September 12, 1962: The Washington Senators beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Tom Cheney sets a major league record that has never been equaled, striking out 21 batters -- although it takes him 16 innings to do it.
Born in 1934 in Morgan, Georgia. Tom Cheney debuted in the major leagues in 1957, and was both a member of the 1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates and an original 1961 member of the "new" Washington Senators, the team that became the Texas Rangers in 1972.
On September 12, 1962, pitching for the Senators against the Baltimore Orioles, he struck out 13 batters through 9 innings, but the game was tied. He ended up pitching 16 innings, striking out 21 batters, before Bud Zipfel hit a home run off Oriole pitcher Dick Hall to win it 2-1 for the Senators. By a weird coincidence, Zipfel had also driven in the Senators' other run -- all the way back in the 1st inning, on a groundout off Oriole starter Milt Pappas, following a single by Ron Stilwell and a double by Chuck Hinton.
Cheney allowed 10 hits, but only walked 4 batters. The only run he allowed came with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th, on a ground-rule double by Marv Breeding and a single by Charlie Lau, who went on to become one of baseball's foremost hitting instructors.
He struck Hall, Breeding, Russ Snyder, Jim Gentile and Dave Nicholson (known as "Swish" for his frequent strikeouts) out 3 times each; Pappas, twice; and once fanned each of these players: Brooks Robinson, Jerry Adair, Hobie Landrith, and future Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams. The only member of the starting lineup that he didn't strike out at least once was John "Boog" Powell, playing left field in this game. (That was his usual position, until the Orioles traded Gentile after the 1963 season.)
Cheney's career went downhill after that game. He suffered a nasty elbow injury in 1963, and threw his last major league pitch in 1966, finishing at 19-29, with a 3.77 ERA. He died in 2001.
The 21 strikeouts remains a record for a major league game, although Roger Clemens (twice), Kerry Wood, Randy Johnson and Max Scherzer have each fanned 20 in a 9-inning game.
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September 12, 1962 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that President John F. Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University in Houston, saying, "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade, and to do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard!" I have a separate entry for this event.
These other baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Whitey Ford outpitched Pedro Ramos. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 3 RBIs. Roger Maris went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Yogi Berra did not play.
* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-0 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Denny Lemaster pitched a 6-hit shutout. Eddie Mathews and Joe Torre hit home runs. Hank Aaron didn't, going 0-for-5, but I'm sure he was glad to get the win.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Frank Robinson hit 2 home runs. Willie Mays struck out in his 1st at-bat, and then left the game due to injury. He returned in time to help the Giants win the National League Pennant.
* The Boston Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the Detroit Tigers, 8-6 and 6-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Rocky Colavito hit 2 home runs in the opener, but it wasn't enough. Over the 2 games, Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-10 with 3 RBIs, while Al Kaline went 1-for-7 with a walk.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Sherm Lollar singled Al Smith home with the winning run in the top of the 12th inning. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4 with a walk.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Colt .45s, 1-0 at Colt Stadium in Houston. The Colts became the Houston Astros in 1965. It took 3 pitchers to complete a 9-hit shutout for the Dodgers, and they did not include Sandy Koufax or Don Drysdale. Pete Richert allowed 3 hits over 3 innings, but allowed 2 singles to start the bottom of the 4th, and manager Walter Alston took him out, bringing in Ed Roebuck. He got out of the jam, and then pitched into the 9th, allowing 4 hits. Ron Perranoski got the last 2 outs.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels groundshared with the Dodgers until their stadium in suburban Anaheim could open.
* And the New York Mets, the Chicago Cubs, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled.
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