THIS DATE IN BASEBALL

Aug. 2

1907 — Walter Johnson made his major league debut with the Washington Senators and lost 3-2 to the Detroit Tigers. The first hit he yielded was a bunt single by Ty Cobb. The Tigers beat ‘‘The Big Train’’ 7-6 exactly 20 years later on Walter Johnson Day in the nation’s capital.

1938 — The Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals used a yellow baseball in the first game of a doubleheader as an experiment. The two teams went back to the white ball in the second game as the Dodgers swept the doubleheader 6-2 and 9-3.

1940 — Joe Cronin of the Boston Red Sox hit for the cycle in a 12-9 win over the Detroit Tigers.

1959 — Bill Bruton of Milwaukee hit three triples, including two with the bases-loaded, to lead the Braves to an 11-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the nightcap of a doubleheader.

1979 — New York Yankees captain Thurman Munson died in the crash of his private plane while practicing takeoffs and landings in Canton, Ohio.

1987 — Kevin Seitzer went 6-for-6, hit two homers and drove in seven runs to pace a 20-hit Kansas City attack as the Royals beat the Boston Red Sox 13-5 in 102-degree heat.

1987 — Eric Davis led off the bottom of the 11th inning with his 30th home run of the season to give the Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Davis’s homer made him the seventh — and earliest player in major league history — with 30 homers and 30 steals in the same season.

1998 — The Cuban national team claimed its 22nd gold medal at the World Baseball Championships, beating South Korea 7-1 and extending its winning streak at the event to 41 games since 1986.