THIS DATE IN BASEBALL

SEPT. 5 1908 — Brooklyn's Nap Rucker pitched a 60 no-hitter against Boston. Rucker struck out 14 and walked none. 1918 — Babe Ruth pitched a 6-hitter as the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 1-0 in the opening game of the World Series. The Series was started early due to World War I. 1954 — Roswell's Joe Bauman of the Longhorn League hit 3 home runs to give him 72 for the season. Bauman never made it to the majors. 1955 — Brooklyn pitcher Don Newcombe connected for his 7th homer of the season for a National League record for home runs by a pitcher. The Dodgers, behind Newcombe's power & 20th win, beat the Phillies 11-4. 1971 — J.R. Richard tied Karl Spooner's major league record by striking out 15 San Francisco Giants in his first major league game as the Houston Astros beat the Giants. 1982 — Roy Smalley hit a pair of 3-run homers, 1 from each side of the plate, as the Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 18-7. 1998 — Mark McGwire became the third player in baseball history to reach 60 home runs, as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-0. He joined Babe Ruth and Roger Maris with 60 homers in a single season. 2001 — Roger Clemens became the 2nd player in MLB history to win 19 of his 1st 20 decisions, leading the New York Yankees over Toronto 4-3. 2002 — Alex Rodriguez became the 5th player in MLB history to record successive 50-homer seasons, hitting 2 in Texas' 11-2 rout of Baltimore. Rodriguez, who hit 52 homers last season, joined Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. 2003 — Mike Maroth became the 1st major league pitcher in 23 years to lose 20 games in a season when Detroit lost to Toronto 8-6. Maroth (6-20) allowed 8 runs & 9 hits in 3plus innings. Oakland's Brian Kingman went 8-20 in 1980. 2006 — For the 1st time in more than 3 decades, there were 7 shutouts in the major leagues on 1 day. It was the most shutouts on 1 day since there were a record 8 on June 4, 1972, when 16 games were played. 13 games were played. 2009 — Pittsburgh's Ross Ohlendorf became the 40th major league pitcher to strike out the side on 9 pitches in an inning, but didn't figure in the decision as the Pirates lost 2-1 to St. Louis in 10 innings. 2012 — Oakland Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy was struck on the right side of his head by a hard shot from the Angels' Erick Aybar. McCarthy suffered an epidural hemorrhage, brain contusion & skull fracture. He had 2 hours of surgery to relieve pressure on his brain later that night. Today's birthday: Chris Young, 35.