Chicago Cubs history unpacked, April 27

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Happy birthday to the Rajah and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history 1997, Ryne Sandberg breaks the major league record for most home runs by a second baseman, and other stories as well.

1931 – At Griffith Stadium, a walk to Lyn Lary is followed by a Lou Gehrig home run, a smash which clears the fence, but bounces back into the hands of Senators center fielder Harry Rice. The baserunner Lary thinks the ball has been caught on the fly for the third out and returns to the dugout without crossing home plate; Gehrig, running with his head down, is ruled out for passing a runner in front of him, costing the Yankees a possible victory (they lose by two runs), the 1931 home run crown (he ties Babe Ruth with 46) and two RBI to add to his record-setting 184 for the season.
1941 – Wrigley Field becomes the first ballpark to install an organ to entertain fans, with Roy Nelson manning the keyboard. But Nelson’s successful pregame serenade doesn’t help the Chicago Cubs as they fall to pitcher Max Lanier and the rival St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2.
1957 – Don Bessent‘s quick pitch vs. Roberto Clemente‘s quick wrists? No contest. The Bucs’ 7 – 1 trouncing of Brooklyn knocks the “Bums” out of first place and pulls Pittsburgh out of the cellar while Clemente’s 7th-inning double, which drives the final nail in the coffin, results from Bessent’s ill-advised attempt to quick-pitch the whippet-wristed Roberto, as he will later recall.
1992 MLB St. Louis Cardinals Ozzie Smith steals his 500th base.
1997 – Ryne Sandberg breaks the major league record for most home runs by a second baseman. His 267th career home run surpasses the old mark set by Joe Morgan from 1965 to 1984. The first five home runs came as Sandberg was a third baseman.
2016 – The Chicago Cubs who improve to 15-5 with a 4-3 win over the Brewers. For the Cubs, it’s their best start since 1907, when they had begun the season by going 16-4 on their way to a World Series win.

Cubs Birthdays: Michael Rucker, Joey Gathright, Rogers Hornsby* HOF. Other notables, Enos Slaughter HOF.

Today in history:

1392 – Korean Confucian scholar and statesman Jeong Mong-ju is assassinated on the Sonjuk Bridge in Gaeseong (now North Korea). A brown spot on the bridge is still said to be his blood.
1859 – US Congressman Daniel E. Sickles is acquitted in the murder of Philip Barton Key on grounds of “temporary insanity,” the first time this defense is used successfully in the US.
1865 – Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders remaining forces to Union General William T. Sherman at Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina, ending the American Civil War.
1905 – Cubs Jack McCarthy becomes only major league player to throw out 3 runners at plate in 1 game, all were ends of a double play.
1954 – Mass trials of Jonas Salk‘s anti-polio vaccine begin; the first shot is delivered in Fairfax County, Virginia; more than 443,000 children receive shots over three months.
1986 – The world’s worst nuclear disaster occurs when the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union explodes, resulting in 31 deaths and radioactive contamination spreading to much of Western Europe.
2021 – US Census results shows its population growth second slowest in recorded history, population at 331,449,281 with only 7.4% increase on 2010.