Baseball history unpacked, September 8

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 - Pittsburgh tallies 15 hits and eight walks against the Reds, but the Pirates leave a still-standing National League record 18 men on base. The Reds win, 8-3. (1,2)
• 1939 - With his 12 - 1 victory over the Browns in St. Louis, Bob Feller becomes the youngest modern-era player to win 20 games. (1,2)
• 1947 - Starting P Ox Miller of the Cubs hits a game-winning grand slam in a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, but does not go the required 5 innings to gain the win. (2)
• 1965 - Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City A’s played all nine positions before having to leave after a ninth-inning collision with Ed Kirkpatrick of the Angels. The Angels won, 5-3, in 13 innings. (1,2)
• 1969 - At Shea Stadium, the Mets top the Cubs, 3-2, as Tommie Agee hits a two-run home run. Jerry Koosman beats Bill Hands and strikes out 13 Cub batters. Chicago has now lost five in a row and leads the Mets by one and a half games. (2)
• 1972 - Fergie Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3, for his 20th victory of the season. It was the sixth straight year that Jenkins won at least twenty games. (1,2)
• 1977 - Cubs relief pitcher Bruce Sutter strikes out the first six batters he faces including three men in the ninth on nine pitches. (2)
• 1980 - Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspends Ferguson Jenkins indefinitely as a result of his August 25 drug arrest in Toronto. On September 22, the suspension will be overturned by arbitrator Raymond Goetz, the first time ever a commissioner’s decision is overruled by an arbitrator. (1,2)
• 1987 - With the Cubs in fifth place in the National League East (68-68, 13 games behind), the club fires manager Gene Michael and replaces him with Frank Lucchesi. (2)
• 1993 - Darryl Kile pitched baseball’s second no-hitter in five days as the Houston Astros beat the New York Mets, 7-1. (1)
• 1998 - Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ thirty-seven year-old home run record, lining historic No. 62 just over the wall in left field with two out in the fourth inning. McGwire’s homer off the Chicago Cubs’ Steve Trachsel set off a wild celebration in Busch Stadium. (1,2)

Cubs birthdays: Al Demaree, Johnny Schulte, Casey Wise. Also notable: Buck Leonard HOF

Today in history:

• 1504 - Michelangelo’s statue of David is unveiled in Florence.
• 1522 - Spanish navigator Juan de Elcano returns to Spain, completing 1st circumnavigation of the globe (expedition began under Ferdinand Magellan).
• 1664 - Dutch surrender colony of New Netherlands (including New York) to 300 English soldiers.
• 1858 - Abraham Lincoln supposedly says in a speech “You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time”.
• 1930 - American inventor Richard Gurley Drew creates Scotch tape.
• 1954 - WINS radio station in NYC begins playing rock and roll music with Alan Freed’s “Rock-n-Roll Party” program.
• 1966 - ”Star Trek” premieres on NBC-TV starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.

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.