June 6
1918 _ Casey Stengel, after being traded by Brooklyn in the offseason, made his return to Ebbets Field a memorable one. In his first at-bat, Stengel called time, stepped out of the batter’s box and doffed his cap. A bird flew out and the fans broke into laughter.
1934 _ Myril Hoag hit a major league record six singles in the New York Yankees’ 15-3 rout of the Boston Red Sox.
1939 _ The New York Giants hit five home runs in the fourth inning in a 17-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at the Polo Grounds. With two out, Harry Danning, Al Demaree, Burgess Whitehead, Manny Salvo and Joe Moore connected as the Giants scored eight runs in the inning.
1945 _ In the first game of a doubleheader, Boston’s Boo Ferriss scattered 14 hits to beat Philadelphia 5-2. Ferris, 8-0 on the year, tied the AL mark held by Chicago’s John Whitehead for wins at the start of a career.
1948 _ Erv Dusak Red Schoendienst Enos Slaughter and Nippy Jones homer in the sixth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Phillies 11-1 in the first of two games. Phillies pitcher Charlie Bicknell gave up 18 total bases in the inning.
1965 _ Tom Tresh of the New York Yankees connected for three consecutive home runs in a 12-0 rout of the Chicago White Sox. Tresh hit his first homer right-handed off Juan Pizzaro in the first inning, then went to the other side of the plate and hit two against Bruce Howard in the third and fifth innings.
1975 _ Cleveland manager Frank Robinson hit two three-run homers in a 7-5 win over the Texas Rangers.
1975 _ California’s Nolan Ryan pitched a one-hitter for a 6-0 win over Milwaukee. Ryan’s bid for a no-hitter was foiled by Hank Aaron’s single in the sixth inning.
1986 _ San Diego Padres manager Steve Boros was ejected before the first pitch of the game with the Atlanta Braves when he tried to give umpire Charlie Williams a videotape of a disputed play in the previous night’s 4-2 loss to Atlanta.
1992 _ Eddie Murray drove in two runs at Pittsburgh to pass Mickey Mantle (1,509) as the all-time RBI leader among switch-hitters.
1995 _ J.D. Drew of Florida State hit a record-setting three homers in his final three at-bats in a 16-11 loss to Southern California in the College World Series. Drew finished 3-for-5 with five RBIs and 12 total bases, also a series record.
1996 _ For the second time in major league history and first in the AL, a cycle and a triple play took place in the same game. Boston’s John Valentin hit for the cycle, while Chicago turned a triple play in the Red Sox’s 7-4 victory. In 1931, Philadelphia’s Chuck Klein hit for the cycle in the same game that the Phillies turned a triple play against the Chicago Cubs.
1998 _ Jason Lane’s grand slam capped a five-run ninth inning as Southern California won its first NCAA title in 20 years, beating Pac-10 rival Arizona State 21-14 in the College World Series.
2003 _ The New York Mets ended Seattle’s 13-game road winning streak with a 3-2 win in the first meeting between the teams. It was the longest streak in the majors since Detroit’s 17 straight road wins in 1984.
2006 _ Baltimore’s Corey Patterson had his run of successive games with a stolen base stopped at nine in a 6-4 loss to Toronto. It was the longest run in the majors since Rickey Henderson had an identical stretch in 1986.
2007 _ Trevor Hoffman became the first major leaguer with 500 career saves when he closed out the San Diego Padres’ 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Today’s birthdays: Junichi Tazawa 27; Matt Belisle 32; Jeremy Affeldt 33; Mark Ellis 35.
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