May 15, 1894 - In the aftermath of a fierce fight between Baltimore's John McGraw and Boston's Tommy Tucker in the third inning, a devastating fire starts in the right field stands at Boston's South End Grounds. The fire destroys $70,000 worth of equipment as well as the park, the only truly double-decked grandstand Boston would ever have.
May 15, 1912 - Ty Cobb charges into the stands in New York and attacks heckler Claude Lueker. Other fans and Tigers mix it up. A.L. president Ban Johnson suspends Cobb indefinitely.
May 15, 1922 - In a game at New York, Ty Cobb beats out a grounder to shortstop Everett Scott. Veteran writer Fred Lieb scores it a hit in the box score he files with the Associated Press. But official scorer John Kieran of the Times gives an error to Scott. At the season's end, the A.L. official records, based on AP box scores, list Cobb at .401. New York writers complain unsuccessfully that it should be .399, based on the official scorer's stats.
May 15, 1941 - Joe DiMaggio gets a single against Eddie Smith of the Chicago White Sox to start his 56-game hitting streak. Joe D's hit goes unnoticed as the Yankees lose 13-1.
May 15, 1960 - Two days after being traded from the Phillies to the Cubs, Don Cardwell pitches a no-hitter. Two brilliant defensive plays — a leaping catch of Carl Sawatski's drive by right fielder George Altman in the eighth inning and Walt Moryn's game-ending sliding grab — save Cardwell's gem. Ernie Banks' home run paces the 4-0 win, the first no-hitter against the Cards since May 11, 1919.
May 15, 1968 - The first A.L. game played in Milwaukee since 1901 is a 4-2 California win against Chicago before 23,403 fans. This is the first of the nine games the White Sox will play in Milwaukee in 1968.
May 15, 1973 - California's Nolan Ryan strikes out 12 and hurls his first career no-hitter in beating Kansas City 3-0. For catcher Jeff Torborg, it is his third no-hitter.
May 15, 1981 - Len Barker pitches the ninth perfect game in the 20th century. The Indians righthander hurls the 3-0 perfecto over the Blue Jays before just 7,290 fans on a rainy night in Cleveland. Barker, the 1980 strikeout leader in the A.L., fans 11 Jays.
May 15, 1989 - The Blue Jays fire manager Jimy Williams and replace him with hitting coach Cito Gaston. Williams led the club to a 12-24 start and had several publicized run-ins with star slugger George Bell, who refused to be the club's designated hitter.
May 15, 1991 - The Red Sox and White Sox play the slowest nine-inning game to date in major league history (four hours, 11 minutes), but Boston rallies from a 5-0 deficit for a 9-6 win.
1998 - A blockbuster trade involves seven players whose guaranteed contracts combine for a record $98 million. The Dodgers get Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson, and Jim Eisenreich and send Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile to the Marlins. With the trade, Florida has officially purged itself of a dozen costly and quality players from the team that won the World Series seven months earlier. Piazza, a superstar in Los Angeles, had turned down a six-year, $80-million offer to stay with the Dodgers.
Happy Birthday John Smoltz, George Brett and Josh Beckett
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