Baseball history unpacked, June 2

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:

• 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. (2)
• 1894 - Ed Stein pitches a seven-inning no-hitter, as the Brooklyn Grooms beat the Chicago Colts, 1-0. The previous day, Brooklyn held Chicago to one hit in a 5-0 shutout. (2)
• 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, who had appeared as a pinch-hitter in the previous day’s game, 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. (2)
• 1935 - Babe Ruth of the Boston Braves announces his retirement from baseball. Struggling with a .181 batting average at the time, he retires with 714 home runs, by far the most in major league history. Ruth will gain election to the Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class next year. (1,2)
• 1941 - Lou Gehrig dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of 37 in New York. From that time on, the illness will be known in North America primarily as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”.
• 1957 - Chicago Cubs pitcher Moe Drabowsky ties a National League record by hitting four Cincinnati batters in the Cubs’ 6-4 loss to the Redlegs. This will not be done again in the NL until this day in 1996. (2)
• 1990 - Seattle’s Randy Johnson, at six feet, ten inches the tallest pitcher in major-league history, pitches the first Mariners’ no-hitter, a 2-0 win over the Tigers. He walks six and strikes out eight. (1,2)
• 1996 - Houston Astros pitcher Darryl Kile ties a major league record by hitting four St. Louis Cardinals batters. Kyle also becomes the first National League pitcher to do it since Moe Drabowsky accomplished the feat pitching for the Cubs on this day 39 years ago. (2)
• 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. (2)
• 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 games in 1936. The streak will end tomorrow. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Larry Jackson, Lee Gregory, Neifi Perez, Steve Rain, Chris Martin, Caleb Kilian.

Today in history:

• 455 - King Gaiseric and the Vandals sack Rome — Rome looted for 14 days.
• 1835 - P. T. Barnum & his circus begin 1st tour of US.
• 1883 - Chicago’s “El” opens to traffic.
• 1910 - Pygmies discovered in Dutch New Guinea.
• 1967 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles’ album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in the US; it is their first album with identical track listings in US and UK, and goes to number one for 15 weeks in US, 22 weeks in UK.

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.