2 July in Sports History

Some sensational events by players in baseball uniforms lead the way in Sports history for July 2.

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.

2 - 11 - 5 - 28

July 2, 1903 - You knew it was bound to happen, as the first son of a major leaguer to play in the MLB made his debut. Pitcher Jack Doscher, took the mound for the Chicago Cubs, and his pops was Herm Doscher that played from 1872-82 for a variety of teams including the Cleveland Blues and the Chicago White Stockings.

July 2, 1906  -Yankees (well actually the New York Highlanders) won by forfeit for the first time in franchise history. According to the Retro Sheets.com website, "In the 19th Century, forfeited games were fairly frequent, and they were quite a few in the first two decades of the 20th Century. Even in the 1970s there were four of them, and the most recent one was in 1995. Three of the last four resulted from promotions that backfired."

July 2, 1911 - Detroit Tigers legendary player, Ty Cobb hit in his 40th straight game in 14-6 rout of Cleveland. Unfortunately for Cobb the streak ended in the very next game when the Tigers hosted the Chicago White Sox for two games. Chicago’s Ed Walsh pitched aa real dandy not only stymie Cobb, to end the streak but also to topple the Tigers, 7-3 in game one of the double header.

July 2, 1930 - This is pretty spectacular! Chicago White Sox outfielder Carl Reynolds, who wore Number 2 in 1931, became only the 2nd player in MLB history to hit home runs in 3 consecutive innings in 15-4 White Sox victory at Yankee Stadium

July 2, 1933 - New York Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell must have had a workhorse of an arm! Wearing Number 11, the future Hall of Fame hurler threw 18 innings of shutout ball without a walk to beat St Louis Cardinals, 1-0.

July 2, 1941 - Big time players hit milestones in big moments it seems. Joe DiMaggio, Number 5 for the New York Yankees dramatically right on cue hit a 3-run homer off Boston's Dick Newsome, in Jersey 28 to pass Willie Keeler's MLB record 44 game hitting streak.  Keeler established his mark way back in 1897 with a 44-game hitting streak to start the season, breaking the previous single season record of 42 set by Bill Dahlen. Keeler actually had a hit in his final game of the 1896 season, giving him a National League-record 45-game hitting streak if you really think about it, but it spanned over two seasons.

July 2, 1950 - Cleveland Indians' pitcher Bob Feller, donning his famous Number 19 uniform won his 200th MLB game, 5-3 versus Detroit Tigers

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 the Detail of plague at site of Nicollet Park, taken by an unknown.