September 21 in Tigers and mlb history:
1901: An American League record that still stands is set when Cleveland and Washington make 22 errors in a doubleheader, 16 by Cleveland. Washington wins both games, 18 - 7 and 11 - 3.
1903: Christy Mathewson, pitching for the third time in four games, keeps the Giants in 2nd place by beating Chicago's Clarence Currie, 8 - 3. For Matty, it is 30th win of the year.
1908: Detroit takes two at St. Louis. With two weeks to go, 3 1/2 games separate four teams.
1909: Rest seems to have cured Walter Johnson's sore arm, as the Nats' ace shuts out Detroit, 2 - 0, in his first appearance since August 29th.
He will finish the season at 13-25, 10 of the losses coming in shutouts.
1916: Tris Speaker goes 4 for 6 and drives in a run as Cleveland edges Washington and Walter Johnson, 3 - 2.
1922: The American League reinstates the MVP award, last given in 1914, appointing a committee of one writer from each city, headed by I.E. Sanborn of the Chicago Tribune. As a player-manager, Ty Cobb is not eligible, and the trophy goes to George Sisler. The National League will pick up the idea two years later.
1923: Babe Ruth is the unanimous choice of the American League committee of baseball writers for the MVP award.
1928: At St. Louis, Boston's Red Ruffing smashes a 3-run homer in the 7th and pitches the Sox to a 5 - 3 win over the Browns.
1932: Jimmie Foxx slugs home run #54 to lead the A's to an 8 - 4 win over the visiting Yankees.
1935: The Detroit Tigers clinch the pennant with a double win over the St. Louis Browns, winning 6 - 2 and 2 - 0.
Elden Auker wins the nitecap with a complete game shutout, while Tommy Bridges takes the opener. The Tigers will coast the rest of the way, going 1-6, while the Yankees go 6-1.
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1940 - With the Tigers, Indians, and Yankees neck-and-neck, the Tigers boost their lead to 2 games, as Schoolboy Rowe shuts out Cleveland, 5 - 0.
Rowe, seemingly washed up after anchoring the staff through Tiger championships in the mid-1930s, will finish at 16-3.
1946: Tigers win the final game played at Cleveland's League Park 5 - 3. Dizzy Trout with the 11 inning CG victory.
1950: Warren Spahn of the Braves wins his 21st game, hurling a 2-hit, 5 - 0 win over the Cards.
1950: Tigers beat Philadelphia to move into tie with the Yankees atop the American League.
It will be their last day in first place for a long time, as they enter the doldrums for most of the 1950s.
1952: Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella hits the last home run ever in Boston's Braves Field.
1957: Gail Harris is the last player to hit a home run as a New York Giant, as they beat the Pirates, 9 - 5, in the 2nd game of a doubleheader.
1958: Today's win is marred when Ted Williams, after striking out looking with two aboard to end the 3rd inning (and less than 2 months after having incurred his second spitting-related fine in less than 2 years), flings his bat aside in a fit of anger. Unfortunately, the intended flip along the ground gains some unwanted elevation, flying into the stands and striking, of all people, Boston GM Joe Cronin's 69-year-old housekeeper, Gladys Heffernan, in the head.
"I didn't mean to throw the bat that way," explains the distraught Williams.
"I started to flip it along the ground but the sticky stuff on my hands stuck to it and it left my hands on the fly instead.
I was sick." Mercifully Heffernan is not badly hurt, but Williams is greeted with a thunderous chorus of catcalls when he takes the field in the 4th. Cronin, for his part, hastily announces a 1-year contract extension for manager Mike Higgins in what is widely regarded as an attempt to distract attention from Ted's near-tragic tantrum. Nonetheless, American League President Will Harridge will impose a modest $50-dollar fine for the incident.
1959: The Braves' Warren Spahn notches his 20th win, 8 - 6, and his 266th National League victory to tie Eppa Rixey of the Phillies and Reds for the career-high in wins by a lefthander.
1963: Minnesota's Harmon Killebrew ties an American League record with four home runs in a doubleheader, a split with the Red Sox. Minnesota loses, 11 - 2, after winning the opener 13 - 4. The Killer has three homers in the lid lifter.
1968: The Tigers win 4 - 3 over the senators for their 11th straight to reach 101 wins for the third time in franchise history (1934, 1961).
1972: The American League East is in a virtual tie as Detroit's Joe Coleman posts his 18th win, a critical 10 - 3 defeat of first-place Boston. Coleman strikes out 10 and knocks in three runs.
1973: John Hiller pitches 3+ innings of scoreless relief, setting a Tigers record with his 38th save of the year and the Tigers beat the red sox 5 - 1.
1976: Mark Fidrych pitches his 23rd complete game for his 17th win in the Tigers 5 - 3 win over the indians.
1980: The Detroit Tigers signed Roger Mason as an amateur free agent.
1981: Steve Carlton fans 12 Expos in 10 innings to break Bob Gibson's National League strikeout record (Carlton now has 3,128), but the Phillies lose to the Expos, 1 - 0 in 17 innings.
1985: In a Boston 7 - 6 win over Detroit, Wade Boggs ties Tris Speaker's club mark of 222 hits with a single in the 2nd inning. His 5th-inning single, his 185th, sets a new American League record for singles, breaking the mark set by Willie Wilson in 1980. Wade will end with 187, a mark that will stand until 2001.
1987: Tigers lose to the red sox 9 - 4 to fall from first place in the AL East. They will not return until the dramatic season finale on October 3.
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1987: With two stolen bases against the Cubs, Darryl Strawberry joins teammate Howard Johnson as a member of the 30/30 club. It is the first time in major league history players on the same team have hit 30 homers and have stolen 30 bases in the same year.
1997: Cecil Fielder hits his 300th career home run on his birthday, with the Yankees.
1999: The Red Sox defeat the Blue Jays, 3 - 0, as Pedro Martinez fans 12 for his 22nd win. He joins Randy Johnson as the only pitchers to strike out at least 300 in both leagues, and breaks Roger Clemens' club mark of 291 strikeouts.
2002: The Tigers host a Legends Game at Comerica Park with alumni including Mark Fidrych (pictured), Mickey Lolich, John Hiller, Steve Kemp, Dan Petry, Darrell Evans, Guillermo Hernandez, & Frank Tanana.
2006: The Detroit Tigers released Brian Boehringer.
2008: In the last game ever played at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees defeat Baltimore, 7 - 3. Andy Pettitte earns his 14th win of the season, while Johnny Damon and Jos? Molina hit home runs. Mariano Rivera closes out the game with a perfect 9th inning, forcing Brian Roberts to ground out to 1B Cody Ransom for the last out. New York thus avoids being eliminated from the playoffs in their final game at the historic stadium.
2009: The last remaining portion of Tiger Stadium falls to the ground, completing demolition.
Where Greenberg, Cobb, Gehringer, Kaline, Trammell, and all the rest played: Flattened, and scraped clean. Terrible.
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2013: In one of their greatest comebacks in recent memory, the Tigers rally from a 6-0 deficit in the 9th inning and then win in the 12th on a walk-off RBI infield single by Omar Infante to cut their magic number to 2.
2015: Jeff Samardzija pitches a one-hitter against the Tigers in the opening game was the White Sox sweep a doubleheader, 2 - 0 and 3 - 2. Erik Johnson is the winner in the second game. The losses guarantee that the Tigers will finish with a losing record for the first time since 2008.
2018: Josh Hader breaks the single-season record set by the Tigers' John Hiller for strikeouts in a season by a left-handed reliever. The Major League record is still held by "The Monster" Dick Radatz with 181 Strikeouts in 1964.
2023: The Detroit
Tigers announce the appointment of
Jeff Greenberg as
General Manager, while acting GM
Scott Harris will concentrate on his role as the team's President of Baseball Operations. Greenberg leaves his current job of Assistant GM for the Chicago Blackhawks of the
NHL, but worked for many years in major league front offices before that career detour.
Tigers players, coaches, and executives birthdays:
John Bogart Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
John Bogart 1920.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Elden_Auker
Elden Auker Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Eldon Auker 1933-1938.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/John_McHale
John McHale Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
John McHale 1943-1945, 1947-1948, General Manager 1957-1958.
Frank MacCormack Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Frank MacCormack 1976.
Frank MacCormack Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Billy Muffett coach 1985-1994.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Aurelio_López
Aurelio López Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Aurelio Lopez 1979-1985.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Cecil_Fielder
Cecil Fielder Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Cecil Fielder 1990-1996.
Pedro Santana Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Pedro Santana 2001.
Tigers players and coaches who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Tony_Cuccinello
Tony Cuccinello coach 1967-1968.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Purnal_Goldy
Purnal Goldy Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Purnal Goldy 1962-1963.
Baseball Reference
