Important Dates in Major League Baseball for the Month of May

Photo by Daiji Umemoto on Unsplash

By now every fan knows that Major League Baseball has postponed the start of its 2020 season due to the corona virus.  Whether we'll see baseball in May waits to be seen. I know for certain that a whole lot of people will be sorting out the fallout for this decision. When players with contracts in the mega-millions are sitting idle, and tickets aren't being sold, I'm curious what kinds of contracts have been created to address this force majeure. And do season ticket holders get refunds?

In the meantime, this here is a continuation of February 25 blog post highlighting important dates in baseball history for April.

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IMPORTANT DATES -- MAY

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May 1, 1920
Joe Oeschger of the Braves and Leon Cadre of Brooklyn pitch 26 innings in a 1-1 tie. Longest game ever.

May 2, 1939
Lou Gehrig did not play against the Tigers at Briggs Stadium, ending his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. (EdNote: This "Iron Man" record was surpassed 56 years later by Cal Ripken, Jr. who went on to set the current record by playing in 2,632 consecutive games.)

May 3, 1936
Joe DiMaggio plays his first game.

May 3, 1963
Pete Rose hits his first Home Run.

May 3, 1964
Tommy John pitches his first victory.

May 4, 1904
Cy Young (Red Sox) hurls a Perfect Game against the A's, besting Rube Waddell 3-0.

May 7, 1917
Babe Ruth (Red Sox) allows two hits in a 1-0 victory over Walter Johnson. Ruth knocks in the lone run with a sacrifice fly.

May 11, 1917
Pete Schneider of Vernon, CA (Pacific Coast League) hits five homers and a double, driving in 14 runs.

May 12, 1955
Sam Jones of the Cubs pitches no hitter after walking three Pirates in the ninth and striking out three to get the win.

May 14, 1920
Walter Johnson wins his 300th game with a 9-8 win over the Tigers.

May 14, 1988
Jose Oquendo (Cards) becomes the first non-pitcher in 20 years to get a decision, a 7-5 loss to the Braves, when Ken Griffey knocked in two runs with two outs in the 19th inning.

May 17, 1979
Phillies beat the Cubs 23-22 in ten innings at Chicago when Mike Schmidt hits his second home run of the game.

May 30, 1904
Frank Chance, first baseman for the Cubs, is hit five times by Cincinnati pitchers in a double header, a record. The two teams split.

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Important dates in baseball history for April.

Important Dates in Major League Baseball for the Month of April

These notes were assembled by the late Robert Lookup, a street person whom my wife and I befriended for the last 10 years of his life. We'd nicknamed him Train Man because of his passion for trains. At the time I was introduced to him he had watched every movie in the Duluth Public Library and rated each on the basis of their train scenes, for accuracy and interest value. All his notes were collected on 4x6 index cards, written in a crimped handwriting style similar to the handwritten lyrics of Bob Dylan's Desolation Row.

Robert was a man quite passionate about his obsessions. One of these was birthdays. He knew everyone by their birthday. He was a savant in that way, not dissimilar from Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.  He was also passionate about baseball. He loved the stats, and baseball has them in abundance. But, like his other passion, every player has a birthday, and I'm willing to guess that he knew the birthday of every famous player as well as many of the lesser known. (He loved underdogs and the world's nobodies.)

Hence he loved learning as much as he could about the forgotten parts of baseball. He once had me do research to identify how many minor league baseball stadiums there were in the 1930s and how many were still active.

All this is backstory for where these lists come from: Important Dates in Major League Baseball. In sharing them here I have added a date or detail a couple of times, but overall the decisions regarding what to include or leave out are all Robert's.

Tim Gouw courtesy Unsplash

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IMPORTANT DATES -- APRIL

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April 2, 1876
First official National League baseball game. Boston 6, Philadelphia 5

I have two copies of this 1964 Topps card. Will sell one to
highest bidder if interested.

April 8, 1974
Hank Aaron hits Home Run # 715

April 8, 1975
Frank Robinson of Cleveland debuts as first black manager in Major League Baseball

April 13, 1914
First Federal League game played in Baltimore. Baltimore 3, Buffalo 2

April 15, 1947
Jackie Robinson becomes first black Major League ballplayer in 20th century.

April 16, 1940
Bob Feller beats the White Sox 1-0 in Chicago. Only opening day no-hitter in Major League history.

April 17, 1976
Mike Schmidt hits four consecutive home runs for the Phillies to erase a 15-2 deficit to the Cubs of Chicago. Phillies go on to win 18-16 in ten innings.

April 20, 1916
Cubs played their first game at Weedhman Park, beating Cincinnati 7-6. Re-named Wrigley Field in 1926.

April 23, 1999
Fernando Tatis hits 2 Grand Slam Home Runs in one inning, first player ever to do this. His eight RBIs in one inning is a Major League record.

April 26, 1905
Jack McCarthy of the Cubs becomes the only outfielder in Major League history to throw out three at the plate in a single game. Final score: Pittsburgh 2, Cubs 1.

April 30, 1919
Joe Oeschgen of the Phillies and Brooklyn's Burleigh Grimes pitch a 9-9 tie in 20 innings.
(Burleigh Grimes was the last player permitted to legally throw a spitball. He ended his career with 270 wins and was selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame.)


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Top MLB Offseason Storylines
Remembering the 100th Anniversary of the Negro Leagues 
A Day in the Life of Robert Lookup