Baseball history unpacked, September 6

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:

• 1905 - Frank Smith of the Chicago White Sox pitches a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers, 15-0, in the biggest margin of victory for a no-hitter in American League history. (1,2)
• 1918 - In Game 2 of the World Series‚ Lefty Tyler drives in two runs in the Cubs’ three-run second. The Red Sox get one in the ninth and that’s all the scoring for the day‚ with Tyler beating Joe Bush. The game also features fights between Heinie Wagner and Hippo Vaughn and another involving Les Mann and Bush. (1,2)
• 1921 - The Cards’ Bill Bailey makes his last major league start a good one‚ besting the Cubs’ Pete Alexander‚ 1-0. (2)
• 1930 - At Forbes Field‚ the Cubs overcome a 12-8 Pirate lead after seven innings‚ by scoring four runs in the eighth and six in the ninth to outshoot the Pirates‚ 19-14. Hack Wilson hits his 47th homer‚ to keep the Cubs in first place in the National League race. (2)
• 1945 - Punching umpire Joe Rue earns an indefinite suspension for Philadelphia A’s catcher Greek George. George will not play in the majors again, though his lifetime batting average of .177 might be the main cause.
• 1953 - The Chicago Cubs win a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds, by scores of 7-6 and 7-2. In the first game, Cubs first baseman Dee Fondy hits one of his team’s four homers and then scores the game-winning run with a two-out, two-strike steal of home in the ninth inning. Fondy’s teammates Ransom Jackson, Ralph Kiner and Hank Sauer also homer, Kiner and Sauer back-to-back. (2)
• 1999 - Sammy Sosa hits his 58th homer but his Cubs lose to the Reds‚ 6-3. (2)
• 2002 - The Cardinals defeat the Cubs‚ 11-2‚ as brothers Andy and Alan Benes oppose each other in the seventh matchup of brothers in major league history. Andy gets the win while Alan takes the loss. The Cards score all 11 of their runs in the third inning. (2)
• 2003 - At Milwaukee‚ the Cubs’ Mark Prior (15-5) strikes out seven in seven innings to win his seventh straight‚ beating the Brewers‚ 4-2. Randall Simon hits a two-run homer for Chicago and gets a big cheer when it is announced that all 330 fans sitting in section 112‚ behind the Cubs dugout‚ would receive free Polish sausages‚ courtesy of Simon. Simon’s last appearance at Miller Park was in a Pirates uniform on July 9 when he whacked a woman dressed as a sausage during a race. (2)
• 2012 - The Nationals complete a four-game sweep of the Cubs at home with a 9-2 win punctured by two bench-clearing incidents. With the Nats ahead 7-2 in the fifth, thanks to a three-run homer by Kurt Suzuki and a two-run single by P Jordan Zimmermann, Cubs bench coach Jamie Quirk becomes angry when the Nats’ Jayson Werth swings at a 3-0 pitch and gets into a shouting match with Washington third-base coach Bo Porter, prompting both benches and bullpens to empty, although no punches are thrown. Quirk is ejected as a result of the incident. In the sixth, Bryce Harper is brushed back by Cubs P Lendy Castillo on the first pitch of the inning, leading to another general outing. Three players are ejected this time, including Cubs catcher Steve Clevenger. Adam LaRoche then caps the scoring with a two-run homer off Jeff Beliveau later that inning. (2)
• 2020 - Hall of Famer Lou Brock, who held the career and single-season stolen bases records before they were broken by Rickey Henderson, and a member of the 3,000 hit club, passes away at age 81. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Vallie Eaves, Harry Perkowski, Hal Jeffcoat, Steve Macko, Derrek Lee*, Clint Frazier

Today in history:

• 3114 BC - Date Maya/Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar starts dating from (as corresponds to the Julian Calendar).
• 1666 After St Paul’s Cathedral and much of the city had been burned down over four days, The Great Fire of London is finally extinguished.
• 1901 - US President William McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, while visiting the Pan-American Exposition in New York.

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.