July 21

2019 – The 2019 Hall of Fame Class is inducted in Cooperstown, NY, with six former players being honored: Harold Baines, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith. All are present, save for Halladay, who passed away in a plane crash in 2017 and, who is represented by his wife, Brandy. Rivera, the first player to be elected unanimously to the Hall, gets the honor of speaking last, befitting his status as the greatest closer in history.

2018 – The Mets trade closer Jeurys Familia to the Athletics for two prospects and $1 million in international bonus money.

In a trade of prospects, the Cardinals send P Marco Gonzales to Seattle for OF Tyler O’Neill.

The Diamondbacks start off their game with three consecutive homers off Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer, as David Peralta, A.J. Pollock and Jake Lamb all hit long balls. However, the game is not decided until the 9th, when Brandon Drury hits a bases-loaded single to give Arizona a 6 – 5 win.

2016 – The Dodgers do what no other team has been able to do this year: hand Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg a loss. Justin Turner homers twice and drives in 5 runs to lead Los Angeles to a 6 – 3 win. Strasburg is now 13-1 on the year, and had won 16 straight decisions dating back to last year.

Shin-Soo Choo hits for the cycle to lead the Rangers to a 9 – 0 win over the Rockies as Matt Harrison records his first win in 14 months. Delino DeShields pitches in with four hits and Prince Fielder homers in the rout.

In an interleague game in Philadelphia, Rays pitcher Nathan Karns homers off Aaron Nola, who his making his major league debut. The homer comes in the 3rd inning for Karns’s first major league hit. It turns out to be the only run of the game, the first time a homer by an American League pitcher has accounted for the sole run in a 1-0 game since Milt Pappas did so for the Orioles on April 18, 1962.

The lengthy investigation and prosecution of Barry Bonds for obstruction of justice come to an end when the Department of Justice reveals it will not challenge the reversal of his felony conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. Baseball’s career home run leader was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2011 for giving convoluted answers to a federal grand jury when probed about PED injections.

2014 – DH David Ortiz blasts two home runs to lead the Red Sox to a 14 – 1 drubbing of the Blue Jays. The homers allow Ortiz to move past another Boston great, Carl Yastrzemski, on the all-time home run list, as Ortiz now has 453 long balls in his career.

Mike Napoli hits a pair of homers, the second of the walk-off variety in the 11th, as Boston defeats New York, 8 – 7. The nationally televised Sunday night game ends at 12:53 AM.