IN THE NEWS: Leading 18–5 after eight innings, A's pitchers give up a record 9th-inning outburst of 10 runs to New York before Eddie Plank stops them at 18–15.
Despite a triple steal, the Giants lose to the Phils, 8-6, in 10 innings. New York overcomes a 5–0 deficit to tie, but reliever Christy Mathewson is drilled for three doubles and the loss, while Pete Alexander gets the win. Bill Klem sets a season high mark when he tosses four players, including John McGraw, out of the game.
IN THE NEWS: In New York the Giants pilfer nine bases on catcher George Graham in a 4–3 win over the Phils. Christy Mathewson is the winner over Cliff Curtis. Matty allows five hits, but his two base on balls score in the 8th when he serves up a homer to Tom Downey. Phils 3B Hans Lobert, one of the fastest men in the game, chases a foul ball into the stands and breaks his kneecap.
IN THE NEWS: The White Sox beat Washington 7–6, snapping Walter Johnson's five-game win streak. Johnson gives up two 2-run home runs, one to Harry Lord in the 1st and another to Ping Bodie in the 5th. A Johnson fastball breaks the arm of 3B Lee Tannehill, an injury that will hamper the infielder's throwing ability, and ends the career of the 10-year veteran. Sox starter Joe Benz leaves with an injury after pitching one 1/3 inning. Ed Walsh pitches the next five 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, and Frank Lange allows the same in his two innings.
The Giants score nine runs by the 3rd inning and young Jeff Tesreau holds on for an 11–8 win over the Cardinals. Christy Mathewson relieves in the 9th for New York. In the 7th inning, with a man on third, Tesreau grounds to SS Wally Smith, whose throw to 1B hits ump Brick Owens in the head knocking him out (as noted by Retrosheet). Owens' wife, who is watching from the grandstands, faints. The runner is sent back to 3B and Tesreau hits again. Owens is back at work tomorrow.
First baseman Heinie Zimmerman has a homer, triple and double to lead Chicago to a 9–8 win over the Braves in Boston.
The Pittsburgh Filipinos, of the newly formed United States League, opens the season at vacant Exposition Park. The team is named after its veteran Deacon Phillippe, former Pirates star. The USL has promised not to sign current major leaguers, but will not last through June.
Roy Akin of Houston, who hit the ball that led to Walter Carlisle's remarkable unassisted triple play at Los Angeles the year before, turns the tables. Playing 3B against Waco (Texas League), he catches a hit-and-run bunt, steps on 3B, and then tags the runner coming down from 2B.
IN THE NEWS: Hippo Vaughn and the Yankees stop the host Tigers, 15–4. The Tigers score in the first inning when Ty Cobb swipes home.
A Western Union telegraph operator named Lou Proctor inserts his name as a pinch hitter into the Browns-Red Sox box score (no hits in one at bat). TSN will publish the box score and, years later, Proctor's name will appear in the first editions of The Baseball Encyclopedia.
IN THE NEWS: Ty Cobb charges into the stands in New York and attacks a crippled heckler named Claude Lueker. Other fans and Tigers mix it up before order is restored, and Ban Johnson suspends Cobb indefinitely for the incident.
IN THE NEWS: The Tiger players protest Ty Cobb's suspension and vote to strike. Faced with a $5,000 fine for failing to field a team, club owner Frank Navin orders manager Hugh Jennings to sign up some local amateurs. Al Travers, Bill Leinhauser, Dan McGarvey, Billy Maharg (whose real name was Graham, "Maharg" reversed), Jim McGarr, Pat Meany, Jack Coffey, Hap Ward, and Ed Irvin put on Tiger uniforms. Two Detroit coaches, Joe Sugden, 41, and Jim McGuire, 48, complete the lineup, and score the only two runs for Detroit. The Athletics win 24–2, as Travers goes all the way, giving up 26 hits and 24 runs in eight innings. The only recruit to hit for Detroit is Irvin, who laces two triples in three at bats and closes his ML career with a 2.000 slugging average (only three other players will debut with two triples -— Roy Weatherly, Willie McCovey, and John Sipin). Only one ever plays another ML game: Maharg will bat once for the Phils in 1916. He will also be involved as a conspirator in the Black Sox scandal of 1919. A's starter Jack Coombs leaves after three innings with a 6–0 lead, good enough for a win under the rules at the time. Boardwalk Brown and Herb Pennock divide the rest of the pitching for the A's. Starter Travers, having pitched his only ML game, returns to his studies at St. Joseph's College and later becomes a Catholic priest.
The $400,000 Redland Field is dedicated in Cincinnati. A number of dignitaries, including Pennsylvania governor John Tener, AL Prexy Ban Johnson, and White Sox owner Charles Comiskey are on hand. Designed by Harry Hake at a cost of $225,000, the field replaces the aging Palace of the Fans on the same site, and looks very much like the Crosley Field that will eventually replace it. The Reds then delight the 20,000 fans by beating Christy Mathewson and the Giants, 4–3.
IN THE NEWS: President Ban Johnson meets with the Tigers and tells them they will play in Washington the next day or never again. Urged by Ty Cobb, they go back to work. Cobb is fined $50, and his suspension will be lifted May 26th. Players who had signed the strike telegram sent to Johnson are fined $100 each. A new players' organization will be formed as a result of the incident.
IN THE NEWS: Bill Malarkey of Oakland (PCL) allows no hits for nine innings before being touched for a single in the 10th against San Francisco. The game ends in a scoreless tie because of a time limit.
IN THE NEWS: The Giants complete a western trip in first place, beating the Reds today, 6–1. Christy Mathewson is in total control, giving up three hits in the 1st three innings, and then retiring the next 18 batters. The Giants will win nine straight, before losing to St. Louis 5–1 on May 31st, and will open a 14-game lead.
In an attempt to shake up the team, the Pirates send veteran Tommy Leach and pitcher Lefty Leifield to Chicago for 29-year-old Solly Hofman and pitcher King Cole. Cole, 40–13 in 2+ years of pitching, will be a no show, eventually pitching in just 17 games for Pittsburgh before ending his career with the Highlanders.
IN THE NEWS: New York SS Jack Martin gets plunked twice by Walter Johnson, who hits three batters in the game. The second time Martin is hit the fast ball shatters his jaw. He will be out of action for five weeks. Johnson, who consciously avoids throwing at batters will, nevertheless, hit 205 batters in his career.
IN THE NEWS: Brooklyn belts 10 hits off Christy Mathewson to knock him out in the 7th inning and take a 4–2 lead. But New York rallies behind reliever Doc Crandall to win, 5–4.
IN THE NEWS: At Fenway Park, the second-place Red Sox take two from Washington 21–8 and 12–11. Joe Wood wins the opener, allowing 11 hits, while Boston collects 18. The two squads combine for 59 hits for 77 total bases.
IN THE NEWS: The Washington Nationals buy 1B Chick Gandil for $12,000 and two players from Montreal of the International League. He is immediately inserted in the lineup and Washington begins a 17-game winning streak—16 on the road—that will be stopped on June 19th.
Three doubleheader sweeps—Chicago Green Sox over Richmond, Virginia Rebels; Cincinnati over Reading, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh Filipinos over Cleveland—end a short, futile season of the would-be ML competitor, the United States League. Poorly organized and financed, the season began May 1st and collapsed largely through the failure of New York franchise to attract fans. The Filipinos, so named because old Pittsburgh favorite Deacon Phillippe was manager, had the best record: 16–8. Players and fields were barely above semipro level, but promoters will be heard from again with the advent of the Federal League.
At New York, the morning game draws 18,000, while 38,000 crowd the afternoon contest. The Giants win both, 7–1 and 6–1, over the Phils. Rube Marquard wins the nitecap to run his streak to 10 wins.
IN THE NEWS: The Cards top the Giants, 5–1, stopping the Giants' win streak at 14 straight. But the Giants' fast start of 43-11 is best this century (tied by the 1939 Yankees).
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