July 8
1912 — Rube Marquard’s 19-game winning streak was stopped as the New York Giants lost 7-2 to the Chicago Cubs.
1918 — Boston’s Babe Ruth lost a home run at Fenway Park when prevailing rules reduce his shot over the fence to a triple. Amos Strunk scored on Ruth’s hit for a 1-0 win over Cleveland. Ruth, who played 95 games in the season, finished tied for the American League title with 11 homers.
1935 — The AL extended its All-Star winning streak to three with a 4-1 victory at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. New York Yankee Lefty Gomez went six innings, which prompted the NL to have the rules changed so that no pitcher could throw more than three innings, unless extra innings.
1941 — Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hit a three-run, two-out homer in the ninth to give the AL a dramatic 7-5 victory in the All-Star game at Detroit’s Briggs Stadium. Up to that point Arky Vaughn of the Pittsburgh Pirates was the NL hero with two home runs, the first player to do so in All-Star play. Joe and Dom DiMaggio both played for the AL, marking the first time that brothers appeared in the same All-Star game.
1947 — Frank Shea became the first winning rookie pitcher in the first 14 years of All-Star play as the AL nipped the NL 2-1 at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.
1952 — The NL edged the AL 3-2 in the first rain-shortened All-Star game. The five-inning contest, at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, featured home runs by Jackie Robinson and Hank Sauer of the Nationals.
1957 — Baseball owners re-elected commissioner Ford Frick to another seven-year term when his contract is up in 1958.
1958 — The 25th anniversary All-Star game, at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, went to the AL, 4-3 in a game that only produced 13 singles. This was the first All-Star game in which neither team got an extra-base hit.
1970 — Jim Ray Hart of San Francisco hit for the cycle and became the first NL player in 59 years to drive in six runs in one inning as the Giants beat Atlanta, 13-0.
1974 — New York shortstop Jim Mason tied a major-league record when he doubled four times in the Yankees’ 12-5 win over Texas.
1994 — Shortstop John Valentin made the 10th unassisted triple play in baseball history in the sixth inning and then led off the bottom of the inning with a homer to lead Boston to a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
1997 — Cleveland Indians catcher Sandy Alomar hit a two-run homer to give the American League a 3-1 victory over the National League in the All-Star game. Alomar, the first player to win the All-Star MVP in his own ballpark, broke the tie in the seventh inning off San Francisco’s Shawn Estes.
1982 — Billy Martin records his 1,000 career win as a manger as the A’s beat the Yankees 6-3.
2000 — Dwight Gooden and Roger Clemens teamed up to shut down the Mets, giving the Yankees identical 4-2 victories in the first double-ballpark doubleheader in the majors since 1903. After the opener, many in the sellout crowd of 54,165 at Shea Stadium immediately headed for Game 2, which drew 55,821 at Yankee Stadium.
2008 — Ryan Braun of Milwaukee hit his 56th career home run in his 200th major league game, a 7-3 win over Colorado. Only Mark McGwire and Rudy York (both 59) had hit more in their first 200 games in the majors.
2014 — The Mets record the 4,000th win in franchise history by defeating the Braves 8-3.
2015 — Tampa Bay hits two inside-the park home runs in a 9-7 loss to the Royals. It is the first time the feat has been done since 1997.
2021 — San Diego Padres relief pitcher Daniel Camarena records his first MLB hit, a Grand Slam, in his second at bat against the Washington Nationals’ Max Sherzer.
