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July 9, 1940: Five NL pitchers combine for first All-Star shutout at Sportsman’s Park
Under a broiling midsummer sun, five National League pitchers…
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July 13, 1940: Johnny Mize’s cycle boosts Cardinals in walk-off win over Giants
The New York Times described the outcome of a 1940 midseason…
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July 19, 1940: Yankees’ backup backstop Buddy Rosar hits for the cycle
The New York Yankees entered 1940 as baseball’s first-ever…
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July 28, 1940: Bobo Newsom finally loses after 13-game winning streak
The 1940 season was the finest of Bobo Newsom’s 20-year major-league…
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August 2, 1940: Joe Cronin hits for second career cycle in Red Sox-Tigers slugfest
A modest crowd of 8,693 passed the turnstiles at Briggs Stadium…
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August 5, 1940: John Whitehead tosses abbreviated no-hitter for last big-league victory
“For some time now large John has been in danger of being booted…
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August 5, 1940: Bound for majors, Fred Caligiuri, Phil McCullough square off in Class D gem
In 1940 baseball was truly America’s national game. But it…
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September 2, 1940: Rookie sensation Sid Hudson outduels Lefty Grove in marathon thriller
The fans had reason to question the wisdom of manager Bucky Harris…
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September 8, 1940: Joe Gordon’s cycle leads Yankees over Red Sox in packed Fenway Park
On September 8, 1940, there were still four teams in the American…
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September 24, 1940: Jimmie Foxx finally hits 500th home run
In mid-August of 1940, Jimmie Foxx went on a homer-hitting…
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September 27, 1940: Frustrated Red Sox, out of pennant race, crush Senators 24-4
The potent Red Sox lineup of 1940 hadn’t been enough to overcome…
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September 27, 1940: Tigers clinch American League pennant behind Floyd Giebell
The Cleveland Indians certainly started off the 1940 season in…
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October 2, 1940: Jittery Reds lose World Series opener to Bobo Newsom and the Tigers
Baseball insiders and fans were asking a lot of questions as…
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October 3, 1940: Jimmy Ripple’s homer vaults Reds to Win in Game 2
Cincinnati’s Crosley Field was crammed with 30,640 spectators…
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October 6, 1940: Bobo Newsom honors father with World Series win
The 1940 World Series featured the National League champion Cincinnati…
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October 7, 1940: Reds’ Bucky Walters hurls World Series shutout to force deciding Game 7
Before the 1940 World Series began, it might have seemed as if…
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October 8, 1940: Reds pitching prevails and Cincinnati celebrates first World Series title in two decades
After Bobo Newsom shut the Reds out 8-0 in the fifth game of…
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April 14, 1941: FDR deals and Phil Rizzuto debuts for Yankees as the drumbeats of war grow louder
As winter turned to spring in 1941, war was spreading across…
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May 7, 1941: ‘Loose-jointed fly chaser’ Ted Williams homers twice, wins game in 11th
It took two Ted Williams home runs for The Kid to win this game.…
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May 13, 1941: Bobo Newsom asks for the loss
In 1940, the Detroit Tigers ended the New York Yankees’ run…
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May 25, 1941: The Captain America Game: Dodgers’ Pete Reiser hits inside-the-park grand slam to beat Phillies
In the final scene of the Marvel movie Captain America:…
May 28, 1941: George Selkirk’s grand slam wins for Yankees in first night game at Griffith Stadium
On the heels of the British navy’s sinking of the German battleship…
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June 1, 1941: Chuck Aleno’s rookie record hitting streak ends
When five Philadelphia Phillies pitchers stopped David Dahl without…
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June 16, 1941: DiMaggio ties Yankee record with 29-game hitting streak
Joe DiMaggio was just getting started on “this streak business”1…