MLB
Thursday, June 3
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This Day in Baseball
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On June 3 in Baseball History...
1925 - White Sox manager Eddie Collins makes hit number 3,000 against Detroit.
1930 - Grover Alexander is released by the Phillies after posting an 0-3 record. He ends his career thinking he has the N.L. record for most wins at 373, one more than Christy Mathewson. In 1946, a win disallowed in 1902 is restored to Mathewson's record, to leave the two great pitchers at a tie.
1932 - Lou Gehrig hits four consecutive home runs and narrowly misses a fifth in a Yankees-Athletics slugfest won by New York 20-13. Tony Lazzeri hits for the cycle, and the teams set a still-standing record for extra bases on long hits in a single game (41).
1937 - Negro Leagues star Josh Gibson is credited with a drive that hits just two feet below the rim of Yankee Stadium, about 580 feet from home plate. It is estimated that the ball would have traveled nearly 700 feet if unimpeded.
1953 - Congress cites the research of New York City librarian Robert Henderson in proving that Alexander Cartwright founded baseball and not Abner Doubleday. His 1947 book Bat, Ball and Bishop documents Cartwright's contributions to the origins of the game of baseball.
1955 - Stan Musial hits the 300th home run of his career, a fifth-inning, three-run shot against Brooklyn's Johnny Podres. The Cards use an N.L.-record eight pitchers but still lose 12-5.
1958 - The Dodger referendum passes in Los Angeles by a slim margin of 24,293 votes. The proposition allows the city to sell 300 acres of Chavez Ravine to the Dodgers for their stadium. The N.L. president had stated that the Dodgers should vacate Los Angeles if the bill failed.
1971 - Cubs southpaw Ken Holtzman tosses the second no-hitter of his career, victimizing the Reds 1-0. Holtzman scores the only run, in the third inning.
1980 - The New York Mets select 18-year-old Darryl Strawberry from Los Angeles's Crenshaw High School with the first pick in the annual June free-agent draft. The Blue Jays then pick shortstop Garry Harris.
1985 - The Brewers select University of North Carolina catcher B.J. Surhoff with the first pick in what will prove to be an extremely fruitful free-agent draft. Surhoff was the catcher for the U.S. Olympic Team in 1984, and fellow Olympians Will Clark (Mississippi State), Bobby Witt (University of Oklahoma), and Barry Larkin (University of Michigan) are drafted second, third, and fourth by the Giants, Rangers, and Reds, respectively.
1989 - Nolan Ryan pitches his second one-hitter this season and 11th overall, allowing only a first-inning single to Harold Reynolds in a 6-1 win over Seattle. Ryan also strikes out 11 to tie Don Sutton's major league record of 21 seasons with at least 100 strikeouts.
1991 - The Yankees make high-school pitcher Brien Taylor the number one pick of the amateur draft. The Braves take Arizona State outfielder Mike Kelly with the second pick.
1995 - Expos pitcher Pedro Martinez is perfect for nine innings in San Diego, but loses his no-hitter when Bip Roberts doubles to lead off the tenth inning. Montreal eventually comes away with a 1-0 win.
1997 - Albert Belle returns to Cleveland for the first time since signing a $55-million, five-year contract with the rival White Sox. Belle has three hits, including a three-run home run, and when the fans pelt him with debris he waves his glove and asks for more. After the last out of Chicago's 9-5 win, Belle gives a final obscene gesture to the Jacobs Field crowd before running off the field.
