ON THIS DATE

JUNE 23

1917: In baseball’s greatest relief effort, Ernie Shore of the Boston Red Sox came in for Babe Ruth with nobody out and a man on first. The base runner was cut down stealing and Shore retired all 26 batters he faced to gain a 4-0 victory over Washington. Ruth walked Eddie Foster to open the game and was ejected after arguing with umpire Brick Owens.

1950: Hoot Evers’ winning home run in the ninth inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 10-9 victory over the New York Yankees as the teams combined for 11 home runs, a major league record. The Yankees hit six and the Tigers five. 1963: Jimmie Piersall, playing for the Mets in New York, hit his 100th career home run and celebrated by running around the bases backward.

1971: Rick Wise of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds and hit two homers. Wise became the first pitcher to hit two homers while throwing a no-hitter. 1973: Pitcher Ken Brett of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a home run in the fourth consecutive game that he pitched in June. He beat Montreal 7-2. 1984: Chicago’s Ryne Sandberg hit two late-inning home runs off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bruce Sutter to tie the game twice as the Cubs went on to win 12-11 in 11 innings. Sandberg led off the ninth inning with a solo home run to tie the game 9-9 then hit a two-run, two-out homer in the 10th to tie the game 11-11. Willie McGee hit for the cycle and drove in six runs for St. Louis.

2000: Bret Boone drives in six runs when he hits three home runs in the Padres’ 10-7 victory over Cincinnati. Ruben Rivera’s three-run homer in the top of the tenth inning off Scott Williamson proves to be the difference in the Cinergy Field contest.

1993: At the Kingdome, Jay Buhner becomes the first player in Mariners’ history to hit for the cycle. The right fielder triples in the 14th inning to complete the task, scoring the winning run in the team’s 8-7 victory over the A’s.

2008: Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years, then departed with a sprained ankle before he could qualify for a win in Seattle’s 5-2 victory over the New York Mets. The shot to right-center off Johan Santana was the first home run by a pitcher in Mariners history, and the first slam by an AL hurler since Cleveland’s Steve Dunning went deep against Oakland’s Diego Segui on May 11, 1971.

2013: David Wright homered, tripled and matched a Mets record with four extra-base hits to back Matt Harvey’s splendid start in a lopsided 8-0 victory over Philadelphia. Wright went 4 for 5 with two of New York’s season-high seven doubles.

2017: The Red Sox retire David Ortiz’s uniform number 34, making Big Papi the 11th player to be honored along with Bobby Doerr (No. 1), Joe Cronin (4), Johnny Pesky (6), Carl Yastrzemski (8), Ted Williams (9), Jim Rice (14), Wade Boggs (26), Carlton Fisk (27), Pedro Martinez (45) and Jackie Robinson (42). The MVP of the 2004 ALCS and the 2013 Fall Classic played a pivotal role in the three World Series championship teams during his 14-year tenure in Boston.

2020: After the Players Association ratified proposed COVID-19 safety protocols, an abbreviated 60-game season will begin July 23rd or 24th.