April 30 in sports history: 10-RBI game, 'Cone-head' play caps wild MLB date

In a 14-4 win over the Braves in Milwaukee in 1961, Giants outfielder Willie Mays became the ninth player in MLB history to hit four home runs in a game. It was just two days earlier that Braves left-hander Warren Spahn no-hit San Francisco.

"Throughout his career, Willie has always been a slow starter," the San Francisco Examiner reported. "He never seems to find the range until two months of the season have passed. This early display of power and timing bodes no good for Giant opponents and is sweet music for Giant fans."

Five no-hitters were pitched in the big leagues on April 30 — including a gem by Indians ace Bob Feller in 1946, the second of three in his career. In a 1-0 win against New York at Yankee Stadium, "Rapid Robert," a future Hall of Famer, struck out 11.

"Anybody who had the stuff Feller had today," said Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio, "deserved a no-hitter. "We didn't hit the ball solid all day."

In 2-0 win against Detroit in 1922, Charlie Robertson of the Chicago Americans pitched a perfect game. "Chicago baseball fans today are paying homage to a new immortal," the International News Service wrote about the rookie.   

In a 3-0 win over the Reds in 1940, Brooklyn's James “Tex” Carleton pitched a no-no. And 29 years later, Reds right-hander Jim Maloney tossed the second gem of his career in a 10-0 win over the Astros.

In 1967, Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Orioles combined on a no-hitter in a 2-1 loss to the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader.

Barber, a 29-year-old left-hander with a tendency to be a little wild, entered the ninth inning with a 1-0 lead and, according to the Baltimore Sun, "the pearl almost in his pocket." Barber walked the first two batters, who advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt. One runner scored on a wild pitch by Barber, and with Miller on the mound, the winning run scored on an error.

Admitted Barber, who walked 10: "I was out of gas from the fifth inning on."

AND NOW FOR THE WEIRD ...

In 1988, the Mets pulled out a wild, 6-5 win in Cincinnati. The winning run scored on a delayed safe call at first base by umpire Dave Pallone on Mookie Wilson's grounder to short. The Reds, thinking the runner was out at first for the third out of the inning, trotted off the field. Meanwhile, another base runner scored the winning run from second.

Reds manager Pete Rose vehemently argued the call with Pallone. The two pointed fingers at each other; Rose, who bumped into the umpire twice — a huge no-no — alleged after the game that Pallone poked him in the face during the argument.

"If some umpire tries to hit me in the eye or on the cheekbone ..." Rose told the Dayton Daily News, "...he's lucky he didn't get splattered."

The next day, Rose was fined $10,000 and suspended for 30 days by the National League for pushing Pallone. 

... AND THEN THERE'S THE BIZARRE 

In 1919, Joe Oeschger of the Brooklyn Superbas and Burleigh Grimes of the Philadelphia Nationals hooked up in a marathon duel. Each pitched a complete game. Nothing unusual there, especially in an era when pitchers often went the distance. 

But each hurled 20 innings in a game that ended, sadly, in a 9-9 tie. Oeschger gave up 23 hits; Grimes, 16. Each team scored three runs in the 19th inning. This one was so strange that a sports writer had difficulty finding the words to craft a column.

"Every game of baseball is different, which explains why the baseball reporters are able to write a different story every day," wrote Thomas Rice of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. "The only trouble is that some baseball games are so different that a reporter ought to have several days in which to describe them. One such was that of April 30, 1919 ...." 

Showing no mercy for the pitchers, Rice called their effort "erratic."

We wonder what Rice would have called David Cone's performance 71 years later. While the Mets pitcher argued a safe call at first base with an umpire, two Braves scored.  

"I'm human. I'm emotional. I snapped," said Cone after the Mets' 7-4 loss. "It cost us the game. I accept responsibility."

ALSO

1993: At a tournament in Germany, 19-year-old Monica Seles — the No. 1-ranked player in women's tennis — was stabbed in the back with a knife by a deranged fan during a changeover. Seles screamed in pain from an inch-deep wound between her shoulder blades, but she recovered physically. She didn't return to competitive tennis for more than two years. The attack prompted increased security at matches.

2015: At the NFL Draft, in Chicago for the first time in 51 years, the Tampa Bay Bucs selected Florida State QB Jameis Winston with the first overall pick. Nearly 20,000 fans in Tampa attended the team's draft party. Most celebrated the pick of Winston. "This is only the beginning of the excitement Jameis will bring to our team," one of them said about the quarterback, who, five years later, was allowed to leave the Bucs in free agency.

Happy birthday ... 

• Former NFL linebacker Aundray Bruce (Falcons, Raiders), the first overall pick in the 1988 draft (54). 
• Former NFL running back David Meggett, who played for the Giants, Patriots and Jets (54).
• NBA Hall of Famer and former Pistons star Isiah Thomas, who was called an a--hole by Michael Jordan in the ESPN doc "The Last Dance." (59).

• Phil Garner, former MLB player and manager and member of the 1979 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Nicknamed “Scrap Iron” for his hustle and versatility on the field, he still holds the record for the best batting average in a seven-game World Series at .500. (71)

R.I.P.

1997: Golfer Henry Picard, winner of the 1938 Masters and the 1939 PGA Championship, in which he beat Byron Nelson on the 37^th hole. A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, Picard died at age 90.

2007: NFL linebacker Kevin Mitchell, 1994 second-round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers. Mitchell was a member of the Super Bowl XXIX-winning 49ers team as a rookie. He died at age 36 of a heart attack.

April 29: Bo to Bucs? What a 'waste,' says Heisman winner