The game started on July 4. It didn’t end until the morning of July 5.
Braves Franchise History
1914: The Robins drum the Braves, sweeping a doubleheader, 7-5 in 11 innings and 4-3 in the nightcap. The nightcap is especially hard-fought Lefty Tyler plunks Dodger SS Ollie O’Mara on the neck and when Jake Daubert crosses the plate with the winning run in the 9th, he collides with Braves C Hank Gowdy and is knocked unconscious. Boston (26-40) is 10 1/2 games behind New York.
1934: After the finish of the holiday doubleheaders by all the teams, the Giants, by winning two from the Braves at the Polo Grounds, have a clear lead. They are 3 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs and 4 1/2 in front of the Cardinals. In the American League, the race has seesawed between the Yankees and Detroit with New York only one game ahead. The improved Red Sox are 6 1/2 behind, and Washington, last year’s winner, seven back and dropping fast.
1948: Braves rookie Johnny Antonelli, 18, makes his debut in the 8th inning of a 7-2 loss to the Phils, giving up one run on two hits. The Phils also win game two of the doubleheader.
1950: Braves slugger Sid Gordon ties the major-league record for season grand slams with four when he hits one against the Phillies. Boston’s 12-9 win in game two gives the two teams a total of 40 runs, 55 hits, and 90 total bases for the day.
1957: George Crowe of the Redleg’s goes 5 for 5 against his old Braves teammates, but Milwaukee wins, 10-7.
1961: Johnny Antonelli returns to the Braves as the Indians sell the veteran back to where he started as an 18-year-old pitcher.
1967: Atlanta’s Phil Niekro gets the best of rookie brother Joe as the Braves beat the Cubs, 8-3. It is the first decision between the pair.
1969: The Dodgers take first place in the National League West by sweeping a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves in Los Angeles, winning 6-7 and 7-3.
1985: In a marathon game that borders on the surreal, the Mets endure two rain delays and 6:10 of playing time to beat the Braves, 16-13, in 19 innings on Fireworks Night in Atlanta. The Mets take a 10-8 lead in the top of the 13th inning, only to watch the Braves tie it up. The Mets score again in the 18th, but relief hurler Rick Camp (a .060 hitter who is batting because Atlanta has no more position players available to pinch-hit) ties the score with his first major league home run on a two-out, two-strike pitch in the bottom of the inning. No pitcher had ever homered that late in a game before. Finally, the Mets erupt for five runs in the 19th off Camp and Atlanta can respond only with 2. Keith Hernandez hits for the cycle for the Mets, and the game ends at 3:55 A.M. on July 5th, the latest finish in major league history. At 4:01 A.M., the post-game fireworks display begins, causing local residents to think the city is under attack.
1992: In Atlanta’s 4-2 win over the Cubs, Braves SS Jeff Blauser hits a two-run home run in the 1st inning to start the scoring. It is the 1,776th big league homer hit on the holiday. Brian Hunter adds a solo shot to back Charlie Leibrandt (7-3).
MLB History
1939: It’s Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium and the “Iron Horse”’s uniform number 4 will be the first ever to be retired. After emcee Sid Mercer informs the sell-out crowd the man of the hour is too moved to speak, Gehrig changes his mind when Skipper Joe McCarthy encourages him, and delivers the keynote address describing himself as “the luckiest man on the face of the earth”.
1980: Reggie Smith belts the 7,000th home run in Dodgers history and Don Sutton sets a team record with his 52nd career shutout in the Dodgers’ 4-0 victory over the Giants.
1980: Nolan Ryan fans the Reds’ Cesar Geronimo to become the 4th pitcher ever to reach 3,000 career strikeouts. Ironically, Geronimo was also Bob Gibson’s 3,000th career strikeout victim six years earlier. Despite the milestone, Ryan allows 6 runs in 4 1/3 innings and Houston loses, 8-1.
2001: The Brewers’ new home, Miller Park, continues to be jinxed as a parachutist breaks his ankle when he misses the opening in the retractable roof and lands on a beam several hundred feet off the ground. Another member of the Sky Knights Sports Parachute Club misses the stadium completely.
Information for this article was found via Baseball Reference, NationalPastime.com and Today in Baseball History.