This Date in Baseball

June 21

1916 - Rube Foster of the Red Sox pitched a 2-0 no-hitter against the New York Yankees. Foster struck out three and walked three and pitched the first no-hitter at Fenway Park.

1938 - Pinky Higgins of the Boston Red Sox extended his consecutive hit string to 12, with eight hits in a doubleheader split with the Detroit Tigers. He went 4 for 4 in an 8-3 win in the opener and 4 for 4 in a 5-4 loss in the nightcap. The next day, Higgins struck out against Vern Kennedy in his first at-bat to end the streak.

1939 - The New York Yankees announced Lou Gehrig's retirement, based on the report that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The 36-year-old star remained as the team as captain.

1941 - Lefty Grove's 20-game consecutive win streak at Fenway Park ended with a 13-9 loss to the St. Louis Browns. The streak spanned from May 3, 1938, to May 12, 1941.

1956 - In a rare double one-hitter, Chicago's Jack Harshman outdueled Connie Johnson and George Zuverink of Baltimore as the White Sox beat the Orioles 1-0.

1964 - Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a 6-0 perfect game against the New York Mets in the opener of a Father's Day doubleheader. Bunning threw 89 pitches and struck out 10, including John Stephenson to end the game. The no-hitter gave Bunning one in each league and Gus Triandos became the first catcher to handle no-hitters in both leagues.

1970 - Detroit Tigers shortstop Cesar Gutierrez had seven hits in seven times at bat in a 9-8, 12-inning victory over the Cleveland Indians. Gutierrez had six singles and a double.

1989 - Carlton Fisk set an American League record for homers by a catcher and drove in three runs to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 7-3 victory over the New York Yankees. Fisk hit his 307th homer as a catcher to pass the Yankees' Yogi Berra.

2000 - Eric Chavez hit for the cycle in Oakland's 10-3 win over Baltimore. Chavez doubled in the second inning, singled in the fourth, tripled in the fifth and finished off the cycle with a homer in the seventh.

2005 - Jeff Larish matched a College World Series record with three homers, and J.J. Sferra drove in the game-winning run with a bloop single in the 11th inning as Arizona State rallied for an 8-7 victory and eliminated hometown favorite Nebraska. Larish's record-tying third homer tied it in the bottom of the ninth, and Sferra's single in the 11th punctuated the 4-hour, 7-minute game.

2006 - Jose Reyes hit for the cycle in the New York Mets' 6-5 loss to Cincinnati.

2009 - St. Louis' Tony La Russa joined Connie Mack (3,831) and John McGraw (2,763) as the only managers with 2,500 victories following a 12-5 win over Kansas City.

2011 - Minnesota tied a major league record by opening with eight consecutive hits against San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner, en route to a 9-2 win. Ben Revere had two hits and two RBIs to highlight an eight-run first inning.

2021 - Jacob deGrom pitches five scoreless innings to lead the Mets to a 4-2 win over the Braves. This extends his scoreless innings streak to 30 innings, lowering his ERA to 0.50. He becomes the first pitcher in history to go twelve straight starts of giving up to one or no earned runs topping the record set by Bob Gibson in 1968.

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June 22

1925 - The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 24-6 with Kiki Cuyler and Pie Traynor each hitting a grand slam and Max Carey getting two hits in the first and eighth innings.

1930 - Lou Gehrig hit three home runs to lead the New York Yankees to a 20-13 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics in the second game of a doubleheader. Babe Ruth, who hit three homers in the nightcap the previous day, hit two homers in the opener and one in the nightcap for the Yankees. Ruth tied major league records for five homers in two games and six homers in three games.

1944 - Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves threw a five-inning 7-0 no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies.

1947 - Cincinnati's Ewell Blackwell almost duplicated Johnny Vander Meer's double no-hit record by following up his June 18 gem over Boston. Brooklyn's Eddie Stanky singled with one out in the ninth to end Blackwell's bid. Blackwell ended up with a 4-0 two-hitter.

1962 - Baltimore Orioles first baseman Boog Powell became the first batter to hit a home run over the center-field hedge at Memorial Stadium. The 469-foot clout came off Don Schwall of the Boston Red Sox.

1982 - Philadelphia's Pete Rose doubled off St. Louis pitcher John Stuper in the third inning to move into second place on the career hit list. Rose moved ahead of Hank Aaron with hit No. 3,772.

1994 - Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 31st home run of the season in Seattle's 12-3 victory at California, breaking Babe Ruth's record for most homers before the end of June. Ruth needed 63 games to reach 30 homers in 1928 and 68 games in 1930. Griffey did it in the Mariners' 70th game.

1997 - The Atlanta Braves, behind a four-homer, nine-run third, beat the Philadelphia Phillies 12-5. Chipper Jones, Fred McGriff, Michael Tucker and Jeff Blauser homered in the inning.

2002 - The Detroit Tigers ended Luis Castillo's 35-game hitting streak. Castillo went 0-for-4 and was left on deck when the Florida Marlins finished off a four-run, ninth-inning rally to beat the Tigers 5-4.

2013 - Francisco Rodriguez earned his 300th career save, finishing off Milwaukee's second straight 2-0 victory over slumping Atlanta.

2020 - MLB owners agree unanimously on a plan for a 60-game season beginning around July 24th - if everyone signs off on health and safety protocols.

2021 - The Arizona Diamondbacks snap their franchise record 17-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

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June 23

1917 - In baseball's greatest relief effort, Ernie Shore of the Boston Red Sox came in for Babe Ruth with nobody out and a man on first. The base runner was cut down stealing and Shore retired all 26 batters he faced to gain a 4-0 victory over Washington. Ruth walked Eddie Foster to open the game and was ejected after arguing with umpire Brick Owens.

1950 - Hoot Evers' winning home run in the ninth inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 10-9 victory over the New York Yankees as the teams combined for 11 home runs, a major league record. The Yankees hit six and the Tigers five.

1963 - Jimmie Piersall, playing for the Mets in New York, hit his 100th career home run and celebrated by running around the bases backward.

1971 - Rick Wise of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds and hit two homers. Wise became the first pitcher to hit two homers while throwing a no-hitter.

1973 - Pitcher Ken Brett of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a home run in the fourth consecutive game that he pitched in June. He beat Montreal 7-2.

1984 - Chicago's Ryne Sandberg hit two late-inning home runs off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bruce Sutter to tie the game twice as the Cubs went on to win 12-11 in 11 innings. Sandberg led off the ninth inning with a solo home run to tie the game 9-9 then hit a two-run, two-out homer in the 10th to tie the game 11-11. Willie McGee hit for the cycle and drove in six runs for St. Louis.

2008 - Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years, then departed with a sprained ankle before he could qualify for a win in Seattle's 5-2 victory over the New York Mets. The shot to right-center off Johan Santana was the first home run by a pitcher in Mariners history, and the first slam by an AL hurler since Cleveland's Steve Dunning went deep against Oakland's Diego Segui on May 11, 1971.

2013 - David Wright homered, tripled and matched a Mets record with four extra-base hits to back Matt Harvey's splendid start in a lopsided 8-0 victory over Philadelphia. Wright went 4 for 5 with two of New York's season-high seven doubles.

2020 - After the Players Association ratified proposed COVID-19 safety protocols, an abbreviated 60-game season will begin July 23rd or 24th.