THIS DATE IN BASEBALL

AUG. 23

1906: On their way to the American League pennant, the Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators 4-1 for their 19th straight victory. 1931: Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics was beaten 1-0 by Dick Coffman of the St. Louis Browns, snapping a personal 16-game winning streak. A misjudged fly ball by outfielder Jim Moore led to the winning run. 1952: During a game against the Cardinals at the Polo Grounds, the Giants’ Bob Elliott complained and kicked dirt arguing over a called strike. Umpire Augie Donatelli ejected him from the game. Bobby Hoffman finished the at-bat by being called out on strikes and was also ejected by Donatelli for arguing the call. 1972: Chicago’s Dick Allen became the fourth player (Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg and Alex Johnson) to homer into Comiskey Park’s center field bleachers. Allen’s shot came off New York’s Lindy McDaniel. The two-run homer came in the seventh inning of a 5-2 win for the White Sox. 1998: Barry Bonds became the first player in major league history to hit 400 home runs and steal 400 bases when he homered off Florida’s Kirt Ojala in the second inning of San Francisco’s game at Florida. 2001: Randy Johnson struck out 16 in seven innings to become the first pitcher to strike out 300 in four straight seasons, only to see his eight-game winning streak end as Kevin Young’s two-run homer led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-1 victory over Arizona. 2006: The Kansas City Royals became the second team in major league history to have a 10-run first inning and not win the game. At Kauffman Stadium, the home team took a 10-1 lead, but were defeated by the Indians in 10 innings, 15-13. On June 8, 1989, Pittsburgh scored 10 runs in the top half of the first against Philadelphia and lost 15-11.