Wilhelm pitches one-hitter to lift Orioles over Yankees, 5-0
MAY 26, 1979: A bases-loaded single by Lee May in the 16th inning gives the American League East-leading Orioles a 7-5 victory over the Tigers in Detroit. It’s the eighth game-winning hit of the season for May, the AL leader, and Baltimore’s 26th win in its past 32 games.
MAY 20, 1969: Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom declares the team will not play home games in Baltimore this year unless “significant improvements” are made to Memorial Stadium. Rosenbloom threatens to play in Washington or Philadelphia, but says he will advance the city millions of dollars, without interest, to spruce up the ballpark. The Park Board scrambles to finance a $5 million refurbishing proposal.
MAY 22, 1959: Hoyt Wilhelm, the knuckleballing pitcher bound for the Hall of Fame, pitches a one-hitter as the Orioles defeat the New York Yankees, 5-0, before an announced 30,084 at Memorial Stadium. It’s the sixth straight win for the 35-year-old Wilhelm who, in 1958, no-hit the Yankees.
MAY21,1952: Ona cool, sunny day at Bel Air Race Track, a record opening-day crowd (6,500) sees Weatherman, the 5-year-old son of Precipitation, win the feature, the Bel Air Inaugural.
MAY 21, 1932: Undefeated Johns Hopkins tops Maryland, 7-3, to clinch the national college lacrosse championship. Jack Turnbull (two goals, four assists) and Millard Lang (one, one) lead the 8-0 Blue Jays, who have outscored opponents 84-14.
MAY 23, 1922: Orioles officials hoist the 1921 International League championship flag in right field at Oriole Park before more than 9,000 fans as Farson’s Band plays “Maryland, My Maryland.” Then the three-time defending champs defeat the Jersey City Skeeters, 5-0, on Jack Bentley’s one-hitter.
MAY 21, 1914: Holiday, a bay gelding, leads the entire way in winning the 39th Preakness, the third of seven races at Pimlico on a Thursday afternoon. Holiday will be the last gelding to win it until 1993 when Prairie Bayou triumphs.
MAY 20, 1905: Navy’s baseball team defeats Army, 9-5, at West Point. Returning home to Annapolis, the team is met that night by the entire brigade of Midshipmen, who hoist the players — including Ralph Needham, the winning pitcher — on their shoulders and tote them around the Academy, which is lit by burning brooms carried by plebes.
Birthday
MAY 20, 1963: David Wells, the portly, gout-ridden, hard-living left-hander who went 11-14 for the playoff-bound Orioles in 1996.