19 July in Sports History

In the July 19 events for the Jersey Dispatch Sports Break there are many, many MLB firsts that occurred.

Sports history is made every day of the year. We will preserve at least a small sampling from some great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.

3 - 9 - 14 - 32 - 24 - 6 - 27 - 4 - 21 - 30 - 19 -16 - 8

July 19, 1909 - Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball completed the first modern unassisted triple play in Major League Baseball history as the Cleveland Indians posted a 6-1 win over the Boston Red Sox

July 19, 1910 - Cleveland Naps stud pitcher, Cy Young won the 500th game of his Baseball HOF career as Cleveland knocked off the Washington Senators, 5 - 2, in 11 innings. Young is in fact the only pitcher in MLB history to reach the 500 win milestone plateau. Walter Johnson is the next closest with a a distant 417 victories on the mound.

July 19, 1920 - Babe Ruth, Number 3 of the New York Yankees hit his 30th home run of the 1920 baseball season, breaking his own single-season record. He would attain 54 throughout the season, before breaking that record the next year.

July 19, 1933 - For the first time in MLB history, there were two brothers on opposite teams that each hit homerruns in same game - Rick Ferrell (Red Sox Number 9) and Wes Ferrell (Number 14 for the Cleveland Indians)

July 19, 1936 - A great prospect in unveiled! 17 year old Cleveland Indians future Baseball HOF pitcher Bob Feller, wearing Number 9 that season, made his MLB debut in relief in a 9-5 loss to the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium, Washington DC.

July 19, 1950 - The New York Yankees inked their first Black players, Number 32, Elston Howard, and Frank Baines. Howard remained a Yankee fixture in the line up for 13 seasons

July 19, 1973 - New York Mets outfielder and future Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays, Number 24 was named to the National League All Star team for 24th time (he tied Stan Musial a very famous Number 6 of the Cardinals)

July 19, 1974 - Cleveland Indians pitcher Dick Bosman, Number 27 tossed a hitter no-no against the Oakland A's, 4-0

July 19, 1982 - At the first annual Cracker Jack Oldtimers Classic , a 75-year-old Luke Appling (who wore Number 4 for much of his career with the White Sox) hit a 250-foot rocket shot off of Warren Spahn (who wore Number 21 for many seasons with the Braves). The retired players of the AL beat those of the NL 7-2.

July 19, 1989 - Cleveland Indians cleanup hitter Joe Carter, wearing Number 30 on his jersey, had hit his 4th game with having registered 3 homeruns.

July 19, 1990 - Pinstriped clad Number 19, Dave Righetti pitched in his 499th game as a roster member of the New York Yankee organization. In so doing he passed legend Whitey Ford (who wore Number 16 for the majority of his Yankee career) with having the most appearances as a Yankee

July 19, 1991 - Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., wearing Number 8 proved what a true iron man he was as he played in his 1,500th consecutive game

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of Neal Ball, Cleveland Naps, baseball card portrait Abstract/medium: 1 photomechanical print.  American Tobacco Company, sponsor circa 1911