Ernie Banks voluntarily takes the bench as a sore knee brings his 717 consecutive games played streak to an end. The streak started August 26, 1956. The Bank-less Cubs still win, 5 – 3, over the Braves at Wrigley Field. Joe Adcock, who applied the hidden ball trick last August 31st to George Altman, nabs another Cub, Billy Williams, in the 8th.

ByThis Day in Baseball

Ernie Banks voluntarily takes the bench as a sore knee brings his 717 consecutive games played streak to an end. The streak started August 26, 1956. The Bank-less Cubs still win, 5 – 3, over the Braves at Wrigley Field. Joe Adcock, who applied the hidden ball trick last August 31st to George Altman, nabs another Cub, Billy Williams, in the 8th.

Louisville’s Howie Bedell’s 43-game hitting streak ends against Dallas-Fort Worth. Bedell ties the record of Eddie Marshall for the American Association’s longest hitting streak.

ByTom

Louisville’s Howie Bedell’s 43-game hitting streak ends against Dallas-Fort Worth. Bedell ties the record of Eddie Marshall for the American Association’s longest hitting streak.

Roger Maris leads the Yankees on an 8 – 3 thrashing of the A’s by belting his 27th homer of the year. He adds two doubles and a single. Maris has now hit 20 homers in the past 30 days (May 24 to today), to tie the mark set by Ralph Kiner in 1947.

ByBaseball

Roger Maris leads the Yankees on an 8 – 3 thrashing of the A’s by belting his 27th homer of the year. He adds two doubles and a single. Maris has now hit 20 homers in the past 30 days (May 24 to today), to tie the mark set by Ralph Kiner in 1947.

Mickey Mantle beats Willie Mays in World Wide Election

Mickey Mantle beats Willie Mays in World Wide Election

ByTom

The voting ends in a ‘world-wide election’ to settle the question who is the better superstar, New York’s Mickey Mantle or San Francisco’s Willie Mays. The Sport magazine poll, inspired by Bill Hoebler, a young baseball fan, and reader from Pittsburgh, puts the Yankee center fielder ahead of the Giants’ Say Hey Kid by more than 500 votes, after the tallying the seventeen pounds of postcards from all 50 states and several countries.

1961 – Al Kaline plays 3B for the first time in his career. His two hits and two RBIs lead the Tigers to a 5 – 4 win over the Senators. Kaline will return to the OF and play 3B just once more in his career, in 1965.

ByThis Day in Baseball

On June 20, 1961 – Al Kaline plays 3B for the first time in his career. His two hits and two RBIs lead the Tigers to a 5 – 4 win over the Senators. Kaline will return to the OF and play 3B just once more in his career, in 1965.

Roger Maris hits his 25th of the year, putting him seven games ahead of Babe Ruth’s pace in 1927

ByBaseball

  On June 19, 1961 – New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris hits a 9th-inning leading off home run off Kansas City’s Jim Archer, his 25th of the year is puts the Yankees up by a run, but the A’s will score twice in the bottom of the frame for a 4-3 victory at Municipal…

St. Louis Brown Eddie Gaedel dies from a heart attack at the age of 36

St. Louis Brown Eddie Gaedel dies from a heart attack at the age of 36

ByThis Day in Baseball

On June 18, 1961, former St. Louis Brown Eddie Gaedel dies from a heart attack at the age of 36. In one of owner Bill Veeck’s most outlandish promotions, the three-foot, seven-inch Gaedel had appeared in one game for the Browns in 1951. Gabel is found dead lying in his bed with bruises on the…

Pirates rookie Don Leppert hits a home run on the first pitch thrown to him in his major league career, going deep off southpaw Curt Simmons in the second inning of the Bucs’ 5-3 victory over the Redbirds at Forbes Field. The 29 year-old freshman catcher’s feat will not be accomplished again by another Pittsburgh player until 2012, when Starling Marte homers on the first pitch he sees in his big league debut.

ByNational

On June 18, 1961 Pirates rookie Don Leppert hits a home run on the first pitch thrown to him in his major league career, going deep off southpaw Curt Simmons in the second inning of the Bucs’ 5-3 victory over the Redbirds at Forbes Field. The 29 year-old freshman catcher’s feat will not be accomplished…

In Game 1 of a doubleheader at Fenway Park, the Red Sox, trailing by seven runs entering the bottom of the ninth, beat the Senators, 13-12, after Jim Pagliaroni’s two-out grand slam tied the score. In addition to catching all 22 innings of the twin bill, the Boston backstop, hits a walk-off home run in the 13th inning of the nightcap, giving the Boston a 6-5 victory.

ByNational

On June 18, 1961 In Game 1 of a doubleheader at Fenway Park, the Red Sox, trailing by seven runs entering the bottom of the ninth, beat the Senators, 13-12, after Jim Pagliaroni’s two-out grand slam tied the score. In addition to catching all 22 innings of the twin bill, the Boston backstop, hits a…

In his major league debut, 18 year-old Lew Krausse Jr., signed as an amateur free agent for $125,000 by A’s owner Charlie Finley, throws a three-hit shutout and collects two hits in Kansas City’s 4-0 victory over L.A. at Municipal Stadium. In 1932, the redheaded fireballer’s dad blanked the Red Sox in his final major league appearance, giving the father-son duo back-to-back shutouts twenty-nine years apart.

ByTom

In his major league debut, 18 year-old Lew Krausse Jr., signed as an amateur free agent for $125,000 by A’s owner Charlie Finley, throws a three-hit shutout and collects two hits in Kansas City’s 4-0 victory over L.A. at Municipal Stadium. In 1932, the redheaded fireballer’s dad blanked the Red Sox in his final major league appearance, giving the father-son duo back-to-back shutouts twenty-nine years apart.