigers were no match for the masterful pitching of the Washington Nationals starter Dan Haren. Haren went 6 innings, giving up 9 hits, 4 runs (all earned ), and 1 homerun. Haren struck out 3 and walked only 1. the detroit starter, Doug Fister was handed his first loss of the season but did touch Haren for a rbi single in the 2nd. four different Nats hitters had 1 rbi each with Ryan Zimmerman going 3-4, and Adam LaRoche going 2-4. RZimm brought his BA up to .239 Bryce Harper at .302, Ian Desmond is at .273, and Wilson Ramos is at .256.
Jayson Werth did not play so the outfield was switched around so that the .129 hitting Roger Bernadina played left and went 1-2 with a walk. Mattheus, Storen, and Soriano each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the contest. Soriano picked up save #12.
2014 - the Nationals shook off the jet-lag and time difference to wallop the oakland a's. Doug Fister, a native californian, gives his Mother a nice Mother's Day present by pitching a gem in his first start of the year. former Nat Tommy Milone was rocked by the team he debuted with in 2011. Washington had no need to add to the teams' total of 9 comeback wins this year as they led from wire to wire.
 

[Jordanz Meatballz]

RZimm brought his BA up to .366 which puts him in fourth place on the team in BA. First is Bryce Harper at .629, Ian Desmond is second at .477, and Wilson Ramos is at .462.

No, Bryce Harper was not hitting .629 in early May last year.

Do you perhaps mean BA with RISP or some other stat involving SSS?

[tomterp]

No, Bryce Harper was not hitting .629 in early May last year.

Do you perhaps mean BA with RISP or some other stat involving SSS?

He was slugging .629 on May 9.  Only OPS-ing 1.013  however.