Happy ’80s Birthday to Sid Bream, who scored the most famous runs in Braves history. Not that any Pirates fans remember.
Happy ’80s Birthday to an original Mariner! Dan Meyer spent 12 seasons in the big leagues with Detroit, Seattle, and Oakland.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mike Jeffcoat, who spent 10 years in the bigs with the Indians, Rangers, Giants, and Marlins.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jim Gott, who earned his first big league win on the day Cal Ripken’s streak began. He gave Cal the ball on the day Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mackey Sasser, who spent nine years in the big leagues but had his career cut short due to a mental block that kept him from throwing the ball back to the pitcher.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Kevin Elster, who made his debut with the 1986 Mets and spent 13 years in the bigs.
8/3/86
The Mets sign Lee Mazilli as a free agent. He was released by the Pirates in July.
Mazz returns to Shea and stays until mid-1989 before finishing up with Toronto.
8/3/86
Russ Morman goes 3 for 4 in his big league debut, including a homer and a single in the 4th inning of a 10-1 win over the Tigers.
8/3/88
Dave Eiland makes his big league debut and allows a homer to the first batter he faces, Paul Molitor. Four years later, he homers off Bob Ojeda in his first career at-bat.
8/3/87
Joe Niekro gets framed. Umps had it out for him.
8/3/80
Al Kaline, Duke Snider, Chuck Klein, and Tom Yawkey are inducted into the Hall of Fame
8/3/80
Dave Revering hits 2 homers as the A’s hammer the Indians 11-3. Oakland bangs out 20 hits and scores 9 runs in the final three innings.
8/3/82
Doug DeCinces channels Reggie Jackson by hitting three homers on three consecutive pitches. All three shots come off Twins starter Brad Havens. But despite DeCinces’ heroics, the Twins win the game 5-4.
8/3/83
Nolan Ryan throws a one-hit shutout and strikes out 10 against the Padres. Ryan threw 12 one-hitters in his career.
8/3/83
Bowie Kuhn announces that he will step down as MLB Commissioner. He stays in office until the end of the 1984 season and is replaced by Peter Ueberroth.
8/3/85
Fans at Candlestick Park make their feelings clear about the potential for another baseball strike. The players walked out after games on August 5th but the strike lasted just two days.
8/3/86
Stretch is inducted into the Hall.
8/3/87
Tom Candiotti takes a no-hitter into the 8th inning against the Yankees.
Cleveland relief pitcher Ed Vande Berg breaks it up when he mentions that Candiotti has a no-no and Mike Easler singles on the next pitch.
8/3/87
Nolan Ryan and three other Astros pitchers combine to strike out 17 Giants in a 5-3 win in 13 innings.
8/3/88
Following a series against the Dodgers in which he went 1 for 12, Paul O’Neill is comforted by Reds manager Pete Rose who tells him he’d hit the Dodgers when they came to Cincinnati later in the week. O’Neill goes 9 for 12 in the series.
“I don’t know how he does that,” says O’Neill. “He sees the game differently from other people.”
8/3/89
Every Reds player, including pitcher Tom Browning, collects at least one hit IN THE FIRST INNING against the Astros. Cincinnati pounds out 16 hits and 14 runs in the bottom of the first and cruises to an 18-2 win.
8/3/89
Jim Rice goes 0-for-3 against Cleveland. It is his final big-league game. He misses the rest of the season with an elbow injury, Boston doesn’t offer him a contract for 1990 and his career is over.
8/3/97
Phil Niekro, Tommy Lasorda, Nellie Fox, and Willie Wells are inducted into the Hall of Fame.
8/3/81
The Giants release Mike Sadek and his career is over.
He finishes with 184 hits over 8 seasons and goes to work in the Giants’ front office. He also appeared on the TV show Starcade with his son, Episode 109.
8/3/87
The Pirates select Birthday Boy Jim Gott off waivers from the Giants. Pittsburgh makes him their closer and he saves 37 games over the next two seasons.
8/3/82
George Frazier gives up 10 runs on 11 hits and two walks in an inning and a third against the White Sox in the second game of a doubleheader. George Steinbrenner fires manager Gene Michael after the game and replaces him with Clyde King. It’s the second managerial change of the season for the Yankees.
We lost legendary Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy OTD in 2004.
Hall of Fame photo
Powered by BlueHost
An excerpt from Patrick Montgomery's new book, Baseball's Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who…
An excerpt from Eric Vickrey's new book about the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals
An open letter to MLB Network and YOUTUBE TV about their stubbornness.
Nearly half of the players in MLB history to reach 3,000 hits played in the…
A breakdown of the men who managed the Cincinnati Reds in the 1980s