IN THE NEWS: The Giants win their 12th in a row, and 11th straight against Cincinnati 10–5. The Pirates will end the streak at 13 on August 3rd, but the Giants will win the pennant easily, nine games ahead of Pittsburgh.
Cubs manager Frank Selee resigns and is replaced by Frank Chance, who is elected manager in a narrow vote among the players. Selee, suffering from tuberculosis, had not been making road trips, and Chance has been serving as road manager. Selee, who fashioned the team that will dominate the second half of the decade, retires to Colorado. The visiting Phillies overcome a 5–0 deficit to down Chicago, 7–6, in 11 innings.
Cleveland "loans" catcher Nig Clarke to Detroit. He'll be returned to Cleveland, August 11. He's the 3rd catcher this year to be sold, then returned to his original team.
IN THE NEWS: The Athletics go into first place as Rube Waddell beats the White Sox, 4–3, fanning 14. He will lead the American League with 287 strikeouts, the 4th of six straight seasons when he tops the league.
At Pittsburgh, the Giants win their 13th game in a row, beating the Pirates, 3–1, to take a 10 1/2 lead over the Pirates. Christy Mathewson is the winner over Deacon Phillippe. Bucs star Honus Wagner is thrown out at first in the 4th inning on a close play, then shows his displeasure by firing a ball near umpire George Bausewine during warmups the next inning. Bausewine responds by thumbing Honus out of the game. Wagner will be suspended for three games and fined $40.
IN THE NEWS: The Highlanders field a unique battery: Doc Newton pitching and Mike "Doc" Powers catching, but only Powers is a physician. The Highlanders beat St. Louis, 7–3.
At Boston, Harvard Eddie Grant makes his ML debut, collecting three hits for Cleveland. But Boston wins, 7–5. Grant will go hitless tomorrow in an 8–4 loss to Cy Young, and be sent down to the minors. He'll resurface with the Phillies in 1907.
IN THE NEWS: Highlanders 1B Hal Chase has a record 38 putouts in a doubleheader sweep versus the visiting Browns. The Highlanders win 3–1 and 6–5.
Umpire George Bausewine is once again in the middle of controversy forfeiting a game to the Pirates with the score tied 5–5 in the 9th when the Giants argue too long over his safe call at 3B. New York will appeal the forfeiture, but on August 26th President Pulliam will uphold the ump's decision. By the rules of the day, Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson is charged with the loss.
The Reds score eight runs in the 1st en route to a 19–6 win over Brooklyn. Miller Huggins score five runs for Cincinnati.
IN THE NEWS: Pittsburgh C Dave Brain, who hit three triples in a game for St. Louis against Pittsburgh on May 29th, repeats the performance for Pittsburgh against Boston, this time in a 10-inning game. He is the only National League player to perform the feat twice in one season.
In Chicago, the Cubs notch six hits and three runs off Dummy Taylor, but the Giants still lead 4–3 in the bottom of the 4th, when McGraw lifts the pitcher for Christy Mathewson. Matty shuts out Chicago over the last 5+ innings, but the win goes to Taylor. By today's standards the win would go to Mathewson, since Taylor did not last through the first five innings.
IN THE NEWS: In Pittsburgh, Bill Klem narrowly escapes a beating at the hands of gamblers. The heavily favored Pirates are down 5–2 in the 9th inning against Boston when a number of Pirates start mocking Klem's flamboyant calls. The rookie umpire chases them down and fines each $10, thereby incurring the wrath of the gamblers, who go looking for Klem. He wisely hides in the ladies' room.
Mistaking her husband for a burglar, Ty Cobb's mother shoots and kills him, and incident that will be cited as the reason for Cobb's intense desire to succeed. The Georgia Peach will make his ML debut with the Tigers later this month.
IN THE NEWS: Catchers are not expected to hit triples, but Boston Beaneater backstop Pat Moran legs out a trio of 3-base hits against the Pirates.
In a great pitching duel, New York ace Christy Mathewson allows three Chicago hits, while the Giants manage just four off Ed Reulbach. New York tallies an unearned run in the 6th for the games only score.
IN THE NEWS: The A's Rube Waddell is the whole show today as he hurls a 5-inning no hitter over the Browns. The A's are ahead 2–0, when the rain starts pouring after the A's bat in the 5th. Waddell strikes out nine batters, and three more bounce out to Waddell. The one runner reaches on Rube's error.
IN THE NEWS: Umpire John Sheridan forfeits a game to Washington in the 11th when the Tigers refuse to resume play after a lengthy dispute. Washington is ahead 2–1 at the time of the forfeiture.
IN THE NEWS: Chicago's Ed Reulbach defeats Philley starter Tully Sparks in a 20-inning 2–1 Colts marathon win over the Phils, exactly two months after Big Ed topped the Cards by the same score in 18 innings. Frank Chance's single drives in Jack McCarthy with the winning run. The game ties the existing ML mark for the most innings played in a game. A high point in the game, as recounted in Johnny Evers Touching Second, is when OF Jimmy Slagle, in the 18th, shoves his hand in his back pocket to get a plug of chewing tobacco just as the batter cracks a long line drive. Slagle starts after the ball and discovers that he can't get his hand out of his pocket. He makes a leaping one-handed catch with his gloved hand, then stops, pulls the tobacco out, bites off a piece and bows to the crowd.
The Giants win their 12th straight over the Reds, as Christy Mathewson wins easily, 8–0. Matty allows two scratch hits. The 2nd game is called on account of darkness, 6–6, after nine innings.
IN THE NEWS: The Giants beat up on the Reds again, winning 2–0 and 6–5. McGinnity wins the opener, allowing five hits in the shut out. New York scores four runs in the nitecap on wild pitches by Orval Overall, but when the Reds load the bases with no outs in the 9th, Christy Mathewson relieves Dummy Taylor and gets three straight outs.
IN THE NEWS: Ty Cobb makes his ML debut, doubling off Jack Chesbro, as Detroit defeats New York, 5–3. The 2-bagger is the first of his 4,191 hits, a record topped by Pete Rose with 4,256 in 1986.
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