June 8
1914 — New York’s Iron Joe McGinnity posted his 14th straight win beating Pittsburgh 2-0. With the win moved the Giants into first place over Chicago.
1933 — Philadelphia’s Jimmie Foxx homered in his first three at bats all off Lefty Gomez as the A’s beat the New York Yankees 14-10. Foxx had homered his last time up the previous day to tie a major league record of hitting four consecutive home runs. Bobby Lowe did it in 1894.
1940 — Harry Craft of Cincinnati connected for a home run, a triple, a double and two singles in seven at-bats to lead a 27-hit attack as the Reds pounded the Dodgers 23-2 at Brooklyn.
1950 — The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns 29-4 at Fenway Park and set major league records for runs scored; most long hits, 17 (nine doubles, one triple and seven homers); most total bases, 60; most extra bases on long hits, 32; most runs over two games, 49; most hits in two games, 51, including 28 this game. Bobby Doerr had three homers and 8 RBIs, Walt Dropo hit two homers and drove in seven runs and Ted Williams added two homers and five RBIs.
1968 — Howie Bedell’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning ended Don Drysdale’s record streak of 58 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3.
1969 — The New York Yankees’ No. 7 was retired on Mickey Mantle Day. A crowd of 60,096 came to Yankee Stadium to honor Mantle and watched the Yankees sweep the Chicago White Sox 3-1 and 11-2.
1975 — Detroit’s Tom Veryzer doubled with two out in the ninth to end Oakland’s Ken Holtzman’s no-hitter. Outfielder Bill North misjudged Veryzer’s hit but was not charged with an error. Holtzman retired the last hitter for a 4-0 victory.
1986 — In the longest 9-inning game by time in AL history Baltimore’s Lee Lacy went 4-for-6 with three home runs and six RBIs as the Orioles beat the New York Yankees 18-9. The game took 4:16 to complete.
1996 — Warren Morris hit a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Louisiana State a 9-8 victory over Miami in the championship game of the College World Series.
2001 — Damion Easley became the ninth Detroit player to hit for the cycle as the Tigers beat Milwaukee 9-4.
2010 — Stephen Strasburg exceeded expectations in his much-hyped major league debut, striking out 14 in seven innings to lead the Washington Nationals to a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick allowed four hits, two earned runs and didn’t walk a batter, piling up the most strikeouts in a debut since J.R. Richard fanned 15 for Houston in 1971.
2012 — Kevin Millwood and five Seattle relievers combined on a no-hitter, the third in franchise history, and the Mariners beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0. Millwood was cruising through six innings, giving up just one walk. But while warming up for the seventh he felt a twinge in his groin and was pulled from the game. Five relievers combined to finish the no-hitter, capped by Tom Wilhelmsen retiring Andre Ethier on a routine grounder to end it.
2013 — In the longest major league game in more than three years, Adeiny Hechavarria hit an RBI single in the 20th inning and the Miami Marlins outlasted the New York Mets 2-1.
2020 — MLB owners present their counter-proposal to get the season started. They propose playing 76 games, with a postseason involving 16 teams, drop the proposed sliding scale for reducing salaries – although they still seek further cuts -, and also propose dropping all forms of compensation for signing free agents. The ball is now back in the MLBPA’s court.
2021 — Pirates rookie 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes, swinging a red hot bat after coming back from a two-month stay on the injured list, makes a very embarrassing mistake when he has a home run taken away for missing first base. His apparent solo shot off Walker Buehler is nullified when the Dodgers successfully appeal that he did not touch the bag while rounding the bases.
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