On August 11 in Baseball History...

    1907 - Cardinal Ed Karger pitches a seven-inning perfect game in game two of a doubleheader beating the Boston Braves, 4-0. The contest was shortened by a prior agreement between the clubs.

    1912 - Shoeless Joe Jackson completes the stolen base cycle when he swipes home in the seventh inning of the Indians' 8-3 victory over New York at Cleveland's League Park. The 25 year-old outfielder had made his way around the bases by stealing second and third base before his thievery of the plate to complete the deed.

    1926 - Tris Speaker of Cleveland hit his 700th career double but the Indians lost to the Chicago White Sox, 7-2. The double came in the third inning off Jim Joe Edwards. The Indian outfielder will establish a major league record with 792 two-baggers.

    1928 - Carl Hubbell's first major league victory is a 4-0 shutout of the Phillies. He'll be 10-6 down the stretch and will pitch 16 years with the Giants.

    1929 - At League Park in Cleveland, Babe Ruth hits Willis Hudlin’s first delivery in the second inning over the right field fence to record his 500th career home run. The Bambino has more than twice the number of round-trippers than Phillies' Cy Williams who is #2 on the all-time list with 237.

    1942 - A quirk in the major league rules results in the suspension in the first game of a doubleheader at Cleveland Stadium being suspended due to darkness, but allowing the Tigers to beat the Indians in the nightcap, 3-2. The scoreless opener was stopped in the 14th inning because games because the ML edict states games started in daylight could not be completed under artificial lights, but the rule did not apply to the second game of the twin bill because it would be started after the sun went down.

    1946 - Sweeping a doubleheader, the Phillies end the Dodgers' 18-game winning streak in Philadelphia, a major league record. The Dodgers hadn't lost in the City of Brotherly Love since May 5,1945.

    1950 - Hitting just .279, Yankee great Joe DiMaggio is benched for the first time in his career. He is currently languishing in a 4-for-38 slump.

    1951 - Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Giants, 4-0, dropping the Giants 13 1/2 games behind the first-place Brooklyn Dodgers.

    1951 - WCBS-TV televises the first baseball game broadcast in color, a Braves' 8-1 victory over the hometown Dodgers in the first game of a twin bill at Ebbets Field. Brooklyn's announcers Red Barber and Connie Desmond provide the play-by-play commentary.

    1959 - Gil Carter, a pitcher for the Carlsbad, New Mexico entry in the Sophomore Baseball League, reportedly hits a ball that travels 730 feet from home plate. The left field blast may be the longest home run ever hit.

    1961 - In front of packed County Stadium in Milwaukee, Braves lefty Warren Spahn scatters six hits to beat the Cubs, 2-1, for his 300th victory. The 40-year old southpaw, who will finish his career with 363 wins, the most of any left-hander in the history of the game, is the thirteenth major league hurler to each the milestone.

    1962 - The Dodgers protest the wetting down of the field at Candlestick, a tactic they claim is to stop Maury Wills. The Giants win 5-4, but the watering ploy earns Giants manager Alvin Dark the sobriquet The Swamp Fox.

    1967 - En route to a 5-3 complete game victory at Cleveland Stadium, Al Downing strikes out the side in the second frame on nine consecutive pitches. The victims of the Yankee southpaw's immaculate inning include clean-up batter Tony Horton, Don Demeter, and Duke Sims.

    1968 - As a pinch hitter, Gates Brown has two walk-off hits in Detroit’s twin bill sweep of the Red Sox at Tiger Stadium. His pinch home run off Lee Stange in the 14th inning ends the opener, 5-4, and the nightcap is decided when he comes off the bench in the ninth and singles to right off Sparky Lyle scoring Mickey Stanley giving the team from the Motor City a 6-5 victory.

    1968 - Satchel Paige, 62 years or so old, and needing 158 days on a major league payroll to qualify for a pension, is signed by the Braves. He will not pitch a regular-season game for Atlanta and will become a coach on September 30.

    1969 - Don Drysdale retires because of damage to his right shoulder. Drysdale is the last Los Angeles player left from the Brooklyn Dodgers. Bob Aspromonte, who will retire in 1971, is the last active former Brooklyn Dodger.

    1970 - Jim Bunning notches his 100th NL victory, a 6-5 Phillies win over the Astros. Bunning is the first pitcher since Cy Young to win 100 games in each league.

    1970 - With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Carl Taylor's walk-off grand slam caps a five-run rally giving the Cardinals a dramatic comeback victory over San Diego, 11-10. The pinch-hitter delivers his 'sayonora slam' on the first pitch he sees from Ron Herbel.

    1973 - During the Old Timers' Game played at Yankee Stadium, Mickey Mantle homers off his old teammate and best buddy, Whitey Ford. After lunching a shot that lands foul in the upper deck, the slugger sends the southpaw's next pitch over the fence much to the delight of the large crowd gathered for the festivities.

    1979 - Joining Ted Williams (four seasons) and Jimmie Foxx (five seasons), Red Sox slugger Jim Rice becomes the third player in franchise history to hit 30 home runs in three consecutive seasons. The Red Sox outfielder’s first inning homer isn’t enough when Milwaukee beats Boston at Fenway Park, 9-6.

    1980 - In the third inning of a 3-1 Yankee victory over the White Sox, Reggie Jackson connects off of Britt Burns for his 400th career home run. Mr. October will finish his 21-year career with 563 dingers, placing him sixth on the all-time list when he retired in 1987.

    1981 - Ray Searage pitches two-plus innings of hitless relief to be credited with the win in New York's 4-2 victory over Chicago at Wrigley Field. With his eighth inning single, the right-hander gains the distinction of being the only Met player to have compiled a 1.000 batting average (1-for-1) and a 1.000 winning percentage (1-0) while playing with the team.

    1982 - Terry Felton (0-11) is the losing pitcher in Minnesota's 6-3 loss to the Angels, dropping his career record to 0-14, the worst individual start in major league history. Felton will never win a major league game, finishing his career with an 0-16 record.

    1986 - Cincinnati player-manager Pete Rose singled four times and doubled to set a National League record with the 10th five-hit game of his career. The 45-year-old Rose drove in three runs in a 13-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants, to move one ahead of Max Carey for the record.

    1987 - Oakland A’s first baseman Mark McGwire breaks Al Rosen's [1950] American League rookie record by hitting his 38th homer. The unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year will finish the season with 49 homers far surpassing the major league record of 38, once jointly held by Frank Robinson [1956] and Wally Berger [1930].

    1991 - Wilson Alvarez hurls a no-hitter in his second big league start as the White Sox stop Baltimore 7-0.

    1994 - Randy Johnson’s pitch to strike out A's Ernie Young will become the last ball thrown in the major leagues for seven and half months. The longest work stoppage in baseball history will cancel the remaining games on the schedule, including the postseason, and will impact the start of 1995 campaign.

    1995 - The Texas Rangers traded Wilson Heredia to the Florida Marlins as part of trade in which the Florida Marlins traded Bobby Witt to the Texas Rangers in exchange for 2 players to be named later (August 8, 1995); the Florida Marlins received Scott Podsednik (October 8, 1995).

    1997 - The New York Mets traded Mark Clark to the Chicago Cubs as part of trade in which the New York Mets traded Lance Johnson and 2 players to be named later to the Chicago Cubs inexchange for Brian McRae, Mel Rojas and Turk Wendell (August 8, 1997); the Chicago Cubsreceived Manny Alexander (August 14, 1997).

    1998 - Mark McGwire homers off Bobby Jones in an 8-3 Mets win. The home run tops Hack Wilson's 1930 National League record of 46 home runs hit before September 1. In McGwire's 162 games with the Cardinals since a trade with Oakland on July 31, 1997, McGwire has a .275 batting average with 71 home runs and 146 runs batted in with 165 walks.

    1998 - The Devil Rays surpassed the two-million mark in home attendance in their inaugural season joining the Rockies, Marlins and Arizona as the only expansion teams to reach this mark.

    1998 - At Fenway Park, a moment of silence is observed in memory of Detective John Gibson, one of the police officers killed at the U.S. Capitol last month. The Waltham, Massachusetts resident was a lifelong Red Sox fan.

    2001 - Using the fewest number of games anyone has ever needed to hit 50 homers in a season, Giant outfielder Barry Bonds reaches the milestone in 117 contests. In 1999, Sammy Sosa reached the mark in 121 contests.

    2001 - En route to his 11th victory when the Giants beat the Cubs at Wrigley Field, 9-4, Livan Hernandez goes 4-for-4 including a home run. The Cuban right-hander has collected eight consecutive hits enjoying a 3-for-3 performance against the Phillies on August 5 and going 2-for-3 against the Pirates on the last day in July.

    2001 - For the first time in his 16-year career, Barry Bonds hits his 50th homer of the season. The 36-year old Giants outfielder will go yard 23 more times to establish a new big league single-season record with 73 home runs.

    2001 - For the third and final time, Jason and Jeremy Giambi homer in the same game when both brothers go deep off Sterling Hitchc0ck in Oakland's 8-6 victory over New York at Network Associates Coliseum. The A's teammates first accomplished the feat last season and again in June.

    2002 - Keeping with the tradition of commemorating former players who are in the Hall of Fame, the Cardinals unveiled the 11th statue outside Busch stadium - an air-borne Ozzie Smith. The bronze likeness, created by sculptor Harry Weber, captures the former shortstop stretched horizontally to the ground, trying to field a grounder in the hole.


    2002 - Sammy Sosa's grand slam and run-scoring double against the Rockies give the Cubs' slugger 14 RBIs over two games establishing a new National League record. The previous mark was 13 shared by Nate Colbert (Padres-1972) and Mark Whiten (Cardinals -1993).

    2003 - By fanning Jeff Kent in the seventh inning at Wrigley Field, Kerry Wood became the fastest major leaguer to record his 1,000th career strikeout needing only 134 games to reach the milestone. It took 143 games for Roger Clemens to accomplish the feat.

    2003 - Pawtucket's Red Sox right-hander Bronson Arroyo throws the second perfect game in three years for the team and fourth in the 120-year history of the International League when he beats Buffalo at McCoy Stadium, 7-0. In 2001, Tomo Ohka, who will be a member the Expos two seasons later, also set down 27 consecutive batters for the PawSox in a 2-0 victory over the Charlotte Knights in the same Rhode Island ballpark.

    2003 - The Chicago White Sox released Rick White.

    2004 - During the memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in front of pews packed with Mets fans, team owner Fred Wilpon and former broadcast partner Gary Thorne deliver eulogies remembering the late Hall of Famer Bob Murphy. At age of 79, ‘Murph’ who supplied 42 years of Happy Recaps for the Mets and spent a half of a century broadcasting big league games, lost his battle with lung cancer.

    2005 - Mets outfielders Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron running at full speed in an attempt to catch Padres David Ross’ seventh-inning short fly to short right-center dive head-first into each other in one of the horrific collisions in baseball history. Right fielder Cameron, who suffers a broken nose and multiple fractures of both cheekbones, will undergo facial surgery in San Diego and his teammate, center fielder Carlos Beltran, fares a bit better suffering a concussion and a small fracture in his cheekbone.

    2008 - A very pleasantly surprised Adam Dunn is traded by the Reds to the Diamondbacks for minor league right-hander Dallas Buck and two players to be named. In the midst of a losing season, Cincinnati continues unloading its marquee players with Dunn, the major league leader in home runs (tie), and future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr. being exchanged for prospects as the team begins a rebuilding phase.

    2010 - In an 8-2 victory over Milwaukee at Miller Park, the Diamondbacks become the only seventh team to hit four consecutive home runs in an inning. In the top of the fourth inning, Adam LaRoche, Miguel Montero, Mark Reynolds, and Stephen Drew all connect off Dave Bush, making the right-hander only the third hurler in major league history to yield four straight round-trippers.

    2013 - Texas Rangers traded Leury Garcia to Chicago White Sox completing trade in which Chicago White Sox traded Alex Rios to Texas Rangers in exchange for a player to be named later (August 9, 2013).

    2014 - The Royals, who haven’t made the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985, beat Oakland, 3-2, to take a half-game lead in the AL Central. Much to the delight of 20,000 fans at Kauffman Stadium, Sung Woo, the South Korean first-time visitor and the team’s recent good luck charm, who is well known to Royals fans for his long-time enthusiastic support the for the Kansas City club thanks to his active participation on Twitter under the handle @Koreanfan_Kansas City, hangs the "W" on the outer wall of the Royals Hall of Fame.

    2015 - The Blue Jays, Rays, Marlins, Mets, Indians, Cubs, Royals, White Sox, Twins, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Padres, Dodgers, and Giants all win, making it the first time in the live ball era that every contest is won by the home team in a full slate of games. The unique occurrence became a reality when the two last games to finish end in extra innings, with the host clubs enjoying a walk-off victory.

    2016 - The San Diego Padres released Matt Thornton.




    Baseball Birthdays on August 11...

    1853 - Kennedy, Doc
    1874 - Walker, Ed
    1876 - Murphy, Danny
    1878 - McNeal, Harry
    1881 - Tonkin, Doc
    1887 - Knisely, Pete
    1887 - Swan, Ducky
    1891 - Barbare, Walter
    1891 - Adams, Karl
    1893 - Causey, Red
    1899 - Brazill, Frank
    1907 - Rhodes, Gordon
    1907 - Galvin, Jim
    1907 - Newsom, Bobo
    1907 - Jensen, Woody
    1913 - Scheffing, Bob
    1917 - Hoerst, Lefty
    1919 - Olmo, Luis
    1922 - Cooper, Cal
    1922 - Wilkins, Bobby
    1928 - Stephenson, Bob
    1932 - Korcheck, Steve
    1936 - Monbouquette, Bill
    1938 - Pinson, Vada
    1942 - Campisi, Sal
    1943 - Reams, Leroy
    1946 - Leon, Eddie
    1946 - Hedlund, Mike
    1949 - Melendez, Luis
    1953 - Lewallyn, Dennis
    1953 - Hudson, Rex
    1954 - Holle, Gary
    1955 - Smith, Bryn
    1958 - Taylor, Dorn
    1960 - Pedrique, Al
    1963 - Huff, Mike
    1963 - Snider, Van
    1964 - Martinez, Carlos
    1965 - Canale, George
    1965 - Mitchell, John
    1972 - Lorraine, Andrew
    1976 - Crosby, Bubba
    1979 - Padilla, Jorge
    1980 - Birkins, Kurt
    1984 - Cabrera, Melky
    1986 - Rasmus, Colby
    1986 - Sandoval, Pablo
    1987 - Storen, Drew
    1988 - Lambo, Andrew
    1990 - Guaipe, Mayckol
    1991 - Tovar, Wilfredo



    Baseball Deaths on August 11...

    1885 - Cramer, Dick
    1919 - Todd, Frank
    1922 - King, Sam
    1929 - Long, Red
    1934 - Ward, Joe
    1935 - Zalusky, Jack
    1938 - Hill, Red
    1943 - Woodc0ck, Fred
    1947 - Davis, Harry
    1950 - Smykal, Frank
    1955 - Ellison, Babe
    1955 - Byrne, Jerry
    1960 - McChesney, Harry
    1962 - Volz, Jake
    1969 - Marriott, William
    1970 - Gillespie, Paul
    1971 - Pence, Rusty
    1975 - Cook, Rollin
    1981 - Huntzinger, Walt
    1986 - Gorman, Tom
    1987 - McGillen, John
    1993 - Wilson, Bill
    1995 - Smith, Al
    2010 - King, Nellie
    2011 - Trimble, Joe
    2011 - Wall, Bob