IN THE NEWS: Phillies pitcher Schoolboy Rowe pinch hits with the bases loaded in the 6th inning and cracks a grand slam off Braves righty Al Javery to break a tie. The Phils win, 6–5, but it takes them 12 innings. For Rowe, it is his 2nd grand slam—he hit one in 1939 while with Detroit—and he is the only pitcher to hit a grand slam in each league. He'll finish the 1943 season with a .306 average as a pinch hitter.
Behind the strong pitching of Wally Hebert and Bob Klinger, the Pirates twice shut out the Cubs, winning 3–0 and 1–0. In the second game, Cubs hurlers Dick Barrett and Lon Warneke combine on a hardluck one-hit loss: Vince DiMaggio's hit in the 4th is the only safety.
IN THE NEWS: Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick demonstrates the revised "balata ball" to reporters by bouncing it on his office carpet. This ball will prove to be 50 percent livelier than the 1942 one. When introduced in games on May 9th, six home runs will be hit in four doubleheaders compared with nine home runs hit with the previous ball in the first 72 games.
IN THE NEWS: In the nitecap 5–2 win against the Indians, Chicago's Wally Moses steals home. It is Wally's second steal of home in extra innings, tying Tony Lazzeri's mark. Cleveland wins the opener, 2–1.
IN THE NEWS: The Detroit Tigers play their 4th straight extra-inning game, losing to the A's, 7–6.
The only Class E league in minor league history—the Twin Ports League—qualifies for play. It is a semi-pro industrial league located in the northern Minnesota mining area.
IN THE NEWS: In a 3–2 loss to the Tigers, the Yankees Johnny Allen, incensed over a balk call, attacks umpire George Barr and is suspended for 30 days and fined $200. On May 21st, Frank Crosetti made his first start after serving a 30-day suspension for umpire pushing. This occurred in the 3rd game of the World Series when Crosetti pushed Bill Summers.
IN THE NEWS: The Cubs play 32 games before hitting a home run, but today Bill Nicholson hits the two Cubs blasts of the year. both two-run homers, against the Braves' Al Javery. His first homer, in the 4th inning, comes in the club's 1,120th at bat of the season. The Cubs win, 5–1, with Paul Derringer the victor. The 2nd game is postponed.
The Red Sox are also having trouble hitting the major league's balata ball, as Jim Tabor hits the first Sox homer at Fenway Park in a DH sweep of the Tigers. The Bosox win 3–0 behind Dick Newsome, and 5–1 behind Lou Lucier. In 33 games, the only other Boston homers are Leon Culberson's dinger in Detroit on May 23, and Bobby Doerr's inside the park liner at Washington on May 15th.
IN THE NEWS: Mort Cooper gives up a 7th inning hit to Billy Jurges in stopping the Dodgers on a one-hitter 7–0. Jurges' fly ball loops down the foul line.
In a PCL game, Oakland's Cotton Pippen stops Oakland, 10–0 with a 7-inning perfect game.