5/2/1999: Jose Canseco hit what appeared to be his eleventh homer of the season but the ball landed on the second catwalk above left field at Tropicana Field and was ruled a double.
1999 – Texas Rangers designated hitter Rafael Palmeiro has three hits, including his 2,000th, and Juan Gonzalez belts his third home run in three games as Texas wins over the Cleveland Indians, 8 – 6.
1998 – New York Yankees pitchers Roger Clemens (seven innings) and Paul Quantrill (two innings) combine to one-hit the Oakland Athletics, 7 – 0. Oakland’s only hit is a single by rookie Ben Grieve.
During a pregame ceremony at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals retire Frank White’s uniform number 20. The five-time All-Star second baseman, a Royals’ Hall of Fame inductee, will also be honored in 2004 with a bronze statue dedicated outside the Kansas City ballpark, joining club owners Ewing & Muriel Kauffman and Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett.
Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers becomes the first Japanese native to play in the majors in three decades. Nomo pitches five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, but the Dodgers blow a 3 – 0 lead and lose to San Francisco, 4 – 3. Nomo will have an excellent season and win the Rookie of the Year Award, opening the gates for a large number of Japanese players to follow him to the major leagues.
5/2/1995 The Mets game in Montreal produced a comedy of errors. This was the first home game of the season for Montreal and their sixth overall. There were substitute umpires working major league games to start this season since the regular arbiters were locked out by the owners. When Luis Aquino and Cliff Floyd entered the game in the top of the sixth, the home plate umpire, Don January, incorrectly decided that Aquino was batting fifth and Floyd ninth. When Floyd came to bat in the #5 slot, Mets’ manager Dallas Green told January that the Expos were batting out of order. Expos manager Felipe Alou claimed he had Floyd fifth and Aquino ninth and that January made the mistake. Alou was ejected. January then allowed Floyd to bat and ground out, despite knowing that he was not the proper batter. Then January called Aquino out for not batting in order and sent the runner back (that, at least, was the right call.) After calling Aquino out, the next batter should be the one in the sixth spot, Sean Berry. However, January decided that Aquino should bat now. He singled to left and then Berry ended the inning with a ground out. Thus, Aquino had two at bats in one time through the batting order. Despite this confusion the Expos won, 9-6.
The Red Sox defeat the Yankees, 8 – 0, scoring their runs on grand slams in back-to-back innings by former college teammates John Valentin and Mo Vaughn. It is the first time ever that two grand slams account for all the runs scored in a major league game.
Texas defeats the Brewers, 13 – 2, collecting 15 hits. Jose Canseco hits a single, double and home run before leaving for a pinch runner. Protecting a 12 – 2 lead, Jeff Bronkey pitches three innings in relief of Robb Nen, and earns a save in his major league debut with Texas. Bronkey is the first major leaguer born in Afghanistan.
New York Yankees pitcher Scott Sanderson becomes the 12th pitcher in major league history to surrender four home runs in a single inning. Sanderson is rocked in the 5th inning of the game against the Minnesota Twins by Shane Mack, Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, and Randy Bush. The Twins need all the homers as they win, 7 – 6.
Pete Rose, irate because of Dave Pallone’s delayed call allows the eventual game-winning run to score, becomes the first manager to be suspended for an on-field incident when National League president Bart Giamatti issues a thirty-day suspension for his shoving of the first base umpire. The ugly argument resulted in the fans throwing trash onto the field, temporarily delaying the game, and making it necessary for the arbitrator to be removed from the game to calm tempers.
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