Today in baseball history

By: | Times-Dispatch
Published: September 08, 2009

On this date

1905 -- The Pittsburgh Pirates stranded 18 runners in an 8-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds to set a National League record for men left on base.

1955 -- The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves 10-2 to clinch the NL pennant with a 17-game lead.

1958 -- Roberto Clemente tied a major league record by hitting three triples in a 4-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

1965 -- Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City A's played all nine positions but had to leave after a ninth-inning collision with Ed Kirkpatrick of the Angels. The Angels won 5-3 in 13 innings.

1972 -- Ferguson Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 for his 20th victory of the season. It marked the sixth straight year Jenkins had won 20 or more games.

1985 -- Cincinnati's Pete Rose singled in the first inning and again in the fifth inning to tie Ty Cobb with 4,191 career hits. Rose was retired in his other at-bats and the game at Wrigley Field was called because of darkness after nine innings with the score tied at 5.

1993 -- Darryl Kile pitched baseball's second no-hitter in five days, leading the Houston Astros over the New York Mets 7-1.

1996 -- Todd Hundley of the New York Mets became the ninth player to hit 40 home runs that season, breaking the major league record set in 1961. Hundley's homer, in a 6-2 win over Atlanta, also tied Roy Campanella's major league record for homers by a catcher.

1998 -- Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' 37-year-old home run record, lining historic No. 62 just over the wall in left field with two outs in the fourth inning. McGwire's shot off the Chicago Cubs' Steve Trachsel set off a wild celebration in Busch Stadium.

2002 -- The Atlanta Braves won their 11th straight division title when second-place Philadelphia lost to the New York Mets 6-4.

2007 -- Alex Rodriguez homered in consecutive at-bats to set a single-season record for a third baseman with 51 homers, helping the New York Yankees overpower Kansas City 11-5. He became the first Yankees player to reach 50 homers in a season since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle did it in 1961.

2008 -- Pinch-hitting Mark Saccomanno homered on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues to help Houston beat Pittsburgh. Saccomanno hit a solo shot in the fifth inning.