Baseball history unpacked, August 4

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:

• 1884 - Pud Galvin pitches the most lopsided no-hitter in major league history as the Buffalo Bisons stampede over the Detroit Wolverines, 18-0. It is the second career no-hitter for future Hall of Famer Galvin. (2)
• 1901 - Cincinnati and Pittsburgh players are clocked while running from home plate to first base. The fastest time for the 90-foot sprint is three seconds flat, by Pirates outfielder Ginger Beaumont. (1)
• 1909 - Umpire Tim Hurst instigates a riot by spitting at Athletics second baseman Eddie Collins, who had questioned a call. In the 2nd inning of the second game of a doubleheader between the Pirates and Reds in Cincinnati, fans throw an empty beer bottle in his direction. Hurst picks it up and throws it right back in the crowd. He is arrested and fined $100 on a charge of assault and battery when the bottle hits a spectator, causing a gash over his right eye. This incident eventually leads to Hurst’s banishment from baseball two weeks later. (1,2,3)
• 1921 - In Chicago, Billy Southworth leads the Braves to a 13-5 win over the Cubs by belting three doubles and home run. Mule Watson coasts to the win over Percy Jones. (2)
• 1926 - Stanford star fullback Ernie Nevers pitches his first complete game for the Browns, beating the A’s, 3-1. Nevers will be 6-12 in his brief baseball career, but he will win a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame playing with the Duluth Eskimos and Chicago Cardinals (1926-1931). (2)
• 1931 - The Reds finally score, but lose to the Cubs, 4-2, in the first of two. Guy Bush beats Larry Benton. Chicago takes the nitecap, 7-3, behind Les Sweetland as Jack Ogden is pinned with the loss. Rookie OF Vince Barton has five hits in the two games, including a pair of homers in the second game. (2)
• 1936 - The Cardinals regain first place, beating the Cubs, 6-1, and dropping them to second place. (2)
• 1955 - Ernie Banks hits three homers at Wrigley Field against three Pirate pitchers, as the Cubs win, 11-10. (2)
• 1960 - Believing that Chicago’s Jim Brewer is throwing at him, Reds 2B Billy Martin throws his bat toward the mound. Then, he advances to retrieve it from Brewer, who has picked it up. The two exchange words and Martin launches a hard overhand right that fractures the orbital bone of Brewer’s right eye. Both benches empty and Martin continues swinging, decking Frank Thomas. Brewer requires surgery and will be out of action for a month. The Cubs win, 5-3, on Ernie Banks’ homer. Martin will be fined $500 for the punch and Brewer and the Cubs will sue the combative infielder on August 22nd for $1,000,000. Years later, when the courts award Brewer $100,000, Martin’s comment will be, “How can they ever collect it? I haven’t got that kind of money,” (2)
• 1961 - With a little help from George Altman, the Cubs’ Bob Anderson outpitches Sandy Koufax, and beats the Dodgers, 4-2. Altman hits two homers off Koufax, the first time anyone has done that off the Dodgers lefty. (2)
• 1968 - In pre-game ceremonies at Busch Stadium honoring him, Stan Musial is joined by his 1941 Cardinals teammates. A ten-foot bronze statue of Musial is unveiled at one of the Stadium entrances. The crowd of 47,445 then watch as Bob Gibson battles the Cubs for 12 innings before Chicago’s Lee Elia singles home the winning run in the 13th. The Cubs win, 6-5. (2)
• 1982 - Joel Youngblood became the first in Major League history to get a base hit for two different teams in two different cities in the same day. In the afternoon, his hit drove in the winning run for the New York Mets in a 7-4 victory in Chicago. After the game, he was traded to the Montreal Expos and played that night in Philadelphia. He entered the game in right field in the fourth inning and later got a single.
• 1997 - Kevin Tapani finally makes his Cubs debut, limiting Atlanta to five hits over seven plus innings, as the Cubs win, 3-1. Tapani (1-0) signed to a three-year, $11-million deal with the Cubs after winning 13 games for the White Sox last season, had surgery April 4th to remove scar tissue in his right index finger. (2)
• 2000 - The Blue Jays obtain OF Dave Martinez from the Rangers for a player to be named later. Martinez becomes the ninth major leaguer to play for four teams in a season. The last to do so was Dave Kingman, in 1977: before him, the four-in-one players were Frank Huelsman, 1904; Willis Hudlin, 1940; Paul Lehner, 1951; Ted Gray, 1955; Wes Covington, 1961; and Mike Kilkenny, 1972. (2)
• 2011 - The Cubs complete a four-game sweep of the Pirates with a 7-6 win in Pittsburgh, as Carlos Pena, Geovany Soto and Blake DeWitt homer to send the Bucs to their seventh straight defeat. Pirates starter James McDonald gives up four runs in seven innings and drives in three himself, exiting the game with a 6-4 lead, but the Cubs rally for three runs in the eighth off four relievers, three of whom fail to record an out. (2)
• Cubs birthdays: Henry Clarke, Tuck Stainback, Bill Schuster, Gabe Gabler. Rich Nye, Troy O’Leary, Bob Howry, Mike Freeman. Also notable: Jake Beckley HOF, Dallas Green8, Roger Clemens.

Today in history:

• 1181 - Supernova SN 1181 in the constellation Cassiopeia observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers, lasting until August 6.
• 1578 - Battle of The Three Kings [Battle of Alcazar quivir): Moroccans defeat a Moroccan-Portuguese alliance in northern Morocco with 10,000 killed.
• 1701 - The Peace of Montreal: thirty Amerindian tribes sign accord guaranteeing their neutrality in the event of conflict between France and England.
• 1789 - French Revolution: The National Constituent Assembly meets and issues the first decrees that abolish centuries of feudalism in France.
• 1790 - United States Revenue Cutter Service is established to serve as an armed customs enforcement service (becoming the US Coast Guard in 1915).
• 1830 - Plans for city of Chicago laid out.
• 1892 - Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother are murdered with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts; Borden is later arrested, tried and acquitted.
• 1944 - Anne Frank arrested in Amsterdam by German Security Police (Grüne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified.

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.