Baseball history unpacked, May 5

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.

Today in baseball history:

• 1904 - At Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans hurls the second of his three no-hitters, a 3-0 perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics and Rube Waddell. Young will eventually complete 24 straight hitless innings, still the record, and 45 shutout innings in a row, a record until broken by Jack Coombs’ 53 scoreless frames in 1910. (1,2)
• 1917 - Ernie Koob of the St. Louis Browns pitches a 1-0 no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox. George Sisler drives in the winning run and Ed Cicotte is the loser. (1,2)
• 1938 - Hal Kelleher of the Philadelphia Phillies faces 16 batters in the sixth inning as the Cubs score 12 runs. Both marks are National League records off one pitcher in a single inning. The Cubs win, 21-2, with Joe Marty collecting four hits, four runs, and four RBI. The loss goes to Wayne LaMaster, who throws just three pitches to leadoff batter Stan Hack before leaving the game with pain in his throwing arm. (2)
• 1962 - Bo Belinsky of the Los Angeles Angels beats Steve Barber and the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0, with a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium. Belinsky strikes out nine and walks four and will become a short-lived star in southern California. (2)
• 1975 - The Oakland Athletics release pinch runner Herb Washington, ending his unusual major league career. Curiously, Washington played in 105 major league games without batting, pitching, or fielding. He collected 31 stolen bases and scored 33 runs. (1,2)
• 1999 - At Wrigley Field, the Colorado Rockies become the first team in 35 years and only the third in the 20th century to score in every inning in a 13-6 win over the Chicago Cubs. The last time a team scored in all nine innings was also at Chicago, when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cubs on September 13, 1964. (2)
• 2001 - Sammy Sosa homers and has four RBI, and Julian Tavarez pitches seven solid innings as the Chicago Cubs beat the Dodgers, 20-1, at Wrigley Field. Chicago scores eight runs in each of the last two innings. (2)
• 2021 - John Means of the Orioles throws what is already the third no-hitter of the season, blanking the Mariners, 6-0. He misses a perfect game by the slightest of margins, as Sam Haggerty reaches base in the 3rd on a strikeout and wild pitch, then is promptly caught stealing. Means strikes out 12 in facing the minimum 27 batters. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Tom Vickery, Lennie Merullo*, Jim Kirby, Dave Gumpert. Also notable: Charles Bender HOF.

*Lennie Merullo was a Cub for six years, during and after World War Two (1941-47). When he passed on May 30, 2015, he was the last surviving member of a Cub team that played in the World Series. He was known as a slick fielder with a knack for hitting in the clutch. His stats seem to bear that impression out.

That 1945 outfit was a good team, with some well-remembered players — Phil Cavarretta was at first, with Andy Pafko and Bill Nicholson in the outfield. The starting five was killer. They weren’t in the Series by accident.

Today in history:

• 1260 Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
• 1809 Mary Kies is the first woman issued a US patent for weaving straw
• 1847 American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia)
• 1905 Robert S Abbott published 1st issue of newspaper “Chicago Defender”
• 1920 Italian migrant anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti charged with murder of a paymaster at a US shoe factory in Massachusetts, both are later executed
• 1925 Dayton teacher John T. Scopes arrested for teaching evolution in Tennessee.

Common sources:

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

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid, so that we can address that to the originators and provide clarity if not ‘truth’. Nothing is posted here without at least one instance of corroboration (this also includes the history bullets). Thanks for reading, and thanks also for your cooperation.