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July 19
TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
Today's Daily Highlights
On July 19, 1982, Tony Gwynn made his major league debut for the Padres — collecting two hits against the Phillies. What almost nobody noticed: exactly 85 years earlier on July 19, 1897, Honus Wagner made his debut with Louisville. The two men who tied for the NL's all-time batting title record — eight each — share the same birthday in baseball. Also: 75-year-old Luke Appling homers off Warren Spahn at the Cracker Jack Old-Timers Classic, Cy Young wins his 500th career game at age 43, Juan Marichal's debut one-hitter in 1960, 5 classic broadcasts, and today's Vintage Commercial: Brisk Toothpaste.
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July 19, 1982 22-year-old Tony Gwynn makes his major league debut for the San Diego Padres. In a harbinger of things to come, the future National League batting champion collects two hits against the Philadelphia Phillies. Gwynn was often considered the best pure hitter of his era. His remarkable total of eight batting titles (tying him with Honus Wagner for the most in NL history) included five of the top eleven single-season batting averages compiled since the end of World War II. A fan favorite in San Diego, where he played seventeen straight years with the Padres, Gwynn's loyalty was exceeded among his contemporaries only by Cal Ripken's eighteen-year streak in Baltimore.
Wagner also debuted on this day . . .
July 19, 1897, Honus Wagner made his big league debut with the Louisville Colonels. The Flying Dutchman won eight batting titles in his career, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1936. He still is considered the games best shortstop.
Tony Gwynn: The Art of Hitting
Few hitters in baseball history combined consistency and precision like Tony Gwynn. Across his full big-league seasons, he never dipped below .300 — not even in his injury-shortened 1988 campaign, when a .313 mark still claimed the NL batting title.
Gwynn's excellence was built on obsessive preparation. He was famous for slicing the ball into the gap between shortstop and third base — his self-described "5.5 Hole" — and for treating batting practice as a lab rather than a warm-up. His nickname, "Captain Video," came from his pioneering use of tape study: he bought his first VCR in 1983 and later spent nearly $100,000 building a video setup in the Padres' clubhouse, a resource so valuable that teammate Greg Vaughn reportedly struggled after leaving it behind in a 1999 trade.
A three-sport talent at San Diego State, Gwynn was drafted by both the Padres and the NBA's Clippers on the same day in 1981, choosing baseball after a standout debut season in the minors. He broke into the majors in 1982 and won his first batting title in 1984 at .351, helping send San Diego to its first World Series.
The mid-'80s and beyond brought sustained brilliance: a .370 average in 1987 (the NL's best since 1948), five stolen bases in a single game, and four straight batting titles by the late '90s. The 1994 strike likely cost him a shot at .400 — he was hitting .394 when play stopped, the highest NL mark since 1930.
He reached 3,000 hits in 1999 with a single off an Expos pitcher in Montreal, becoming just the third player to require fewer games than Gwynn to hit that milestone, trailing only Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie.
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Todays Trivia . . .
Who is the first player whose qualifying batting average led the majors while playing for the Texas Rangers franchise?
Hint: #1 When was named the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game one year, he became the first of his countrymen ever to achieve that honor.
Hint: #2 He was the first Cleveland Indians player since Hall of Famer Earl Averill in 1929-34 to collect one hundred eighty hits in each of three consecutive seasons.
Answer in a bit!
Quote of the day:
"It's rare, and becoming rarer, that one man is so identified with a franchise and a city as Tony [Gwynn] is with San Diego and the Padres." - George F. Will
Game of The Day:
Game of the Day — July 19, 1980 Montreal Expos vs Houston Astros
Charlie Lea vs Joaquin Andujar toes the rubber for the Expos in the first game of this double header. Called by Gene Elston and Dewayne Staats
👇 Join and Listen to the full game right here
🎧 Classic Broadcasts — July 19
July 19, 1977 — All-Star Game, Yankee Stadium
Tom Seaver's first return to New York after the Mets traded him to Cincinnati — pitching in the All-Star Game at the house he'd helped make relevant again with the 1969 Miracle Mets. The NL won 7-5 as Don Sutton earned MVP with three scoreless innings. The Senior Circuit's sixth straight victory.
July 19, 1978 — Cincinnati Reds vs. Philadelphia Phillies
The Big Red Machine's final championship-caliber summer against one of the NL East's best clubs. Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, Steve Carlton, and Johnny Bench all in their prime. As good as the National League got in the late 1970s.
July 19, 1979 — Chicago White Sox vs. Texas Rangers
Exactly one week after Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park — the White Sox were playing their home games at Milwaukee's County Stadium while repairs were made to the field that 50,000 fans had destroyed. A genuinely surreal stretch in franchise history.
July 19, 1980 — Montreal Expos vs. Houston Astros
The Expos were in the middle of their finest season — Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, and Ellis Valentine all in their prime, one game behind the Phillies at the All-Star break.
Todays Podcast
July 19 highlights and Historic Days!
July 19, 1910, Cy Young of the Cleveland Spiders wins the 500th game of his career. The 43-year-old future Hall of Famer defeats Washington, 5-4, in 11 innings. Young will finish with an all-time record of 511 victories. A ball from that game is in the Hall of Fame collections.
July 19, 1960, future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal makes his major league debut for the San Francisco Giants. Marichal pitches a no-hitter until the seventh and winds up with a one-hit, 2-0 victory over the Phillies. Marichal will enjoy a 16-year career with the Giants, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
July 19, 1975, New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson is ruled out for using an illegal bat that has too much pine tar. The umpire’s ruling, which is based on the pine tar exceeding the 18-inch limit, negates Munson’s first inning RBI single against the Minnesota Twins.
July 19, 1977 -- At Yankee Stadium, features the return of the Franchise, Tom Seaver, returning back to NYC for the first time after Mets dealt him to Cincinnati. He would also return again in August to face the Mets & Jerry Koosman and later return in October to announce the World Series games between Yankees and Dodgers. The National League scores four times in the opening inning off Jim Palmer, en route to a 7 - 5 All-Star Game victory. Don Sutton, hurling three scoreless innings, is named the game's MVP. It’s the Senior Circuit’s sixth straight victory, and their 14th in the last 15 games.
July 19, 1982, the first Cracker Jack Old-Timer’s Classic is played in front of 29,000 enthusiastic fans at Washington’s RFK Stadium, the American League beats the NL in the first-ever Old-timer’s All-Star Classic, 7-2. Warren Spahn gives up a leadoff homer, over the shortened left-field fence, to 75 year-old Luke Appling, a Hall of Fame infielder who played his entire career with the White Sox. helping the American League old-timers to a 7-2 win over the National League in a 5-inning battle of retired baseball stars.
July 19, 1989 Cleveland Indians OF Joe Carter hits 3 home runs in a game for the 2nd time this season in a 10-1 win over the Minnesota Twins It is his 4th career 3-HR game, tying Lou Gehrig's American League record, and gives him a MLB record-tying 5 HR in 2 games. Carter also has 6 RBI in the game.
July 19, 1994 -- Two hours before the Mariners are scheduled to play the Orioles in the Kingdome, four 15-pound wood-fiber tiles fall from the ceiling of the stadium, landing in the empty seats. The game is postponed indefinitely as an inspection finds that many water-damaged tiles will have to be replaced before baseball can be played there again this season.
July 19, 2001 -- At Qualcomm Stadium contest Arizona defeats San Diego, 3 - 0, in the completion of a game that was suspended after two innings on July 18th.
Randy Johnson strikes out 16 batters in his seven innings in relief of Curt Schilling to break the major league mark for relievers set by Walter Johnson on July 25, 1913. He allows just one hit - C Wiki Gonzalez's 8th-inning single - for the Padres' only hit in the contest. In addition to setting the record for Ks in a game by a reliever, Johnson also sets the National League reliever record with seven consecutive strikeouts. Johnson is one shy of the major league mark, set by Ron Davis, on May 4, 1981. The game is the first time a pitcher with 300 strikeouts in a season, relieved a pitcher with 300 strikeouts in a season.
July 19 , 2006 -- Roger Clemens moves into eighth place on the all-time wins list with a 4-2 victory over Greg Maddux and the Cubs. He tosses six shutout innings to notch his 343rd career win. Craig Biggio leads off the game with a home run and Preston Wilson, on his 32nd birthday, smacks two key doubles to spearhead the offense.
News Reels — July 19
Carlton Fisk Interviewed by Leo Cloutier — Boston Red Sox
Cloutier catches Fisk during his Red Sox years, before the White Sox chapter that would define the later half of his career. A rare primary-source interview with one of the great catchers of the era — just a few years removed from his legendary 1975 World Series moment.
This Week in Baseball — July 19, 1977
The All-Star Game recap and the week's highlights from a memorable mid-summer. Tom Seaver's return to New York, the NL's sixth straight midsummer win, and the pennant races beginning to sharpen as August approached.
This Week in Baseball — July 19, 1980
The week J.R. Richard collapsed on the field during batting practice, ending the career of the NL's most feared pitcher. One of the most shocking medical emergencies in baseball history — a 30-year-old at the absolute peak of his powers.
Luke Appling Homers Off Warren Spahn at the Cracker Jack Old-Timers Classic — July 19, 1982
The moment that made the entire country stop and laugh and cheer at the same time. A 75-year-old Hall of Famer hits one out over the shortened fence — off a Hall of Famer pitcher. No sport produces moments like this.
July 19, 1986 — Craig Reynolds Sinks the Mets With a Ninth-Inning Homer
Reynolds was Houston's steady shortstop for nearly a decade — not a star, but exactly the kind of player who beats you when you're not paying attention. The Mets were in the middle of their dominant 1986 season, which made this particular loss sting.
July 19, 1988 — Glenn Davis Hits a Blooper Pitch Into the Seats
Davis was one of the Astros' best power hitters of the late 1980s — a left-handed slugger who thrived in the Astrodome despite its tendency to kill home runs. The blooper pitch, or eephus, is the perfect setup for what comes next.
Houston Astros vs. Montreal Expos — July 19, 1988: "Pascual Perez Gives Glenn Davis an Eephus Pitch"
The full story behind the clip above — Perez was one of the NL's most theatrical personalities, and lobbing an eephus to Davis in a real game is exactly the kind of thing only Pascual Perez would do. Davis's reaction is worth the watch alone.
Milestones July 19
🎙️ Did you know? Luis Tiant made his major league debut on this day in 1964 — collecting two hits in his first game — and has 25 broadcasts in our library.
Birthdays:
Notable: Bob Meusel
Debuts:
Notable: Luis Tiant
Final Games:
Highlights: Jose Cruz
Passings:
Notable: Dom Mossi
New From Around the League!
ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA
TRIVIA ANSWER: Julio Franco
Franco hit .341 in 1991 for TEX. Rangers Michael Young (.331 in 2005) & Josh Hamilton (.359 in 2010) have joined him.
- #1 Franco was MVP of the 1990 ASG at Wrigley Field. Dominicans Pedro Martinez (1999), Alfonso Soriano (2004), Miguel Tejada (2005), Melky Cabrera (2012) & Robinson Cano (2017) have since been the ASG MVP.
- #2 Franco had 188, 183 & 183 H in 1984-86. Averill did it for the first 6 seasons to start his career.
Thank you Horsehide Trivia
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