Baseball Today

July 18

1882: Ambidextrous pitcher Tony Mullane of Louisville pitched with both hands in a major league game at Baltimore. Normally a righthander, Mullane switched to the left hand in the fourth inning. He eventually lost 9-8.

1912: The Chicago Cubs had 21 hits in 11 innings but still lost to the Philadelphia Phillies when Gavvy Cravath stole home.

1927: Ty Cobb of the Philadelphia Athletics doubled off the glove of Harry Heilmann for his 4,000th hit.

1948: Pat Seerey of the Chicago White Sox hit four home runs in a 12-11, 11-inning victory over the Philadelphia A's in the opener of a doubleheader. Seerey hit two mammoth shots off Carl Scheib, one off Bob Savage and the gamewinner off Lou Brissie in the top of the 11th.

1962: Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins each hit grand slams in the first inning of a 14-3 rout of the Cleveland Indians.

1970: Willie Mays bounced career hit number 3,000 through the left side of the infield off Mike Wegener in the second inning of the San Francisco Giants' 10-1 romp over the Montreal Expos.

1987: New York's Don Mattingly tied Dale Long's 31-year-old major league record when he hit a home run for the eighth consecutive game in the Yankees' 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers.

1998: Donnie Sadler's first major league home run was the first of Boston's record four two-out homers in a 9-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers. In the seven-run fourth inning, Darren Lewis, Nomar Garciaparra and Mo Vaughn followed to break the AL record of three held by six teams.