September 8 in Tigers and mlb history:
1901: The Players Protective Association instructs members to sign one-year contracts only, and not recognize the reserve clause.
1903: New York's Christy Mathewson and Brooklyn's Bill Reidy hook up for the third time in a week, and the rubber game ends in a tie, 4 - 4. The match is called by ump Tim Hurst after eight innings because of darkness.
1904: The visiting Phillies stop the Giants' win streak at 12 when the beat up Dummy Taylor to win, 9 - 8. Bill Duggleby is the victor. New York then wins the nitecap, 4 - 1 as Christy Mathewson notches his 30th victory, over Tully Sparks. Darkness ends the game in the 7th inning.
1908: Christy Mathewson's 30th win is a gem - an 11-inning 1 - 0 win over the Superbas' Nap Rucker. A single by Al Bridwell drives home Cy Seymour with the winning tally.
1908: Boston's Cy Young defeats Washington, 3 - 1, for his 20th win.
1916: In front the smallest crowd in American League history, with 23 fans attending the game, A's catcher/outfielder Wally Schang becomes the first switch-hitter in major league history to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game.
1917: Detroit beats the Browns 1 - 0 in 12 innings. Ty Cobb triples off the RF fence in the 12th and scores on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Veach.
1919: Babe Ruth hits home run No. 26 off Jack Quinn in New York, breaking Buck Freeman's 1899 home run mark of 25.
1922: Detroit beats the Browns 8 - 3, on Bobby Veach's two homers off Urban Shocker. First baseman Lu Blue pulls off two unassisted double plays, tying the American League record, and both are off line drives by Johnny Tobin.
Veach has 5 rbi in the game, Cobb with 2.
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1924: Washington, with a 2-game lead in the American League, beats the A's, 8 - 4. Despite giving up solo home runs by Joe Hauser and Bing Miller, Walter Johnson wins his 10th straight and his 20th of the year.
1932: The Yankees and Tigers replay their protested August 1 game as the nightcap of a doubleheader, but end in a 7 - 7 tie. After the game, Babe Ruth experiences abdominal pains he believes are an appendicitis attack. He will be out of the lineup indefinitely. Sammy Byrd, subbing for Ruth in the opener, collects five hits for the Yankees, including two home runs in a 5 - 4 win.
1935: The Cards fail to increase their lead as they split with the Phils. In the opener, Dizzy Dean wins his 25th game, but the Birds lose, 4 - 2, in the nightcap when they strand 16 runners. St. Louis outhits the Phils, 13 to 4.
1935: In the second game of a twinbill, the A's Jimmie Foxx doubles in the 8th to break up Elden Auker's no-hit bid. Detroit rolls, 15 - 1 collecting 20 hits. Foxx has a pair of homers in the opener, again in vain, as the Tigers win, 7 - 5. Mickey Cochrane has three hits in each game for Detroit.
1940: Johnny Mize hits homers # 38, 39 and 40 in the first game of a doubleheader becoming the first player to hit three homers in one game four times in his career. Despite the "Big Cat"'s heroics, the Cardinals drop a pair to the Pirates, 16 - 14 and 9 - 4.
1941: The New York Yankees traded Billy Hitchcock to the Detroit Tigers for players to be named later. The Detroit Tigers sent Tuck Stainback (December 4, 1941) and Boyd Perry (December 4, 1941) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.
1946: With the Red Sox running away with the American League race, attention closes in on Bob Feller's strikeout pace. He reaches 300 today, a number reached by Walter Johnson and Rube Waddell twice each.
1946: In the minor leagues Bill Kennedy of Rocky Mount (Coastal Plain League) will be credited with 456 strikeouts, breaking the former mark of 418 set by the Tigers Virgil Trucks in the Alabama-Florida League in 1938.
1948: Paul Hinrichs of the Detroit Tigers granted free agency.
1949: First day-night doubleheader at Briggs (Tiger) Stadium. Tigers beat Cleveland 10-0 and 4-1.
1951: At an Old Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium, former manager Joe McCarthy is honored. With the game scoreless in the 7th inning, Mickey Mantle belts a Bob Porterfield pitch into the last row of the RF bleachers, some 460 feet away to break the scoreless tie. Ed Lopat shuts out the Senators for 4 - 0 Yankee win
1951: The pennant race heats up, as Dodger ace Don Newcombe two-hits the Giants, 9 - 0, beating Jim Hearn. Jackie Robinson has three hits and three runs, scoring one run from third base when he provokes Hearn into wild pitching. Giants pitchers contribute 10 walks.
1955: The Detroit Tigers traded Ben Flowers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bobby Tiefenauer.
1958: In a special meeting of American League owners in Chicago, IL, Washington owner Calvin Griffith succumbs to pressure from other AL owners and that night advises Minneapolis, MN officials that he is staying in Washington, DC.
1961: The Yanks rout the Indians 9 - 1, as Mickey Mantle hits home run #52, off Gary Bell. The Yanks win for their 9th straight while Detroit loses their 8th in a row to drop 10 games back. Tigers will win 101 games but finish second to the 109-win Yankees. During this difficult part of the pennant race Al Kaline bats a hot .421
1961: The Detroit Tigers selected Vic Wertz off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.
1962: George "Sparky" Anderson of the Toronto Maple Leafs hits a go-ahead home run off future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins to break a 2-2 tie as the Leafs beat the #Bisons 5-2.
1963: For the thirteenth and final time in his career, Braves' lefthander Warren Spahn has a twenty-win season as he beats the Phillies, 3 - 2.
1964: Bill Freehan goes 4-for-5 with a grand slam in the Tigers' 11-3 win over the Yankees.
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1967: The Tigers move into a first-place tie with the Twins, as Eddie Mathews and Jim Northrup hit home runs, and Mickey Lolich beats Tommy John 4 - 1, at Chicago.
1972: Mickey Lolich wins his 20th game of the year as Detroit tips the Orioles 4 - 3. The Tigers jump on Jim Palmer (18-8) for three runs in the 1st inning.
1972: Beating the Phils, 4 - 3, Fergie Jenkins wins his 20th, the 6th consecutive year he's reached the mark. This ties the Cubs club record set by Three Finger Brown, 1906-1911. Billy Williams' 2-run home run in the 6th ties it at 3 - 3, and a pair of doubles in the 8th wins it.
1974: Bill Freehan goes 4 for 5 with a grand slam and drives in a total of seven runs as the Tigers beat the Yankees 11-3 at New York. 1974 was the only season from 1964-75 that the Detroit catcher was not an All-Star; he also won five Gold Gloves in that stretch.
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1979: Kirk Gibson makes his major league debut. Strikes out as a pinch hitter.
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1984: Tigers 10 - Blue Jays 4. Home runs by Darrell Evans and Johnny Grubb lead the way. Alan Trammell knocks in 3 more.
1995: The Detroit Tigers selected Steve Rodriguez off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.
1995: The Detroit Tigers traded Juan Samuel to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later. The Kansas City Royals sent Phil Hiatt (September 14, 1995) to the Detroit Tigers to complete the trade.
2006: The Milwaukee Brewers selected Chris Spurling off waivers from the Detroit Tigers.
2008: Gary Sheffield hits a grand slam for the official 250,000th homer in major league history. The blow is Sheffield's 2nd homer of the day and his 13th career grand slam. Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Mike Hessman also homer as the Tigers outslug the A's 14 - 8.
2014: The Tigers score 6 runs in the third inning to give them a 9-5 win over the Royals and cut the royal's lead to a half game in the AL Central.
It's the Tigers' 9,000th win in franchise history.
2016: Tigers beat the orioles 4 - 3 on a home run by Victor Martinez.
2017: The Detroit Tigers turned a triple play in the sixth inning of the Sept. 8th game vs. Blue Jays in Toronto.
With a run in and runners on first and second, Drew VerHagen entered the game to replace Buck Farmer on the mound.
The first hitter VerHagen faced was Blue Jays centerfielder Kevin Pillar, who hit a grounder to Jeimer Candelario at third. Candelario had to range to his right to field the ball, where he then stepped on third, then threw to second.
Ian Kinsler took the throw and then relayed to Efren Navarro at first, where the throw beat Pillar by a half a step.
It's the first time the Tigers have turned a triple play since Aug. 1, 2001, against the Mariners.
Nick Castellanos with the grand slam, and Ian Kinsler homers. The Tigers win the game 5 - 4 over the blue jays.
The Tigers hit a grand slam and turn a triple play in the same game for the first time in franchise history.
2019: The Astros annihilate the Mariners 21 - 1. Gerrit Cole allows just 1 hit and no walks in 8 innings while striking out 15; it is his third straight game of 14+ strikeouts, something accomplished by only one other pitcher since 1908, by Pedro Martinez during his 1999 season.
2020: Pat O'Conner, President of Minor League Baseball since 2007, announces that he will step down at the end of the calendar year. It is a difficult time for the minor leagues, as the whole system has been shut down by the Coronavirus pandemic, and 42 of the existing 160 teams are slated for contraction before next year. It is likely that O'Conner will not be replaced, as what remains of the non-independent minor leagues will become fully owned and operated by Major League Baseball.
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sleatlo01.shtml
Lou Sleater 1957-1958.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wiseca01.shtml
Casey Wise 1960.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rivermi02.shtml
Mike Rivera 2001-2002.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruffich01.shtml
Chance Ruffin 2011.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/parnebo01.shtml
Bobby Parnell 2016.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/carltdr01.shtml
Drew Carlton 2021.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/willijo02.shtml
Johnnie Williams 1914.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/George_Zuverink
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zuverge01.shtml
George Zuvernik 1954-1955.
Baseball Reference
