Baseball history unpacked, April 21

... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along as we review select snapshots from the big picture of Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball history.

Today in baseball history:

• 1887 - Joe McCarthy is born in Philadelphia. McCarthy will become the first manager to win pennants with both National and American League teams, and will win nine league titles overall and seven World Series championships. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977. (3)
• 1900 - At Schorling’s Park on Chicago’s South Side, the White Sox, as a minor league team, play their first game in franchise history, losing to Milwaukee, 5-4. The small wooden ballpark located at 39th and Princeton, also known as South Side Park, will continue to be the Windy City home for the team when they join the American League next season. (1)
• 1904 - Ty Cobb makes his professional debut for Augusta (South Atlantic League), hitting a double and home run in an 8-7 loss to Columbus. (2)
• 1929 - At Wrigley Field before 45,000, the Cubs top the Cardinals, 4-0, with Guy Bush winning over Willie Mitchell. Rogers Hornsby is 4 for 4 with two doubles. (3)
• 1959 - At Wrigley Field, Stan Musial breaks up Glen Hobbie’s no-hitter with a two-out seventh-inning double. The 23-year-old right-hander settles for a one-hitter, going the distance in the Cubs’ 1-0 victory over the Cardinals. (1,3)
• 1966 - The Phillies obtain Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl from the Cubs in exchange for future Hall of Fame hurler Ferguson Jenkins, outfielder Adolfo Phillips, and first baseman/outfielder John Herrnstein. The pair of right-handers will post a 47-53 record collectively for Philadelphia as Chicago’s new moundsman will win 20 or more games for six consecutive seasons starting in 1967. (1)
• 1991 - In the greatest extra-inning comeback in major league history, the Pittsburgh Pirates score six runs in the bottom of the 11th inning to erase a five-run Cubs lead built in the top of the inning on Andre Dawson’s grand slam. The Pirates had rallied earlier from a 7-2 deficit to tie the game in the ninth. (2,3)
• 2011 - Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association come to an agreement on paying pensions for major league players active from 1947 to 1979 who failed to qualify for benefits at the time. Until 1979, players needed to have completed four full years of major league service to qualify for a pension, leaving hundreds short. Since 1980, benefits accrue from the first day a player spends in the majors. 904 players will receive payments thanks to the agreement. (3)
• 2012 - Philip Humber’s first major league complete game is baseball’s twenty-first perfect game when he retires all 27 Mariners he faces in the White Sox’ 4-0 victory at Safeco Field. The 29 year-old right-hander, who had Tommy John surgery in 2005, is the third Pale Hose pitcher to accomplish perfection, joining Mark Buehrle (2009 vs. Tampa Bay) and Charles Robertson (1932 vs. Detroit). (1)
• 2016 - Jake Arrieta throws the first no-hitter of the year in the major leagues as the Cubs defeat the Reds, 16-0. It is the highest-scoring no-hitter since Pud Galvin won one by a score of 18-0 back on August 4, 1884. Kris Bryant homers twice, including a grand slam, to lead the offence. For Arrieta, who is now 4-0, 0.87 in four starts this year, it is his second career no-hitter. (1,3)

• 2018 - Sean Manaea tosses the 12th no-hitter in A’s franchise history and the first since southpaw Dallas Braden’s perfect game in 2010, when he keeps the opponents hitless in the team’s 3-0 victory over the 17-2 Red Sox at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The 26 year old southpaw’s performance ends Boston’s run of 3,987 games without being no-hit, a streak dating back Mariners’ Chris Bosio’s no-no against the club at the Kingdome on April 22, 1993. (1)

Cubs birthdays: Lefty Weinert, Bill Faul, Les Lancaster, Joc Pederson.

Common sources:

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

There is a very active baseball history community and there are many facets to their views. We strive for clarity. Please let us know (nicely) if you feel that an item is in error and we will address that issue to the originator(s), if at all possible.

Thanks for reading!