August 4, 1982: The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Joel Youngblood drives in the winning run with a 3rd-inning single off future Hall-of-Famer Fergie Jenkins.
As soon as he comes off the field after the inning, Youngblood is told that he's been traded to the Montreal Expos. His performance in the game is still official: Legally, he could have remained with the Mets until the final out. Nevertheless, the Expos, who are scheduled to play the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia that night, ask the Mets to ask him if he can get there as soon as possible, to play in that game.
He flies to Philadelphia, arrives at Veterans Stadium in midgame -- that's 769 miles by road -- suits up for his new team, and, in the 7th inning, gets a hit off another future Hall-of-Famer, Steve Carlton. But the Phillies beat the Expos, 5-4. Youngblood remains the only player ever to get hits for 2 different teams, and the only one to get hits in 2 different cities, in the same day.
In that game, Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose each went 1-for-4 for the Phillies, with Rose adding an RBI.
From 1976 to 1989, he batted .265. He won a World Series as a rookie with the Cincinnati Reds. He was an All-Star with the Mets in 1981. His only other postseason appearance was with the 1987 San Francisco Giants.
He later served as a coach with the Reds, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Baltimore Orioles and the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is now approaching his 71st birthday, and no longer involved with baseball.
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August 4, 1982 was a Wednesday. In addition to Mets-Cubs and Expos-Phillies, these Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* A doubleheader was split at Yankee Stadium. The New York Yankees won the opener, 6-2. Graig Nettles and Oscar Gamble hit home runs in support of Ron Guidry. The Chicago White Sox won the nightcap, 7-0. Britt Burns pitched a 2-hit shutout, allowing only singles to Nettles and Rick Cerone. Tommy John went the distance in defeat.
After the 1985 season, the Yankees traded Joe Cowley and Ron Hassey to the White Sox for Burns, because they needed starting pitching. But Burns was hurt, and never pitched again, hurting the Yankees a lot more than he did on this day.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray went 2-for-4. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Wade Boggs went 1-for-4. Carl Yastrzemski appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-0 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Mike Caldwell pitched a 7-hit shutout. The Brewers got home runs from Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper, Gorman Thomas and Ted Simmons. Robin Yount went 1-for-5. Along with Ben Oglivie, the Brew Crew were responding to their new manager, Harvey Kuenn, once a batting champion, and became known as "Harvey's Wallbangers."
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers, 8-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Willie Stargell, in his final season with the Pirates, did not enter the game.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. The only Royal run came on a solo homer by George Brett.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 5-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. John Montefusco, formerly of the Giants, goes the distance, beating Don Sutton, formerly of the Dodgers, and don't think that rivalry didn't enter the minds of both "The Count" and "Little D." (When Sutton started out, Don Drysdale, already known as "Big D," was still with the Dodgers.)
* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-6 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rod Carew went 0-for-3. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4, but got an RBI when it was ruled that the grounder on which and error was made, allowing him to reach base, would have gotten the run home, anyway.
* And a doubleheader was split at the Oakland Coliseum. The Seattle Mariners won the 1st game, 5-2. The Oakland Athletics won the 2nd game, 8-3. Over the 2 games, Rickey Henderson was only 1-for-7 with a walk, but stole his 101st base of the season.
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