May 30
1894 — Boston’s Robert Lowe became the first player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game, leading the Beaneaters to a 20-11 win over Cincinnati. After hitting four straight homers, all line drives far over the fence, Lowe added a single to set a major league record with 17 total bases.
1922 — Between the morning and afternoon games of a Memorial Day twin bill, Max Flack of the Chicago Cubs was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Cliff Heathcote. They played one game for each team.
1927 — In the fourth inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, shortstop Jim Cooney of the Chicago Cubs caught Paul Waner’s liner, stepped on second to double Lloyd Waner and then tagged Clyde Barnhart coming from first for an unassisted triple play.
1935 — Babe Ruth made his last major league appearance. He played one inning for the Boston Braves against the Philadelphia Phillies. Jim Bivin retired Babe Ruth on an infield grounder in the Babe’s final major league at-bat.
1940 — Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants threw 87 pitches in a 7-0 one-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He faced the minimum 27 batters. Johnny Hudson, who singled, was caught stealing.
1956 — Mickey Mantle hit a home run that came within a foot-and-a-half of leaving Yankee Stadium. It hit the face of the upper deck in right field, 370 feet from home plate and 117 feet in the air. Mantle became the first player to hit 20 home runs by the end of May as the Yankees beat the Washington Senators 4-3.
1961 — Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Bill Skowron each hit two homers to lead the New York Yankees to a 12-3 rout of the Boston Red Sox. Yogi Berra also added a homer.
1962 — Pedro Ramos of the Cleveland Indians tossed a three-hitter and hit two home runs, including a grand slam, for a 7-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
1977 — Cleveland’s Dennis Eckersley pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against the California Angels.
1982 — Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr. began his record consecutive games streak by starting at third base against the Toronto Blue Jays.
1987 — Eric Davis hit a grand slam in the third inning, breaking two National League records and leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Davis became the first NL player to hit three grand slams in a month and his major league leading 19 homers broke the NL record for most homers in April and May.
1992 — Scott Sanderson became the ninth pitcher to beat all 26 major league teams as New York defeated Milwaukee 8-1. Sanderson joined Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez, Rick Wise, Gaylord Perry, Doyle Alexander and Rich Gossage as those who have defeated every club.
2001 — Barry Bonds hit two home runs, moving past Willie McCovey and Ted Williams into 11th place on the career list with 522. Bonds with 17 home runs in May, surpassed the mark set by Mark McGwire in 1998 and Mickey Mantle in 1956.
2003 — Ken Griffey Jr. hit a game-tying home run in the ninth and a go-ahead homer in the top of the 11th to lead Cincinnati over Florida 4-3.
2006 — Vernon Wells hit three home runs and Troy Glaus added two more in Toronto’s 8-5 victory over Boston.
2009 — Travis Tucker hit an RBI single with one out in the top of the 25th inning, leading Texas to a 3-2 victory over Boston College in the longest game in NCAA history. The game eclipsed the previous record of 23 innings, set in 1971 when Louisiana-Lafayette defeated McNeese State 6-5.
2010 — Albert Pujols hit three long home runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Pujols homered in the first, fifth and ninth innings for his fourth career three-homer game.
2011 — Jo-Jo Reyes won for the first time in 29 starts by throwing his first career complete game to lead Toronto to an 11-1 rout of Cleveland. Reyes avoided becoming the first pitcher to go winless in 29 starts. Oakland’s Matt Keough went 28 starts between wins in 1978 and 1979, matching the dubious mark first set by Boston’s Cliff Curtis in 1910 and 1911. The left-hander went 0-13 with a 6.59 ERA in his 28 starts between wins.
2011 — Arizona’s Kelly Johnson became the second player in the majors this year to have four extra-base hits in a game as the Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins 15-4. Johnson hit solo home runs in the third and sixth, doubled in the fourth and tripled in the seventh.
Today’s birthdays: Zack Wheeler 31; Tony Watson 36; Fernando Salas 36.
