Baseball history unpacked, June 28

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:

• 1871 - Both the Athletic of Philadelphia and the Troy Haymakers score in each inning, with Athletic winning, 49-33, the highest-scoring contest in the history of the National Association. The 42 hits made by Athletic (including a 7-for-7 day by John Radcliff and 6-for-8 performances by Al Reach and Levi Meyerle) is also a league record. (2)
• 1884 - Tom Lee of Chicago gives up a franchise record six homers in a game at Lake Front Park, where the fence is just under 200 feet from home plate. No Cubs pitcher will match that until Matt Swarmer in 2022. (2)
• 1910 - Joe Tinker of the Chicago Cubs became the first major leaguer to steal home twice in the same game. Mordecai Brown is the winner in an 11-1 home win over the Reds. (1,2)
• 1916 - Cubs catcher Bill Fischer sets a major league record by catching all 27 innings in a doubleheader loss to the Pirates. The second game goes 18 innings before the Corsairs win it, 3-2. Impressed with Fischer’s durability, the Pirates will acquire the backstop next month. (2)
• 1933 - 2B Billy Herman sets National League fielding records with 11 putouts in the first game and 16 for the twin bill, as the Cubs take a pair from the Phillies, 9-5 and 8-3. (2)
• 1936 - Larry French and Bill Lee pitch the Cubs to twin shutouts, 3-0 and 6-0, over the Giants and replace the Cardinals in the league lead. (2)
• 1950 - Roy Smalley of the Cubs hits for the cycle in a 15-3 win over the Cards at Wrigley Field. Doyle Lade is the winner. (2)
• 1951 - The Cubs’ Frank Hiller faces just 27 batters in pitching a one-hitter over the Cards, winning 8-0. Enos Slaughter has a fifth-inning single but is erased on a double play. Randy Jackson poles his seventh homer in the sevenh and the Cubs pull off a double steal in the ninth when they add four runs. Jack Cusick swipes home, with Hiller stealing third. (2)
• 1970 - Pittsburgh swept the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 and 4-1, in the Pirates’ final games at Forbes Field.
• 1979 - The Reds sell OF Ken Henderson to the Cubs.
• 1995 - The Cubs trade C Rick Wilkins to the Astros for OF Luis Gonzalez and C Scott Servais. (2)
• 1999 - Hack Wilson ups his RBI total for the 1930 season to 191. 69 years after the season, an RBI is added to his batting record by the commissioner’s office, which also gives Babe Ruth six additional walks, raising his career-record total to 2,062. “There is no doubt that Hack Wilson’s RBI total should be 191,” commissioner Bud Selig says. “I am sensitive to the historical significance that accompanies the correction of such a prestigious record, especially after so many years have passed, but it is important to get it right.” The missing RBI comes from the second game of a doubleheader between Wilson’s Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds on July 28, 1930 in which Charlie Grimm was wrongly credited with two RBIs and Wilson with none. Ruth’s walk total is now 2,062. Ted Williams is second, trailing by 43, and Rickey Henderson of the New York Mets is third, 134 behind Ruth. (2)
• 2016 - In defeating the Reds, 7-2, in 15 innings, the Cubs have to use three different pitchers in left field after they run out of position players. Relievers Travis Wood and Spencer Patton alternate between the mound and the outfield in the 14th, then another reliever, Pedro Strop, plays in left in the 15th as Wood closes out the win. Kris Bryant snaps the tie with an RBI single in the top of the 15th and Javier Baez follows with a grand slam to put the game away. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Hal Breeden, Chris Speier, Mark Grace*, Matt Karchner, Ron Mahay.

Today in history:

• 1635 - French colony of Guadeloupe established in the Caribbean.
• 1762 - Russian Tsarina Catherine II seizes power, declaring herself sovereign ruler of Russia.
• 1776 - Final draft of Declaration of Independence submitted to Continental Congress.
• 1846 - Saxophone is patented by Antoine-Joseph “Adolfe” Sax.
• 1870 - U.S. Congress creates federal holidays (New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day), initially applicable only to federal employees.
• 1914 - Assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie by Bosnian-Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, setting off chain of alliances that begin WWI.
• 1919 - Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI and establishing the League of Nations, is signed in France.

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.