Baseball history unpacked, June 2

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

Today in baseball history:

• 1891 - Charles ‘Old Hoss’ Radbourn of the Cincinnati Reds wins his career 300th game by beating the Boston Beaneaters at South End Grounds, 10-8. Radbourn, who will finish 488 of the 502 games he started, will end his 11-year career this season with 309 victories. (1,3)
• 1925 - 21-year-old Lou Gehrig starts a game for the New York Yankees when regular first baseman Wally Pipp is hit in the head during batting practice and complains of a headache - in fact a concussion. Gehrig collects three hits in five at-bats, helping the Yankees to an 8-5 victory over the Washington Senators. Gehrig will go on to play in a major league record 2,130 consecutive games, a record since broken by Cal Ripken with a streak of 2,632. (3)
• 1935 - Braves outfielder Babe Ruth announces his retirement from baseball. The 40-year-old former Yankees slugger wanted to retire three weeks earlier but stayed when team owner Emil Fuchs persuaded him to continue to play because Boston hadn’t played in every National League park yet. (1,3,4)
• 1941 - Upon their arrival in Detroit, the Yankees learned the sad news that their captain, Lou Gehrig, seventeen days before his 38th birthday, had died in his sleep due to ALS in his Riverdale home. On this day exactly 16 years ago, the ‘Iron Horse’ broke into the starting lineup of the Bronx Bombers. (1,3)
• 1957 - Moe Drabowsky sets a National League record for the most hit batsmen in a single game when he plunks four Reds in the Cubs’ 4-3 loss at Crosley Field. Cincinnati’s right fielder Frank Robinson is drilled in consecutive innings by the right-hander, who was born in Ozanna, Poland. (1,4)
• 1959 - A swarm of gnats delays the game between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park. After a half-hour interruption, the Chicago grounds crew disposes of the gnats by using a smoke bomb attached to a postgame fireworks display. The Orioles eventually defeat the White Sox, 3-2. (3)
• 1990 - Randy Johnson pitches the first no-hitter in Seattle Mariners history, a 2-0 win over the Detroit Tigers at the Kingdome. Johnson strikes out eight and walks six. (3)
• 1996 - In St. Louis, Darryl Kile ties a major league record by hitting four batters. The Astros right-hander becomes the first National League player to do it since Moe Drabowsky accomplished the feat on the same date while toiling for the Cubs in 1957. (1,3)
• 2000 - With the Detroit Tigers visiting Wrigley Field for the first time since the 1945 World Series, Chicago Cubs reliever Rick Aguilera pitches a perfect ninth inning for his 300th career save in the 2-0 Chicago victory. (3)
• 2001 - At Miller Park, the red-hot Chicago Cubs extend their winning streak to 12 games, beating the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-4. Matt Stairs hits a three-run home run, while Sammy Sosa and Rondell White add two-run homers, all off Paul Rigdon. Kevin Tapani is the winning pitcher. It is the longest winning streak for the Cubs since they won 15 straight games in 1936. (3)
• 2010- Armando Galarraga throws a one-hitter in a 3-0 win over Cleveland but in the eyes of most observers, he has pitched a perfect game: the only baserunner he gives up comes with two outs in the ninth inning, when Jason Donald is called safe on an infield hit by umpire Jim Joyce; however, replays show that the throw from 1B Miguel Cabrera to Galarraga beat Donald to the bag. The Tigers starter thus comes agonizingly close to pitching the third major league perfect game in only a month. (3)
• 2018 - Jacob deGrom matches a career high set just two weeks earlier by racking up 13 strikeouts in seven innings in a start against the Cubs, but the NL ERA leader has to settle for another no-decision as the game is decided in 14 innings. Seven relievers add another 11 strikeouts to give the Mets 24, two shy of the all-time mark for an extra-inning game, but it’s the Cubs who break through with six runs in the top of the 14th, highlighted by Albert Almora’s two-run double off Buddy Baumann, to win, 7-1. Luke Farrell pitches five scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win. (3)

Cubs birthdays: Larry Jackson, Lee Gregory, Neifi Perez, Steve Rain.

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.