This Date in Baseball

Sept. 24

1940 - Jimmie Foxx of the Red Sox hit his 500th career home run off Philadelphia's George Caster in the first game of a doubleheader at Shibe Park. Foxx's homer came in the sixth inning after Ted Williams homered. Joe Cronin followed with a homer and, later in the inning, Jim Tabor also homered. The four homers in the inning were a first in the AL.

1969 - The New York Mets clinched the NL East title, with Gary Gentry pitching a four-hitter in a 6-0 victory over St. Louis.

1974 - Detroit's Al Kaline doubled down the right-field line off Dave McNally of Baltimore for his 3,000th career hit. The Orioles beat the Tigers 5-4 at Memorial Stadium.

1977 - Jack Brohamer of the Chicago White Sox had four extra base hits and hit for the cycle in an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome.

1984 - Rick Sutcliffe threw a two-hitter and led the Chicago Cubs to their first league title since 1945 with a 4-1 victory over Pittsburgh.

1988 - Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays, one strike from a no-hitter, gave up a bad-hop single to Julio Franco. Stieb settled for a 1-0, one-hit victory over Cleveland.

1998 - Boston's Tom Gordon set a major league record for most consecutive saves with his 42nd to preserve the Red Sox' 9-6 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

2004 - The Atlanta Braves clinched their 13th consecutive division title, winning the NL East with an 8-7 victory over the Florida Marlins. The Braves' record streak of division championships began with the 1991 NL West title and excludes the 1994 strike-shortened season.

2006 - Trevor Hoffman became baseball's career saves leader, earning No. 479 to pass Lee Smith and help NL West-leading San Diego beat Pittsburgh 2-1. It was his NL-leading 43rd save in 48 chances.

2008 - Francisco Rodriguez worked the ninth inning of the Los Angeles Angels' 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners to end the season with a major league record 62 saves.

2014 - The New York Yankees were eliminated from postseason contention after losing to the AL East champion Orioles 9-5. The Yankees missed the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 1992 and '93.

2016 - Jose Bautista hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees 3-0 to send New York to its third consecutive shutout defeat - the first time that has happened to New York since 1975.

___