Baseball history unpacked, June 28

... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a wildly popular Cubs-centric look at baseball’s past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along as we review select scenes from the rich tapestry of Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball history. The embedded links often point to articles that pertain to the scenes, such as reproductions of period newspapers, images, and/or other such material as is often found in the wild.

Today in baseball history:

• 1910 - Joe Tinker of the Chicago Cubs became the first major-leaguer to steal home twice in the same game. (2,3)

Box score.

• 1933 - 2B Billy Herman sets National League fielding records with 11 putouts in the first game and 16 for the twin bill, as the Cubs take a pair from the Phillies, 9 - 5 and 8 - 3. (3)

Box score.

• 1950 - Roy Smalley of the Cubs hits for the cycle in a 15 - 3 win over the Cards at Wrigley Field. Doyle Lade is the winner. (3)

Box score.

• 1951 - The Cubs’ Frank Hiller faces just 27 batters in pitching a one-hitter over the Cards, winning 8 - 0. Enos Slaughter has a 5th-inning single but is erased on a double play. Randy Jackson poles his seventh homer in the seventh and the Cubs pull off a double steal in the ninth when they add four runs. Jack Cusick swipes home, with Hiller stealing third. (3)

Box score.

• 1970 - Pittsburgh swept the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 and 4-1, in the Pirates’ final games at Forbes Field. (2)

Box scores: Game 1. Game 2

Here’s some video from Game 2 of that doubleheader:

• 1995 - The Cubs trade C Rick Wilkins to the Astros for OF Luis Gonzalez and C Scott Servais. (3)
• 1999 - Hack Wilson ups his RBI total for the 1930 season to 191. 69 years after the season, an RBI is added to his batting record by the commissioner’s office, which also gives Babe Ruth six additional walks, raising his career-record total to 2,062. “There is no doubt that Hack Wilson’s RBI total should be 191,” commissioner Bud Selig says. “I am sensitive to the historical significance that accompanies the correction of such a prestigious record, especially after so many years have passed, but it is important to get it right.” The missing RBI comes from the second game of a doubleheader between Wilson’s Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds on July 28, 1930 in which Charlie Grimm was wrongly credited with two RBIs and Wilson with none. Ruth’s walk total is now 2,062. Ted Williams is second, trailing by 43, and Rickey Henderson of the New York Mets is third, 134 behind Ruth.
• 2016 - In defeating the Reds, 7 - 2, in 15 innings, the Cubs have to use three different pitchers in left field after they run out of position players. Relievers Travis Wood and Spencer Patton alternate between the mound and the outfield in the 14th, then another reliever, Pedro Strop, plays in left in the 15th as Wood closes out the win. Kris Bryant snaps the tie with an RBI single in the top of the 15th and Javier Baez follows with a grand slam to put the game away. (3)

Box score.

• 2017 - One day after he ranted to reporters about pitcher Jake Arrieta’s failure to hold on baserunners when the Nationals stole a team-record 7 bases, C Miguel Montero is designated for assignment by the Cubs, who call his tirade unprofessional and detrimental to the team’s cohesion. (3)
• Cubs birthdays: Hal Breeden, Chris Speier, Mark Grace, Matt Karchner, Ron Mahay. Also notable: Don Baylor.

Sources:

• (1) — The National Pastime.
• (2) — Today in Baseball History.
• (3) — Baseball Reference.
• (4) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (5) — Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thanks for reading.