Reed Johnson of the Toronto Blue Jays ties a major league record by being hit by pitches three times in a game, two with the bases loaded, in the Blue Jays’ 8 – 0 victory over Texas.
April 16, 2004 One of the greatest matchups of the steroid era, 2003 Cy Young winner Eric Gagne vs. 7-time MVP Bonds [jetpack_subscription_form title=”Join the Community” subscribe_text=”We bring you cool stories about the game, players, ballparks and the people that shaped the game!” subscribe_button=”Join us!” show_subscribers_total=”1″] Subscribe to our Podcast The Daily Rewind on Apples…
4/16/2004 – In the top of the seventh inning, Cubs manager Dusty Baker intended to place two new players in the lineup with a double switch but failed to tell Umpire C.B. Bucknor. When the Cubs batted in the bottom of the inning, shortstop Ramon Martinez came to the plate in the ninth spot in the order and doubled. The Reds protested that the Cubs were batting out of order. Pitcher Kent Mercker, the proper batter, was called out. Baker argued with the umpires but was told that the call stood. Yelling & screaming, he tossed his lineup card on the ground and was ejected by Bucknor. Baker threw his hat, walked away and returned; he tossed his hat again, stomped to the dugout and kicked some items in the on deck circle before finally leaving the field. The Cubs won in the bottom of the ninth, 11-10, when Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou hit back-to-back homers to end the game. When Baker arrived home that day, his son called him “Mad Dog.”
2002 – Lance Berkman drills three home runs to lead an 8-3 triumph in Cincinnati. Berkman plates five. Richard Hidalgo and Jeff Bagwell also tee off on losing pitcher Jose Acevedo. Berkman gets two chances to tie the NL mark of four homers but comes up short.
Chuck Finley of the Cleveland Indians, who was already the only pitcher in major league history to strike out four batters in one inning twice, does it for the third time as he strikes out Tom Evans, Royce Clayton, Chad Curtis (who takes first base on a passed ball) and Rafael Palmeiro in the 3rd inning; Finley beats the Texas Rangers, 2 – 1, with the help of back-to-back 9th-inning home runs from Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome.
Beating the San Diego Padres, 6 – 4, Jim Leyland of the Colorado Rockies becomes the 45th manager to win 1,000 games.
The Chicago Cubs set the mark for worst start in National League history, making three more errors as they extend their losing streak to 12 with a 4 – 0 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Chicago broke the modern NL record of 0-10 set by the 1988 Atlanta Braves and the overall record of 0-11 by the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.
After being escorted into Mile High Stadium by a Colorado National Guard contingent, the ‘dinosaur egg,’ which was ‘uncovered’ during the excavation for Coors Field, hatches, revealing an anthropomorphic purple triceratops named Dinger, the Rockies’ new mascot. The inspiration of using of a three-horned dinosaur as the team’s good luck charm is the result of the actual discovery of some dinosaur fossils throughout the construction site of the new ballpark, including a 7-foot-long triceratops skull that weighed half a ton.
1991 – Ken Caminiti starts an around-the-horn triple play during a 10-4 loss to the Braves. In the second-inning, Mike Heath’s grounder goes from Caminiti to Casey Candaele at second to Jeff Bagwell at first for the feat.
Blue Jay third baseman Kelly Gruber becomes the first player to hit for the cycle in franchise history when he singles in the eighth inning of the team’s 15-8 win against Kansas City. The 27 year-old All-Star infielder’s Toronto teammates buy him a tricycle in recognition of the Exhibition Stadium accomplishment.
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