⚾ JULY 4th IN BASEBALL HISTORY ⚾

[cheaptrick77]

JULY 4, 1979

A crowd of 38,490 at Denver's Mile High Stadium were looking forward to the annual fireworks show as their hometown Denver Bears went to the bottom of the ninth inning trailing the Omaha Royals, 14-7, in an American Association contest. The Bears fans had to wait until midnight for their fireworks, as the Bears created some fireworks of their own on the field: exploding for nine runs in the bottom of the ninth - all scored with two outs, to win the game, 16-14. The game ended on a dramatic three-run home run by Bears' utility infielder (and former Major Leaguer) Jim Cox off Omaha pitcher Jerry Cram.

 

The Bears radio announcer at the time was the late, great Mark Holtz & his call of the Cox home run is considered a classic among Colorado sports fans:

 

Ball two, strike one, Cox hitting. Bears are down by a run after (Art) Gardner singled one home to center. Here's the 2-1 pitch..........swung on, long flyball to deep left field..........it's outta here! It's a home run! And the Bears win it! The Bears win it! Cox hits a home run! It's over! The Bears win it! The Bears win it on a home run! And the Bears win it! They're going crazy! They're going crazy! A home run by Cox, and the Bears win the ball game! The Bears win it, on a three-run homer by Jim Cox!

 

 

Holtz apologized for his reaction to the home run the next day. Until the day he passed away, he was always a little embarrassed by the call.

[shoelessjoelives]

In 1992, in Atlanta's 4-2 win over the Cubs, Braves SS Jeff Blauser hits a 2-run homer in the 1st inning to start the scoring. It is the 1,776th big league homer hit on the holiday. Brian Hunter also hit a solo homer to support winner Charlie Liebrandt (a one-time Ranger).

 

In 1984, Phil Niekro strikes out five batters in the Yankees 5-0 win over Texas to become the 9th pitcher in history to record 3,000 career strikeouts.

 

In 1988, Charlie Hough strikes out four batters in the first inning of a 13-2 Ranger loss to the Yankees.

 

In 1980, Nolan Ryan strikesout the the Reds Cesar Geronimo to become the 4th pitcher to reach 3,000 K's. As history would record it , Geronimo was also Bob Gibson's 3,000th career "K" victim six years earlier. Ryan loses on this day, 8-1, allowing six runs in four 1/3 innings.

 

In 1974, Toby Harrah hits a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning,as one-time Ranger, Bert Blyleven tops the Rangers for the Twins, 3-1. Harrah's hit was the only hit that Blyleven allows.

[Longhorn Fan]

Ah yes....the great Mark Holtz. I sure wish I could secure a copy of the CD that Nadel made of some of the classic moments in the booth with Holtz. I heard it at the memorial for Holtz and it brought tears and laughter from everybody there.

[shoelessjoelives]

I wonder if Mark Holtz Lake in Arlington is calm today.

[cheaptrick77]

JULY 4, 1994

Pat Woodruff's RBI-single in the top of the 10th inning -- his fourth hit of the game -- propels the Tyler WildCatters to a 5-4 victory over the Beaumont Bullfrogs at Vincent-Beck Stadium. Tyler starter Jeff Brown allows 14 hits in his nine innings pitched, but strikes out nine Bullfrogs. 'Catters pitching coach Larry Carter pitches the bottom of the 10th, earning his lone save of the 1994 Texas-Louisiana League season.

 

JULY 4, 1997

All-time WildCatter great Sean Collins blasts two home runs en route to Tyler's 8-6 victory over the Rio Grande Valley White Wings at Harlingen Field. WildCatters reliever Jason Farrow holds the White Wings scoreless for the final three innings, earning his fourth victory of the season.

 

JULY 4, 2001

At historic Paterson Field in Montgomery, Alabama, the Tyler Roughnecks defeat the Montgomery Wings, 3-2, in the first game of a scheduled doubleheader. Reliever Ramon Linares picks up the victory, improving to 2-0 on the 2001 All-American Association campaign. Game 2 is rained out.

[shoelessjoelives]

You have to mention the speech given on this 4th of July some 69 years ago now. Yankee Stadium was full and Henry Louis Gehrig fought himself and his emotions as he stepped to the mike and held his 35 year old body up to proclaim that he might have given a bad break but still had a lot to live for. His words are as famous as the Gettysburg Address.

 

............."today I consider myself to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

 

One of the greatest players to ever play the game was taken from us far to early !!

[sonoman24]

I have always loved MLB on the radio. Mark Holtz was definitely my Harwell, Buck, and Scully. To me, he didn't take a backseat to anyone.

 

Who needs something like "Holy Cow" when you've got "Hello win column" and "All we need is a bloop and a blast?"

 

He will always be my favorite MLB radio play-by-play broadcaster.

 

Thanks for the memories, Cheapy.

[cheaptrick77]

<div align='center'><font size="3"><b>July 4, 1939</b></font>

 

 

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<i><b>Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

 

Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.

 

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.

 

So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for. Thank you.</b></i>

[shoelessjoelives]

Without that bad break for Lou the All-Time List's would look alot different. Columbia Lou would be right at the top.

[cheaptrick77]

 

 

by Longhorn Fan @ Jul 7 2005, 10:42 AM
I sure wish I could secure a copy of the CD that Nadel made of some of the classic moments in the booth with Holtz

I e-mailed Eric about this a few weeks ago & he had no idea what I was talking about :-/ ... he suggested that I contact Chuck Morgan.

[Baron]

Mark Holtz's "Hello win column" is classic. It's too bad we didn't get to hear it enough.

[Wild74]

In 1992, in Atlanta's 4-2 win over the Cubs, Braves SS Jeff Blauser hits a 2-run homer in the 1st inning to start the scoring. It is the 1,776th big league homer hit on the holiday. Brian Hunter also hit a solo homer to support winner Charlie Liebrandt (a one-time Ranger).

 

In 1984, Phil Niekro strikes out five batters in the Yankees 5-0 win over Texas to become the 9th pitcher in history to record 3,000 career strikeouts.

 

In 1988, Charlie Hough strikes out four batters in the first inning of a 13-2 Ranger loss to the Yankees.

 

In 1980, Nolan Ryan strikesout the the Reds Cesar Geronimo to become the 4th pitcher to reach 3,000 K's. As history would record it , Geronimo was also Bob Gibson's 3,000th career "K" victim six years earlier. Ryan loses on this day, 8-1, allowing six runs in four 1/3 innings.

 

In 1974, Toby Harrah hits a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning,as one-time Ranger, Bert Blyleven tops the Rangers for the Twins, 3-1. Harrah's hit was the only hit that Blyleven allows.

Bert Blyleven, that's a name I had forgot, seems I remember him pitching a lot of shutouts

[cheaptrick77]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cE0fL46iYQ

 

 

JULY 4, 1985

In a marathon game that borders on the surreal, the Mets endure two rain delays and 6:10 of playing time to beat the Braves 16-13 in 19 innings on Fireworks Night in Atlanta. The Mets had taken a 10-8 lead in the top of the 13th inning, only to watch the Braves tie it up. The Mets score again in the 18th, but relief pitcher Rick Camp (a .060 hitter who was batting because Atlanta had no more position players available to pinch-hit) ties the score with his first Major League home run on a 2-out 2-strike pitch in the bottom of the inning off Tom Gorman. No pitcher ever homered that late in a game before. Finally the Mets erupt for five runs in the 19th off Camp and Atlanta can respond only with 2. Keith Hernandez hits for the cycle for the Mets, and the game ends at 3:55 A.M. on July 5th, the latest finish in ML history. At 4:01 A.M. the post-game fireworks display begins, causing local residents to think the city is under attack. [R.I.P. Rick Camp] :(

[Stoney]

1905 - In the afternoon game of a doubleheader, Philadelphia's Rube Waddell bests Cy Young in a 25-inning marathon as the Athletics down Boston 4-2. A's catcher Ossee Schreckengost works twenty-eught innings in one day, a Major League record.

1911 - In the morning game between Chicago and Detroit, Ed Walsh stops Ty Cobb's 40-game hitting streak as the White Sox win 7-3. Cobb has batted .491 since the streak started on May 15.

1939 - A tearful Lou Gehrig tells 61,808 fans at Yankee Stadium, 'I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.' Gehrig's uniform number four is retired, the first Major League player so honored.

1960 - Mickey Mantle's three-run first-inning home run off Hal Woodeshick is the 300th of his career. Mantle becomes the 18th player to join the 300 club, but the Yankees drop a 9-8 decision to Washington.

1974 - Mike Marshall picks up a 3-2 win over Reds. Over the past 30 days, Marshall is 9-0 with three saves and a 1.82 ERA in twenty appearances.

1980 - Nolan Ryan fans Reds outfielder Cesar Geronimo to become the fourth pitcher ever to reach 3,000 career strikeouts. Geronimo was also Bob Gibson's 3,000th career strikeout victim. Despite the milestone, Ryan is tagged with the 8-1 loss.

1983 - Dave Righetti pitches the Yankees' first no-hitter since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. He handcuffs the Red Sox 4-0 before a holiday crowd of 41,077 at Yankee Stadium.

1984 - Phil Niekro strikes out five batters in the Yankees' 5-0 win over Texas to become the ninth pitcher in major league history to record 3,000 career strikeouts.

1985 - In a marathon game that borders on the surreal, the Mets endure two rain delays and six hours and ten minutes of playing time to beat the Braves 16-13 in 19 innings. Relief pitcher Rick Camp, an .060 career hitter, homers in the 18th inning to tie the game no pitcher has ever homered that late in a game. Keith Hernandez hits for the cycle in a game that ends at 3:55 a.m. on July 5, the latest finish in Major League history. At 4:01 a.m., the post-game fireworks display begins, causing some local residents to think the city is under attack.

1987 - In a seven-player swap, the Padres trade pitchers Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts and outfielder Kevin Mitchell to the Giants for third baseman Chris Brown and pitchers Keith Comstock, Mark Davis, and Mark Grant. In 1989, Mitchell will win the MVP Award for the Giants and Davis will win the Cy Young for the Padres.

1988 - Kansas City releases pitcher Dan Quisenberry, whose 238 saves are the fourth most in major league history. He will sign with St. Louis next week.

1989 - Cincinnati's Tom Browning is three outs from his second career perfect game when Dickie Thon doubles. Browning is eventually relieved by John Franco in a 2-1 win over Philadelphia.