In his first minor league appearance, 22 year-old Staten Island Yankee ambidextrous hurler Pat Venditte Jr., facing the Brooklyn Cyclones at KeySpan Park in Coney Island, pitches a scoreless ninth inning that includes striking out a very frustrated Ralph Henriquez to end the game. Delaying the game to adjust his shin guard each time he changes batter boxes, the switch-hitter is told by the umpiring crew to first select from which side of the plate he intended to hit, and that the pitcher would then be allowed to declare with which arm he would pitch. Read More June 19, 2008
At Seattle, Oakland’s super rookie Mark McGwire belts his 38th homer, a solo shot off Mike Moore, to tie the major league rookie record for homers in a season. Read More August 10, 1987
Major League Baseball announces changes to the format of the World Baseball Classic for its 2013 edition. The tournament will be preceded by a 16-team qualifying tournament, to be held in the Fall of 2012. Taking part will be the four teams that failed to win a game in 2009 – Canada, Panama, Taiwan and South Africa – and 12 teams that have recently played in the Baseball World Cup, including Colombia and Nicaragua, who had been excluded from the first two editions of the WBC in spite of a solid tradition of international play. The four winners from the qualifying tournament will advance to the main event the following spring. Read More June 1, 2011