Tag Archives: Roy Campanella

Sep 12

Game 148, 2019

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Dodgers at Orioles, 4:15 PM PDT, TV: MASN, SPNLA

The Dodgers send LHP Rich Hill (4-1, 2.55 ERA) to the mound for the first of four expected starts before the playoffs begin. He hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since June 19 when he strained a flexor tendon, and he’s not expected to go more than a couple of innings. His opponent will be RHP Dylan Bundy (6-13, 5.06 ERA), who’s had an odd schedule: before 18 of his 27 starts he’s had an extra day of rest and has had one before today’s start, which has seemed to be beneficial. When he’s had that extra day he’s cut his ERA a full run from what it had been entering the game.

The Dodgers held a lead in yesterday’s game, believe it or not:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1930 The last major league bounced home run is hit by Dodger catcher Al Lopez at Ebbets Field as the NL joins the American League, which had enacted the rule change in 1929. The player who hits the ball over the wall on a bounce will now be awarded a ground-rule double.
  • 1932 In the bottom of the ninth, Johnny Frederick hits his major league record-setting sixth pinch-homer of the season, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the Cubs. The Brooklyn outfielder’s major league mark will not be broken for 68 years until another Dodger, Dave Hansen, strokes seven round-trippers coming off the bench in 2000.
  • 1953 The Dodgers clinch a pennant at the earliest date ever in baseball history with a 5-2 victory over the Braves at County Stadium. Carl Erskine gets the win when Brooklyn, who clinches consecutive titles for the first time in franchise history, goes up 13 games up on Milwaukee with 12 left to play.
  • 1962 One game behind the front running Dodgers, the Giants lose Willie Mays, their All-Star center fielder, when he is hospitalized for nervous exhaustion. The ‘City by the Bay’ will drop six games in a row, but will recover along with ‘Say Hey Kid’ in time to beat Los Angeles in a playoff to win the National league pennant.
  • 1963

    “I look up into the stands, and it looks like Ebbets Field. The Mets are wonderful, but you can’t take the Dodger out of Brooklyn” – DUKE SNIDER, – addressing the Mets fans on his special night at the Polo Grounds.

    In a pregame ceremony with his former Dodgers teammates, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Ralph Branca in attendance, Duke Snider is honored by the Mets with a special ‘night’ at the Polo Grounds, which coincidentally marks the last time the Giants, now located in San Francisco, will ever play in their once long-time home in Harlem. The ‘Silver Fox’, obtained by the last-place expansion team in April, has recently requested to be traded to a contender.

  • 1995 During a WGN pre-game radio broadcast at Wrigley Field, Cubs announcer Harry Caray remarks to the team’s skipper Jim Riggleman, “Well, my eyes are slanty enough, how ’bout yours?”, referring to Hideo Nomo, the Japanese rookie hurler scheduled to start for the Dodgers. The veteran announcer, known for not backing off for his on-the-air off-handed comments, does issue an apology, calling the incident “unfortunate.”
  • 2000 On the same date the mark was established 68 years ago, Dave Hansen breaks Johnny Frederick’s 1932 record for pinch-hit home runs in a single season with his seventh round-tripper coming off the bench. The Dodger pinch-hitter’s historic homer, a seventh-inning three-run blast off Diamondback right-hander Curt Schilling, isn’t enough to prevent the team’s 5-4 loss to Arizona at Bank One Ballpark.

Lineup:

Jul 17

Game 98, 2019

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Dodgers at Phillies, 4:05 PM PDT, TV: NBCSP, SPNLA

Dodgers’ RHP Kenta Maeda (7-6, 3.82 ERA) takes the mound for the third game of this four-game series. He’ll face the Phillies’ RHP Nick Pivetta (4-4, 5.81 ERA). In his last start Maeda went 5 2/3 innings, giving up four hits and three runs. Unfortunately, two of those hits were solo home runs and the Dodgers only got one run themselves, so Maeda took the loss to the Red Sox. Pivetta gave up three runs in five innings to the Nats in his last start, and he’s got a 6.99 ERA in his last five starts.

Here’s Beaty’s three-run PH home run in the 9th in Tuesday’s game. Listen all the way through and you’ll hear Hershiser say what we all thought: “It’s probably a game-winner.” Oh well.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1954 With Jim Gilliam (2b), Jackie Robinson (3b), Sandy Amoros (lf), Roy Campanella (c), and Don Newcombe (p) in the starting lineup against the Braves, the Dodgers field the first team which consists of a majority of black players. The historic five helps Brooklyn to beat Milwaukee at County Stadium, 2-1.
  • 1964 In Los Angeles, the Chavez Ravine contest becomes the first Pay-TV baseball game as Subscription Television offers the cablecast to subscribers for a fee. The Dodgers beat Chicago, 3-2, with Don Drysdale collecting 10 strikeouts.
  • 1976 Walter Alston becomes the sixth skipper to win 2,000 games when the Dodgers overcome a four-run first inning deficit and beat Chicago at Chavez Ravine, 5-4. ‘Smokey’ will leave at the end of the season, finishing his 23-year tenure in his only managerial position in the majors with a 2,040-1,613 record (.558).

Lineup when available.


Jun 11

Game 68, 2019

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Dodgers at Angels, 7:07 PM PDT, TV: FS-W, SPNLA

RHP Kenta Maeda (7-2, 3.48 ERA) goes for the Dodgers and Félix Peña (3-1, 4.53 ERA) pitches for the Angels. In his last start Maeda was pulled after five innings of two-hit, one walk and seven strikeout ball and wasn’t happy to be taken out after just 70 pitches. Peña had his worst outing of the year in his last “start” (the Angels are using the “opener” concept with him), giving up seven runs in just 1 2/3 innings.

First reports of NL All-Star votes:


This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1957 The Dodgers’ Roy Campanella surpasses former Cub and Giant backstop Gabby Hayes to establish a new National League mark when he hits his 237th career round-tripper as a catcher. Campy’s historic home run comes off Ray Crone in the seventh inning of Brooklyn’s 7-2 loss to the Braves at Ebbets Field.
  • 1972 LA outfielders Manny Mota and Willie Davis both hit inside-the-park homers down the foul lines at Dodger Stadium off Bucs’ starter Bruce Kison. Roberto Clemente’s seventh inning home run over the fence proves to be the difference in Pittsburgh’s 7-5 victory, their 21st win the last 26 games.

Also, in 1938 In the first of two consecutive no-hitters he will hurl, Johnny Vander Meer keeps the Boston Bees hitless in Cincinnati’s 3-0 victory at Crosley Field. The Reds’ southpaw, in the first night game played in Brooklyn, continues his no-no mojo four days later by beating the Dodgers, 6-0, without giving up a hit in the Ebbets Field contest.

Lineup when available.


Jun 07

Game 64, 2019

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15 PM PDT, TV: NBC Bay Area, SPNLA

LHP Clayton Kershaw (5-0, 3.20 ERA) goes to the mound for the Dodgers against the Giants’ LHP Drew Pomeranz (1-6, 8.08 ERA). Kershaw has gone at least six innings in each of his nine starts this season and the Dodgers have won all nine. He’s 22-10 in his career against the Giants with a 1.70 ERA. Pomeranz is having the worst season of his nine-year career; he’s given up 35 earned runs in 39 innings. He faced the Dodgers twice in April and got a no-decision and a loss.

MLB’s Richard Justice has a column titled “7 trades that make perfect sense,” and one of them is:

6. Brad Hand to the Dodgers

You’re probably looking at the Dodgers and thinking, “Do they really need anything?” Sure, they do. Every team needs something, and around the Trade Deadline, an impact acquisition can energize the clubhouse. Hand is about as close to unhittable as any reliever in the game (1.05 ERA), and would combine with Kenley Jansen to make the Dodgers’ bullpen the NL’s best. Along with Bauer, a shrewd Hand trade can really help the Indians rebuild their system.

Potential trade pieces: This one won’t be simple. Yes, the Dodgers have a deep system. Yes, Hand potentially is signed through 2021 at a reasonable rate. But Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is extremely protective of his best young prospects. Outfielders DJ Peters (L.A.’s No. 10 prospect) and Jeren Kendall (No. 15) would make some sense. So would any of three Dodgers catching prospects, possibly Diego Cartaya (No. 9).

I gotta say, I like anything that shores up the bullpen, which currently has a 4.63 ERA, 11th in the National League. Their strikeout rate ranks 14th.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1954 Dodger catcher Roy Campanella steals home in the top of the 12th inning in a 7-5 victory over St. Louis at Sportsman’s Park. Campy had added an insurance run with an eighth inning round-tripper, but the Redbirds scored three times in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score.
  • 1957 Howard University awards honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and recently retired Dodgers infielder Jackie Robinson. In the coming years, the former baseball great and the Baptist minister will often appear together at Civil Rights rallies, fundraising events, and demonstrations.

    Jackie Robinson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

  • 1982 Joining Lou Gehrig, Everett Scott, Billy Williams, and Joe Sewell, Dodger infielder Steve Garvey becomes only the fifth player in major league history to play in 1,000 consecutive games. The first baseman, establishing a National League record, will appear in 1207 consecutive games, before the streak ends next season when he breaks his thumb in a collision at home plate, playing for the Padres.

Lineup when available.


Jun 04

Game 62, 2019

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 PM PDT, TV: FS-A, SPNLA

The Dodgers’ LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (8-1, 1.48 ERA) is having a season for the ages so far. He’ll face the D-Backs’ RHP Taylor Clarke (1-1, 4.67 ERA), who will be making his fifth big league appearance and fourth start. Ryu made six starts in May and had a 0.59 ERA for the month. Clarke gave up five runs on four hits in two innings in his last start against the Rockies.

In case you missed this:


This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1957 At a seventy-five minute show-down meeting at City Hall with Walter O’Malley and Horace Stoneham, the club presidents of the Dodgers and Giants, respectively, Mayor Robert Wagner is told by the owners neither club has a commitment to move out of New York – and none to stay in the Big Apple. The teams, who have been given permission by the National League to explore the possibility of moving their franchises to the West Coast, are assured by His Honor that the city will be of assistance in replacing the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, the aging ballparks the clubs call home.
  • 1964 At Connie Mack Stadium, Sandy Koufax throws his third no-hitter in three years, blanking the Phillies 3-0. The Dodgers’ southpaw, who will add a perfect game to his resume next season, joins Bob Feller as the only other modern major leaguer to pitch three career hitless games.
  • 1968 Don Drysdale, pitching his sixth consecutive shutout, defeats the Pirates, 5-0. The Dodger right-hander will extend his major league record scoreless streak to 58.2 innings before yielding a run in his next start. Later that evening at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Robert Kennedy, giving his victory speech for his win in the California primary before being fatally shot, tells his followers in the packed ballroom, “I’d like to express my high regard to Don Drysdale, who pitched his sixth straight shutout tonight.”
  • 1972 The Dodgers retire Roy Campanella’s uniform number 39. Campy, who won the MVP three times catching for Brooklyn in the fifties, joins Jackie Robinson (42) and Sandy Koufax (32) to be honored in this manner.
  • 1976 In an 11-0 victory at Dodger Stadium, Mets right fielder Dave Kingman hits three home runs. Sky King’s two-run dinger and two three-run round trippers drive in eight runs, a new club record.
  • 1990 En route to a 6-0 complete-game victory, 22 year-old Dodger right-hander Ramon Martinez limits Atlanta to three hits. Pedro’s older brother, who will finish the season with a 20-6 record, strikes out 18 batters during the contest.
  • 1998 The Dodgers trade the 1995 National League Rookie of the Year Hideo Nomo (2-7 with a 5.05 ERA) and reliever Brad Clontz to the Mets for pitchers Dave Mlicki and Greg McMichael.

Lineup when available.


Jun 01

Game 59, 2019

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Phillies at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: KTLA, MLBN (out-of-market only), NBCSP, SPNLA

The Fightin’ Phils ask LHP José Álvarez (0-1, 3.92 ERA) to make his first start of the season after 22 relief appearances, and he gets to face future Hall-of-Famer LHP Clayton Kershaw (5-0, 3.46 ERA) for his sins. Álvarez hasn’t gone longer than two innings all year, so don’t expect him to be around long. In contrast, Kershaw hasn’t gone less than six innings in any of his eight starts this season. The Phillies are the only team that has a winning record (5-3) against him.

Rich Hill is now MLB’s oldest pitcher and hopes to go a lot longer. Here’s something I hadn’t realized:

Because of his earlier injuries and his years as a reliever, he has thrown only 911⅔ major-league innings and 1,705 professional innings. Clayton Kershaw, eight years his junior, has thrown 2,148⅓ major-league innings and 2,397 professional innings.

“You think about the mileage on Kersh, who is 31 years old, versus Rich, who battled through independent ball and all that stuff and doesn’t have as many innings,” Stripling said. “That helps. Also, the fact that he went through that is probably what motivates him.”

Friday night’s home run barrage:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1955 Duke Snider blasts three home runs in the Dodgers’ 11-8 win over Milwaukee. Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, and Roy Campanella also go deep in the Ebbets Field’s contest, helping Brooklyn set a franchise record with six home runs.
  • 1962 In the nightcap of a twin bill at Shibe Park, Don Drysdale beats the Phillies for the 13th consecutive time, continuing a streak which started in 1958. The Dodger right-hander, however, will drop his next seven decisions against Philadelphia after today’s victory.
  • 1997 When Wilton Guerrero scurries to pick up pieces of his shattered bat after grounding out to start the game, home plate ump Steve Ripley becomes suspicious and discovers that the rookie used an altered bat. The Dodgers second baseman is immediately ejected from the game by crew chief Bruce Froemming, and the 21 year-old infielder will also receive an eight-day suspension and a $1,000 fine for his use of a corked bat.

Lineup when available.


May 10

Game 41, 2019

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Nationals at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: MASN, SPNLA

The Nationals send RHP Aníbal Sánchez (0-5, 5.15 ERA) out to face the Dodgers’ RHP Kenta Maeda (3-2, 4.66 ERA) in the middle second game of this three-game four-game series. Sánchez has lost four straight starts and walked at least four in four of his six starts this year. Maeda has done just a little better; he’s walked at least two in four of his seven starts.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1953 With a double and home run, Roy Campanella drives in all the runs in the Dodgers’ 5-0 victory over the Phillies at Ebbets Field. Campy’s total of 40+ RBIs in the first 30 games will not be matched until Tino Martinez accomplishes the feat in 1997 with the Yankees.
  • 1955 Dodger right-hander Don Newcombe faces only 27 batters when he one-hits Chicago at Wrigley Field, 3-0. Gene Baker, who will be thrown out trying to steal second base, ruins Newk’s bid for perfection, with a fourth-inning single.

Other historical notes: on this day in 1909 Fred Toney completes the longest no-hitter in organized baseball history, a 1-0 victory over the Lexington Colts of the Blue Grass League. As word spread around town about the Class D Winchester Hustlers right-hander’s performance on the mound, fans continued to stream into the ballpark before the lone run of the contest scored on a squeeze play in the bottom of the 17th. And if you thought the Phillies’ Ben Chapman was bigoted only toward African-Americans, think again. On this date in 1934 Ben Chapman, who will lead the protest against Jackie Robinson in 1947, harasses a Jewish fan during a Yankees’ 13-3 victory of the White Sox at the Bronx ballpark. The New York left fielder shouts disparaging epithets and taunts the team’s supporter with Nazi salutes.

Lineup when available.


May 07

Game 38, 2019

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Braves at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: FSSE, SPNLA

The Braves give the ball to LHP Max Fried (4-1, 2.11 ERA) and the Dodgers do the same to LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-1, 2.55 ERA). Fried limited the Padres to one run on four hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings in his best start of the season last time out. Ryu went eight innings against the Giants his last time out, giving up one run on four hits, no walks and six strikeouts. He leads the majors with 0.5 walks per nine innings.

From Monday’s game wrapup:

Buehler is 12-5 in his 30 career starts. No drafted Dodgers pitcher has won that many games in that few starts, including fellow first-rounders Clayton Kershaw, Bob Welch or Chad Billingsley.

In franchise history, only Kenta Maeda, Don Newcombe, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kaz Ishii and Hideo Nomo rank ahead of Buehler for wins in the first 30 Major League starts, and each played professionally previously in Asia or, in Newcombe’s case, the Negro Leagues.

Additionally, Buehler has limited the opposition to a .195 batting average in those 30 starts, sixth in MLB all-time behind Jose Fernandez (.181), Vida Blue (.181), Nomo (.185), Juan Guzman (.192) and Matt Harvey (.195).

Bellinger won’t play first base for the forseeable future due to the potential for injury when diving for balls. (What, he won’t dive for balls in right field?) Pollock won’t play for six more weeks; he has a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line in his left arm to transmit antibiotics and cannot play baseball until it’s removed. The antibiotics are to fight the staph infection in his elbow which took him into surgery last week. This particular problem is bizarre; read the whole story.

Buehler struck out eight in Monday’s game:

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1959 At the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Yankees defeat the Dodgers, 6-2, in an exhibition game played to benefit Roy Campanella, who was paralyzed in an auto accident prior to the team moving to the West Coast in 1958. The game, which draws the largest crowd ever for a baseball game, 93,103 fans with another estimated 15,000 turned away from the sellout, begins with an emotional ceremony in which Pee Wee Reese pushes the wheelchair-bound catcher into the darkened stadium that is totally illuminated by fans holding candles or matches.
  • 1960 The Sherry boys become the tenth pair of siblings to appear as batterymates in a major league game when Norm replaces John Roseboro behind the plate in the top of the eighth to catch Larry, who is starting his first inning in relief. The backstop will hit a two-out home run in the bottom of the 11th inning, assuring his brother of a victory in the Dodgers’ 3-2 walk-off win over Philadelphia.
  • 1969 Willie Davis, furious with the Wrigley Field Bleacher Bums because of their continual verbal abuse of him, tells his Dodgers teammates that he wants to hit a home run in the middle of the group, which he does in the sixth inning to tie the score. The LA center fielder exacts a bit more revenge on the heckling horde when his 12th-inning two-run round-tripper proves to be the difference in the 4-2 defeat of the Cubs.
  • 1970 At Shea Stadium, Wes Parker hits a triple off Jim McAndrew to beat the Mets in the tenth inning, 7-4. The three-bagger completes the cycle for the Dodger first baseman.
  • 1991 Darryl Strawberry returns to New York as a Dodger with mixed results. A crowd of 49,118 mostly booing fans watches him hit a two-run home run, and they cheer when he makes the last out of the game with the potential tying and winning runs on base in the 6-5 Mets victory.
  • 2009 The Dodgers fail to improve upon their 13-game winning streak at home to open the season–the victorious span surpassed the 1911 Tigers to set a new major league mark. The 11-9 loss to Washington comes on the same day the team learns about Manny Ramirez, the club’s most productive hitter, being suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a banned substance.
  • 2009 Major League Baseball suspends Manny Ramirez for fifty games after he tests positive for the use of a banned substance. The 36 year-old Dodgers outfielder, who will not be eligible to return to the team until July 3, apologizes to the fans, explaining he did not take steroids, but was given a medication which a doctor thought was okay to be prescribed.
  • 2011 After a first-inning walk in the Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the Mets, Andre Ethier goes 0-for-4, ending his 30-game hitting streak. The L.A. outfielder falls one game short of the franchise record set in 1969 by Willie Davis, who enjoyed a 31-game hitting streak that season.
  • 2014 Adrian Beltre becomes the fifth player in major league history to hit 100 home runs for three different teams when he goes deep in the Rangers’ 9-2 loss to Colorado at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The 35 year-old third baseman, who joins Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Darrell Evans, and Reggie Jackson in accomplishing the feat, hit 147 homers for the Dodgers (1998-2004) and 103 with the Mariners (2005-09).

Lineup when available.


Apr 19

Game 22, 2019

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Dodgers at Brewers, 5:10 PM PDT, TV: FS-WI, SPNLA

The visiting Dodgers send RHP Ross Stripling (1-1, 2.92 ERA) to the mound to face the Brewers’ RHP Jhoulys Chacín (2-2, 6.52 ERA). Stripling has been the most consistent of the Dodgers’ starters, and in his last start he went eight innings and gave up just four hits and one run, getting the win against these same Brewers. The opposing pitcher in that game? Chacín, who gave up six earned runs in just 2 1/3 innings and took the loss.

It might be a little hard to believe, but Chacín is only two years older than Stripling. The difference is that Chacin made his MLB debut in 2009 when he was just 21. He’s got a career W-L record of 76-77. Stripling didn’t get into a big league game until he was 26; his career W-L record is 17-21.

Verdugo’s throw in Thursday’s game tied the current season high for fastest throw from the outfield: 98.4 MPH.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1890 The Brooklyn Bridegrooms, who will later be known as the Dodgers, play their first National League game. The former American Association team loses to the Beaneaters, who will become known as the Braves in 1912, at Boston’s South End Grounds, 15-9.
  • 1938 During the first inning, both Dodgers’ Ernie Koy and Phillies’ Emmett Mueller homer in their first major league at-bats. The pair of rookies will collectively hit a total 42 home runs during their nine seasons in the major leagues.
  • 1956 In the first major league game ever played in New Jersey, the Dodgers begin their Jersey City home game experiment with a 10-inning 5-4 victory over the Phillies at Roosevelt Stadium. A sparse crowd of 12,214, limited by inclement weather, sees Brooklyn backstop Roy Campanella tie the score in the tenth inning with his 1000th career hit, a double down the left field line.
  • 1968 Nolan Ryan makes quick work of the Dodgers when he strikes out the side on nine pitches in the top of the third inning of the Mets’ 3-2 loss at Shea Stadium. The 21 year-old New York fireballer, who will also accomplish the feat with the Angels in 1972, strikes out 11 batters in 7.1 frames, including Claude Osteen, Wes Parker, and Zoilo Versalles, the victims of his immaculate inning.
  • 2000 Veteran hurler Orel Hershiser ties a major league mark, equaled by 19 others, hitting four batters in one game. Astro Richard Hidalgo also ties a modern major league record by getting hit three times in a game, twice by Hershiser and a third time by Dodger reliever Matt Herges.
  • 2002 Mariners’ third baseman Jeff Cirillo ties the major league record for consecutive errorless games at the hot corner by playing his 99th contest without a miscue. John Wehner, a journeyman infielder with the Dodgers, Pirates, and Marlins, established the mark during a span of eight-plus seasons.

Lineup when available.


At bumsrap’s suggestion, I’ve added a link on the right under the “Blogroll” section called “Dodgers Affiliate Scores.” It allows you to see all the scores from every Dodger team from the big club down to the rookiest of rookie leagues for any date. Click it and look for the date box, then pick the date you want.

Sep 12

Game 146, 2018

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Dodgers at Reds, 9:35 AM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FS-O

The Dodgers send RHP Ross Stripling (8-3, 2.61 ERA) to the mound for his second appearance after coming off the DL where he’d been for a sore back. He’s expected to pitch only 3 innings or 45 pitches. He’ll face RHP Anthony DeSclafani (7-4, 4.56 ERA), who had a good August but has been pulled by the fourth inning in each of his last two starts. The Reds won his last outing 12-6 despite his giving up eight hits and four runs in four innings.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1930 The last major league bounced home run is hit by Dodger catcher Al Lopez at Ebbets Field as the NL joins the American League, which had enacted the rule change in 1929. The player who hits the ball over the wall on a bounce will now be awarded a ground-rule double.
  • 1932 In the bottom of the ninth, Johnny Frederick hits his major league record-setting sixth pinch-homer of the season, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the Cubs. The Brooklyn outfielder’s major league mark will not be broken for 68 years until another Dodger, Dave Hansen, strokes seven round-trippers coming off the bench in 2000.
  • 1953 The Dodgers clinch a pennant at the earliest date ever in baseball history with a 5-2 victory over the Braves at County Stadium. Carl Erskine gets the win when Brooklyn, who clinches consecutive titles for the first time in franchise history, goes up 13 games up on Milwaukee with 12 left to play.
  • 1962 One game behind the front running Dodgers, the Giants lose Willie Mays, their All-Star center fielder, when he is hospitalized for nervous exhaustion. The ‘City by the Bay’ will drop six games in a row, but will recover along with ‘Say Hey Kid’ in time to beat Los Angeles in a playoff to win the National league pennant.
  • 1963

    “I look up into the stands, and it looks like Ebbets Field. The Mets are wonderful, but you can’t take the Dodger out of Brooklyn” – DUKE SNIDER, – addressing the Mets fans on his special night at the Polo Grounds.

    In a pregame ceremony with his former Dodgers teammates, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Ralph Branca in attendance, Duke Snider is honored by the Mets with a special ‘night’ at the Polo Grounds, which coincidentally marks the last time the Giants, now located in San Francisco, will ever play in their once long-time home in Harlem. The ‘Silver Fox’, obtained by the last-place expansion team in April, has recently requested to be traded to a contender.

  • 1995 During a WGN pre-game radio broadcast at Wrigley Field, Cubs announcer Harry Caray remarks to the team’s skipper Jim Riggleman, “Well, my eyes are slanty enough, how ’bout yours?”, referring to Hideo Nomo, the Japanese rookie hurler scheduled to start for the Dodgers. The veteran announcer, known for not backing off for his on-the-air off-handed comments, does issue an apology, calling the incident “unfortunate.”
  • 2000 On the same date the mark was established 68 years ago, Dave Hansen breaks Johnny Frederick’s 1932 record for pinch-hit home runs in a single season with his seventh round-tripper coming off the bench. The Dodger pinch-hitter’s historic homer, a seventh-inning three-run blast off Diamondback right-hander Curt Schilling, isn’t enough to prevent the team’s 5-4 loss to Arizona at Bank One Ballpark.

Lineup when available.