Oakland signs first-round pick Ben Grieve, giving the recent Arlington HS (TX) graduate a $1.2 million bonus. The 18 year-old’s incentive to sign with the A’s is more money than his father, Tom, also a first-round selection, earned during his dozen seasons in the majors with the Senators, Rangers, Mets, and the Cardinals.

ByTom

Oakland signs first-round pick Ben Grieve, giving the recent Arlington HS (TX) graduate a $1.2 million bonus. The 18 year-old’s incentive to sign with the A’s is more money than his father, Tom, also a first-round selection, earned during his dozen seasons in the majors with the Senators, Rangers, Mets, and the Cardinals.

Eddie Murray ties Mickey Mantle’s major league mark, hitting a homer from both sides of the plate for the tenth time in his career. The switch-hitting first baseman’s second home run of the game, batting left-handed against Eric Show, proves to be the eventual winning run in the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory over San Diego in the 11th inning at Jack Murphy Stadium.

ByTom

Eddie Murray ties Mickey Mantle’s major league mark, hitting a homer from both sides of the plate for the tenth time in his career. The switch-hitting first baseman’s second home run of the game, batting left-handed against Eric Show, proves to be the eventual winning run in the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory over San Diego in the 11th inning at Jack Murphy Stadium.

don sutton

Don Sutton (298) throws a two-hit shutout, beating Tom Seaver (306) and the White Sox 3-0. The starters have the highest combined win total (604) for opposing pitchers since 1926, when Washington’s Walter Johnson (406) faced Chicago’s right-hander Red Faber (197) in a Griffith Stadium contest.

ByTom

Don Sutton (298) throws a two-hit shutout, beating Tom Seaver (306) and the White Sox 3-0. The starters have the highest combined win total (604) for opposing pitchers since 1926, when Washington’s Walter Johnson (406) faced Chicago’s right-hander Red Faber (197) in a Griffith Stadium contest.

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Joe Niekro becomes the winningest pitcher in club history with a two-hit shutout of the Giants, 5-0

ByTom

1985 – Joe Niekro becomes the winningest pitcher in club history with a two-hit shutout of the Giants, 5-0. Mark Bailey helps his batterymate with a three-run blast. Niekro had failed in the previous six starts to notch his 138th win as an Astro, leading to offers from Niekro to pay the hitters for helping him set the mark. 

With the score tied 3-3 and the bases loaded in the 12th inning, Garry Hancock decides to drop Pete O’Brien’s long foul flyball to prevent the out from becoming a game-ending sacrifice fly. Wayne Tolleson tags up and scores the winning run for Texas when the umpires rule the left fielder had caught the ball.

ByTom

With the score tied 3-3 and the bases loaded in the 12th inning, Garry Hancock decides to drop Pete O’Brien’s long foul flyball to prevent the out from becoming a game-ending sacrifice fly. Wayne Tolleson tags up and scores the winning run for Texas when the umpires rule the left fielder had caught the ball.

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6/9/1975 – The Twins were playing the Indians in Cleveland and Minnesota manager Frank Quilici gave the wrong lineup to the Press Box and evidently to the players. Dan Ford, Danny Thompson and Glenn Borgmann were listed officially as batting seventh, eighth and ninth. However, Ford and Thompson batted in reverse order until the ninth inning. In the first, Thompson made the last out of the inning. Ford and Borgmann, who was also out of order now, both grounded out to start the second. In the fourth, Thompson singled but no runs scored in the inning. Thompson popped out to end the fifth. Ford tripled to start the sixth and eventually scored but Cleveland manager Frank Robinson did not object. In the seventh and eighth innings, all three batters made outs. In the ninth inning, the Twins finally batted in the proper order. Ford and Thompson both hit run-producing groundouts. The Twins won in the eleventh inning, 11-10, when Thompson drove in the game-winner with a single to center field. The Twins batted out of order four times and in the correct order twice in the game.

ByTom

6/9/1975 – The Twins were playing the Indians in Cleveland and Minnesota manager Frank Quilici gave the wrong lineup to the Press Box and evidently to the players. Dan Ford, Danny Thompson and Glenn Borgmann were listed officially as batting seventh, eighth and ninth. However, Ford and Thompson batted in reverse order until the ninth inning. In the first, Thompson made the last out of the inning. Ford and Borgmann, who was also out of order now, both grounded out to start the second. In the fourth, Thompson singled but no runs scored in the inning. Thompson popped out to end the fifth. Ford tripled to start the sixth and eventually scored but Cleveland manager Frank Robinson did not object. In the seventh and eighth innings, all three batters made outs. In the ninth inning, the Twins finally batted in the proper order. Ford and Thompson both hit run-producing groundouts. The Twins won in the eleventh inning, 11-10, when Thompson drove in the game-winner with a single to center field. The Twins batted out of order four times and in the correct order twice in the game.

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6/9/1972 – The Braves Marty Perez made the last out of the top of the sixth, but he came up to start the seventh. Phillies catcher Tim McCarver proved to be too clever as he pointed out the incorrect batter to the home plate umpire after the first pitch, which was a ball. He did not realize that until the incorrect batter’s plate appearance is over, the team can replace that batter with the proper one or a pinch hitter. The Braves sent up Jim Breazeale in place of Perez as a pinch hitter for the pitcher, who was the correct batter. Breazeale inherited a 1-0 count, but struck out. This was not the first time a team did not understand the rules in order to take advantage of them. If Perez had finished his at bat and made an out, the Phillies could have accepted the play. Most likely Breazeale would have come up as a pinch hitter, which would have been correct since the Perez play would have reset the lineup. The effect would have been to have Perez, a “good field, no hit” shortstop bat an extra time, which would have delayed the top of the order coming up by a batter. It turned out not to matter since the Braves did not score in the last three innings and the Phillies won the game 4-3 with a run in the bottom of the eighth.

ByTom

6/9/1972 – The Braves Marty Perez made the last out of the top of the sixth, but he came up to start the seventh. Phillies catcher Tim McCarver proved to be too clever as he pointed out the incorrect batter to the home plate umpire after the first pitch, which was a ball. He did not realize that until the incorrect batter’s plate appearance is over, the team can replace that batter with the proper one or a pinch hitter. The Braves sent up Jim Breazeale in place of Perez as a pinch hitter for the pitcher, who was the correct batter. Breazeale inherited a 1-0 count, but struck out. This was not the first time a team did not understand the rules in order to take advantage of them. If Perez had finished his at bat and made an out, the Phillies could have accepted the play. Most likely Breazeale would have come up as a pinch hitter, which would have been correct since the Perez play would have reset the lineup. The effect would have been to have Perez, a “good field, no hit” shortstop bat an extra time, which would have delayed the top of the order coming up by a batter. It turned out not to matter since the Braves did not score in the last three innings and the Phillies won the game 4-3 with a run in the bottom of the eighth.