In a game with the Tigers, Graig Nettles loses a single when it is discovered he is using a corked bat. The Yankees win 1 – 0 on Nettles’s earlier home run.
Playing on a badly-sprained ankle, Joe Morgan belts a 2-run homer off Mike Marshall to give the Reds a 7 – 5 win over the Dodgers. Before his homer, Morgan had missed a pitch and fallen down, prompting Sparky Anderson to try and remove him. The Reds win today after trailing, 5 – 0.
Behind the complete-game pitching performances by Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar, the Orioles sweep a twin bill, blanking Cleveland twice, 2-0 and 1-0. The victories are the fourth and fifth consecutive shutouts thrown by the Birds, who establish an American League mark by hurling 54 straight scoreless frames.
1974 – Milwaukee hands Boston its 7th straight loss as rookie Gorman Thomas hits a 2-run shot in the 9th inning. It is Thomas’s first game of the year for Milwaukee after hitting 51 homers for Sacramento (Pacific Coast League) this year. Billy Champion (10-3) picks up the win for the 5th-place Brewers.
1974 – Don Wilson is taken out after eight innings of no-hit ball. He is behind, 2-1. Two walks and an error have put Cincinnati ahead. Ironies abound. Wilson is approaching a rare third career no-hitter. The man who hit into the error is Pete Rose, who hit into the run-scoring error that made Ken Johnson a no-hit loser in 1964. The Houston manager is Preston Gomez who similarly yanked Clay Kirby during a no-hit bid while with San Diego. Kirby is watching from the Reds’ dugout. Mike Cosgrove gives up a meaningless single in the ninth that breaks up the bid. Houston loses. Gomez hears the boos.
1974 – The Giants’ John Montefusco making his major league debut, homers in his first official time at bat, off Charlie Hough, and pitches nine innings of relief to earn a 9 – 5 victory over the Dodgers.
Boston pitchers Luis Tiant and Bill Lee each allow just one run in a Labor Day doubleheader, yet both lose games to Baltimore. Ross Grimsley and Mike Cuellar toss twin 1 – 0 shutouts.
A controversial call against the Reds helps the Astros win, 4 – 3. Johnny Bench’s single in the 7th scores one run and the second baserunner, Joe Morgan, is called out, negating the tying run, though replays seem to show him safe. The Cincinnati City Council will pass a resolution stating their shock and dismay at the “atrocious call.”
With Carlton Fisk out through the end of the season‚ the Red Sox purchase C Tim McCarver from the Cardinals. McCarver will play just 11 games this year and 12 next spring in Boston before being reunited with Steve Carlton in Philadelphia.
The Major League Scouting Bureau is instituted as a way to cut costs by centralizing scouting. Membership is not mandatory until 1984‚ and only 17 of 24 teams initially agree to the $118‚000 fee for joining. All American League clubs except the Chicago White Sox and (eventually) the Toronto Blue Jays join; in the National League‚ the Chicago Cubs‚ Montreal Expos‚ Pittsburgh Pirates‚ Atlanta Braves‚ Houston Astros and the Cincinnati Reds join. Milwaukee Brewers GM Jim Wilson is put in charge.
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