Famous Baseball Firsts in The Millennium Era by Baseball Almanac

Millinneum Era Famous Firsts

A new century is upon our national pastime and Major League Baseball celebrates with an Opening Day game held outside of the very continent we live upon! Is the the beginning of a new tradition and the birth of a possible "true" World Series? Time will tell...

Follow and help Baseball Almanac during the upcoming seasons as we present a new century of baseball-related famous firsts during the Millinneum Era.

"I had really good control tonight. My slider was breaking tonight the way I need it to be successful. The butterflies were severe, not only because I was pitching on opening day for the Cubs, but because it was a new continent where major league baseball had never been played." - Jon Lieber

The Millinneum Era 2000 - 2009
Date	Event Description
03-29-2000	The Chicago Cubs and New York Mets opened the season in the first regular season game ever played outside of North America.
04-09-2000	First game with back-to-back-to-back home runs by players on each team: Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones and Matt Lecroy, for the Minnesota Twins in the 6^th inning; then Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye, and Mike Sweeney for the Kansas City Royals in the 8^th inning.
04-23-2000	Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada both hit a home run from each side of the plate during the same game making this the first game were two players have switch-hit home runs.
05-01-2000	Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants became the first player to hit a home run out of Pac Bell Park and into McCovey Cove.
08-27-2000	The Anaheim Angels became the first American League team with at least four players that have at least thirty home runs each: Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, Mo Vaughn, and Tim Salmon.
09-23-2000	Luis Gonzalez became the first player to hit a homerun into two bodies of water. On this day he hit a homer into McCovey Cove in San Francisco. In April of 2000 he hit one into the pool in Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix.
10-26-2000	Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees became the first player to receive the All-Star Most Valuable Player Award AND the World Series Most Valuable Player Award during the same season.
04-13-2001	Angels reliever Shigetoshi Hasagawa picked up a win and allowed an infield single to Ichiro Suzuki with two outs in the ninth inning. It was the first time two Japanese players faced each other in the Major Leagues.
05-08-2001	Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks became the first left-handed pitcher to strike out twenty batters during a single game.
06-08-2001	Tigers second baseman Damion Easley doubled in the third, homered in the fifth, singled in the sixth, and tripled in the eighth to become the first player to hit for the cycle during an Interleague contest.
07-02-2001	Ballots are tallied for the 2001 All-Star Game and Ichiro Suzuki finished with 3,373,035 votes. His vote total is the most received by any player in 2001 making Ichiro the first rookie to draw the most votes.
07-18-2001	Curt Schilling pitched two innings then his relief, Randy Johnson came in to finish the game making this the first time in history where a three-hundred single season strikeout pitcher relieved another three-hundred single season strikeout pitcher.
08-06-2001	Scott Hatteberg of the Boston Red Sox became the first player to hit into a triple play and hit a grand slam during the same game.
08-23-2001	Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks became the first pitcher in Major League history to strike out three-hundred batters in four consecutive seasons.
08-23-2001	Jason Jennings of the Colorado Rockies became the first pitcher in modern history to throw a shutout and hit a home run during his first game.
08-27-2001	Barry Bonds hit his 550th career home run making him the first player to hit his 500th (April 17, 2001) and 550th home run during the same season.
09-02-2001	This was the first day in Major League history where the final score in four games was 1-0: Yankees 1 vs. Red Sox 0, Padres 1 vs. Diamondbacks 0, Astros 1 vs. Brewers 0, and Blue Jays 1 vs. Tigers 0.
09-23-2001	Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs went deep three times during a game versus the Houston Astros on this date. On August 9, 2001, and August 22, 2001, Sosa had also hit three home runs making him the first Major League player in history to have three games with three home runs during the same season.
09-25-2001	Jeromy Burnitz and Richie Sexson of the the Milwaukee Brewers became the first teammates ever to hit three home runs each during the same game.
09-27-2001	Lance Berkman of the Houston Astros hit his 50th double of the season making him the first switch-hitter with at least thirty home runs (he hit his 30th on August 12, 2001) and fifty doubles during the same season.
10-02-2001	Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs hit his 60th home run of the 2001 season making him the first Major League player in history with three career 60-home run seasons.
10-15-2001	The New York Yankees became the first team ever to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games at home.
10-21-2001	The Arizona Diamondbacks captured their first ever National League pennant in 2001 after defeating the Braves simultaneously become the youngest franchise to make it to the World Series.
10-28-2001	Matt Williams became the first player to hit a home run with three different teams in the World Series. He hit home runs with the San Francisco Giants in 1989, the Cleveland Indians in 1997, and the Diamondbacks in 2001.
11-20-2001	Barry Bonds received 30 of 32 first-place votes to cap off a season of shattered records and become the first four-time Most Valuable Player.
2001	At the end of the 2001 season, the Milwaukee Brewers became the first team ever with more strikouts than hits. They had 1,399 strikouts and 1,378 hits. Jose Hernandez led the team with 185 whiffs.
04-14-2002	The Seattle Mariners Shigetoshi Hasegawa earned the win and Kazuhiro Sasaki the save versus the Texas Rangers making this 1-2 punch the first where both pitchers were born in Japan.
04-30-2002	36-year-old southpaw Al Leiter defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-to-1 and became the first pitcher in Major League history to defeat all thirty teams.
05-02-2002	Mike Cameron and Bret Boone became the first teammates in Major League history to both hit two home runs during the same inning, connecting back-to-back twice in Seattle's 10-run first against the Chicago White Sox.
05-04-2002	Barry Bonds hit his 400th home run for the San Francisco Giants and became the first player to ever hit 400 long balls for one team and 100 for another (he had 176 with the Pittsburgh Pirates).
05-23-2002	The Dodgers Shawn Green hit four home runs during the same game to tie a record. Green became the 14th player to homer four times in a game exactly three weeks after Mike Cameron did it for the Seattle Mariners against the Chicago White Sox making this the first Major League season where two players hit four home runs in a game.
05-23-2002	The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first National League team ever to hit back-to-back home runs with two outs in the ninth inning.
06-02-2002	On July 3, 1966, Tony Cloninger became the first pitcher to hit two grand slams during the same game. On this date, Robert Person nearly tied this record, but instead became the first pitcher in history to hit a grand slam and three-run homer in the same game.
06-05-2002	When Benny Agbayani hit a grand slam against the Dodgers on June 5, he became the first man ever to launch a Major League slam on two different continents. He also hit one in Japan (03-29-2000) for the Mets against the Cubs to kick off the 2000 season.
06-10-2002	Rookie Marcus Thames of the New York Yankees became the first player to hit a home run in his first at-bat off the defending Cy Young Award winner (Randy Johnson).
06-11-2002	During his Major League debut, J.J. Trujillo of the San Diego Padres became the first pitcher in history to serve up a game-losing walkoff home run (hit by Tony Batista of the Orioles) to the first batter he faced in his Major League career.
07-06-2002	With no brother in sight, Jeremy Giambi became the first player ever to hit eight home runs in each league before the All-Star break. In fact, only two other guys in history even hit five or more in each league before the break: Tony Batista in 1999 had 10 in the American League and 5 in the National League; and Doug Rader in 1977 had 9 in the American League and 5 in the National League.
07-09-2002	Damian Miller of the Arizona Diamondbacks became the first player to get a hit in a stadium with the same last name as him (Miller Park) during an All-Star game.
07-23-2002	Nomar Garciaparra became the first player to hit 3 home runs on his birthday by going deep 3 times, including 2 during 1 inning, against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in a 22-4 rout.
07-27-2002	Celebrating his birthday in true baseball style, Alex Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers became the first player to hit a walkoff grand slam on his birthday.
08-17-2002	On the same date, 24-year-old Alfonso Soriano became one of the youngest 30 / 30 Club members, the first second baseman in Major League history to join the club, and tied the New York Yankees record for home runs hit in a single season by a second-bagger (held by Joe Gordon in 1940).
08-26-2002	At 1p.m. EST, MLB.com streams (300k broadband video) the very first Major League game - Texas Rangers at New York Yankees - on the Internet via their Gameday Video service.
08-29-2002	Instead of watching Sammy Sosa return to the line-up, Mark Bellhorn became the first National League Player (Carlos Baerga was the first American League player on April 8, 1993) to hit a home run from both sides of the plate during the same inning.
08-31-2002	The New York Mets lose their 13th straight game at home in August making them the first National League team to go winless at home during a month in which they hosted at least 10 games.
09-02-2002	Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs became the first player to record 4 stikeouts in 1 inning (23rd National League pitcher to have 4-in-1) and hit a home run in the same game.
09-22-2002	Chicago Cubs first baseman Fred McGriff became the first major leaguer to hit 30 homers in a season with five different teams (Blue Jays, Padres, Braves, Devil Rays, Cubs) when he homered versus Pittsburgh as a Cubbie.
10-02-2002	Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees became the first player in history to hit home runs in the first two games of a postseason series twice in a career.
10-04-2002	Francisco Rodriguez of the Anaheim Angels became the first pitcher in Major League history to collect the first two wins of his career during the postseason.
10-19-2002	David Bell's father, Buddy Bell, never played in a World Series. But his grandfather, Gus Bell, played in the 1961 World Series for the Cincinnati Reds. That makes the Bells the first grandfather-grandson combo in Series history.
04-02-2003	Four pitchers made their Major League debut in the same game for the same team - a Major League first. The Tigers who made history were Jeremy Bonderman (started game, pitched 4.0 innings), Wilfredo Ledezma (2.0 IP), Chris Spurling (1.0 IP) and Matt Roney (1.0 IP). Their first game memories were slightly spoiled as they lost to the Minnesota Twins 8-1.
04-02-2003	Todd Zeile hit a first inning solo homer - this time as a member of the New York Yankees - making him the first modern player to hit a home run for ten different ballclubs. Those who came before him were Dan Brouthers and Tom Brown.
04-02-2003	X doesn't mark the spot in baseball, but San Diego Padres rookie Xavier Nady marked his own spot in home-run history. On this day, he became the first player in Major League history whose first or last name started with an X to hit a home run and when he did, his long ball happened to cross over a sign for a radio station called 91X.
04-07-2003	The Atlanta Braves became the first team ever in Major League history to win a game 3-0 where all the runs were scored due to back-to-back-to-back (Gary Sheffield, Chipper Jones & Andruw Jones off Carl Pavano) home runs. It happened against the Florida Marlins during the bottom of the sixth inning at Turner Field.
05-11-2003	After Rafael Palmeiro hits his 500th career home run, the Texas Rangers became the first team in Major League history to have players with 300, 400 and 500 home runs playing at the same time(Juan Gonzalez had 417 homers and Alex Rodriguez had 309).
05-15-2003	The sale of the Anaheim Angels from The Walt Disney Company to Arturo Moreno was approved on this date, making Moreno the first minority with a controlling stake in a Major League baseball team.
06-23-2003	Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants stole his 500th career base during the eleventh inning of a game versus the Los Angeles Dodgers (which eventually became the game winning run). That steal made him the first Major League player with at least five-hundred stolen bases and five-hundred home runs.
07-29-2003	Switch-hitting Bill Mueller became the first player in Major League history to hit two grand slams in a game from both sides of the plate (one slam hit batting left & one slam hit batting right).
07-31-2003	Dan Miceli became the first pitcher ever to play for four different divisions in the same season. He ended April with the Colorado Rockies, May with the Cleveland Indians, June with the New York Yankees, and July with the Houston Astros. The only other position player to do so was Dave Kingman in 1977.
08-06-2003	Astro Adam Everett knocked a Pedro Feliciano pitch into center field where Jeff Duncan of the New York Mets attempted to make a diving catch, but came up empty. Everett easily circled the bases and became the first batter to hit an inside the park home run in Enron Field.
04-06-2004	David Aardsma of the San Francisco Giants played in his first ever major league ballgame and as he stepped onto the field, he was booed loudly. Why? Aardsma alphabetically now replaces Hank Aaron at the top of the baseball biographical player list.
04-06-2004	Livan Hernandez of the Expos & Josh Beckett of the Marlins are the first two former World Series Most Valuable Player recipients to start against a fellow winner during an Opening Day game. Ironically, both won the award while pitching with the Florida Marlins who have appeared in exactly two Fall Classics (1997 & 2003).
04-07-2004	Atlanta Braves first-baseman Adam LaRoche became the first National League player to have two hits during one inning in his Major League debut.
04-14-2004	Kevin Brown of the New York Yankees won his 200th career game, one day after Mike Mussina of the New York Yankees won his 200th career game. The Yankees are now the first team to achieve this pitching plateau in the same year and their duo did it in consecutive games.
06-26-2004	The Tampa Bay Devil Rays became the first team ever in Major League history, at any point during any season, to climb over .500 after being eighteen (18) games under that mark (which was on Wednesday, May 19, 2004).
06-28-2004	David Bell of the Philadelphia Phillies became the first player in the history of Citizens Bank Park to ever hit for the cycle AND joined his grandfather, Gus Bell, as the first grandfather-grandson combination to hit for the cycle. Gus, David's grandfather and the father of former Major Leaguer Buddy Bell, hit for the cycle playing on June 4, 1951, playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates in (amazing coincidence alert!) Philadelphia.
08-10-2004	Barry Bonds sets yet another record when he becomes the first player with thirteen consecutive seasons with thirty or more home runs breaking his tie with Jimmie Foxx. The record setting home run was hit off John Grabow of the Pittsburgh Pirates during the seventh inning.
10-20-2004	The 2004 Boston Red Sox lost a 19-8 laugher in Fenway Park during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) on October 16, 2004 versus the Yankees. No baseball team had ever come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, but the Red Sox decided to make their own history and became the first baseball team to do exactly that.
10-27-2004	Derek Lowe of the Boston Red Sox is the first pitcher in major league history to win the final game of the Division Series, the League Championship and the World Series all during the same season.
11-08-2004	Outfielder Jason Bay is the first Rookie of the Year Award winner born in Canada & the first from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
04-03-2005	Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Alex Sanchez became the first Major League player suspended for violating Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The mandatory ten-day suspension came after Sanchez tested positive for steroid usage - an accusation he said he would fight, "I take some kind of stuff I buy over the counter. Multi-vitamin, protein shakes, muscle relaxers, that kind of stuff. Over-the-counter stuff. Stuff to give me energy. I'm surprised because look at what kind of player I am. I never hit any home runs. I'm going to fight my case, because I never do any steroids thing, nothing like that."
04-04-2005	Dmitri Young is the first player from the Detroit Tigers to hit three home runs during an Opening Day game and only the third in Major League history. The other two were George Bell of the Toronto Blue Jays on April 4, 1988 (during the Kansas City Royals home opener) and Karl Rhodes of the Chicago Cubs on April 4, 1994.
04-11-2005	Colorado Rockies outfielder Jorge Piedra became the first National League player suspended for violating Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The mandatory ten-day suspension came after Piedra tested positive for steroid usage - an accusation the Denver Post reported Piedra expected and that the positive test may have been caused by pills he took from a previous injury.
05-12-2005	The 2005 regular season opened with the first ever pair of seventy-plus-year-old managers � Frank Robinson of the Washington Nationals and Jack McKeon of the Florida Marlins. On May 12, Felipe Alou turned 70, joined Robinson & McKeon, and made it a first time Major League trio.
09-30-2005	Ichiro Suzuki "took a big sigh of relief" (according to MLB.com) during the second inning of a game versus the Oakland Athletics when his two-hop grounder went past second baseman Mark Ellis. It was the young hitter's second hit of the game and his two-hundredth of the 2005 season making Ichiro the first player in Major League history to begin his career with five consecutive 200-hit seasons.
10-09-2005	The 18-inning Houston Astros (7) versus Atlanta Braves (6) marathon was not only the longest post-season game in baseball history, but it was also the first game in post-season history to have two grand slams hit during the same game. Both occurred during the first 9 innings of the game and the history making sluggers were Adam LaRoche of the Braves in the third inning and Lance Berkman of the Astros in the eighth inning.
04-07-2006	The save rule came into affect in 1969 and Derrick Turnbow of the Milwaukee Brewers became the first major league pitcher since that date to enter the first four consecutive games of the regular season and record a save in each of them.
04-20-2006	Julio Franco of the New York Mets is described by Tom Glavine as, "Old... Old and decrepit. But he can hit. And that's why he's here." shortly after Franco becomes the first forty-seven year old player in history to hit a home run breaking the record set by Jack Quinn in 1930.
04-20-2006	Kaz Matsui of the New York Mets hit a home run in his first at-bat of the 2006 season � A feat he did in 2005 (April 4, 2005) and in 2004 (April 6, 2004 [Matsui joined the home run in first at-bat ever on this date as well) making him the first National League player to hit a home run in his first at-bat in three consecutive seasons.
07-28-2006	When Arizona Diamondbacks pinch hitting rookie Carlos Quentin entered the game during the seventh inning and went deep off Houston Astros relief pitcher Chad Qualls it marked the first time in Major League history that one Q surnamed player homered off a Q surnamed pitcher.
08-15-2006	For the first time in history two eighteen inning contests (non-doubleheaders) are played on the same day as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the Colorado Rockies 2-1 in eighteen and the Chicago Cubs defeat the Houston Astros 8-6 in eighteen.
08-31-2006	When A.J. Pierzynski went deep the Chicago White Sox became the first team in Major League history to hit two-hundred or more home runs in seven consecutive seasons.
09-02-2006	One moment in time, several firsts: Kevin Kouzmanoff of the Cleveland Indians became the first American league player to hit a grand slam in his first at bat (tieing three National League players). He simultaneously joined the home run in first at bat "club", but took it one step further as his home run was hit on the first pitch ever which just happened to be the first grand slam ever hit on a first major league pitch.
09-04-2006	The Florida Marlins are the first team in history to rise from twenty games under .500 (11-31 on May 21, 2006) to over .500 in the same season (69-68 on this date).
09-13-2006	For the first time in history three teams win three shutouts by 9+ runs on the same day: Toronto Blue Jays 10 vs Seattle Mariners 0, Chicago White Sox 10 vs Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 0 & San Diego Padres 10 vs Cincinnati Reds 0.
10-01-2006	Joe Mauer went 2-for-4 to finish the season with a .347 mark, holding off a late charge by a pair of Yankees � Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano � to make history. Jeter entered the final day of the regular season .001 behind Mauer, but went 1-for-5 and finished at .343. Cano went 2-for-4, and ended up with a .342 batting average. The title went to the Twins third-year catcher making him the first American League catcher to win a batting championship.
04-19-2007	The 2007 New York Yankees became the first team in Major League history to sweep a series (4/17 NYY 10 vs CLE 3, 4/18 NYY 9 vs CLE 2, 4/19 NYY 8 vs CLE 6) of three or more games with all three winning pitchers (Chase Wright, Kei Igawa & Sean Henn) recording their first Major League victory.
04-22-2007	Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew, in the bottom of the third inning at home against the Yankees, became the first player in Major League history to be part of a back-to-back-to-back-to back home run quartet twice, once in each league. The first time Drew was part of a four consecutive home run quartet was on September 18, 2006, with the Dodgers versus the Padres in the ninth inning. Both times Drew had hit the second of the four home runs and both times in his "home" ballpark.
05-01-2007	The Kansas City Royals lost to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 3-1 on April 30th dropping their record to 8-18. The Royals are the first team to have three consecutive seasons in which they ended April at least ten games under .500 (they were 6-18 in 2005 and 5-17 in 2006). No other team in Major League history entered May ten or more games below .500 in even two straight seasons.
06-13-2007	During the second inning, with no men on base, and one out, pitcher Hong-Chich Kuo hit his first career home run and became the first player born in Taiwan to hit a home run in a Major League game.
06-24-2007	Continuing his trend begun on September 23, 2000 (see Famous First above), Luis Gonzalez became the first player in history to homer into three bodies of water when he homered into Tampa Bay's ray pool, becoming the first player to hit one into it in history.
07-04-2007	Subway sweep? The Colorado Rockies became the first team to sweep both the New York Yankees (June 19, 20 & 21) and the New York Mets (July 2, 3, 4) in a series of more than two games during the same season.
07-10-2007	During the 2007 All-Star Game, Ichiro Suzuki recorded the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star history on a fifth-inning drive off Padres hurler Chris Young. The 87 mile per hour pitch was the first thrown by Young to Ichiro who drove it into the quirky, yet charming, right-field wall, then circled the bases.
07-25-2007	With his thirty-fifth home run of the 2007 season being hit on this date, Alex Rodriguez became the first Major League player in history with at least thirty-five home runs and one-hundred runs batted in over the course of ten consecutive seasons.
08-22-2007	The Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 30-3 in the first game of a double-header and became the first American League team in history to score at least thirty runs in a game.
08-22-2007	With his two-run home run in the second inning, Albert Pujols became the first player in Major League history to hit at least thirty home runs in his first seven seasons.
08-24-2007	With his 14-3 win over Philadelphia, Greg Maddux became the first pitcher in Major League history to win ten games in twenty consecutive seasons, eclipsing Cy Young's nineteen season streak from 1891 to 1909.
09-16-2007	Jim Thome hit home run #500 and made 2007 the first season in Major League history where three players (Frank Thomas on June 28 & Alex Rodriguez on August 4 were the other two) hit their five-hundredth career long ball during the same season. (See Expansion Era Famous Firsts, 1967, for the first season where two players did this same feat)
09-16-2007	Tampa Bay Devil Rays' first baseman, and end of season winner of the Comeback Player of the Year, Carlos Pena became the first player in Major League history to hit at least forty-home runs in a season a year after being released by another team.
09-26-2007	In addition to becoming the first player in major league history to hit at least thirty home runs in his first seven seasons (see 08-22-2007, above), Albert Pujols also became the first player in history to drive-in 100 runs in his first seven seasons.
10-07-2007	With both the 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks and 2007 Colorado Rockies winning their respective Division Series today, this marks the first time in National League history that two Western Division teams will meet to play for the National League pennant.
10-16-2007	The 2007 Boston Red Sox are the first team in League Championship history to have its players (Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz & Manny Ramirez) hit back-to-back-to-back home runs.
10-24-2007	After beating Colorado 13-1 during Game 1 of the 2007 World Series, the Boston Red Sox became the first team in Major League history to score ten or more runs in three consecutive post-season games, having previously beaten Cleveland 12-2 (10/20/07) and 11-2 (10/21/07).
2008	The first season in Major League history where players reached the 400 (Chipper Jones), 500 (Manny Ramirez) and 600 (Ken Griffey, Jr.) home run plateau all during the same year.
05-14-2008	The Tampa Bay Rays were in first place in the American League East and the Florida Marlins took over first place in the National League East. This marked the first time both Florida teams were in first place in their respective Division at the same time in history.
05-17-2008	First time that three pitchers born in three different Asian countries (Chan Ho Park - South Korea, Hong-Chih Kuo - Taiwan, and Takashi Saito - Japan) pitched for the same team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the same game.
06-07-2008	The players who have worn pinstripes and played in Yankee Stadium are some of the best in the history of our national pastime and on this date, Johnny Damon became the first Yankee / Major League player (none from any visiting team either) to have six hits in one game in the Bronx.
06-07-2008	The San Diego Padres swept a three-games series versus the New York Mets winning each game by a score of 2-1. Coming into the series they had just beaten the Chicago Cubs 2-1 making the Padres the first team in Major League history to win four consecutive games by the same exact score.
06-09-2008	With Ken Griffey, Jr. hitting his 600th home run on this date, Dusty Baker became the first manager in Major League history to manage three six-hundred home run hitters: Barry Bonds in San Francisco, Sammy Sosa in Chicago, and now Ken Griffey, Jr. in Cincinnati.
06-22-2008	Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers and Willie Harris of the Washington Nationals each hit a home run in an Interleague game at Nationals Park making this date in history the first where two players have both hit a home run on their birthday during the same game.
07-02-2008	The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays finished sweeping the 2008 Boston Red Sox for the second time in 2008 making them the first team in Major League history with the worst record in the major leagues the previous season with two series sweeps against the defending World Series champions.
07-29-2008	Ichiro Suzuki had his 1,722nd career hit in the major leagues. Prior to that, Ichiro had 1,278 hits in Japan making him the first player to reach the 3,000-hit plateau while splitting professional careers between two countries.
08-09-2008	Third baseman Jorge Cantu hit a home run in the third inning at Shea Stadium making the 2008 Florida Marlins the first National League team (it has occurred in the American League five times in the past) in Major League history to feature all four infielders [first baseman Mike Jacobs (24), second baseman Dan Uggla (26), shortstop Hanley Ramirez (25) and third baseman Jorge Cantu (20)] with at least twenty home runs.
08-14-2008	Ryan Ludwick, who hit his 30th home run of the season on this date, is the first player in Major League history who bats right-handed and throws left-handed to have a thirty home run season. Rickey Henderson (1986 &1990) and Jason Lane (2005) were the first two in this "bat righty / throw lefty club" to eclipse the twenty-five or more in a season plateau.
09-19-2008	After four minutes and ten seconds of review at a Tampa Bay Ray's game, Carlos Pena's two-out blast off Minnesota Twins right-hander Boof Bonser was changed from a fan-interference double to a three-run homer making this the first time in Major League history an umpire's call was overturned on instant replay review.
09-24-2008	With their 6-5 loss to the 2008 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the 2008 Seattle Mariners became the first team in Major League history with a $100 million payroll to lose at least one-hundred games in a season.
09-19-2008	The 2008 Chicago White Sox, in clinching the American League Central Division Championship, became the first team in Major League history to win three consecutive regular season games against three different teams (09/28/08, 5-1 over the 2008 Cleveland Indians, 09/29/08, 8-2 over the 2008 Detroit Tigers, and 09/30/08, 1-0 over the 2008 Minnesota Twins) in the span of three days.
10-01-2008	Since the Division Series playoff system began, the 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers became the first team in Major League history to lose all its regular season road games to its two playoff opponents: the 2008 Chicago Cubs and 2008 Philadelphia Phillies.
10-05-2008	During the second inning of Game 3 of the American League Division Series, Jacoby Ellsbury popped up to shallow center field with the bases loaded. Miscommunication between fielders allowed the ball to fall in and all three baserunners scored making the first three-run single hit in postseason history.
11-19-2008	A fourth-generation Japanese-American, Don Wakamatsu - former Oakland Athletics bench coach - became the new manager of the Seattle Mariners on this date and the first Asian-American manager in major league history.
04-06-2009	Tony Clark & Felipe Lopez, both now playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks, each homered twice and both switch-hitters hit them from each side of the plate making this the first time two teammates had ever had a Home Run From Both Sides of the Plate in One Game on Opening Day in Major League History.
04-13-2009	San Diego Padres lead off hitter Jody Gerut went deep to start the game and became the first batter in Major league history to hit a home run in the first regular season game ever played in a new stadium (Citi Field, Padres won 6-5 versus the New York Mets).
04-19-2009	The Florida Marlins beat the Washington Nationals 7-4 and became the first team in Major League history to sweep a three-game series in which it trailed going into the ninth inning of each game.
06-20-2009	Pitchers Jeff Weaver, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, became the first brothers to start against one another in a regular season interleague game.
04-22-2009	Dan Giese is the first pitcher in Major League history to allow a walkoff home run in each of his first two appearances (April 18, Lyle Overbay, 12th inning & April 22, Melky Cabrera, 14th inning) for a team.
Date	Event Description
Famous Firsts in the Millinneum Era

Did you know that during the 2001 season Roger Clemens became the first pitcher since 1900 to start the season 20-1 AND the first pitcher in Major League history with two separate sixteen game win streaks during a career?

Discuss breaking news, current events, teams, trades, rumors, and everything else about our national pastime on Baseball Almanac's baseball message boards today.

Trevor Hoffman finished the 2001 season with forty-three saves making him the first reliever in history with four consecutive 40+ save seasons AND the first reliever with five career 40+ save seasons.

Copyright © 2000-2009. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Design by Geisler Young. Hosted by Hosting 4 Less.
Part of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Baseball Box Scores | Baseball Fever | Football Almanac | Pigskin Fever | Today in Baseball History.