May 11
1904 — Cy Young’s 23-inning no-hit string ended. The streak included two innings on April 25, six on April 30, a perfect game against the Philadelphia A’s on May 5, and six innings today.
1919 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators pitched 12 scoreless innings in a duel with Jack Quinn of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds. The Big Train allowed only two hits and retired 28 batters in a row. Future football star George Halas, batting leadoff for the Yankees, went 0-for-5, striking out twice.
1919 — Hod Eller of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a no-hitter to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0. Eller struck out eight and walked three.
1923 — Setting several Pacific Coast League records, Pete Schneider of Vernon hit five homers and a double to knock in 14 runs in a 35-11 romp over Salt Lake City.
1955 — Ernie Banks’ grand slam — the first of five on the year — led the Chicago Cubs to a 10-8 victory that snapped the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak.
1963 — Sandy Koufax pitched the second of four career no-hitters to help Los Angeles beat San Francisco 8-0.
1971 — Cleveland pitcher Steve Dunning became the last American League pitcher to hit a grand slam before the inception of the designated hitter rule in 1973. Dunning’s homer off Diego Segui of the Oakland A’s gave the Indians a 5-0 lead, but Phil Hennigan got the victory as the Indians won 7-5.
1972 — Tom Seaver wins his 100th game in a 2-1 New York Mets victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mets also acquire veteran outfielder Willie Mays from the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000.
1977 — Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner decides to take the managerial reins of his team, which has lost 16 straight games. The Braves lose their 17th in a row in Turner’s debut, as coach Vern Benson makes most of the strategic decisions. After the game, the National League removes Turner from the dugout, citing a rule that prevents an owner from doubling as manager. Dave Bristol, who was given a “sabbatical” to allow Turner to step into the dugout, will be brought back to finish the year at the helm of the team.
1980 — 39-year-old Pete Rose steals second base, third, and home in one inning for the Phillies. The last National League player to pull this feat had been Jackie Robinson in 1954.
1996 — Al Leiter, the wildest pitcher in the American League the previous season, pitched the first no-hitter in Florida’s brief history as the Marlins beat the Colorado Rockies 11-0.
1998 — Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs set the major league record for strikeouts in consecutive games (33) by fanning 13 Arizona Diamondbacks in a 4-2 victory. The record for strikeouts in two starts had been 32, set by Luis Tiant in 1968 and matched by Nolan Ryan (1974), Dwight Gooden (1984) and Randy Johnson (1997).
2000 — The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 14-8 in the longest nine-inning game in National League history — 4 hours, 22 minutes. The teams tied the major league record set by Baltimore and the Yankees on Sept. 5, 1997.
2003 — Rafael Palmeiro of Texas became the 19th player to join the 500-homer club. In a 17-10 win, Palmeiro hit a full-count fastball into the right field stands off Cleveland right-hander David Elder.
2009 — In the tallest pitching matchup in baseball history, 6-foot-10 Randy Johnson beat 6-9 Daniel Cabrera. The Big Unit and the towering Cabrera measure a combined 163 inches — one more than the combined heights of Cabrera and Mark Hendrickson on Sept. 1, 2004, in the previous record-holding matchup. Johnson struck out nine for his 298th career victory as San Francisco topped Washington 11-7.
2011 — Tim Wakefield takes the mound for the Red Sox at age 44 years and 282 days. He breaks Deacon McGuire’s record as the oldest performer in Boston Red Sox history – McGuire was 44 years and 280 days old on August 24, 1908, his last game for the franchise.
2016 — Max Scherzer ties the major league record by striking out 20 batters in a nine-inning game against his former team as the Nationals defeat the Tigers, 3-2. He now shares the mark with Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood and Randy Johnson. Scherzer does not issue a single walk in the game.
2020 — Major League Baseball owners agree on a tentative plan to resume the season that has been put on hold since spring training was shut down in early March by the coronavirus pandemic. Training would resume in June and an 82-game season would start around July 1-4, with games played in home ballparks, but without spectators. Teams would play games only against divisional opponents, or teams from the corresponding division in the other league, and the postseason would be expanded to 14 teams from the current 10. Rosters would be expanded to 30 players, with an additional 22-man taxi squad available as replacements in the absence of minor league games. Owners insist that the Players Association will need to accept that salaries will be based on total revenues for the plan to go ahead, something that is unlikely to be acceptable, however. This exact plan will be rejected, but the two sides will agree on a 60-game season starting in late July along the same general parameters.
2021 — The Oakland Athletics receive permission from MLB to start exploring relocation options, as their most recent attempt to come to an agreement with local authorities on replacing the outdated Oakland Coliseum, has gone nowhere.
2022 — Christian Yelich becomes the 5th player to hit for the cycle for the third time when he does so in a 14-11 Brewers loss to the Reds. His previous two cycles had also come against the Reds, within a three-week span in 2018.
_____