August 16, 1996: For the 1st time, a regular-season Major League Baseball game is played in a country other than the United States of America and Canada.
It was the 1st game in a 3-game series between the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres at the Estadio de Béisbol de Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. The reason was that the Republican Party was holding its National Convention at the San Diego Civic Center, and they wanted to use Jack Murphy Stadium, home field of the Padres and the NFL's Chargers, for the acceptance speeches for their nominations for President and Vice President, to get a bigger cheer than usual.
This had been done before: In 1960, the Democrats moved from the Los Angeles Sports Arena to the next-door Los Angeles Coliseum to hear John F. Kennedy accept the nomination for President. And it has been done since: In 2008, the Democrats moved Barack Obama's acceptance speech in Denver to the new Mile High Stadium, and considered moving his 2012 speech in Charlotte to Bank of America Stadium, but kept it indoors at what's now the Spectrum Center due to rain.
As it turned out, they didn't use "The Murph": It would have been available for the Padres, anyway. But the arrangements for Monterrey had already been made.
Why Mexico? Because Mexico is one of the few Latin American countries that loves baseball; and because the Padres' location, just 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexican border (reduced to 15 miles since their move to the downtown Petco Park), made them popular in Mexico. Why Monterrey? Because their stadium, built specifically for baseball, was deemed more suitable than Mexico City's multipurpose Foro Sol.
For the 1st MLB game in Mexico, the starting pitcher for the Padres was Fernando Valenzuela, whose tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1980 to 1990 made the Dodgers even more popular in Mexico than the Padres. The sellout (and then some) crowd of 23,699 gave him a massive ovation as he took the mound.
Robert Person started for the Mets, and the Padres got to him early, with Steve Finley hitting a 2-run home run in the 1st inning. The Padres made it 5-0 in the bottom of the 3rd. Home runs in the 5th by Ken Caminiti and John Flaherty made it 9-0. In the 6th, a Greg Vaughn grand slam was part of a 6-run inning that put the Padres up 15-0, and seemed to put the game away.
Tony Gwynn went 2-for-3 with a walk, before being replaced by his brother, Chris Gwynn. Rickey Henderson appeared as a pinch-hitter for the Padres, and drew a walk.
Valenzuela faltered, and lost the shutout in the 7th. He got another prolonged ovation. It was still 15-3 going into the 9th, when the Mets launched a comeback attempt. A walk, an error, a passed ball, 2 doubles, and a home run by Andy Tomberlin almost put the Mets back in the game.
Almost. It took the Padres 3 pitchers to finally put the inning and the game away. They won, 15-10. It was Valenzuela's 10th win of the season, and the 166th of his career. But he would win only 7 more: A nobody at age 19, a phenomenon at 20, and still a productive pitcher at 35, injuries caught up with him, and he threw his last major league pitch shortly before turning 37.
On August 17, 1996, the Mets won the 2nd game of the series, 7-3. The following night, the Padres won the finale, 8-0.
The series was such a success that MLB has returned to Monterrey. On April 4, 1999, the Padres lost 8-2 to the Colorado Rockies. It took until 2018 to return. On May 4, the Padres lost to the Dodgers, 4-0, as 3 Dodger pitchers threw a no-hitter. The Padres won the next 2, 7-4 and 3-0.
On April 13, 2019, the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals in Monterrey, 5-2. The next day, the Cardinals beat the Reds, 9-5. Later that year, on May 4 and 5, the Houston Astros swept the Los Angeles Angels, 14-2 and 10-4.
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August 16, 1996 was a Friday. These other MLB games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners, 6-5 at Yankee Stadium. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-3, but drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk. Sterling Hitchcock, whom the Yankees included in the previous off-season's trade for Tino Martinez and Jeff Nelson, was the winning pitcher. The pitcher who earned the save was named Michael Jackson. To paraphrase an old joke, this Michael Jackson had a good reason for wearing a glove on only one hand.
Derek Jeter went 1-for-4, Wade Boggs, Cecil Fielder and Bernie Williams each got 2 hits, but it wasn't enough.
* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. John Smoltz won his 20th game of the season.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Sandy Alomar Jr. won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 12th inning.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox at Milwaukee County Stadium, 9-7 and 3-2.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Dave Hollins doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins, 6-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 8-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And the Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum, 14-3 and 5-4. Rafael Palmeiro won the 2nd game with an RBI double in the top of the 10th inning. Over the 2 games, Eddie Murray went 3-for-9 with 2 RBIs, Cal Ripken went 3-for-11, and Mark McGwire went 2-for-7 with an RBI.
And Caeleb Dressel was born on this day. The American swimmer won 2 Gold Medals at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and 5 more at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan (delayed to 2021 due to the COVID pandemic). Of those 7 Golds, 3 have been in individual events, 4 in relays.
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