» April 29, 1953: Joe Adcock becomes the first ML player to homer into the CF bleacher seats in the Polo Grounds, over 475 feet away. Luke Easter, in a 1948 Negro League game, and Schoolboy Rowe, in batting practice before a 1933 exhibition game, also accomplished the feat. Lou Brock and Hank Aaron will match it is as well in 1962. The Braves win the game 3-2 on a 9th-inning wild pitch by Hoyt Wilhelm.

» February 26, 1957: The New York Giants ship knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm to the Cardinals and reacquire 1B Whitey Lockman, who went to St. Louis in June 1956.

» September 20, 1958: Orioles P Hoyt Wilhelm, in a rare start (he is 0-6 this year when starting), pitches a 1–0 no-hitter, the first in O's history, against Don Larsen of the Yankees, fanning 8. Larsen allows one hit through six innings. The Orioles acquired Wilhelm in August for the $20,000 waiver price. The win, Wilhelm's first ML complete game, and his only this year for the O's, improves his record to 3-10. The winning margin is Gus Triandos' 30th home run, off reliever Bobby Shantz.

» April 26, 1959: Surprising Baltimore sweeps a pair from the Yankees, coming from behind to score two in the 9th and win the opener, 5–4, and scoring in the final frame of the nitecap to win, 3–2. The O's use six pinch hitters in the opener, while New York uses four for a new ML mark. Hoyt Wilhelm goes the distance in the nitecap, but his knuckler proves elusive for Gus Triandos, who ties the major-league record with four passed balls. Ray Katt, who was the lone holder of the record, also caught Wilhelm.

» May 22, 1959: Baltimore's Hoyt Wilhelm one-hits the Yankees 5–0, with Jerry Lumpe's single in the 8th the spoiler. Switch hitter Mickey Mantle hits righty against Wilhelm and does no better than he has been lefty. On May 28, Wilhelm will beat the Yankees again, 5-0.

» June 16, 1959: At Baltimore, the Tigers stop Hoyt Wilhelm's 9-game win streak to start the year, kayoing the vet knuckler in the 6th to win, 6–4.

» August 6, 1959: White Sox lefty Billy Pierce and the Orioles P Billy O'Dell are even up 1–1 when Hoyt Wilhelm relieves in the 9th for Baltimore. Wilhelm tosses eight 2/3 innings of no-hit ball before allowing a safety. After 18 innings and the score still at 1–1, the game is mercifully called because of the midnight curfew. Pierce goes 16 innings before he gets relief from Turk Lown.

» April 22, 1960: In the home opener at Yankee Stadium, Mickey Mantle socks a 4th inning homer off Hoyt Wilhelm, and New York beats Baltimore, 5–0.

» May 4, 1960: The Orioles C Gus Triandos sets American League records with three passed balls in one inning (6th) and four in one game, but Hoyt Wilhelm, making a rare start, goes seven innings and gets credit for a 6–4 Baltimore win over the White Sox. Early Wynn records his 2,000th strikeout in a no-decision effort for the Sox. Triandos' PB mark for an inning will be tied by reserve backstop Myron Ginsberg in six days, and Tom Egan will collect five PBs in 1970 to erase Gus' name.

» May 10, 1960: Joe Ginsberg of the Orioles loses a struggle with Hoyt Wilhelm's knuckler, and ties the record set six days earlier by teammate Gus Triandos with three passed balls in one inning. Dick Williams of the A's belts a grand slam, as the American League record of three on one day in one league is tied for the 2nd time in 16 days. Williams also doubles in a 9-run 5th inning. Kansas City beats Baltimore 10–0.

» May 27, 1960: Since there is no rule limiting the size or shape of the catcher's mitt, Baltimore manager Paul Richards combats the passed-ball problem while catching Hoyt Wilhelm (38 in 1959; 11 so far this year) by devising an oversized mitt to gather in Hoyt's fluttering knuckler. It is half again as large as the standard glove and 40 ounces heavier. Wilhelm goes the distance in beating New York 3–2 at Yankee Stadium. Clint Courtney has no passed balls behind the plate.

» June 19, 1960: In a brilliant pair of pitching performances, the Orioles Hoyt Wilhelm and Milt Pappas throw shutouts to beat the host Tigers. Wilhelm allows two hits in winning the opener, 2–0, over Bunning, and Pappas allows three hits in winning the nitecap, 1–0, over Don Mossi. Gentile and Hansen homer in the opener as Clint Courtney, using the big glove, is twice charged with batter interference, the 1st loading the bases in the 4th.

» August 15, 1960: Behind Art Ditmar's 5-hitter and Mickey Mantle's two home runs, off Jerry Walker and Hoyt Wilhelm, New York cops a 4–3 win and first place in the American League. The 2nd home run comes after C Clint Courtney drops a Mantle foul pop-up. Baltimore's loss is only its 2nd in the last 15 games. Baltimore and Chicago now trail by a half-game.

» May 24, 1962: The Tigers score their first four runs on homers, then score the winner on a passed ball in the 11th to beat the Orioles, 5–4. Charlie Lau misses a Hoyt Wilhelm knuckler to allow Dick McAuliffe to score. Jim Bunning pitches the first nine innings for Detroit and is accused by O's manager Billy Hitchcock of notching the ball with his belt buckle.

» June 14, 1962: Join the club. The Orioles Charlie Lau ties an American League record with three passed balls in the 8th inning, and a total of 4, but Baltimore beats Boston 7–4. Lau now shares the team (and AL) record with Myron Ginsberg and Gus Triandos for most passed balls in inning, all catching Hoyt Wilhelm. The 20th century mark is four in an inning, set by the Giants Ray Katt in 1954. No surprise who was on the mound then—Wilhelm.

» January 14, 1963: The White Sox trade SS Luis Aparicio and OF Al Smith to the Orioles for P Hoyt Wilhelm, OF Dave Nicholson, 3B Pete Ward, and SS Ron Hansen.

» September 7, 1966: The Braves acquire veteran pitchers Hoyt Wilhelm and Bob Priddy from the Angels in exchange for minor league prospects Mickey Rivers and Clint Compton. It will only Hoyt for a little while as the Braves will waive the knuckleballer to the Cubs in September 1970.

» June 28, 1967: Relief ace Hoyt Wilhelm of the White Sox extends his major-league record for consecutive errorless games to 247. The White Sox win 3–2 at Baltimore.

» September 10, 1967: Joel Horlen revives Chicago pennant hopes with a 5–0 no-hit win against the Tigers. Detroit hits only two balls to the outfield. Behind the pitching of Cisco Carlos with help from Hoyt Wilhelm and Bob Locker, the Sox win game two by a 4–0 score to move a game behind the 2nd-place Red Sox.

» July 24, 1968: Hoyt Wilhelm's 907th game breaks Cy Young's record for ML pitching appearances, but he loses a 2–1 decision to Oakland.

» October 15, 1968: Roger Nelson is the initial choice of the Royals in the American League expansion draft. Don Mincher is the Pilots' first choice. Other Seattle selections include Tommy Harper, Tommy Davis, Gary Bell, and Lou Piniella. Kansas City chooses Wally Bunker, Moe Drabowsky, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Joe Foy.

» December 12, 1968: The Kansas City Royals complete their first trade, sending P Hoyt Wilhelm to the Angels for two outfielder/catchers, Ed Kirkpatrick and Dennis Paepke.

» August 30, 1969: Merv Rettenmund drives in three runs to lead the Orioles to a 6–3 win over the Angels. The O's score their last run on a single by Brooks Robinson in the 7th and three consecutive passed balls by Jose Azcue which ties the American League record for catchers. He is the first backstop on the 20th-C list not to be catching Hoyt Wilhelm, though Wilhelm comes in to relief Vern Geishert in the 8th.

» September 30, 1969: Atlanta's 10th straight win, 3–2 over Cincinnati, clinches the National League West pennant. Hoyt Wilhelm saves Phil Niekro' 23rd win by retiring the last six batters. Niekro ends the regular season allowing no sacrifice flies in 284 innings, a record.

» May 10, 1970: While losing 6–5 to St. Louis, the Braves Hoyt Wilhelm becomes the first pitcher ever to appear in 1,000 games.

» September 21, 1970: The Braves trade veteran Hoyt Wilhelm to the Cubs. In December the Cubs will trade him back to Atlanta.

» September 28, 1970: In his first big league start, Mets' outfielder Leroy Stanton leads off the first with a triple, his first ML hit, but is knocked on the head by the relay throw, and is forced to leave the game. His pinch runner scores and the Mets go on to win, 6–3, on 2-run homers in the 9th and 10th by Clendenon and Garrett. Hoyt Wilhelm is the loser in his only Cub decision.

» July 21, 1972: The Dodgers release P Hoyt Wilhelm, ending his Hall of Fame career two days before his 49th birthday. Wilhelm appeared in 1,070 games, the most of any ML pitcher. He is also the last WW2 vet to play in the majors; He survived the Battle of the Bulge, suffering a permanent neck wound in the action.

» January 3, 1977: The Royals release P Lindy McDaniel, ending his 21-year career. He appeared in 987 games, 2nd only to Hoyt Wilhelm's 1,070.

» January 15, 1981: In his first year of eligibility, former Cardinals P Bob Gibson is the only person elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA. Players falling short of the 301 votes needed for election include Don Drysdale (243), Gil Hodges (241), Harmon Killebrew (239), Hoyt Wilhelm (238), and Juan Marichal (233).

» January 7, 1985: Lou Brock, the major leagues' all-time stolen base king, and Hoyt Wilhelm, who rewrote the record book on relief pitching, are elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA. Nellie Fox is named on 295 of the 395 ballots (74.7%), but the BBWAA and the Hall of Fame committee decline to round Fox's total to the required 75%.

» July 28, 1985: Lou Brock, Enos Slaughter, Arky Vaughan, and Hoyt Wilhelm are inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Cooperstown, New York.

» May 4, 1986: Veteran manager and executive Paul Richards dies. The innovative Richards is probably best known for designing the oversized catcher's glove used to catch knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm.

» April 17, 1989: Kent Tekulve pitches two shutout innings in the Reds 3–2, 10-inning win over the Dodgers to pass Hoyt Wilhelm as the major leagues' all-time leader in relief appearances with 1,019.

» July 17, 1989: Reds reliever Kent Tekulve retires, just 20 appearances shy of Hoyt Wilhelm's all-time games-pitched record of 1,070. Tekulve had posted a 5.02 ERA in 37 games this season.

» August 4, 1994: Seattle defeats California, 4-2, as Rich Gossage notches the win in relief. It is Gossage's 1,000th major league appearance on the mound, making him the 3rd pitcher to ever reach that milestone. Only Hoyt Wilhelm (1,070) and Kent Tekulve (1,050) have gotten into more games as pitchers.

» September 26, 1998: Dennis Eckersley gets a standing ovation from the Fenway crowd as he appears in his 1,071st game, breaking Hoyt Wilhelm's record for most appearances. It will be the Eck's final game, When the Red Sox refuse arbitration after the season, Eckersley retires on December 10.