On July 16 in Baseball History...1897 - At the age of 45, Chicago Colts' (Cubs) first baseman Cap Anson becomes the first major leaguer to amass 3000 hits when he singles off Baltimore's George Blackburn.
1902 - At Cincinnati’s Palace of the Fans, John McGraw begins his 30-year tenure as manager of the New York Giants. ‘Little Napoleon’, the team’s third skipper of the season, loses his debut to the Reds, 7-2.
1909 - Ed Summers of the Detroit Tigers pitched all eighteen innings of a 0-0 tie with the Washington Senators, the longest scoreless game in American League history.
1913 - In a game against the Cubs, Superbas' second baseman George Cutshaw handles 14 chances without an error. The infielder's defensive prowess helps Brooklyn beat Chicago at Ebbets Field, 4-2.
1920 - After pitching 16 scoreless frames, Earl Hamilton and the Pirates lose to the Giants in the 17th at Forbes Field, 7-0. New York starter Rube Benton tosses 17 shutout innings to get the victory.
1920 - Babe Ruth broke his own season record of twenty-nine homers with his thirtieth as the New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns 5-2. Ruth would finish the season with fifty-four.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio extended his hitting streak to fifty-six games with a 3-for-4 day as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 10-3.
1948 - There are 3 managerial changes today. Ben Chapman is fired by the Phillies (though owner Carpenter insists he was "not fired" saying "I'd like to make it clear that there is a difference between not firing a man and concluding business with him.") and Dusty Cooke takes over on an interim basis. Eddie Sawyer‚ with no ML experience as player or manager‚ will get the job after Cooke goes 8-6. But the big news is from New York. The Giants remove Mel Ott and replace him with Leo Durocher‚ who obtains his release from Brooklyn. The Dodgers bring back mild-mannered Burt Shotton who replaced Durocher once before. In a newspaper poll over the winter‚ an overwhelming majority voted for the gentlemanly Shotton to replace The Lip. The changes today portend those at the end of the season: Bucky Harris of the Yankees‚ Ted Lyons of the White Sox‚ and Steve O'Neill of the Tigers will be released.
1951 - While in Detroit‚ the Yanks option rookie Mickey Mantle to Kansas City (AA). Mantle‚ plagued with strikeouts-3 on the 13th-and in a slump‚ will go 0-for-22 in his start with the Blues‚ before ending with a tear at .361. The Yankees will recall him August 20th. Art Schallock takes Mickey's place on the Yankee roster and gives up 7 hits in 2.3 innings in today's 8-6 win
1952 - Walt Dropo gets 2 more hits‚ giving him 15 in 4 games‚ which ties another AL record by Joe Cronin. Dropo scores 3 runs in the 9-0 win at Washington. Bill Wight allows just 4 hits in the shutout.
1953 - The Browns tie a record with 3 successive HRs-by Clint Courtney‚ Dick Kryhoski‚ and Jim Dyck-in the first inning‚ and their 5 bases-empty HRs in 3 innings establishes a new mark. It's enough to beat the Yankees‚ 8-6.
1956 - The Tigers and Briggs Stadium are sold to a syndicate of 11, led by radio executives John Fetzer and Fred Knorr, for a record $5.5 million from Walter Briggs, Jr., who wanted keep the team and ballpark but is ordered by family estate administrators to sell his ownership he inherited from his father. The deal includes an agreement to retain Briggs, who will also become the team's general manager, as executive vice president, but the former owner will resign from both posts earlier next season.
1958 - Testifying before the Senate subcommittee on Anti-Trust and Monopoly, Commissioner Ford Frick asks the Senate to approve legislation to curb television and radio broadcasts of baseball games. Minor league baseball towns are being wrecked, he claims. "We have got to be able to handle this problem or within 10 years there will be no television problem because there will be no baseball." When asked about the possibility of the Washington franchise shifting cities, Frick replies, "Removal of the club from Washington would be catastrophic. Baseball cannot afford not to be in Washington."
1966 - Horace Clarke hits his second career home run, a tenth inning grand slam, giving the Yankees an eventual 9-5 win over the A's at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium. The New York shortstop's first-ever round-tripper was also hit with the bases full last season.
1968 - Jose Cardenal becomes the first outfielder in 37 years and only the fourth flychaser overall to record two unassisted double plays in one season. The Cleveland outfielder joins Socks Seybold (1907 A's), Tris Speaker (1918 Indians) and Adam Comorosky (1931 Pirates) in accomplishing the rare feat.
1969 - Rod Carew stole home off Chicago's Jerry Nyman in the Minnesota Twins' 9-8 victory. It was Carew's seventh steal of home for the year and tied Pete Reiser's 1946 major league mark.1970 - On precisely the same spot as Exposition Park, the home of the Pirates from 1891-1909, Three Rivers Stadium makes its debut. Cincinnati’s first baseman Tony Perez hits the park's first home run as the Pirates lose to the Reds, 3-2. .
1971 - Vida Blue boosts his record to 18-3 with a one-hit 4-0 victory over Detroit. Taylor's single in the 4th is the only hit.
1975 - Bowie Kuhn is re-elected to his second term as the commissioner of baseball. Charlie Finley failed in his attempt to force the other owners to vote to remove Kuhn, who had become an adversary of the Oakland A's owner during his first seven years in the position.
1976 - Bobby Murcer hits a game-ending homerun off Jim Katt in the 9th inning to give the Giants a 1-0 win over Philadelphia.
1980 - The California Supreme Court rules that Ted Giannoulas‚ better known as the man inside the San Diego Chicken suit‚ can appear publicly in chicken suits similar to the one that brought him fame‚ but not bearing the call letters of San Diego's KGB radio station. The station had fired Giannoulas when he began appearing publicly in the suit without permission‚ and claimed it had all rights to the costume‚ which was first used as a promotional device in 1975
1985 - Marking its 21st victory in the last 23 Midsummer Classics, the National League beats the AL, 6-1. Sparky Anderson, who was the first manger to win 100 games in both the National and American Leagues, becomes the first skipper to lose an All-Star game in each league.
1988 - In the longest game ever played in Texas League history, the San Antonio Missions beat the visiting Jackson Mets in 26 innings, 1-0. The Keefe Stadium contest, which started on July 14, was suspended at 2:25 a.m. the following day and continued on July 16, took a total of 7 hours and 23 minutes to complete.
1993 - Giants OF Darren Lewis sets a major league record by playing his 267th consecutive game without an error. He snaps Don Demeter's record. The Giants defeat the Mets‚ 4-2.
1996 - Although the team beats the Giants, 5-3, the Rockies’ streak of scoring seven runs in a game comes to an end at 11. Colorado’s mark ties the record shared by the Pirates (1911), Yankees (1938) and Reds (1976).
1997 - In Oakland‚ Mark McGwire hits his 33rd and 34th homers to lead the A's to an 11-3 win over the hapless Royals. Jose Canseco strikes out in all five at-bats for the Athletics‚ tying an Oakland record. Combined with his three strikeouts on Monday‚ he ties a major league record with eight whiffs in two consecutive games.
1998 - Randy Johnson tosses a 1-hitter as he leads Seattle to a 3-0 win over Minnesota. Johnson fans 11 and gives up only a single to 3B Brent Gates.
2000 - A 1919 Chicago 'Black Sox' autographed baseball is auctioned for $93,666 at eBay. The ball's value, believed to be the most for such an item, was unusually high because the autographs included Shoeless Joe Jackson who was considered illiterate and usually just signed legal documents.2000 - The Twins announce the possibility of playing a home series outdoors in a temporary stadium next season. The move away from the Metrodome, however, would require approval of major league baseball, the players' association, the opponents, broadcast affiliates and the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission.
2001 - Fred McGriff invokes his no-trade clause blocking a deal that would have sent him to the first place Cubs from the last place Devil Rays. Later in the day, the 'Crime Dog' homers helping Tampa Bay to beat the Braves 6-5.
2003 - Minnie Minoso becomes the 1st player to play professional baseball in 7 decades when he walks in the 1st inning as DH for the St. Paul Saints in their Northern League game against Gary.2003 - The Yankees send pitching prospects Jason Anderson, Anderson Garcia and Ryan Bicondoa to the Mets for hard-throwing embattled closer, Armando Benitez. The 30-year old All-Star reliever, slated to be the setup man for closer Mariano Rivera, blew seven of 28 save opportunities and became the object of much booing at Shea Stadium.
2003 - The Chicago White Sox signed Ehren Wassermann as a non-drafted free agent.2005 - The idea of having fans watch the 16 by 24-foot video stadium monitor along with the Kansas City T-Bones and Schaumburg Flyers players looking on from their respective dugouts as two kids using an X-Box and the MVP Baseball 2005 software determine the outcome of the first two innings is initially approved by the Northern League for tonight’s scheduled game. The individual player statistics generated by the video game would not have counted, but league officials later decided against the promotion with the final two innings of the game being replayed on the game system instead.
2005 - In an effort to bolster their injured pitching rotation, the Yankees acquired recently released Al Leiter from the Marlins. The 39-year old $8-million southpaw, who posted a disappointing 3-7 record and a 6.64 ERA with the Fish, will quickly pay dividends limiting the Red Sox to one run and three hits in his first start back as a Bronx Bomber.
2006 - Pitching two innings in New York's 6-4 victory over the White Sox, Mariano Rivera records his 400th career save. The Yankee closer becomes the fourth major leaguer to reach the milestone joining Lee Smith (478), Trevor Hoffman (460) and John Franco (424).
2006 - The Reds honor perfect game hurler Tom Browning and slugging first baseman Lee May with induction into the team's Hall of Fame. Tom Seaver, who spent five-plus seasons and hurled a no-hitter with Cincinnati and who is presently enshrined in Cooperstown as well as a member of the Mets Hall of Fame, is also included as an inductee.
2006 - At Wrigley Field, Mets outfielders Cliff Floyd and Carlos Beltran both hit grand slams during a franchise record 11-run inning in the sixth of the 13-7 defeat of the Cubs. It's only the seventh time in baseball history, a team has hit two bases-full home runs in one inning.
2006 - Chipper Jones ties a major league record by collecting an extra-base hit in his 14th straight game. The Braves third baseman's fourth-innng home run equals the mark established in 1927 by Pirates outfielder Paul Waner.
2009 - Beginning in 2011, the Diamondbacks and Rockies announce the teams will share an Arizona spring training home, believed to be the first major league facility located on tribal land. According to a 25-year agreement, the Pima-Maricopa Indian tribe plans to build an 11,000-seat ballpark and a complex that includes 12 practice fields.
2009 - Ryan Howard, playing in his 658th game, becomes the fastest player to hit 200 home runs when he goes deep off Chris Volstad with his solo shot in the sixth inning in team's 4-0 victory in Miami. The previous mark was held by Hall of Fame slugger Ralph Kiner, who played in 48 more contests than the 29 year-old Phillies first baseman to reach the plateau.
2010 - In the first home game played at Yankee Stadium since the death of Bob Sheppard, the team honors his memory with the players donning commemorative patches on the left sleeve of their uniforms as a tribute. No public address announcements are made from the empty PA booth during the game against Tampa Bay.
2010 - Bengie Molina becomes only the eighth major leaguer, and the first backstop since 1900, to hit a grand slam and a single, double and triple in the same game. The slow-footed catcher, the eighth Ranger to hit for the cycle, legs out an eighth-inning triple to complete the feat.
2013 - In the first All-Star Game played in the Queens in 49 years, the American League pitchers hold their National League opponents to just three hits, blanking the Senior Circuit at Citi Field, 3-0. Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, voted the game's MVP, receives a standing ovation from the enthusiastic 45,186 fans in attendance when he enters the contest in the eighth inning en route to retiring three consecutive NL batters.
2013 - In the All-star game played at New York's Citi Field, Salvador Perez, who replaced Joe Mauer behind the plate in the last inning, leads of the eighth with a single to right field off Atlanta's Craig Kimbrel. The Kansas City catcher becomes the first Royals' player to get a hit in the Mid-summer Classic since Bo Jackson blasted his memorable moonshot at Anaheim Stadium in 1989.
2014 - The Boston Red Sox released A.J. Pierzynski.
2014 - The Texas Rangers traded Jason Frasor to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Spencer Patton.
2015 - The Boston Red Sox signed Ronald Belisario as a free agent.
2015 - The Atlanta Braves signed Jason Frasor as a free agent.
Baseball Birthdays on July 16...1838 - Birdsall, Dave
1873 - Clark, Dad
1884 - Peterson, Bob
1888 - Peasley, Marv
1889 - Williams, Johnnie
1889 - Jackson, Joe1893 - Prothro, Doc
1896 - Caton, Howdy
1897 - Bell, Hi
1899 - Pott, Nellie
1905 - Garland, Lou1907 - Grabowski, Reggie
1908 - Newkirk, Floyd
1910 - Norman, Bill
1912 - Bocek, Milt1912 - Rogalski, Joe
1914 - Ross, Don
1916 - Johnson, Art
1919 - Tatum, Tommy
1920 - Jansen, Larry
1923 - Okrie, Len
1931 - Sherry, Norm
1936 - Fisher, Eddie1937 - Elia, Lee1938 - Burda, Bob
1940 - Metcalf, Tom
1942 - Purdin, John
1953 - Mallory, Sheldon
1954 - Lentine, Jim
1960 - Pendleton, Terry
1970 - Van Landingham, William
1972 - Beckett, Robbie
1974 - Johnson, Jonathan
1976 - DeHaan, Kory
1978 - Vasquez, Jorge
1982 - Windsor, Jason
1987 - Surkamp, Eric1991 - Joseph, Tommy
1991 - Vargas, Ildemaro
Baseball Deaths on July 16...1888 - Cross, Amos
1917 - Butler, Dick
1921 - Irwin, Arthur
1930 - Rosebraugh, Zeke
1940 - Leith, Bill
1944 - Irelan, Hal
1945 - Turner, Tuck
1947 - Keen, Bill
1950 - Blanding, Fred
1954 - Bracken, Jack
1959 - Coleman, Bob
1959 - Ripple, Jimmy
1961 - Mitchell, Mike
1969 - Waldbauer, Doc
1971 - McNeely, Earl
1976 - Howe, Les
1977 - Stock, Milt
1980 - Vick, Ernie
1987 - Novotney, Rube
1997 - Fischer, Rube
1998 - Dobernic, Jess
1999 - Wyatt, Whit2001 - Dagenhard, John
2007 - McNabb, Carl
2010 - Kuhn, Kenny
2013 - Rotblatt, Marv2016 - Massa, Gordon