Baseball history unpacked, July 21

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:

• 1892 - In a match up of 300-game winners at Philadelphia Baseball Grounds, Phillies submariner Tim Keefe sinks Jim “Pud” Galvin and the Browns, 2-0. The next time two National League pitchers with 300 or more victories will face each other will occur in 2005 when Greg Maddux of the Cubs beats Astros ace Roger Clemens at Minute Maid Park, 3-2. (2)
• 1908 - According to a Chicago newspaper contest, the Giants’ Mike Donlin, the National League’s leading hitter, is baseball’s most popular player. Turkey Mike tops Honus Wagner by a wide margin and will be awarded a trophy cup. Donlin was involved in a car accident on the 18th when the car he was riding in on Michigan Avenue collided with another vehicle driven by Chicago Mayor Fred A. Busse. (2)
• 1921 - The Indians bang out nine doubles, and the Yankees seven, for an American League record 16 in Cleveland’s 17-8 win. (1,2) Box score.
• 1922 - The Cubs edge Brooklyn, 1-0, as Grover Cleveland Alexander wins the duel with Dutch Ruether. Ray Grimes, who drove in three runs yesterday, doubles in the only Cub tally. Grimes now has RBIs in 15 straight games. (2)
• 1937 - Rogers Hornsby is fired as manager of the St. Louis Browns for playing the horses; Jim Bottomley takes over. (2)
• 1957 - Cubs relief pitcher Jim Brosnan falls on the mound while warming up, injuring his Achilles tendon. He leaves the game without throwing a single pitch to a batter. (2)
• 1970 - Clay Kirby has a no-hitter going for eight innings, but with two outs in the bottom of the eighth and trailing 1-0, Padres manager Preston Gomez lifts him for a pinch hitter, Cito Gaston. Gaston fails to get a hit off Mets starter Jim McAndrew, and reliever Jack Baldschun gives up two runs in the ninth. The Padres lose, 3-0. Gomez will repeat the controversial move on September 4, 1974. (1,2)
• 1972 - Billy Williams drives in six runs to lead the Cubs to an 11-3 win over the Astros. Williams has four hits, including a double and homer, to give Bill Bonham his only win of the year. Ken Forsch takes the loss. (2)
• 1991 Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Rod Carew, Tony Lazzeri, & Bill Veeck are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. (OTD)
• 1998 - Kerry Wood out-duels Greg Maddux as the Cubs defeat the Braves before a sellout crowd. Wood strikes out 11 in 7⅔ innings, the sixth time in 18 starts he has reached double figures. For Maddux, it is his first loss to his former team after seven wins. (2)
• 2000 - Wasting no time in his new capacity as Cubs GM, Andy MacPhail sends popular OF Glenallen Hill to the Yankees for minor league pitchers Ben Ford and Oswaldo Mairena. (2)
• 2019 - The 2019 Hall of Fame Class is inducted in Cooperstown, NY, with six former players being honored: Harold Baines, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith. All are present, save for Halladay, who passed away in a plane crash in 2017 and, who is represented by his wife, Brandy. Rivera, the first player to be elected unanimously to the Hall, gets the honor of speaking last, befitting his status as the greatest closer in history. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Johnny Evers HOF, Billy Holm, Moe Drabowsky, Nelson Mathews, Kyuji Fujikawa.

Today in history:

• 356 BC - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
• 365 - Crete Earthquake followed by tsunami around the Eastern Mediterranean allegedly destroys Alexandria.
• 1865 - In market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown.
• 1955 - USS Seawolf launched, 1st submarine powered by liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor.
• 1959 - Red Sox are last team to use a black player (Pumpsie Green).
• 1969 - Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to step on the Moon at 2:56:15 AM (GMT).

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.