This Week we cover August 26 – Sept 1 . . . We are going to talk Tom Yawkey, Jackie Robinson, Jeff Bagwell, The First Televised Game, Rob Dibble, The Rat and Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell. TRIVIA – Who was the first black/African American player in Major League Baseball History? On August 26, 1939…
CF Byron Buxton has a career game, hitting three homers, scoring four runs and driving in 5 runs to lead the Twins to a 7 – 2 win over the Blue Jays.
2015 – Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz rules against Barry Bonds in his claim that teams colluded to keep him out of the game after he broke the all-time home run record in 2007.
In their game against Seattle, the White Sox wear collared blue and white v-neck retro jerseys, reminding fans of the infamous look the team had starting with a few games in 1976 until 1981. The Throwback Thursday promotion at U.S. Cellular Field, features the unique uniforms designed by then-owner Bill Veeck, who believed his team, at the time, may not have been the greatest in baseball but could be the most stylish club in the major leagues.
Another top Cubs prospect homers in his major league debut, three weeks after Javier Baez. Cuban OF Jorge Soler goes deep in his first career at-bat, against Mat Latos of the Reds in the 2nd inning, immediately after Luis Valbuena had also homered. Soler adds an RBI single later in the game, but Chicago still falls, 7 – 5. For the Reds, rookie OF Billy Hamilton steals his 50th base of the year, the 9th player in team history to reach the mark.
David Price of the Tigers has a historically bad outing in a start against the Yankees. In the 3rd inning, he allows a base hit to the first 9 batters he faces before being lifted; he is the first pitcher to allow 9 straight hits since Bob Forsch on August 3, 1989, and ends up allowing 8 earned runs on 12 hits in only 2 innings, something accomplished by only three other pitchers before him. For their part, the Yankees fall one shy of the American League record for consecutive hits as they win, 8 – 4.
The Pittsburgh Pirates, having just fallen out of first place, add a power bat with Marlon Byrd. They also acquire backup catcher John Buck in the deal with the Mets, sending over middle infield prospect Dilson Herrera and a player to be named later (Vic Black). Pittsburgh has just lost one corner outfielder, Starling Marte, to a hand injury, and has been struggling in production from the other corner.
Alfonso Soriano hits the 399th and 400th home runs of his major league career in a 7 – 1 Yankees win over Toronto. He takes J.A. Happ and Esmil Rogers deep to back a strong outing from Andy Pettitte.
Marlon Byrd is traded by the Mets, along with John Buck and cash, to the Pirates for a player to be named later (Vic Black) and minor leaguer Dilson Herrera. Although the outfielder is no longer on the roster, the team follows through on its planned promotion, giving away Marlon Byrd T-shirts before tonight’s game.
Felix Hernandez is at it again, pitching a five-hit shutout to beat the Twins, 1 – 0. Eric Thames’ solo homer off Liam Hendriks in the 8th acounts for the game’s only run. Hendriks falls to 0-7 lifetime, while Hernandez (13-5) has his fourth 1-0 victory of the season, including his perfect game on August 15th. Only two other pitchers have won four such decisions in a season since 1969: Ferguson Jenkins in 1974 and Bert Blyleven in 1976. Also, only two other hurlers (Carl Hubbell, in 1933, and Dick Rudolph, in 1916) had tossed three 1 – 0 wins in a month.