The Hammer gets his day in Baseball Paradise.
Braves Franchise History
1914: The Miracle Braves edge the Cardinals, 4-3, in ten innings to reach the .500 mark (45-45) for the first time this year.
1917: The Reds purchase Sherry Magee from the Boston Braves.
1933: Carl Hubbell holds the Braves scoreless through five innings to break by one inning Ed Reulbach’s National League record for consecutive scoreless innings, set in 1908. The Braves score twice in the 6th, though, and the Giants lose, 3-1, as the streak is stopped at 45 innings.
1945: At the Polo Grounds, Mel Ott hits his historic 500th career home run off Braves hurler Johnny Hutchings as the Giants beat Boston, 9-2. Master Melvin is the third major leaguer to reach this career milestone.
1953: Warren Spahn of the Braves allows just an infield hit to Richie Ashburn in the 4th in beating Philadelphia, 5-0. It is Spahn’s 31st career shutout.
1963: Ellis Burton becomes the eighth player to hit home runs left- and righthanded in the same game, helping the Cubs bury the Braves, 10-2.
1968: Tonight’s 2-1 win over Philly gives the Cardinals their 24th victory in 30 decisions (49-15 since May 29th), putting them 35 games over .500 and 15 games up on 2nd-place Atlanta. Though they’ll pretty much tread water from this point on (three games under .500 the rest of the way), no one else catches fire ; mtheir lead will not fall below double digits until well after they clinch on September 15th. The Phillies’ only run against Steve Carlton is the result of Johnny Callison’s home run.
1972: Nate Colbert ties one major-league record with five home runs, and sets another with 13 RBI, as the Padres take a doubleheader from the Atlanta Braves, 9-0 and 11-7. At age 8, on May 2, 1954, Colbert had been at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis to witness Stan Musial hitting five home runs in a doubleheader.
1978: The Braves trounce the Reds, 16-4, and stop Pete Rose’s National League-record hitting streak at 44 games. Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber are the Atlanta pitchers. Rose goes 0 for 4, striking out in the 9th inning to end the game. Rose’s streak is the second longest in major league history. He went 70 for 182 during the skein, an average of .385.
1982: Hank Aaron, the holder of the career home run (755) and RBI record (2,297); Frank Robinson, the first player to win the MVP Award in both leagues and the first black manager in the majors; Travis Jackson, an outstanding offensive and defensive shortstop for the Giants during the 1920s; and former commissioner Happy Chandler, who provided leadership in breaking baseball’s color line, are inducted in the Hall of Fame.
1998: Recalling the old Negro League teams represented in their respective cities, the Cardinal-Brave game features throwback uniforms of the 1928 St. Louis Stars and the 1940 Atlanta Black Crackers.
Photo credit should read STEVE SCHAEFER/AFP via Getty Images
MLB History
1994: Hostilities between the owners and players heat up. The owners withhold $7.8 million they are obligated to pay the players’ pension and benefit plans.
1994: Baltimore’s Cal Ripken becomes the second player in history to appear in 2,000 consecutive games, as the Orioles shut out the Twins, 1-0, behind Arthur Rhodes, who was recalled from Triple-A Rochester just yesterday. Ripken goes hitless in four at bats. Cal’s streak will go on hold at 2,009 when the strike commences.
2005: Rafael Palmeiro becomes the highest-profile player to be suspended for violating Major League Baseball’s steroids policy. The Orioles first baseman, who denies knowingly taking any banned substances, stated this spring to the House Government Reform Committee that published allegations by Jose Canseco of his steroids use were “absolutely false” and had considered suing his former teammate over the accusation.
2016: The Dodgers land P Rich Hill and OF Josh Reddick from Oakland and P Jesse Chavez from Toronto, the latter in return for P Mike Bolsinger
2023: The Astros swing the biggest deal before today’s trading deadline, repatriating ace starter Justin Verlander from the Mets in return for two prospects. In the game that follows the announcement, they then defeat Cleveland, 2-0, behind a masterful effort by Framber Valdéz who pitches a complete game no-hitter, facing the minimum 27 batters (the only baserunner, who reaches via walk, is erased in a double play) and needing just 93 pitches to achieve the feat. Martin Maldonado is behind the dish for a no-hitter for the third time, second most ever, but his first by a single pitcher, while the last Astros pitcher to achieve the feat by himself had been Verlander, back in 2019.
Information for this article was found via Baseball Reference, NationalPastime.com and Today in Baseball History.