A M-W-F digest, replete with #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB content, gathered from reputable sources. A great Chicago playoff classic and other stories. Happy birthday, Rick James!
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.
“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly.
Today in baseball history:
- 1900 – Rube Waddell of Pittsburgh strikes out a National League season-high 12 in a 2-1 win over Chicago. He will lead the league with 130 strikeouts and a 2.37 ERA. (2)
- 1911 – Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers and Wildfire Schulte of the Chicago Cubs win the newly established Chalmers Awards, which go to the league’s most valuable players. Cobb batted .420 with an American League-leading 127 RBI, while Schulte led the National League with 21 home runs and 107 RBI. Using a point system – eight for a first-place vote, seven for second, and so on – the eight voting writers give Cobb the maximum 64 points. Winners receive Chalmers automobiles. (1,2)
- 1913 – The Philadelphia Athletics win the World Series as Eddie Plank outduels New York Giants pitching great Christy Mathewson in Game 5. Plank allows only two hits in the Athletics’ 3-1 victory, giving Philadelphia its third World Championship in the last four seasons. (1,2)
- 1943 – New York Yankees pitcher Spud Chandler shuts out the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0, as the Yankees win the World Series in five games. Chandler gives up ten hits and strands 11 runners. Bill Dickey’s two-run homer in the 6th inning is the difference. (2)
- 2006 – Pitcher Cory Lidle of the New York Yankees is killed when a small plane he is in crashes into a residential building in New York City. An investigation will fail to determine whether it was him or his flight instructor at the controls at the time of the crash. (2)
- 2011 – Matt Murton of the Hanshin Tigers singles off Shun Tono to bring his hitting streak to 30 games. That ties Isao Harimoto and Yutaka Fukumoto for fourth-longest in Nippon Pro Baseball history and breaks Glenn Braggs’ record of 29 by a gaijin. Murton’s streak will be snapped tomorrow by Tetsuya Utsumi. (2)
- 2016 – The Cubs clinch the other NLDS thanks to a tremendous ninth-inning comeback in San Francisco. Trailing 5-2 and looking completely anemic against Matt Moore, they victimize a parade of five different relievers to score four runs in the fateful inning and take the lead; Aroldis Chapman then saves his third game of the series with a perfect ninth to send the Giants packing, ending their string of three consecutive World Series wins in even-numbered years.
- 2017 – The Nationals force a Game 5 in the NLDS by shutting out the Cubs, 5-0 at Wrigley Field. Stephen Strasburg pitches seven scoreless innings and leaves with a 1-0 lead, thanks to an unearned run against Jake Arrieta, then Michael Taylor deals the crushing blow with a grand slam off Wade Davis with two outs in the top of the eighth.
Cubs Birthdays: Bob Chipman, Rick James, Jesús Sánchez.
Today in History:
- 1138 – Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills an estimated 230,000.
- 1811 – The Juliana, first steam-powered ferryboat, begins operation.
- 1852 – The University of Sydney, Australia’s oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.
- 1887 – Alexander Miles patents the elevator.
- 1899 – South African Boers declare war on Great Britain.
Common sources:.
- (1) — Today in Baseball History.
- (2) — Baseball Reference.
- (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
- (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
- (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
- For world history.
*pictured.
Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid. We are trying to set the record as straight as possible. But it isn’t brain surgery.
Also, the ‘history’ segment is highly edited for space and interest. Of course a great many other things happened on those days. We try to follow up on the interesting or unfamiliar ones.
Thanks for reading.