Baseball history unpacked, September 6

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and deep dives into various narratives that expand over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along. Don’t be afraid to click the links for ‘inside baseball’ on the entries, which change from year to year as we re-examine the subjects.

Today in baseball history:

• 1883 - At Chicago’s Lakefront Park, the National League’s White Stockings send 23 batters to the plate, scoring 13 runs before the team makes an out. Tommy Burns and Ned Williamson both score three times in the 18-run, 18-hit seventh inning, establishing a major league record. (1,3)
• 1905 - Frank Smith no-hits the Tigers, 15-0, in the biggest no-hit rout in major league history. The White Sox right-hander will toss another no-hitter in 1908, beating the A’s, 1-0. (1,3)
• 1912 - Jeff Tesreau, joining Christy Mathewson (Giants, 1901) and Nick Maddox (Pirates, 1907), becomes the third post-1900 rookie to throw a no-hitter. The 24-year-old right-hander holds the Phillies hitless in the Giants’ 3-0 victory in the first game of the Baker Bowl’s twin bill. (1,4)
• 1918 - In Game 2 of the World Series‚ Lefty Tyler drives in two runs in the Cubs’ three-run second. The Red Sox get one in the ninth and that’s all the scoring for the day‚ with Tyler beating Joe Bush. The game also features fights between Heinie Wagner and Hippo Vaughn and another involving Les Mann and Bush. (2,3)
• 1930 - At Forbes Field‚ the Cubs overcome a 12-8 Pirate lead after seven innings‚ by scoring four runs in the eighth and six in the ninth to outshoot the Pirates‚ 19-14. Hack Wilson hits his 47th homer‚ to keep the Cubs in 1st place in the National League race. (3)
• 1948 - After 2,592 plate appearances, Emil Verban hits his first and only major league home run, establishing the mark for the longest homerless streak to start a career. The Cubs second baseman hits the historic home run off Johnny Vander Meer in the seventh inning of the team’s 3-1 loss to Chicago at Crosley Field. (1,3)
• 1953 - The Chicago Cubs win a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds, by scores of 7-6 and 7-2. In the first game, Cubs first baseman Dee Fondy hits one of his team’s four homers and then scores the game-winning run with a two-out, two-strike steal of home in the ninth inning. Fondy’s teammates Ransom Jackson, Ralph Kiner and Hank Sauer also homer, Kiner and Sauer back-to-back. (3)
• 1972 - A’s southpaw Ken Holtzman and first baseman Mike Epstein wear black armbands on their uniforms’ sleeves to pay respect to the 11 Israeli Olympic athletes killed yesterday by terrorists in Munich. The action taken by the Jewish players, affirming the importance of their faith, is well received by the club, with Reggie Jackson wearing an armband in solidarity, along with skipper Dick Williams being fully supportive of the symbolic gesture made by the Oakland teammates. (1,4)
• 2001 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants becomes the fifth player in major league history to hit 60 home runs in a season during a game against Arizona. He joins Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Bonds, who is the oldest to join this elite group, reaches the historic plateau the quickest, needing only 141 games to reach the milestone. (3)
• 2003 - At Milwaukee‚ the Cubs’ Mark Prior (15-5) strikes out seven in seven innings to win his seventh straight‚ beating the Brewers‚ 4-2. Randall Simon hits a two-run homer for Chicago and gets a big cheer when it is announced that all 330 fans sitting in section 112‚ behind the Cubs dugout‚ would receive free Polish sausages‚ courtesy of Simon. Simon’s last appearance at Miller Park was in a Pirates uniform on July 9 when he whacked a woman dressed as a sausage during a race. (3)
• 2020 - Hall of Famer Lou Brock, who held the career and single-season stolen bases records before they were broken by Rickey Henderson, and a member of the 3,000 hit club, passes away at age 81. (3)

Cubs birthdays: Vallie Eaves, Harry Perkowski, Hal Jeffcoat, Steve Macko, Derrek Lee. Also notable: Red Faber HOF.

The Steve Macko story, from SABR. The Steve Macko Scholarship Fund on Facebook.

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.

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