May 16, 1965 -- Oriole teenager Jim Palmer picks up his first major league win, topping the Yankees, 7 - 5. Palmer also bangs his first major league homer, a two-run drive off Jim Bouton, to give himself the victory margin.

Palmer wins in relief of Dave McNally who was knocked out in the third. Palmer pitches 3 and two thirds and gave up just one run. Palmer, homered in the 4th to knot the game at 4. It has just his 5th big league at bat. Palmer started out 3 for his first 5, but wont pick up another hit until September 14.

Spit and Polish
From 1975 to 1977, two Hall of Fame right-handers, Jim Palmer and Gaylord Perry, faced off three times in dazzling fashion. On June 13, 1975, 36-year old Gaylord Perry, less than three years removed from his 1972 Cy Young award winning season, was traded from the Cleveland Indians to the Texas Rangers in a blockbuster deal. The Rangers sent three pitchers, Jim Bibby, Jackie Brown, Rick Waits AND $100,000 to the Indians for Perry’s services. Perry got off to a rocky start with the Rangers, going 7-6, but he was riding a four game winning streak into a Thursday night, August 21 matchup against Jim Palmer and the Orioles.

Palmer, who would win his second Cy Young Award in 1975 and finish sixth in the MVP voting, was looking for his 20th win that night. The Orioles were in second place in the American League East seven games behind the front running Red Sox. The Rangers were stuck in fourth. Each pitcher excelled over the first three innings. Perry faced one batter over the minimum, with Paul Blair getting picked off after a first inning single, and Ken Singleton being erased after a Jim Northrup double play. Palmer retired the first nine Rangers. Texas began the scoring when Cesar Tovar, who singled, stole second and advanced to third on Dave Duncan’s thowing error, was driven in by Jeff Burroughs for an unearned run. The Orioles answered in their fifth with Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson doubling to right and scoring on a Bobby Grich double.

The back and forth trading of single runs continued in the Rangers’ sixth, and the Orioles’ seventh, with Baltimore’s tally scoring on a Robinson single. That was all of the runs for quite some time. From the seventh inning until the twelfth when he departed, Jim Palmer faced 20 batters over six innings. Perry, keeping pace through the Orioles eleventh, gave up no more runs.

Ultimately, the game was decided by the heroics of another Hall of Famer. Brooks Robinson, who had already contributed to the first two Oriole runs, drove in the deciding run on a double to center off reliever Steve Foucault in the top of the twelfth and scored the fourth and last run when Elrod Hendricks singled to right. The game ended 4-2, with Palmer going 12 innings and giving up one unearned run, while striking out six. Perry, while giving up 13 hits, went 11 innings giving up two runs and also striking out six. Both pitchers ended up with no decisions.

A paltry crowd of 6,418 fans were sitting in Memorial Stadium for a Friday night game between the Rangers and Orioles on August 27, 1976. Once again, the O’s were in second place in the East, this time 11.5 games behind the Yankees. The Rangers were mired in fourth, 19 games in back of the division leading Royals. Perry, looking for win 13, was pitted against Palmer, already at 17 wins on his way to his third Cy Young Award. Al Bumbry scored for the Orioles in the bottom of the first and, for the rest of the game, goose eggs were put on the board, until the bottom of the ninth. Gaylord went eight innings in a complete game loss, walking one and striking out a season high 11 batters. Palmer, also in a complete game performance, went nine innings, walking zero and striking out ten. The 2:36 long contest saw both hurlers at the top of their games for the second time in a row against each other.

The last time Perry would face Palmer as a member of the Rangers came in a nationally televised Game of the Week on Saturday July 23, 1977. For the third year in a row, the Orioles were in second place, this time just ½ game behind the Red Sox. Again the Rangers were in fourth, but closer, at eight games behind of the White Sox. This game was the pinnacle of the three confrontations between the future Hall of Famers. For nine innings, these legendary hurlers shut out their opposition. Perry, two months shy of his 39th birthday, pitched nine scoreless innings, striking out nine, while allowing four hits and three walks. Palmer did even better, going 11 innings striking out nine and walking zero. The game ended in the thirteenth inning, with Mike Hargrove singling in Bump Wills, who had led of the top of the inning with the only extra base hit of the game, a double to center. Again, a no decision was the result of a hard day’s work for the two starting pitchers.

Two future Hall of Famers, three outstanding matchups. In the three head to head duels between Jim Palmer and Gaylord Perry, their stats were:

...........IP....H....R....ER....BB....K
Perry......28...24....5.....5.....5...26
Palmer.....32...19....2.....1.....0...25

Perry’s ERA for these games was 1.60, but Palmer’s was a mesmerizing 0.28. Plus, Palmer walked ZERO batters over the equivalent of three-and-a-half games.

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May 16,1965 New York Yankees vs Baltimore Orioles

May 16, 1971 New York Mets vs Pittsburgh Pirates

May 16, 1933, Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators makes an incredible major league debut. Travis sets a modern day record by collecting five singles in his first five at-bats. Travis is retired in his final two at-bats, but his Senators still defeat the Cleveland Indians, 11-10, in 12 innings.

 More on Cecil HERE

May 16, 1939, Four years after the Senior Circuit began playing evening tilts the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Athletics play the first night game in American League history. A gathering of 15,109 fans watches the contest at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, which becomes the third major league park to feature lights. The cold weather halved the crowd.

 More on Shibe Park HERE

May 16, 1953, White Sox pitcher Tommy Byrne who was a decent hitting pitcher would be called upon by skipper Paul Richards to pinch hit in the 9th inning vs. the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium with the bases loaded and two out for Vern Stephens. The Sox were trailing 3-1. On a full count, Byrne would connect for a Grand Slam off of Yankees hurler Ewell Blackwell, scoring Minnie Minoso, Tom Wright and Jim Rivera to become only the third Pale Hose hurler in the history of the franchise to accomplish the feat helping the Sox to a 5-3 win, the other two are Frank Owen (1906) and Billy Pierce (1950) It has not been accomplished since. Stephens has 10 career grand slams; Byrne now has two.

LISTEN to Tommy Byrne HERE

May 16, 1957 -- The Yankees top Kansas City, 3 - 0, behind Bob Turley's four-hit shutout. Mickey Mantle has a homer off Alex Kellner, the 11th time in his last 12 at-bats he's reached base safely. That night a group of Yankees celebrate Billy Martin's 29th birthday in raucous fashion. An ensuing fight at Manhattan's Copacabana Club leads to $5,500 in fines and the eventual trade of Billy to Kansas City. Hank Bauer allegedly starts the fight by hitting a patron, although Bauer denies it. The Yanks fine Whitey Ford, Bauer, Yogi Berra, Mantle and Martin $1,000 each and Johnny Kucks $500.

LISTEN HERE

May 16, 1968 -- With his third two-homer game in four games, Senators LF Frank Howard ties the American League record for most home runs (7) in a four-game stretch (at least one in each). Washington wins, 4 - 1, at Cleveland.

 LISTEN to Howard discuss it HERE

May 16, 1972 -- With a Ruthian blast at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium off Burt Hooton, 21 year old first baseman Greg Luzinski 'rings' the replica of the Liberty Bell hanging in dead center field on the fourth level. The 500-foot clanger will be one of the longest hit in the history of the stadium. The homerun will be overshadowed by Rick Monday's three routine round-trippers, will account for the Phillies' only run when they lose to the Cubs, 8-1.

More on Luzinski HERE

May 16, 1970, At Three Rivers Stadium, the hitting streak of Atlanta Braves star Rico Carty comes to an end at 31 games. The Braves’ outfielder is stopped by Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jim McGlothlin, who earns a 2-0 victory. Carty's streak started on April 8th. batted .451 during the streak, will go on to win the National League batting championship with a .366 mark. Carty's streak is the longest in the National League since 1945.

May 16, 1984 -- Steve Carlton lifts a grand slam, the first of his long career off Fernando Valenzuela to lead the Phillies to a 7 - 2 win over the Dodgers. Carlton had gone more than seven weeks without a victory You might say he took matters into his own hands as he recorded his first victory since opening day.

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