This Date in Baseball: April 17

Sat., April 17, 2021

Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees holds the ball he hit for 565 feet April 17, 1953, the longest homer ever hit in Griffith Stadium in Washington. Mantle, in the dressing room after the game with the Washington Senators, points to the dent in the ball where it hit a house after clearing center field. Residents of the house returned the ball to Mickey. The Yankees won 7-3. (Associated Press)

Associated Press

1892 — In the first Sunday game in National League history, Cincinnati defeated St. Louis 5-1.

1924 — Baby Doll Jacobson of the St. Louis Browns hit for the cycle in a 6-3 loss at the Chicago White Sox.

1932 — New York first baseman Bill Terry tied an NL record with 21 putouts as the Giants beat Boston 5-0 behind Hal Schumacher’s two-hitter.

1951 — In his first major league game, Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4 as the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-0.

1953 — Mickey Mantle cleared the bleachers at Griffith Stadium with a 565-foot home run off Chuck Stobbs. The shot came in the fifth inning of a 7-3 win over the Senators.

1964 — The New York Mets lost their first game at Shea Stadium to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3. Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell hit the first homer at Shea.

1969 — Montreal’s Bill Stoneman pitched a 7-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 10th game of the Expos’ existence. Rusty Staub hit a home run with three doubles and drove in three runs to back Stoneman’s gem at Connie Mack Stadium.

1976 — Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hit four consecutive home runs and a single in an 18-16, 10-inning victory over the Cubs in Wrigley Field. Hitting .167 going into the game, he connected twice off Rick Reuschel, once off Rick’s brother, Paul, and once off Darold Knowles. He drove in eight runs.

2001 — Barry Bonds became the 17th major leaguer to hit 500 home runs. Bonds’ two-run, eighth-inning drive off Terry Adams went into San Francisco Bay to lead the Giants over the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2.

2008 — Troy Tulowitzki’s RBI double with two outs in the 22nd inning scored Willy Taveras and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 2-1 in the longest game in the majors in nearly 15 years, a 6-hour, 16-minute marathon.

2009 — Gary Sheffield of the New York Mets became the 25th member of the 500- home run club. Sheffield delivered a pinch-hit homer off the Milwaukee’s Mitch Stetter in the seventh inning to tie the score 4-4. It is Sheffield’s first home run for the New York Mets, after having been released in spring training by the Detroit Tigers. The Mets beat the Brewers 5-4, on Luis Castillo’s ninth inning two-out single.

2009 — Jason Kubel completed the ninth cycle in Twins history with a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning that helped Minnesota to an 11-9 victory over the Angels.

2010 — Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the first no-hitter in the Colorado Rockies’ 18-year history, dominating the Atlanta Braves in a 4-0 victory at Turner Field. Jimenez struck out seven and walked six, all in the first five innings. Jimenez, who had an RBI single in the fourth inning, was helped by a spectacular diving catch of a Troy Glaus line drive by Dexter Fowler in the seventh inning.