On May 19 in Baseball History... 1893 - Held scoreless for the first nine innings, both Brooklyn and the Boston Beaneaters score three runs in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Boston's Billy Nash hits the ball over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth, but he stays on third base "to bother the pitcher."
1910 - Cy Young won his 500th game as the Cleveland Indians defeated Washington 5-4 in 11 innings.
1915 - Pirates player-manager Fred Clarke files for the patent for flip down sunglasses that have been designed to be used in the outfield. In addition to the sunglasses, which the future Hall of Famer believes are "good for motorist, too", also creates and will be issued patents for a sliding pad and a mechanical method of positioning the tarpaulin.
1929 - At Yankee Stadium, a 17-year old college sophomore and a sixty-year old truck driver are trampled to death when a torrential downpour causes the overcapacity crowd in the right field bleachers, known as Ruthville, to stampede in an effort to seek cover. Too many fans try to exit at once when the sudden cloudburst makes it obvious the contest will be called with New York ahead of the Red Sox, 3-0, at the end of four and half innings making it an official game.
1933 - The Ferrell brothers — Rick and Wes — homered in the same game for the only time in their careers. Rick hit his homer against his brother.
1941 - Lefty Grove wins his 20th consecutive game at Fenway Park, the longest home-park streak in the big leagues.
The southpaw starter establishes the new record when the Red Sox beat the Tigers, 4-2.
1954 - Bob Carpenter apologizes to second baseman Granny Hamner for having him followed by a detective. Although his team is one game-behind from first place, the Phillies' owner suspected his players were not ready to play mentally or physically.
1956 - Pirates' first baseman Dale Long's ninth inning home run against the Cubs is the first of a string of eight consecutive games in which he will homer.
1960 - Juan Marichal, in his first game with the San Francisco Giants, pitched a one-hitter to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-0.
1967 - As a pinch hitter, Cardinal Stan Musial singles for his 3,516th career hit placing him into second place on the all-time list behind Ty Cobb.
1968 - After hitting 10 home runs in six games, Frank Howard of the Washington Senators was stopped at Detroit by pitcher Earl Wilson, who won the game 5-4.
1976 - At Tiger Stadium, Carl Yastrzemski passes Boston legend Ted Williams for the most games played in a Red Sox uniform. Yaz makes the historic day memorable by going 4-for-4, including three home runs, in the BoSox 9–2 victory in the Motor City.
1979 - After a bitter six-week strike, the major league umpires return to work. During the work stoppage, the men in blue were replaced by amateur arbiters.
1981 - Pittsburgh's Jim Bibby gave up a leadoff single to Terry Harper of the Atlanta Braves then retired the next 27 batters for a 5-0 one-hitter. Bibby also hit two doubles.
1984 - Joining the club in St. Louis, Eric Davis makes his major league debut grounding out to short as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning of the Reds' 9-1 loss to the Redbirds. The 22-rookie is forced to wear a numberless jersey when Cincinnati forgets to pack an extra road uniforms.
1993 - With the team record mired at 13-25, Jeff Torborg is replaced by Dallas Green as the Mets skipper. Torborg, the American League Manager of the Year with the White Sox in 1990, posted a 85-115 record (.425) during his brief stint with Mets.
1994 - The first 'Jay Buhner Buzz Cut Night', which will become a very popular recurring promotion, is held at the Kingdome. Mariners fans, willing to have their heads shaved to emulate the team's right fielder, who plays an active role by encouraging fans to participate and giving a few haircuts himself, receive free admission to seats in right field to cheer on 'Bone'.
1998 - Mark McGwire hit three two-run homers against Philadelphia. It was the second time this season and fourth time in his career McGwire hit three homers in a game. McGwire became the 12th player to have two three-homer games in a season.
1998 - After giving up an eighth inning three-run homer to Bernie Williams, Armando Benitez nails Tino Martinez between the shoulder blades and touches off a brawl. Graeme Lloyd races in from the Yankee bullpen to punch the O's closer and Alan Mills bloodies Darryl Strawberry’s face after the New York outfielder ends up in the Baltimore dugout trying also to get a shot at Benitez.
2000 - In the park's last year, Jason Kendall became the first Pirate to hit for the cycle in Three Rivers Stadium. The Pittsburgh backstop has a two-run homer in the first, a single in the second, a double in the third and a two-run triple in the eighth to join Giant Jeff Kent (1999) as the only player to accomplish the feat in the stadium's 31-year history.
2001 - Reversing their original decision, major league baseball's official statistician, The Elias Sports Bureau, will now list Randy Johnson's 20 strikeouts as tying a record. Although the game went extra innings, the Big Unit's nine-inning performance will be noted along with the Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood 20K outings in the 2002 record book.
2002 - Cubs' first baseman Fred McGriff's two-run homer at Miller Park ties Ellis Burks' record of homering in 40 different major league parks. The 'Crime Dog's' eighth inning blast knots the score 3-3 in an eventual 4-3, 11-inning victory over the Brewers snapping Chicago's nine-game losing streak.
2004 - Brad Thompson breaks a 97-year-old minor league record set in 1907 by Irvin Wilhelm by hurling 57 consecutive scoreless innings. The 22-year old St. Cardinals farmhand, playing in the Southern League for the Tennessee Smokies, falls just two innings short of Orel Hershiser's professional mark of 59 established in 1988.
2004 - Yankee spokesman Jason Zillo announces Cracker Jack, which has been baseball’s most famous snack for over a 100 years, will not be sold at Yankee Stadium and will be replaced by a product known as Crunch 'n Munch. The change, short-lived due the fans' negative reaction, is being made, according to Yankees’ officials, because Crunch 'n Munch tastes better, but may have been really prompted by Frito-Lays' decision to package the game's well-known treat in only bags and not boxes.
2004 - Breaking his own record set two weeks ago, Julio Franco becomes the oldest player to hit a pinch-hit home run. The Braves’ first baseman is 45 years, 269 days old when he accomplishes the feat.
2008 - Jon Lester, who was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma two seasons ago, no-hits the Royals, 7-0, becoming only third lefty in franchise history to throw a no-no at Fenway Park. The 24-year old’s battery mate, Jason Varitek, also makes the record books for being the first backstop to catch four no-hitters in the majors.
2009 - Dontrelle Willis wins his first game in nearly 20 months limiting the opposition to one hit in 6+ innings in the Tigers' 4-0 victory over Texas. The former National League Rookie of the Year, who signed a three-year deal worth $29 million with Detroit last season, was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder during spring training.
2010 - After being benched for criticizing Fredi Gonzalez, who pulled him from the previous game for loafing, Hanley Ramirez, at the prompting of Hall of Famers Andre Dawson and Tony Perez, apologizes to his manager and individually to his teammates prior to today’s contest in St. Louis. The visiting All-star shortstop and reigning National League batting champ, amidst of being booed by the Busch Stadium fans, collects three hits and drives a run in the Marlins' 5-1 victory over the Redbirds.
2010 - Mets center fielder Angel Pagan initiates the tenth triple play in franchise history when he snags Cristian Guzman's sinking liner with first and second base occupied. After making the stunning catch that surprises both of Washington’s base runners, the outfielder overthrows the infield, but catcher Henry Blanco takes the errant toss and throws the ball to Jose Reyes at second base to double off Livan Hernandez, and then the shortstop relays the ball to first baseman Ike Davis to triple up Nyjer Morgan making it the first 9-2-6-3 triple killing in major league history.
2011 - In the Rockies' 7-1 victory over Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park, 40-year-old Jason Giambi beomes the second-oldest player to hit three homers in a game. In 1962, Stan Musial became the oldest major leaguer to accomplish the feat when he hit a trio of round-trippers at the age of 41 facing the Mets in the Polo Grounds.
Baseball Birthdays on May 19... 1867 - Hutchinson, Ed
1874 - Williams, Pop
1879 - Carter, Nick
1880 - Tate, Hughie
1883 - Files, Eddie
1886 - Nelson, Red
1889 - Snell, Wally
1891 - Schliebner, Dutch
1891 - Clark, George
1894 - Hickman, Jim
1895 - Kennedy, Ray
1896 - Acosta, Merito
1897 - Culloton, Bud
1910 - Thompson, Tommy 1911 - Kleinke, Nub
1915 - Early, Jake
1917 - Roberge, Skippy
1919 - Naylor, Earl
1921 - Carden, John
1926 - Kume, Mike
1927 - Antonello, Bill
1928 - McDougald, Gil
1929 - Simmons, Curt
1941 - Lee, Mike
1944 - Swanson, Stan
1948 - Santorini, Al
1952 - Ford, Dan
1954 - Cerone, Rick
1955 - Knicely, Alan
1955 - Whitson, Ed
1956 - Show, Eric
1956 - Salazar, Luis 1957 - Callahan, Ben
1958 - Connally, Fritzie
1961 - Gerhart, Ken
1964 - Aquino, Luis
1966 - Campbell, Jim
1967 - Wendell, Turk
1969 - Leftwich, Phil
1972 - McClain, Scott
1975 - Paul, Josh 1976 - Fussell, Chris
1977 - Inge, Brandon
Baseball Deaths on May 19... 1894 - Mountjoy, Bill
1917 - McManus, Pat
1933 - Curry, Wes
1936 - Curran, Sammy
1941 - Schulze, John
1941 - Gedeon, Joe
1946 - Tener, John
1947 - Hoffman, Tex
1950 - Holm, Wattie
1953 - Leever, Sam
1960 - Winkelman, George
1960 - Fishel, Leo
1965 - Erickson, Eric
1967 - Parson, Jiggs
1969 - Tobin, Jim
1970 - Schalk, Ray
1973 - Moore, Jim 1993 - Grimes, Oscar
1995 - Frink, Fred
1996 - Berardino, Johnny
2001 - Lovitto, Joe
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