At Toronto’s SkyDome, Blue Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek joins former players George Bell, Joe Carter, Tony Fernandez, Dave Stieb, and former manager Cito Gaston and former general manager Pat Gillick as the seventh member of the club’s Level of Excellence. The recipient of the team’s highest award for individual achievement, which comes as an emotional surprise for the play-by-play announcer, called 4,306 consecutive regular season games, and another 41 during the postseason during the first 27 1/2 seasons of the franchise’s existence.

In the eighth inning of the Cardinals’ 4-0 victory over the Bucs, Albert Pujols drives in a run with a solo shot at PNC Park, his 40th home run this season, to become only the fourth player to start a major league career with four consecutive seasons with at least 100 RBIs. The 24 year-old St. Louis first baseman joins Hall of Famers Al Simmons, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams in accomplishing the feat.

Ichiro Suzuki becomes the only player to collect at least 200 hits in each of his first four seasons in the big leagues. The milestone hit is a ninth-inning homer in the Mariners’ 7-3 loss to the Royals at Safeco Field.

In the 21-6 rout of Kansas City at Angel Stadium, Jeff DaVanon becomes the first Anaheim player to hit for the cycle since Dave Winfield accomplished the feat for the Halos in 1991. The DH’s offensive output helps the club to sweep an American League opponent in a season series for the first time in the 44-year history of the franchise.

2004 – Bud Selig, citing how disruptive a delay in the major league schedule would be on pennant races, says it is unlikely that major league players will ever be able to take part in the Olympics. The baseball commissioner hopes a “World Cup”, which begins in 2006, will serve as a substitute for the Summer Games.

2004 – The Spokane Indians (Texas Rangers) edge the Tri-City Dust Devils (Colorado Rockies) 2 – 1 in 23 innings. The Northwest League game, which lasts 6 hours, 37 minutes, is scoreless for 19 innings and was suspendedin a 1 – 1 tie in the 21st inning the previous night.

The Spokane Indians (Texas Rangers) edge the Tri-City Dust Devils (Colorado Rockies) 2-1 in 23 innings. The Northwest League game, which lasted 6 hours, 37 minutes, was scoreless for 19 innings and suspended in a 1-1 tie in the 21st inning the previous night.

2004 – The Florida State League’s Daytona Cubs will be forced to shift their home games into away contests as Hurricane Charley causes extensive damage to their historic ballpark, Jackie Robinson Stadium. The facility, which was built in 1914 and renamed for Jackie Robinson to commemorate the site where the future Hall of Famer and civil rights advocate played his first exhibition game with the Montreal Royals, was also damaged by Hurricane Donna (1966) and Hurricane Floyd (1999).

J.T. Snow slams three home runs, 25% of his homers this season, in the Giants’ 16-6 rout of Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. The light-hitting first baseman goes deep in the first inning with a two-run dinger off starter Brett Myers, and then delivers solo shots off relievers in the fifth and seventh frames.

At Seattle’s Boeing Field, Edgar Martinez is on hand to greet George W. Bush. The President, who had requested to meet the retiring designated hitter, exchanges autographed baseballs with the man who routinely helped the Mariners beat his Rangers when the chief executive was the managing partner of Texas.