May 2
1917 — Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs pitched a double no-hitter for nine innings, but the Reds won 1-0 on two hits in the 10th. Jim Thorpe drove in the winning run.
1923 — Walter Johnson recorded his first shutout of the season and the 100th of his major league record 113 career shutouts as the Washington Senators defeated the New York Yankees 3-0. Yankees shortstop Everett Scott received a medal from the American League for playing in his 1,000th consecutive game.
1927 — Babe Ruth becomes the highest-paid player in major league history when the Yankees announce he will earn $70,000 per season for the next three years.
1939 — Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees did not play against the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium, ending at 2,130 his streak of consecutive games. Gehrig never played again. Babe Dahlgren took his place at first base. The Yankees didn’t miss his bat, however, beating the Tigers 22-2.
1954 — Stan Musial hit five home runs in a doubleheader split with the New York Giants at St. Louis. The Cardinals won the first game 10-6 but lost the second 9-7. His fifth home run, off Hoyt Wilhelm, went over the roof in right center.
1959 — Frank Robinson of Cincinnati hit for the cycle and drove in five runs to lead the Reds to a 16-4 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1964 — The Minnesota Twins became the third team in major league history to hit four consecutive home runs in an inning. Tony Oliva, Bob Allison and Jimmie Hall connected off Dan Pfister and Harmon Killebrew went deep off Vern Handrahan in the top of the 11th inning for a 7-3 win at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium.
1992 — The highest-paid player tag now belongs to Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs. The All-Star second baseman signs a four-year contract extension worth $7.1 million per season.
2000 — Atlanta became the first NL team in 49 years to win 15 straight games by defeating Los Angeles 5-3.
2002 — Mike Cameron hit four homers and came close to a record-setting fifth in leading the Seattle Mariners to a 15-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. He became the 13th major leaguer to homer four times in a game. Cameron connected in his first four at-bats in just five innings. He joined Bret Boone as the first teammates to hit two home runs in the same inning. They connected back-to-back twice in a 10-run first.
2005 — Thirty-two years after his death, Jackie Robinson receives the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, the highest honor Congress can bestow.
2005 — Jim Edmonds hit a three-run homer off closer Danny Graves, and John Mabry added a two-run shot that completed the greatest ninth-inning comeback in St. Louis Cardinals history. The Cardinals sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in the top of the ninth to beat Cincinnati 10-9.
2006 — Bret Boone retires at the New York Mets training camp, the culmination of a swift decline for a player who was one of baseball’s best second basemen only a few years ago.
2012 — Jered Weaver pitched the second no-hitter in the majors in less than two weeks, completely overmatching Minnesota and leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 9-0 win over the Twins. The Twins never came close to getting a hit against Weaver, who struck out nine and walked one.
2013 — The 2013 World Baseball Classic gets under way with three games played in the Far East. In the opener, Taiwan exceeds its performance in the 2009 tournament with a 4 – 1 win over Australia, thanks to six scoreless innings by starting P Chien-Ming Wang and a homer by Cheng-Min Peng. Taiwan had to win a qualifying pool to enter this year’s event after exiting without a single win four years ago. In the other Pool B game, the Netherlands upset 2009 finalists South Korea with a 5 – 0 shutout. Ps Diegomar Markwell and Orlando Yntema combine for seven scoreless frames, while the Dutch hitters scratch a handful of runs with singles and some good fundamental baseball. OF Roger Bernadina drives in a pair of runs. Japan survives a scare in the Pool A opener at home, overcoming a 3 – 2 deficit against upstarts Brazil, who are playing in the World Baseball Classic for the first time, with a three-run outburst in the 8th to win, 5 – 3. Injured Japanese captain Shinnosuke Abe, pinch-hitting with the bases loaded and the score tied, drives a bullet up the middle on which 2B Felipe Burin makes a diving stop, but he is only able to get the runner at second base, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Leonardo Reginatto goes 3 for 4 with a pair of RBIs to lead Brazil’s attack.
2018 — One of the biggest stories in spring training this year has been the presence of NFL quarterback Russell Wilson at the Yankees’ camp.
2019 — The Phillies introduce their new marquee player in free agent OF Bryce Harper, just signed to a record-breaking 13-year deal worth $330 million.
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