Baseball history unpacked, June 14

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:

• 1870 - In what is considered by many historians the greatest baseball game of the 19th century, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball’s first all-professional team see their winning streak stopped at 89 in a wild 11-inning battle with the Atlantic of Brooklyn team, 8-7. The game is tied 5-5 after nine innings of play, and the Atlantic players are happy to have a draw but Cincinnati captain Harry Wright insists that the game be played to a decision. The Red Stockings score twice in the 11th inning, but the Atlantic come back with three in their half to win. The game is notable as being the first extra-inning game between professional clubs, and as one of the lowest-scoring games of its day. As is the practice of the day, Atlantic continues to bat after having clinched the game, but no further runs are scored. (2)
• 1876 - George Hall of the Philadelphia Athletics becomes the first major league player to hit for the cycle. He will also become the first player to be banned, along with others, for throwing a 3½ game lead with 12 games to go in 1877. (2)
• 1933 - Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game streak stays intact, even though he and Yankees manager Joe McCarthy are thrown out of a game. McCarthy is suspended for three games but not Gehrig, whose streak, now at 1,249, continues. (1,2)
• 1952 - Boston Braves pitcher Warren Spahn ties the National League record of Jim Whitney with 18 strikeouts in an 15-inning, 3-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Spahn’s home run is the only Braves run. On the same day, Braves scout Dewey Griggs signs Hank Aaron to a contract. (1,2)
• 1965 - Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds no-hits the New York Mets for 10 innings and ties a National League record with 18 strikeouts in an extra-inning game, but loses the game when Johnny Lewis hits a lead-off home run in the 11th inning that gives the Mets a 1-0 win. (1,2)
• 1979 - Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants hits his 513th home run, off Dennis Lamp*, establishing him as the National League all-time left-handed home run leader, but the Chicago Cubs beat the Giants, 8-6, at Candlestick Park. (1,2)
• 1995 - Mike Benjamin goes 6 for 7, setting a major league record with 14 hits in three games, and drives in the winning run in the 13th inning as the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3. A career .186 hitter in his first six seasons, Benjamin is 14 for 18 in that stretch. (1,2)
• 2002 - With all 14 interleague games — and one National League game — taking place in NL parks, a designated hitter is not used in a full slate of major league games for the first time since 1972. Visiting pitchers will have plenty of opportunities to swing the bat as there is not a home game scheduled in American League parks for 10 consecutive days. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Harley Parker, Hal Manders, Bud Hardin, Jerry Spradlin.

Today in history:

• 1381 - Richard II in England meets leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance.
• 1789 - Captain William Bligh and his loyal men cast off from HMS Bounty reach Timor, after sailing 5,800 km in a six-meter launch.
• 1822 - Charles Babbage proposes a “difference engine” in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled “Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables”.
• 1881 - Player piano patented by John McTammany Jr (Cambridge, Massachusetts).
• 1942 - Anne Frank begins her diary.
• 1951 - First commercial computer, UNIVAC 1, enters service at Census Bureau.
• 2013 - The US government charges NSA leaker Edward Snowden with violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property.

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.