April 22
1876 — In the first National League game, Joseph Borden of Boston beat the hometown Philadelphia team 6-5.
1898 — Theodore Breitenstein of the Cincinnati Reds and James Hughes of Baltimore each pitched no-hit ball games. Breitenstein no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0 and Hughes no-hit the Boston Braves 8-0.
1903 — The New York Highlanders lost their first game at Washington 3-1 before 11,950 fans.
1914 — At age 19, Babe Ruth plays his first professional game as a pitcher, as he throws a six-hit, 6 – 0 shutout for the Baltimore Orioles over the Buffalo Bisons.
1934 — Chicago’s Lon Warneke pitched his second consecutive one-hitter, beating St. Louis and Dizzy Dean 15-2.
1957 — John Kennedy becomes the first black to play for the Philadelphia Phillies, making them the last National League team to integrate.
1959 — The Chicago White Sox scored 11 runs with only one hit in the seventh inning of a 20-6 rout of the Kansas City A’s. Johnny Callison had the hit — a single. In the inning, Chicago was the recipient of 10 walks — five with the bases loaded — three Kansas City errors and one hit batsman.
1962 — The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the New York Mets 4-3 in a game in which two NL records were tied. Bill Mazeroski tripled in a run in the eighth to give the Pirates a 10-0 record, which matched the record for most consecutive wins since the start of the season set by the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. The Mets lost their ninth straight to match the mark set by Brooklyn in 1918 and tied by the Boston Braves in 1920.
1970 — Tom Seaver of the Mets struck out the last 10 Padres he faced for a 2-1 victory over San Diego. He gave up two hits and finished with a total of 19 strikeouts, tying Steve Carlton’s major league record.
1976 — Montreal’s Tim Foli hit for the cycle in a 12-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
1978 — Andre Thornton of the Cleveland Indians hit for the cycle in a 13-4 win against the Boston Red Sox.
1980 — Ivan DeJesus of the Chicago Cubs hit for the cycle in 16-12 win against the St. Louis Cardinals.
1981 — Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Fernando Valenzuela pitches his third shutout in four starts, strikes out 11, and has the game’s only RBI with a single in a 1 – 0 win against the Houston Astros.
1982 — The Atlanta Braves’ major league record for the fastest start was stopped at 13 straight victories when they lost 2-1 to the Cincinnati Reds.
1991 — San Francisco’s Robby Thompson hit for the cycle in a 7-5 loss to the San Diego Padres.
1993 — Chris Bosio pitched a no-hitter to give the Seattle Mariners a 7-0 win over the Boston Red Sox.
2007 — The Boston Red Sox hit four straight home runs against the New York Yankees, tying a major league record. Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek connected in a span of 10 pitches during the third inning against Chase Wright, who was making his second major league start for New York. Boston won 7-6.
2008 — Atlanta’s John Smoltz became the 16th pitcher in major league history to reach the 3,000-strikeout plateau in the Braves’ 6-0 loss to the Washington Nationals.
2014 — Albert Pujols became the first major leaguer to hit his 499th and 500th homers in the same game, driving in five runs to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Washington Nationals 7-2.
2020 — The Commissioner issues his findings in his investigation into allegations of sign-stealing by the 2018 Boston Red Sox, in the wake of a similar investigation into the illicit doings of the 2017 Houston Astros. While the investigation reveals that the Red Sox’s scheme was more limited in scope than the Astros’, it was still illegal, and the person responsible for the team’s video room is issued a one-year suspension, while the team must forfeit its second-round selection in the 2020 amateur draft. While there is no additional punishment for manager Alex Cora, already handed a one-year suspension for his role with the Astros.
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