Baseball History on May 11
Major League Baseball Events on May 11 | Baseball Almanac
Baseball history on May 11, including a list of every Major League baseball player born on May 11, a list of every Major League baseball player who died on May 11, a list of every Major League baseball player who made their big league debut on May 11, and a list of every Major League baseball player whose final big league game was on May 11.
"No matter how your mind works, baseball reaches out to you. If you're an emotional person, baseball asks for your heart. If you are a thinking man or a thinking woman, baseball wants your opinion. Whether you are left-brain or right-brain, Type A or Type Z, whether your mind is bent towards mathematics or toward history or psychology or geometry, whether you are young or old, baseball has its way of asking for you. If you are a reader, there is always something new to read about baseball, and always something old. If you are a sedentary person, a TV watcher, baseball is on TV; if you always have to be going somewhere, baseball is somewhere you can go. If you are a collector, baseball offers you a hundred things that you can collect. If you have children, baseball is something you can do with children; if you have parents and cannot talk to them, baseball is something you can still talk to them about." - Baseball Historian Bill James in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (Free Press Publishing, 06/13/2003, "Part 1: The Game", Page 5)
Baseball history on May 11 includes a total of Major League baseball players born that day of the year, Major League baseball players who died on that date, baseball players who made their Major League debut on that date, and Major League baseball players who appeared in their final game that date.
On May 11 in Baseball History...
- 1897 - Charles "Duke" Farrell, Washington catcher, sets a major league record by throwing out eight Orioles trying to steal second base. The Senators lose anyway 6-3.
- 1959 - At Yankee Stadium, Yogi Berra's errorless streak of 148 games comes to an end when he makes an error in a 7-6 loss to the Indians.
- 1963 - Sandy Koufax returns to the rotation from a circulatory ailment in his left index finger and throws a no-hitter against the visiting first place Giants. The Man With The Golden Arm walked two, fanned four, and improved his record to 4ñ1.
- 1972 - The Giants trade future Hall of Famer Willie Mays to the Mets for minor league pitcher Charlie Williams and cash.
- 1977 - With the Braves mired in a 16-game losing streak, owner Ted Turner takes over as field manager. After the Braves lose again 2-1, Turner is relieved of his new job by N.L. president Chub Feeney. A league rule prohibits a manager from owning a financial interest in his club.
- 1980 - Thirty-nine-year-old Pete Rose steals second, third, and home in one inning for the Phillies. The last National Leaguer to pull this feat was Jackie Robinson in 1954.
- 1984 - The Tigers improve their record to 26-4 with an 8-2 win over the Angels and establish a new record for the best 30-game start in major league history, eclipsing the 25-5 mark set by the Dodgers in 1955.
- 1990 - Citing a no-trade clause in his contract, Yankees outfielder Dave Winfield refuses to report to the Angels after being traded for Mike Witt. Winfield will eventually accept the trade on May 16, ending his often stormy relationship with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
- 1996 - Al Leiter pitches the first no-hitter in Marlins history. After two walks and a hit batsman in the first three innings, Leiter retires the last 20 batters in a 6-0 gem.
Did you know that there were baseball players born on every date of the year and baseball players who died on every date of the year? Use the calendar below to select any date in baseball history.
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Bill James, on the same page of the same book we used at the top of this page, said, "But as I began to do research on the history of baseball (in order to discuss the players more intelligently) I began to feel that there was a history a baseball that had not been written at that time, a history of good and ordinary players, a history of being a fan, a history of games that meant something at the time but mean nothing now." To that end, I have created Baseball Almanac. A site to worship baseball. A site by a fan who is trying to tell the history of good and ordinary baseball players.