TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

May 14, 1978, Dave Kingman of the Chicago Cubs hits three home runs, including the game tying in the 9th and game-winning three-run blast in the 15th inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The game marks the second time in his career that “King Kong” has hit three homers and driven in eight runs in a game at Dodger Stadium.

Tommy Lasorda will tell you all about his “performance” below (keep the minors out of the room)

For his career, Dave Kingman went deep once every 15.1 at-bats, the fifth-best mark in MLB history at the time of his “retirement.” The 6-foot-6-inch, 210-pounder hit 442 long balls, going yard in 25 different parks over parts of 16 big league seasons. Though undoubtedly one of the most exciting and prolific home run hitters of all-time, “King Kong” was equally well-known for his struggles: low batting averages, meager walk totals, and strikeouts galore. At Wrigley Field, however, he could do no wrong. Touted as another Willie Mays in his youth, Kingman did his best to live up to the praise in 1979. That year, the Cubs’ left fielder hit .288 while pacing the circuit in homers (48), slugging percentage (.613), and OPS (.956). All told, Kingman slashed .297/.360/.608 with 69 home runs and 207 RBI in 241 career games on the North Side.

In April 1976, Kingman – then with the Mets – clouted one of the longest home runs in Wrigley Field history. The epic drive traveled an estimated 530-feet over Waveland Avenue, before smashing into the side of a house occupied by Naomi Martinez, who was watching Kingman round the bases on her television. Of course, this was just one of many tape-measure jobs hit by Kingman over the years. He slugged more homers at Shea Stadium (88) than anywhere else, including a 515-foot shot thought to be the longest ever hit in Flushing. At Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, “Kong” became just the fourth man to homer into the second deck in left field. With his stunningly unique stats and mercurial personality, it’s only fitting that Kingman hit some of the strangest (and most impressive) “non-homers” in baseball history as well.

Noted for hitting towering fly balls that looked as if they might pierce the heavens, “Sky King” had a tough go of it in domed stadiums. In 1984, he hit a ball that went through a hole in the roof of the Metrodome; it was ruled a double. At Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, Kingman hit a drive that struck the technical ring that surrounded the park on the inside of the roof. It was ruled foul, but without markings on the roof, no one could be sure. (Later, an orange line was painted on the ring, allowing a similar Darryl Strawberry drive to be ruled fair.) In 1985, he hit a ball off a left-field speaker that was caught for an out in Seattle; it would’ve been a 500-plus foot blast in most parks. Kingman couldn’t complain; he hit .291 with 12 homers and 28 RBI in only 19 career games at the Kingdome!

Home Run Facts
Kingman hit 139 homers as a left fielder, 122 as a first baseman, and 101 as a DH. He joins Harmon Killebrew and Stan Musial as the third players to hit at least 100 HR at three different positions.

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May 14, 1920, future Hall of Famer Walter Johnson wins his 300th career game – albeit in less than spectacular fashion. The Washington Senators’ ace emerges as the winner in a 9-8 slugfest against the Detroit Tigers.

May 14, 1939 –– At Comiskey Park, Mrs. William Fel­ler smiled thru a swat of ban­dages today her appreciation of a Mother’s day gift from her son Bob Feller, 20-year-old Cleveland In­dian’s pitching ace, which result­ed in near tragedy. The bandages covered lacera­tions over her left eye suffered when she was struck by a foul tip from one of her son’s pitches.

May 14, 1940, future Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx hits what is believed to be the longest home run in the history of Comiskey Park. The Boston Red Sox’ slugger hits a titanic blast against Johnny Rigney that clears the left-field roof. Lefty Grove picks up the win 7-6.

May 14, 1965 — At Fenway Park, Carl Yastrzemski drives in five runs, hitting for the cycle with an additional home run. Yaz’s effort, however, still falls short when the seventh-place Red Sox lose to Detroit, 12-8 in 10 innings when the Monster Dick Radatz falls as hot-hitting Willie Horton goes 4-5 with 2 home runs, Horton the 22-year-old has put together a sizzling streak to go 12-18, raising his average to a league leading.383.

May 14, 1967, around 4:16 pm in the bottom of the 7th Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees joins the 500-home run club when he connects against Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles. His shot went into the lower deck into the right-field corner of the lower deck at Yankee Stadium. It was the first time in his career that he had given up a home run to Mantle.

May 14, 1972 — After twenty-one seasons with the Giants, 41 year-old Willie Mays, playing his first game with the New York Mets, hits a game-winning home run off Don Carrithers against his former teammates, the San Francisco Giants 5-4. Just three days earlier, the Mets had acquired Mays from the Giants for a player, pitcher Charlie Williams, and cash. The blast is Mays 647th career homerun.

May 14, 1978, Dave Kingman of the Chicago Cubs hits three home runs, including a game-winning three-run blast in the 15th inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The game marks the second time in his career that “King Kong” has hit three homers and driven in eight runs in a game at Dodger Stadium. Tommy Lasorda gives a colorful interview after the game.

May 14, 1981: With a 3-2 win over Montreal in front of the largest Dodger Stadium crowd in seven years, rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela improves his record to 8-0. The 20 year-old southpaw, who has started the season with five shutouts and a minuscule ERA of 0.50, gets the victory when right fielder Pedro Guerrero hits a leadoff game-ending home run off Steve Ratzer in the bottom of the ninth inning at Chavez Ravine.

May 14, 1986, California Angels slugger Reggie Jackson hits his 537th career home run Jackson’s shot, gave the Angels a 2-0 lead against Roger Clemens and the Boston Red Sox in the first inning. The towering blast moved Jackson, who will turn 40 on Sunday, ahead of Mickey Mantle on the career list and moved him into 5th all time.

May 14, 1996, Dwight Gooden throws a no-hitter for the Yankees against the Mariners, at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander wins the game, 2-0, in hurling the first no-hit game of his career. Derek Jeter caught the final out of the Gem. Dwight Gooden threw one-hundred thirty six pitches during this game and seventy-five of them were strikes Dwight Gooden pitched the eighth regular season no-hitter for the New York Yankees organization. He was named, player of the week in the American League.

TRIVIA

TRIVIA: Stan Musial has an MLB record 12 career walk off homeruns. He shares that record with 5 others. Can you name them?

IF you think you know the answer and bonus points for how many respond with details and if you are right I will give you a shut out! No Googling!

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 ANSWER TO YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA