May 22: This Day in Dodgers History
Nothing happened on this day in Dodgers history, May 22, 2020. No wins, no losses, no saves, no blown saves. No runs, no drips, no errors. Los Angeles is tied for first (and last) in the National League West with a glittering record of 0-0. Perhaps on June 22, 2020, we'll have an exhibition game to discuss.
Plenty happened in the other 136 May 22nds in franchise history, however. The first two listed are in quotes because they are from NationalPastime.com, and they are the only two highlights deemed worthy by the website's editors.
I found some others. Details below. #Fun
1998: "The Mets trade Preston Wilson, Geoff Goetz, and Ed Yarnell to the Marlins for Mike Piazza. Florida had acquired the All-Star catcher last week from the Dodgers, along with Todd Zeile in exchange for Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson, Jim Eisenreich, and Manuel Barrios."
And what a dark day that was. Piazza still hasn't gotten over it. He should have, because it's three ownership groups ago now, and he should have had his number 31 retired at Dodger Stadium, but alas. At this point it's on him.
1999: "Mark McGwire becomes the third player to launch a ball out of Dodger Stadium when one of his two home runs travels 483 feet in the Cardinals’ 10-7 victory at Chavez Ravine. The slugging first baseman joins Willie Stargell, who accomplished the feat twice in 1969 and 1973, and Mike Piazza, whose Ruthian blast cleared the ballpark two seasons ago."
1905: An open date in the schedule for the Brooklyn Superbas. And a rare day without a loss as the BS's would finish eighth out of eight National League teams at 48-104.
1908: The slightly-better-than-the-1905 Superbas beat Pittsburgh at Exhibition Park, 5-3, behind 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball from Kaiser Wilhelm. The Pirates' Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner goes 2-5 to raise his batting line to .290/.380/.406.
Wagner would finish the season at .354/.415/.547/.957, with 201 hits, 39 doubles, 109 RBIs and 53 steals, pacing baseball in every one of those categories. His nine triples in 1908 is only good enough to lead the National League, however. The slacker. Brooklyn ends the season at 53-101, good for seventh place. Or bad for.
1920: Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes all the way over the Bucs, 4-1, at Forbes Field. Grimes' RBI triple raised his mark to .389/.421/.667. He'd finish at .306/.358/.791 with a home run and 16 RBIs. The season pitching numbers are these: 22-13, 2.22 ERA, 1.113 ERA, 40 games, 33 starts, 25 complete games and 131 strikeouts in 303 2/3. The Robins go on to win the pennant with 93-61 season. Cleveland over Brooklyn, five games to two, in the World Series.
[Follow Sports Illustrated’s Inside the Dodgers on Twitter.]
1941: Cards over the Dodgers, 7-6 at Sportman's Park. A 4-5 performance from Dodgers second baseman Billy Herman and a 3-4 by HOFer Enos Slaughter for the winners. With a 100-54 pennant winning season, Brooklyn returns to the World Series after a 21 year absence, only to lose to the Yankess (4-1). Mickey Owen, etc.
1955: An 8-3 victory for Carl Erskine and the eventual World Series champion Dodgers over Jack Meyer and the Phils at Ebbets Field. Erskine contributes a double, a single and three RBIs. Gil Hodges goes 3-4.
1959: Five months before winning their second World Series crown and first in Los Angeles, Gil Hodges drives in Don Demeter with a single as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 2-1, in 13 innings at the Coliseum. Eleven strikeouts in the full 13 for Don Drysdale.
1965: Another championship season for L.A. A complete game, one-run, 12 strikeout-win for Sandy Koufax over the Cubs' Cal Koonce, 3-1, at Wrigley Field on this day in 1965. Two singles for Koufax.
1967: A thoroughly forgettable 73-89, eighth-place first season post-Koufax. Four hits from Ed Charles and three from ex-Dodger Tommy Davis is more than enough as Tom Seaver gets the complete game Mets win, 5-2, at Shea Stadium. Bill Singer the loser.
1978: Manny Mota's eighth-inning bases clearing pinch hit double breaks open a close game as Los Angeles beats the Padres, 8-1, at San Diego Stadium, Don Sutton over Bob Owchinko (remember him?).
[More from SI's Inside the Dodgers: Best Guess on Dodgers Shortened Season Opening Day Roster.]
2015: Joc Pederson's eighth-inning homer gives L.A. a 2-1 over the Pads at Dodger Stadium. Zack Greinke goes 7 2/3 and watches as Chris Hatcher makes one pitch for the victory and Kenley Jansen follows with 12-pitch clean ninth for the save.
2018: Brock Stewart starts and allows two earned in four innings. He's followed by Erik Goeddel, JT Chargois, Tony Cingrani, Josh Fields and Jansen. Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig homer off Bryan Shaw in a three-run eighth as L.A. beats Colorado, 5-3, at Dodger Stadium.
2019: Dylan Floro allows four runs without retiring a batter and Caleb Ferguson gets the outs while allowing three more runs in a seven-run Rays seventh to spoil Rich Hill's six-inning, one-run, seven-strikeout outing, Tampa over Los Angeles, 8-1 at Tropicana Field.
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.
