Tim Hudson has a great day as the Blue Jays have a bad day.
Braves Franchise History
1912: With no hint that a record is about to be set, the Giants coast to a 14-2 lead through eight innings at Boston, then score seven more in the 9th for a 21-2 lead. The Braves rally for ten in the last of the 9th but lose 21-12. The 17 runs are the NL post-1900 record scored by two teams in the 9th. Another 20th century mark set is the 11 stolen bases by the Giants – four by Josh Devore, including two in the 9th – and 14 swipes by both clubs. Thirteen Giants score runs, tying the major league record.
1934: New manager Pie Traynor paces the Pirates to a 6-5 win over the Braves, stopping a losing skid of five games. Traynor laces three doubles and a single and scores the winning run in the 9th inning. Arky Vaughan is 4 for 4 for the winners to raise his average to .363, two points off the leaders. Wally Berger keeps the Braves in the game with a two-run homer in the 1st and a game-tying homer in the 9th. Leon Chagnon, in relief of Red Lucas, is the winner.
1951: Billy Southworth’s first win as Braves manager is a breeze as Warren Spahn shuts out the Cubs, 9-0, and is 3 for 4 at the plate, including a home run.
1962: Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves has the team’s only two hits in a 3-2 win against Willard Hunter of the New York Mets in a six-inning rain-shortened game. Aaron homers in the 3rd and 6th innings and drives in all three of the Braves’ runs, becoming the first player in major league history to have two homers as his team’s only two hits in a game.
1965: The Atlanta-bound Braves ban sportswriter Lou Chapman from the clubhouse for his “stories of a negative nature” and their “disquieting” effect on players and management. The ban is rescinded a day later upon protest by Milwaukee BBWAA members.
1971: Four grand slams are hit in the majors, by the Atlanta Braves’ Earl Williams, the Phillies’ Deron Johnson, the White Sox’s Rick Reichardt, and the Pirates’ Willie Stargell. Williams’ slam comes in a 5 – 4 loss, and the Braves drop a second game, 2 – 0 to the Reds. The Pirates whip Montreal, 7-1, and the Sox pummel the Twins, 18-8. Johnson’s slam, in the 11th, gives the Phils a split with the Mets.
1994: Umpires Dana DeMuth, Tom Hallion, Paul Runge and Angel Hernandez work the Atlanta-NY game wearing shorts and Braves T-shirts and caps. The umps’ regular equipment was lost in transit. The Braves won the game, 7-3.
2009: Josh Beckett pitches his first regular-season shutout in a Boston Red Sox uniform as the Sox defeat the Braves, 3-0. He did throw a shutout in Game 1 of the 2007 ALDS.
2011: Tim Hudson pitches eight scoreless innings and launches a rocket home run into the left field stands off Ricky Romero in the 7th inning to drive in both of his team’s runs as the Braves beat the Blue Jays, 2-0. Hudson retires 20 straight batters before Mike McCoy draws a walk to lead off the 9th and Yunel Escobar follows with an infield single. Craig Kimbrel then steps in to strike out the next three batters to end the game and earn his 20th save.
2015: The Diamondbacks traded P Bronson Arroyo and 2014 top draft pick Touki Toussaint to the Braves in return for IF Philip Gosselin. As both Arroyo, recovering from Tommy John surgery, and Gosselin are currently on the disabled list, the deal is largely a salary dump, allowing the D-Backs to get Arroyo’s $9.5 million salary off the books.
MLB History
1973: Bobby Bonds leads off with a home run, but the Giants lose, 7-5, to the Reds. It is Bonds’s 22nd leadoff home run, breaking Lou Brock’s National League record.
1980: Leonard Smith, the man who killed Angels outfielder Lyman Bostock with a shotgun blast on September 23, 1978, but was later acquitted of the crime by reason of insanity, is released from Logansport State Hospital and allowed to return to his home in Gary, IN, because psychiatrists say he is no longer mentally ill.
1980: 5-foot, 4-inch Freddie Patek, one of the smallest players of his era, hits three home runs and a double in California’s 20-2 rout of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Patek will end the year with five homers.
1982: The Phillies’ Pete Rose plays in his 3,000th major league game (a 3-1 loss to the Pirates), joining Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron and Carl Yastrzemski as the only players to reach that plateau. It is also “Charlie Hustle”’s 523rd consecutive game played.
1989: The Yankees trade OF Rickey Henderson back to the A’s for journeymen pitchers Eric Plunk and Greg Cadaret and OF Luis Polonia.
2001: Hitting his 38th homer of the season, Barry Bonds breaks the major league mark established by Reggie Jackson (1969) and Mark McGwire (1998) for home runs hit before the All-Star Game. The Giants’ left fielder still has 17 games to add to the record.
2011: Jack McKeon, who first managed in the major leagues with the Kansas City Royals in 1973, is back at the helm at age 80, taking over the Florida Marlins after the resignation of Edwin Rodriguez. This makes him the second-oldest manager in major league history, after Connie Mack. “I’ll probably manage until I’m 95,” quips McKeon. His first move is to bench star SS Hanley Ramirez, who has infuriated previous managers with his sometimes-lackadaisical play, because “(I) didn’t like the way he was running yesterday.” In the game, the Marlins lose to the Angels, 2-1, as Jered Weaver improves to 9-4 and lowers his ERA to 2.01; Torii Hunter drives in both Angel runs. It’s the Marlins’ 11th consecutive loss – a franchise record – and 19th in their last 20 games.
2023: The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Court upholds an earlier decision by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that three former minor league teams that were eliminated under the 2021 Minor League Reorganization cannot bring an antitrust suit against Major League Baseball. This is due to the exemption from the Sherman Antitrust Act from which MLB has benefited since the Supreme Court’s decision in the case Federal Baseball Club v. National League, back in 1922. The plaintiffs are now expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, in order to attempt to have its century-old ruling reversed.
Information for this article was found via Baseball Reference, NationalPastime.com and Today in Baseball History.