July 16 - Joe DiMaggio hits in 56th straight

On July 16, 1853 - The New York Clipper publishes what is

believed to be the first tabulated boxscore of a baseball game. The

Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York defeated the Gotham Club 21-12 on July

5.

Shoeless Joe Jackson, the best major league player not in

the Hall of Fame was born on this day in 1887. 

Babe Ruth once said of Jackson "I copied Jackson's style because I thought he

was the greatest hitter I had ever seen.. He's the guy who made me a

hitter." Jackson was implicated in the 1919 Black Sox

scandal as one of the 8 men who threw the World Series. During that series

Jackson led both teams in hits and batting average, did not commit a single

error and even threw a runner out at the plate. 

Jackson has the third highest career batting average in MLB history at

.356.

On July 6 1897 - At the age of 45, Chicago's Cap Anson

becomes the first major leaguer to amass 3,000 hits when he singled off

Baltimore's George Blackburn. As a matter of fact, it took years for the figure

filberts of baseball to come to Anson’s “official” stats. Anson played from

1876-97 and his hit total changed over time, soaring as high as 3,509 and as

low as 2,995 as researchers dissected box scores and refigured statistics.

Finally, Total Baseball, the official encyclopedia of the game, listed his total

hits at 3,081.

On July 16, 1941, “The Streak” reaches its zenith as Joe

DiMaggio goes 3-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to a major league record 56

games, which stands to this day. During the streak DiMaggio went 91 for 223,

batting 409 while leading the Yankees to a World Series ring and collecting an

MVP for himself.

On July 16, 1970, the Pittsburgh Pirates played their first

game in Three Rivers Stadium, the successor to Forbes Field. Dock Ellis threw

the first pitch in the new stadium and future Hall of Famer Willie Stargell

ripped a home run for the Bucs, who lost the game to the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2.

Another Hall of Famer, Tony Perez, hit the first home run in the stadium’s

history.

Mentioned in this episode:

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