On This Day-April 24th, 1917-First No-Hitter in Yankees' History

Place: Fenway Park; Boston, MA

Event: Mogridge Out-duels Leonard for First No-Hitter in Yankees' History

LHP George Mogridge took the mound against fellow lefty Dutch Leonard on a Tuesday afternoon at Fenway Park and pitched what surely had to be the game of his life, shutting down the Yankees in a 2-1 no-hitter. It was the first-ever no-hitter by a Yankees' pitcher, as well as the first pitched at Fenway.

Mogridge allowed only four balls to be hit beyond the infield, the only Boston run coming in the seventh inning on a combination of a walk to Boston second baseman Jack Barry, a bad throw to SS Roger Peckinpaugh from 2B Fritz Maisel in an effort to start the double play, an intentional walk to OF Tillie Walker, and finally a sacrifice fly from the bat of PH Jimmy Walsh.

Indeed, the Yankees themselves went into the sixth inning with only one hit, and scored their first run of the day on a two-out double off the bat of Angel Aragon, who would play only 15 games in 1917. Aragon had two RBI in 45 AB, that year.

Peckinpaugh reached on a miscue in the top of the ninth by Boston third baseman Mike McNally, who entered to play the hot corner after Walsh's pinch-hit appearance. Boston catcher Hick Cady threw the ball past shortstop Everett Scott when Peckinpaugh stole second (advancing to third on the throw), and McNally made a low throw to first off a grounder from Les Nunamaker that Del Gainer had to dig out of the dirt, allowing Peckinpaugh to score.

Boston and New York made seven errors between them, three by the Yankees (two by Maisel).

Mogridge walked three and struck out three in winning his second game of the year.

From The New York Times; April 25^th, 1917: 

On This Day-April 22nd, 1876-First National League Game Played

Place: Jefferson Street Grounds; Philadelphia, PA

Event: First Game in National League History

Approximately 3,000 fans show up for what turned out to be the very first National League game, after the weather led to rain-outs elsewhere. The Boston Red Stockings (later to become the Atlanta Braves) beat the Philadelphia Athletic Base Ball Club (the future Philadelphia Athletics) by a score of 6-5.

Jefferson Street Grounds had been home to differing versions of ball since 1864, but was only established for use by professional teams in 1871, when the Philadelphia Athletics of the National Association played there. The Athletics won the NA pennant that same year, and would join the newly-formed NL in '76. Poor performance in the inaugural year, as well as their refusal to make Western road trips (in this case, “West” meant Louisville, Cincinnati, and St Louis), led to their expulsion from the NL at the end of their first year.

Former Cincinnati Red Stockings SS George Wright was the first batter. He and Boston entrepreneur Henry Ditson formed Wright and Ditson Sporting Goods in 1871. Interestingly, the first run was scored not on a hit, but on an errant throw by Philadelphia third baseman Ezra Sutton, though the two teams combined for twenty-six errors. This wasn't all that uncommon in the early days of the game, as field conditions were often less than ideal.

The winning pitcher, righty Joe Josephs, was playing under an alias that day; his real name was Joe Borden, and he had tossed a no-hitter in the National Association for Philadelphia against Chicago on July 28^th, 1875. “Joe Josephs” was one of several aliases that Borden was known to use. He was sometimes referred to in contemporary newspapers as “Josephus the Phenomenal”, though his career, while solid, would be over soon after.

The honor of the first hit in NL history went to CF Jim O'Rourke, the only player on either roster to appear as an active player in the 20^th century. “Orator Jim”, as he was sometimes called, was much more than a baseball player. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1887, and was a practicing lawyer between seasons. At a time when the average ballplayer was seen as unrefined, ignorant, and boorish, O'Rourke stood out as articulate and erudite. Though he certainly didn't need to rely on baseball to earn a living, it seems he had a hard time removing himself from the game, permanently. Even after retiring as a major-league player in 1893, he would remain in the minors for years to come.

From The Times (Philadelphia, PA); April 24^th, 1876:

On This Day: Columbia 15, Wesleyan 2-Gehrig Crushes Record-Setting HR

NEW YORK, MAY 19th-It was 1923, and Columbia was thoroughly enjoying a season of outstanding mound work and tape-measure homers from a young Lou Gehrig. On this day, Wesleyan was paying a visit to the Lions at South Field, a game that Columbia would win going away, 15-2. 

Gehrig had already become a legend at Columbia, blasting homers at distances previously unseen at the Ivy League school. He would finish the 1923 season having set offensive marks that still rank in the top ten of Columbia's all-time single-season performances; his .444 batting average is still fifth, all-time, his .937 slugging percentage is the top mark in school history, and his seven home runs were the all-time mark up to that point. As a pitcher, his six wins are still tied for eighth and only two behind the all-time mark of eight, shared by five different pitchers. He also struck out 77 batters that year, which is still sixth all-time. That alone is surprising, considering that Columbia only played nineteen games, that year.

Gehrig played ten games at first, another eleven on the mound, and played both positions in three games. He set a single-game record of 17 strikeouts against Williams College on April 18^th, a record which stood for 45 years.

Scouts were already calling him “the next Babe Ruth”. As a side note, Gehrig very well could have ended up with the Washington Senators, had Clark Griffith's scout bothered to show up to see him play. The Giants also had a shot at Gehrig, but for reasons that escape me (comments welcome), McGraw refused to even consider giving him a chance to try out. Funny, how these things work out (see Robinson,Jackie; Boston Red Sox).

Anyway, Gehrig was working his magic as per usual on this day, going three shutout innings on the mound while allowing three hits and striking out five. He also went 2-3 at the plate, with a home run that left the stadium altogether and struck the School of Journalism building just outside of the center-field wall. The ball struck the steps of the building, over 450 feet from home plate and still considered the longest home run ever hit at South Field.

By June, Gehrig was a New York Yankee, and the rest is history.

From the Hartford Courant; May 20th, 1923: 

On This Day: Detroit, Philadelphia Form Conga Line on Basepaths

PHILADELPHIA, MAY 9th-It was on this day in 1916 that the Detroit Tigers took on the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, in what would become a game for the ages. Some such games are better than others; this one was a farce, with a sequel.

One could say that neither the Tigers nor A's pitchers had their best stuff, that day, and one would be spot on. The two teams combined to walk a total of thirty batters, an astounding total in any era.

RHP George Cunningham started for the Tigers, while fellow righty Jack Nabors took the mound for the Athletics, and both put up some ugly numbers. For Nabors, he faced only nine batters, five of whom accounted for three hits and two walks in the second inning. He walked three, allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits, and struck out not a single batter. Harry Weaver took over to pitch in the second inning, but he wasn't able to stem the onslaught. Weaver gave up four runs on only two hits, managed zero strikeouts and walked three in facing seven batters.

But it was southpaw Carl Ray who would upstage the pitchers of both teams. He took over in the third and promptly gave up a double and two walks but stranded them all. He also put up a scoreless fourth, despite the somewhat-less-than-perfect control. The fifth inning saw him surrender six more runs, but by now it hardly mattered to either side.

Ray went seven innings in relief, giving up seven runs on six hits (four earned), striking out three and walking an absurd twelve batters.

Cunningham, however, had an unusual line. He went only 2 1/3 innings, but allowed no hits and gave up only one run while walking six in the process, so he certainly mitigated the damage well enough. RHP Bernie Boland took over for Cunningham and performed slightly better; he went 6 2/3 to finish out the game, allowing one run on three hits, struck out two, and also walks half a dozen batters.

The A's further sabotaged themselves by committing five errors, two of which belonged to Nabors, both occurring in the first inning when he threw away a pair of comeback grounders. Philly shortstop Whitey Witt tacked on a pair of miscues, himself, in a season that would see him commit seventy-six more.

A bit of trivia about Witt: he was the first Yankee to bat in Yankee Stadium, and the first to score on a Babe Ruth homer.

Among the best performers that day at the plate were Ty Cobb (2-5, 2 R, 2 doubles, 4 RBI), LF Harry Heilmann (3-5, 2 R, 1 double, 3 RBI), and 1B George Burns (2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 Sac Hits). As for the A's, if any of them could have been considered "standout performers" on this particular day, it would have to be LF Bill Stellbauer, who went 2-4 with a double, a triple, and an RBI.

Often, when a team (or teams, as the case may be) has a poor performance like this, they bounce back in a big way the next day. For both the Tigers and A's, not so. Three pitchers (one Tiger, two Athletics) combined for eighteen walks in a 9-3 Detroit victory. Philadelphia righty Tom Sheehan went seven innings, giving up six runs on six hits (none earned; we'll get to that), walking seven ans striking out one batter. Nabors was at it again when he came in to relieve Sheehan, as he gave up three runs on four hits, struck out one and walked four in two innings. Once more, the A's committed five errors, one by Sheehan and two more by Witt (remember him?), while 3B Charlie Pick and C Wally Schang added one, each.

For the Tigers, George Boehler went the distance, allowing three runs on five hits, striking out seven but walking seven, as well. Considering the seven walks, five hits, one error by Donie Bush at short, and one hit batsman, the fact that Boehler allowed only three runs from fourteen base-runners that day was fairly impressive.

From The Philadelphia Inquirer; May 10th, 1916 (written by "Jim Nasium"...heh):