Chicago Cubs history unpacked — May 22 - RAW CHILI

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Happy birthday to Jacob Turner*, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, 1930 – In Philadelphia, the Yankees and the Athletics continue the home run barrage as the Yankees take both games of a second straight doubleheader, 10-1 and 20-13. Babe Ruth hits a pair of home runs in the opener, as does Ben Chapman and winning pitcher George Pipgras. The Yanks score nine runs in the first two innings of the second game, but the A’s come back to tie it at 12 apiece. The Yanks win the assault, 20 – 13, as Tony Lazzeri is 4 for 4, scores five runs, and knocks in four. Ruth hits another in the scond game, while Lou Gehrig powers three round trippers to drive in eight runs. On the A’s side, Jimmie Foxx has two homers to drive in six runs. For the afternoon, the teams combine to hit 14 round trippers, a then-record ten in the nitecap.

Also today in baseball history, in 1963 – At Yankee Stadium, New York blows a 7-0 lead and allows Kansas City to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Mickey Mantle, leading off the 11th, is fooled by Bill Fischer on a slow curve, then cannons a 2-2 pitch that almost clears the right field roof. “The hardest ball I ever hit,” Mantle later comments, a ball that, by some accounts, is still rising when it strikes a foot below the top. It is conservatively estimated by Dr. James McDonald, a physicist who studies long-ball trajectories, that the ball would have traveled 620 feet if it had not struck the façade. “That was the only homer I ever hit that the bat actually bent in my hands,”Mantle tells Dale Long, from whom he borrowed the bat.

Today in baseball history:

1880 – Pud Galvin makes his first appearance of the season for Buffalo, beating Cincinnati, 2-1. Galvin had difficulty leaving California, where he was forced to walk 36 miles at one point to avoid local detectives who were trying to hold him to his California League contract.

1912 – The Giants complete a western trip in first place, beating the Reds today, 6-1. Christy Mathewson is in total control, giving up three hits in the first three innings, and then retiring the next 18 batters.

1923 – Babe Ruth breaks a 1 – 1 tie between the Yanks and White Sox by clouting a two-run homer in the 15th inning. The blow breaks up a tense pitching duel between little Mike Cvengros and Herb Pennock, who goes all the way giving up just four hits.

1934 – The Indians stop the Yankees, 5-1, with Lou Gehrig driving in the lone run for New York. For the second time in his career, Lou has driven in at least one run a game for ten straight games.

1936 – Collecting 17 hits, including eight doubles, the Cards overwhelm the Pirates, 11-4. Dizzy Dean breezes to his sixth win and the Cards increase their lead to 1.5 games. Pepper Martin scores in his 13th consecutive game, but will go runless tomorrow.

1941 – A smart play by the Reds’ Lonny Frey helps Cincy to a 6-4 win over the Giants. With one out and the sacks full in the 1st, Chuck Aleno hits a double play grounder to short. Frey, running from second base, allows the ball to hit him for an out, stopping play and putting Aleno on first base. Ernie Lombardi then hits a grand slam. Frank McCormick adds a two-run home run in the 3rd.

1968 – At Wrigley Field, Pirates slugger Willie Stargell hits three home runs and just misses a fourth in a 13-6 rout over the Cubs. “Pops” also hits a single and a double which bounces off the railing in left field fence back onto the playing field.

1990 – Andre Dawson sets a major-league record when he is intentionally walked five times during a 16-inning, 2-1 Cubs win over the Reds. Cincinnati issues seven intentional passes altogether to tie a major-league record set by Houston in 1984.

Cubs Birthdays: Jacob Turner, Bob Molinaro, Moe Thacker, El Tappe, Dick Ward, Carl Spongberg. Also notable: Bobby Cox HOF. Earl Averill HOF.

Today in history:

1819 – The SS Savannah sets sail from Savanah Harbor in Georgia on an historic journey to become the 1st steam propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic.

1849 – Abraham Lincoln receives a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions.

1900 – American inventor Edwin S. Votey receives a patent for the pneumatic piano player.

1906 – Wright Brothers are granted a patent for their “flying machine,” having applied for one 3 years earlier (patent no. 821,393).

1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, only mountain other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century.

1959 – Benjamin O Davis Jr becomes 1st black major general in US Air Force.

1977 – Final European scheduled run of the Orient Express (after 94 years).

*pictured.