Mark Hornbaker

Author's posts

Hansen’s Unassisted Triple Play

July 30, 1968 On a hot evening at Cleveland Stadium the 5,937 fans in attendance witnessed a baseball rarity. In the bottom of the 1st inning the Cleveland Indians had runners on 1st and 2nd base when Joe Azcue lined a ball to the Washington Senators shortstop Ron Hansen. Before anyone knew what had happened …

Continue reading

The Big Train Keeps on Rolling

July 22, 1923 Walter Johnson, the Washington Senators star pitcher, becomes the first pitcher in Major League Baseball history to strikeout 3,000 batters. Walter “ Big Train” Johnson rolled right over the Cleveland Indians as the Senators beat the Indians 3–1. The victory was The Big Train’s ninth of the season and the Senators won …

Continue reading

Goslin gets police escort out of the park

July 18, 1925 At Cleveland‚ the Washington Senators are leading the Indians 11-4 after five innings. Washington‘s Goose Goslin‚ who has knocked in 3 runs on a double and a home run faces the Indians’ reliever Bert Cole. Cole’s first pitch sailed inside near Goslin’s head. As the story goes, Goslin with a raised bat …

Continue reading

Nationals start Great Western Tour

July 13, 1867 The Washington Nationals baseball team that was made up by mostly government workers and were led by second baseman George Wright, played their first game of the their western tour. The Nationals could not have asked for a better start to their great tour as they beat up the Capital Club of …

Continue reading

Tearing Down the Chicken Wire

May 3, 1949 The Senators (3-11) arrive in Chicago (8-5) for a short two game series with the White Sox. The team is looking to snap a two game slide. In baseball, as in life, timing is everything. Before the 1949 season started the White Sox General Manager Frank Lane had a chicken-wire fence installed …

Continue reading

Mickey Vernon’s MLB Debut

James Barton “Mickey” Vernon who was born on April 22, 1918 in Marcus Hook, PA, made his Major League and Washington Senator debut on July 8, 1939. In his first game Vernon went 1 for 5 at the plate and played first base as the Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics 6-3. During the rest of …

Continue reading

FDR attends 1937 All-Star Game

July 7, 1937 President Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first President to attend an All-Star game as he is invited to throw out the first ball at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. The President and the rest of the sellout crowd of 31,391 at the 5th Annual All-Star game had to deal with a very …

Continue reading

Almost Perfect – Big Train’s No Hitter

Washington’s Walter Johnson almost pitched perfect game during his July 1, 1920 no-hit game against the Boston Red Sox. I was amazed to find out that the Big Train missed pitching a perfect game by one error. The Big Train pitched a perfect game through six innings. In the bottom of the seventh inning Boston’s …

Continue reading

The Babe Gets Ejected After Walking Senators’ Morgan

June 23, 1917 The Babe Gets Ejected After Walking Senators’ Morgan In the top of the first inning of the first game of a scheduled double-header between the Senators and the Red Sox, Babe Ruth gave up a four pitch walk to the Senators’ Ray Morgan. The 24 year old Ruth was so outraged that …

Continue reading

Casanova’s Long Night

June 12, 1967 At District of Columbia Stadium the Washington Senators and the Chicago White Sox played in what was the longest night game (22 innings, six hours, and 38 minutes) in Major League history.  The Senators win the game 6-5 when Paul Casanova hits a single to left field and Hank Allen scores the …

Continue reading