Aug. 8
1903 - A week after pitching his first doubleheader triumph, Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity of the New York Giants scored a double victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers 6-1 and 4-3. In the second game, he stole home.
1915 - Philadelphia’s Gavvy Cravath hit four doubles and drove in eight runs in a 14-7 victory over the Reds at Cincinnati.
1920 - Howard Ehmke of the Detroit Tigers pitched the fastest 1-0 game in American League history - 1 hour, 13 minutes, for a victory against the New York Yankees.
1931 - Bob Burke of the Washington Senators pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox.
1954 - The Brooklyn Dodgers pounded the Cincinnati Reds 20-7 at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers scored 13 runs in the eighth inning after two were out.
1973 - Designated hitter Orlando Cepeda hit four doubles as the Boston Red Sox posted a 9-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
1982 - California’s Doug DeCinces hit three home runs in a game for the second time in less than a week. DeCinces hit solo homers in the first and third innings and connected for a two-run shot in the eighth of a 9-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners. DeCinces hit three against Minnesota on Aug. 3.
1985 - Baseball, after a two-day walkout, resumed playing with 18 games scheduled, including five doubleheaders.
1988 - The first night game scheduled in the 74-year history of Chicago’s Wrigley Field’s was postponed with the Cubs leading the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 after heavy rains started in the bottom of the fourth inning. Philadelphia’s Phil Bradley led off the game with a home run, but all numbers were wiped out when the rain came.
1992 - Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley had his consecutive save record snapped at 40. His consecutive save records - 36 straight to start a season, and 40 straight over two seasons - ended trying to protect a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals. Eckersley gave up a two-out, two-run single to Gregg Jefferies to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. But the Athletics came back to win the game in the ninth, 5-3.
1997 - Randy Johnson struck out 19, matching the major league record for left-handers he had tied earlier this season, as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-0.
1998 - Paul Molitor stole his 500th base in Minnesota’s 6-3 loss to Baltimore become the fifth player with 3,000 hits and 500 steals. Molitor joined Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Lou Brock.
2000 - Darren Dreifort of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit two homers and was the winning pitcher in a 7-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
2001 - Damion Easley went 6-for-6 with a home run and three RBIs as Detroit pounded Texas 19-6. The Tigers tied a modern major league record by scoring 13 runs in the ninth inning.
2010 - Derek Jeter passed Babe Ruth on the career hits list and Mark Teixeira hit his 25th homer, becoming the fourth player to hit at least 25 in each of his first eight big league seasons leading the New York Yankees to a 7-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Jeter broke a tie with The Babe for 39th place on the career hits list with an RBI single in the second inning, his 2,874th hit. The three other players to hit at least 25 homers in first eight seasons are Eddie Mathews, Darryl Strawberry and Albert Pujols.
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