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This Day in Baseball History: May 31st
By Administrator | May 31, 2008
In 1869, the first rain out in professional baseball occurs as heavy rain postpones the Red Stockings game against the Antioch Nine.
In 1927, there was an unassisted triple play for the second consecutive day in the major leagues.
In 1937, a Memorial Day crowd of 61,756 — the second-largest crowd in Polo Grounds history — saw the Dodgers end Carl Hubbell’s consecutive-game winning streak at 24 over two seasons… Brooklyn routed King Carl in the fourth inning and won 10-3.
In 1938, NY Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig played in his 2000th consecutive game as the Yankees defeated the Red Sox, 12-5.
In 1942, before 22,000 at Griffith Stadium, Satchel Paige pitched five innings to defeat the Dizzy Dean All-Stars 8-1… 29,000 fans were in attendance at a game a week earlier at Wrigley Field (which Paige won 3-1). MLB Commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, prohibited a scheduled July 4 matchup between the teams because the first two games outdrew major league games. It had NOTHING to do with the fact that Landis was a bigot and could not stand to see a black pitcher beat white players… really, it didn’t.
In 1961, batting for LF Carl Yastrzemski, Red Sox pinch hitter Carroll Hardy bunted for a single in the eighth inning of a 7-6 loss to the Yankees… Hardy would be the only player to pinch-hit for both Captain Carl and Ted Williams.
In 1976, after an error set up a six-run game-winning rally for the SD Padres, new Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner invited the 2,994 fans in attendance to come back the next night — as his guests.
In 1983, A.L. President Lee MacPhail suspended Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for one week, citing “repeated problems” with the owner’s public criticism of major league umpires. Steinbrenner, who had been fined $50,000 by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn during spring training for berating some N.L. umpires, was not permitted to attend games or be in his Yankee Stadium office during the suspension.
In 1999, umpire Frank Pulli used a television replay to take away a home run from Cliff Floyd of the Marlins.
In 2001, the Red Sox beat the Yankees in their eighth attempt of the season — and prevailed over the Bronx Bombers for the first time in more than a year since Pedro Martinez scoffed at the ‘Curse’. The right-hander was 7-1 with a 1.44 ERA in 2000, when he said: “Wake up the damned Bambino and let me face him — I’ll drill him in the (rear end)”… but after the comment he battled injuries and managed only seven more winless starts.
Born Today: Tippy Martinez (1950), Kenny Lofton (1967), Dave Roberts (1972)
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