THIS DATE IN BASEBALL

AUG. 16 1920: Shortstop Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit in the head with a pitch in the fifth inning by New York’s Carl Mays. Chapman suffered a fractured skull and died the next day. It is the only field fatality in major league history. 1927: Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees became the first player to clear the roof at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ruth’s home run came off White Sox pitcher Tommy Thomas in the 8-1 win. 1947: Ralph Kiner hit three successive home runs to become the first Pirates player to ever accomplish the feat as Pittsburgh beat the St. Louis Cardinals 12-7 at Forbes Field. 1950: Hank Thompson hit two inside-the-park home runs in the Giants’ 16-7 rout of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. 1964: Curt Flood of the St. Louis Cardinals had eight straight hits in a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers won the first game 3-0 and the Cardinals took the second, 4-0. 1987: Tim Raines of the Montreal Expos went 5-for-5 with four extra-base hits and the cycle in a 10-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. 1996: With 23,699 fans at the 25,644-seat Estadio Monterrey, the San Diego Padres defeated the New York Mets 15-10 in the first major league regular-season game played outside the United States or Canada. 2005: Bobby Bragan became the oldest manager of a pro baseball game when the 87-year-old managed the Fort Worth Cats of the Central League for one game against Coastal Bend. Hall of Famer Connie Mack previously held the record, but Bragan eclipsed Mack by eight days. Bragan was tossed out of the game in the third inning after he went on the field following the ejection of a player. 2006: Bruce Froemming umpired his 5,000th major league game: second-most in big league history. Bill Klem worked 5,374 games from 1905-40. 2011: Albert Pujols of St. Louis reached 30 home runs for the 11th consecutive season in a 5-4, 11-inning loss to Pittsburgh. Pujols connected in the sixth inning off the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Jeff Karstens. The NL home runs leader became the first player in major league history to hit 30 homers in each of his first 11 seasons.