July 4th Is a BIG Day In Baseball History

While celebrating Independence Day this weekend, I was watching the Cleveland vs. A’s game and noticed a small pop-up on the screen which mentioned all the historical baseball events that happened on July 4^th.

I didn’t have a chance to read them all, so I decided to do some research & here is what I came up with. It’s astonishing how many historical events occurred on this date! Please feel free to add anything that I missed.

1905 – Philadelphia A’s (hard to believe that this team has traveled to Kansas City and Oakland since then) beat Boston Red Sox 4-2 in 20-inning game.

1908 - NY Giant George "Hooks" Witse no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 in 10 innings

In 1911 - White Sox's Ed Walsh stops Ty Cobb's 40-game hitting streak. Ty Cobb goes 0-for-4.

1912 - Detroit Tiger George Mullen no-hits St Louis Browns, 7-0.

1919 - Cincinnati Reds are 10½ games back in NL and win World Series.

1925 - Yankees' Lefty Grove beats A's Herb Pennock 1-0 in 15 innings.

1938 - First game at Shribe Park, Philadelphia. Braves beat Phillies 10-5.

1939 - This was a memorable year. The Yankees retire first uniform (Lou Gehrig's No. 4), first Old Timers Day this July 4, and this year was the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's farewell speech, which still makes me teary-eyed. Let’s not forget that Red Sox Jim Tabor hits two grand slams in one game that same day.

1950 - Braves' Sid Gordon ties season grand slam record with four.

1960 - Mickey Mantle is 18th to hit 300 HRs.

1967 - Phillies' Clay Dairymple ties NL record of six walks in doubleheader

In 1977- The Cubs use fielder Larry Bittner as a pitcher and Red Sox wallop a major league-record eight HRs beating Toronto 9-6.

1982 - Yankees bat out of order against Indians in first inning.

1983 - NY Yankee Dave Righetti no-hits the Red Sox.

1984 - NY Yankee Phil Niekro is ninth to strikeout 3,000.

1989 - Red's Tom Browning is three outs away from his second career perfect game when Phillie Dickie Thon doubles.

It’s funny that there hasn’t been a significant event in baseball History for 20 years now. But that’s why I love this sport—every year the game changes and you never know what will happened next!