Mets outfielder Cleon Jones becomes the first player in franchise history to collect a 1,000 hits when he doubles off Jim Rooker in the team’s 5-1 victory over the Pirates at Shea Stadium. The Mobile, Alabama native will add another 196 hits before being traded in 1975 to the White Sox.
On June 21 , 1973 — Lee May belts three home runs as Houston puts a 12-2 hurt on the Padres . May’s three bombs net five runs. Tommy Helms socks a grand slam for four more while Cesar Cedeno contributes a solo shot. Ken Forsch picks up the complete-game victory although he allows Dave Winfield’s first…
Baltimore’s Al Bumbry and Rich Coggins hit their first major league homers, slugging them back-to-back off the Athletics’ Catfish Hunter. The A’s still win, 4 – 3.
April 27, 1973 Kansas City’s 22 year-old starter Steve Busby becomes the 13th rookie to throw a no-hitter, beating Detroit, 3-0, at Tiger Stadium. It is the first ever no-hit game thrown by a Royals pitcher, the first at Tiger Stadium since Virgil Trucks did it in 1952. Busby also becomes the first no-hit game…
Oakland A’s defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2, to win their first World Series in Oakland On October 22, 1972, at Riverfront Stadium The transplanted Oakland A’s, capturing their first championship in 42 years, become the first Bay Area team to win a world title when they defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2, to win their first…
Phillies’ rookie third baseman Mike Schmidt hits his first career home run, breaking Expos’ Balor Moore’s 25 consecutive scoreless inning streak. Michael Jack Schmidt will finish his 18-year career with 548 round-trippers.
Making his last career start, Wade Blasingame’s American League debut for the Yankees is an inauspicious one, as the Tigers go deep three consecutive times in the first frame. The opening inning home runs by Aurelio Rodriguez, Al Kaline, and Willie Horton power Detroit over New York, 5-2.
1972 – Pencil-thin shortstop Roger Metzger belts his first major-league homer to spark a six-run eighth-inning rally that shocks the Cardinals, 10-7. The shot comes off Hall-Of-Famer Bob Gibson. Pinch-hitter Jimmy Stewart’s two-run triple gives Houston the lead. Lee May caps a four-hit night with a ninth-inning blast. Houston leads the NL West by a game over Los Angeles.
On April 15, 1972, Reggie Jackson of the Oakland A’s becomes the first major leaguer to sport a mustache since Wally Schang of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1914. Jackson starts a trend with the A’s, as owner Charlie Finley eventually encourages all of his players to grow mustaches. By the end of the season, the World Champion A’s will become known as the “Mustache Gang.”
In a game that sees at least one team score in every inning until the ninth, the Giants beat Pittsburgh at Candlestick Park, 15-11. San Francisco’s rookie first baseman Dave Kingman’s seventh-inning grand slam proves to be the difference.
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