This date in baseball
JULY 23
1925 Lou Gehrig hit the first of his major league record 23 grand slam home runs as the New York Yankees posted an 11-7 victory over the Washington Senators.
1930 Pie Traynor won both ends of a doubleheader for the Pittsburgh Pirates with home runs. In the first game, Traynor homered in the ninth and in the second game, he connected in the 13th.
1944 Bill Nicholson of the Chicago Cubs hit four home runs in a doubleheader split with the New York Giants. Nicholson hit a home run in the opener, which the Cubs won 7-4. He hit three consecutive in the second game, but the Giants won 12-10. In that game, Nicholson was walked with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
1955 Bob Cerv and Elston Howard of the New York Yankess hit consecutive pinch-hit home runs to force extra innings against Kansas City. The Athletics won 8-7 in the 11th inning on Hector Lopez’s RBI-single. Trailing 7-5 entering the top of the ninth, Cerv batted for pitcher Tommy Byrne and homered of Alex Kellner. Tom Gorman replaced Kellner and Howard, hitting for Irv Noren, tied the game.
1964 Bert Campaneris of Kansas City hit two home runs in his first major league game. He homered on the first pitch off Minnesota’s Jim Kaat, and then connected again in the seventh to lift the Athletics to a 4-3 win.
1974 Write-in starter Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers singled and doubled to lead the National League to a 7-2 victory over the American League in the All-Star Game at Pittsburgh.
1985 Oddibe McDowell became the first player in Texas Rangers history to hit for the cycle in an 8-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
2000 Ryan Klesko hit a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning and a two-run shot in the 10th to lift San Diego over Colorado 6-4.
2009 Mark Buehrle pitched the 18th perfect game in major league history, a 5-0 victory over Tampa Bay. It was the first since Randy Johnson’s on May 18, 2004. Buehrle threw 76 of 116 pitches for strikes and struck out 6 in his second no-hitter — the first coming on April 18, 2007, against Texas.
2011 The Boston Red Sox extend Seattle’s losing streak to 14 games, tied for the longest in team history, with a 3-1 victory at Fenway Park, which was also Terry Francona’s 1000th as Red Sox manager.
2014 San Diego Padres outfielder Cameron Maybin was handed a 25-game suspension for testing positive for amphetamines. He is the first major leaguer suspended for PED use this season.
2016 Trevor Story hit two home runs to set an NL rookie record for shortstops and Colorado beat Atlanta 8-4. Story had four hits — including his 25th and 26th home runs — to pass his mentor, Troy Tulowitzki, who had 24 for the Rockies in 2007. Nomar Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox set the major league record for shortstops with 30 in 1997.
2020 Commissioner Rob Manfred announced a modified postseason format for this year only. Eight teams participated from each league: the two teams with the best records in each division, and the ones with the two next best records in the league. The teams would be seeded one to eight. The wild-card game would be replaced by a preliminary round with all teams participating, played in best-of-three format, with all games played in the better-ranked team’s ballpark.
2021 Cleveland’s baseball team announced it will be called the Guardians beginning in 2022.