1998 in baseball

Events

January-March

• January 5 - Don Sutton, a 324-game winner is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his fifth try. Sutton, who missed election by nine votes in 1990, was named on 81.6% of the ballots.
• February 2 - Yankees GM Bob Watson announces his resignation. He is replaced by 30?year?old Brian Cashman.
• March 3 - Larry Doby, Lee MacPhail, George Davis and Bullet Joe Rogan are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
• March 31:
• The Tampa Bay Devil Rays lose to the Tigers, 11?6, in their first game ever. Pitcher Wilson Alvarez takes the loss for Tampa while third baseman Wade Boggs hit the first home run in team history and drives in three runs.
• The Arizona Diamondbacks drop a 9?2 decision to the Rockies in their first game ever. P Andy Benes is tagged with the loss, and rookies Travis Lee, who gets three hits, and Karim García hit home runs. Vinny Castilla drives in five runs for Colorado.

April-May

• April 1 - The expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays win their first game in franchise history, beating the Tigers, 11?8. Fred McGriff has four RBI on three hits.
• April 2 - By hitting a home run in Colorado's 6?4 win over Arizona at Bank One Ballpark, Rockies OF Ellis Burks sets a major league record by having homered in 33 different stadiums.
• April 5 - The Arizona Diamondbacks win their first game in franchise history, 3?2, over the SF Giants. Andy Benes gets the win for the 1?5 D'backs.
• April 10 - The Dodgers Mike Piazza becomes the 5th National League player in history to hit grand slams in consecutive games by homering in the Dodgers 7?2 win over the Astros. Piazza also homered with the bags full, while driving in six runs, in last night's 7?2 win over Arizona. He'll hit another on April 24 to tie the major-league record for slams in a month.
• April 13 - Seattle's Ken Griffey, Jr. slugs two home runs in a 6?5 loss to Cleveland. In doing so, he becomes the second?youngest player in big league history to reach 300 homers for his career, at 28 years and 143 days. Jimmie Foxx, at 27 years 328 days, was the younger.
• May 3 - Mariners Dan Wilson becomes just the 7th catcher in major league history to hit an inside-the-park grand slam, as Seattle defeats Detroit, 10?6. It's a first for the Mariners and the first in the American League since Mike Greenwell did it on September 1, 1990.
• May 6 - In one of the finest pitching efforts ever, Chicago Cubs rookie righthander Kerry Wood fans 20 Houston Astros in a 2?0, one-hit victory to tie the major league mark for strikeouts in a 9-inning game. The 20-year-old ties the record held by Roger Clemens, who performed the feat twice. Wood does not walk a batter in his masterpiece, allowing only an infield single to Ricky Gutiérrez in the 3rd inning, that likely would have been an error had it occurred late in the game. He hit one batter with a pitch, so only two Astros baserunners were allowed in the game. Wood also became the second pitcher in baseball history whose strikeout total matched his age (Bob Feller struck out 17 when he was 17-years-old). Wood struck out the first five batters of the game and struck out seven in a row between the 7th and 9th innings, a streak that ties Jamie Moyer's Cubs record. He'll strikes out 13 Diamondbacks in just seven innings of a 4?2 win over Arizona in May 11. By doing so, Wood sets a major league record with 33 strikeouts over two consecutive games.
• May 13 - The Atlanta Braves set an National League record by homering in their 25th straight game, a 10?2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. This ties the major league mark held by the 1941 Yankees and the 1994 Tigers. The streak will be stopped by the Cardinals tomorrow.
• May 15 - In one of the biggest trades in recent years, the Dodgers send All-Star C Mike Piazza and 3B Todd Zeile to the Florida Marlins in exchange for outfielders Gary Sheffield and Jim Eisenreich, C Charles Johnson, 3B Bobby Bonilla, and P Manuel Barrios. On May 22, the Mets will acquire Piazza from the Marlins in exchange for OF Preston Wilson, P Ed Yarnall and a minor league player.
• May 17 - Yankees pitcher David Wells hurls the 13th perfect game in modern major league history with a 4?0 win over Minnesota. Wells fans 11 batters in his masterpiece. OF Bernie Williams strokes three hits for New York, including a home run.
• May 18 - Oakland Athletics 3B Mike Blowers hits for the cycle and drives home four runs in the A's 14?0 win over the White Sox. Blowers become only the 2nd player in franchise history to accomplish the feat.
• May 19 - The Cardinals Mark McGwire hits three home runs in a game for the 2nd time this season, leading St. Louis to a 10?8 victory over the Phillies. He is only the 12th player in history to have a pair of 3?HR games in the same season. McGwire drives in six of the Cardinal runs as he reaches the 20 home run mark faster than other player in history.
• May 20 - The Triple-A Indianapolis Indians perform a feat possibly never before duplicated in professional baseball. In the 5th inning of a game against the Pawtucket Red Sox, Indianapolis players hit for a "Homer Cycle". Pete Rose, Jr. opens the inning with a solo home run, Jason Williams connects for a 3?run shot, Glenn Murray slugs a grand slam, and Guillermo Garcia finishes the scoring with a 2?run blast. The Indians win the game, 11?4.
• May 25 - Cleveland 2B David Bell becomes the third player in major league history to play against a team managed by his father. Bell's 2?run double brings home the go?ahead run in the Indians 7?4 win over Buddy Bell's Detroit Tigers. Bump Wills and Moisés Alou are the only other players to appear in games against their fathers (Maury Wills and Felipe Alou).
• May 28 - With Arizona leading the Giants, 8?6, in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded, manager Buck Showalter orders reliever Gregg Olson to intentionally walk Barry Bonds to bring home the Giants' 7th run. It is only the 4th bases?loaded intentional walk in major league history and the first since Swish Bill Nicholson on July 23, 1944.

June-July

• June 6 - Hall of Fame 2B Joe Morgan has his uniform number 8 retired by the Cincinnati Reds in a ceremony at Cinergy Field.
• June 7 - At Camden Yards, Hall of Famer Eddie Murray has his uniform number 33 retired by the Baltimore Orioles.
• June 10:
• Colorado OF Dante Bichette becomes the first Rockies player ever to hit for the cycle in the team's 9?8, 10?inning victory over the Rangers.
• NY Yankee OF Tim Raines steals the 800th base of his career in NY's 6?2 win over the Montreal Expos. He is the fifth player in history to reach that milestone.
• June 20 - The Cleveland Indians retire Bob Lemon's uniform number 19 prior to the team's 5?3 loss to the Yankees.
• July 7 - The American League defeats the National League, 13?8, in the 69th All?Star Game. Baltimore's Roberto Alomar is named the game's MVP, going 3?for?4 with a home run, one RBI, one stolen base and two runs scored.
• July 9 - Bud Selig is elected as the 9th Commissioner of Baseball by a vote of club owners.

August-September

• August 9 - Dennis Martínez of the Atlanta Braves defeats the Giants, 7?5, for his 244th career victory to set the record for most wins by a Latin American pitcher. Juan Marichal held the old mark. Chipper Jones backs Martínez pitching with four hits and four RBI.
• August 13 - Harold Baines of the Baltimore Orioles becomes the all?time leader in RBI by a designated hitter when he drives in his 824th in a 7?4 win over the Indians. Hal McRae was the previous record?holder.
• August 14 - Baltimore's catcher Chris Hoiles becomes the ninth player?and first catcher?to hit two grand slams in a single game, doing so in a 15?3 win over the Cleveland.
• August 25 - Toronto's Roger Clemens strikes out 18 in a 3?0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. He becomes the first pitcher ever to record three games of 18 or more strikeouts. Clemens allows only three hits and does not walk a batter.
• August 31 - Oakland OF Rickey Henderson scores the 2,000th run of his career in the Athletics' 15?6 loss to Cleveland. He joins Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Pete Rose and Willie Mays, as the only players to reach the milestone.
• September 4 - The New York Yankees win their 100th game of the season, defeating the Chicago White Sox, 11?6, besting the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 1954 Cleveland Indians by five days.
• September 5 - Mark McGwire became the third player in major league history to reach 60 home runs, as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-0. McGwire joined Babe Ruth and Roger Maris with 60 home runs in a single season.
• September 6 - Atlanta OF Andruw Jones hits his 50th career home run in a 4?0 win over the New York Mets. He becomes the 3rd?youngest player in history to reach that level. Only Mel Ott and Tony Conigliaro did so at a young
• September 8 - Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' 37-year-oldhome run record, lining historic No. 62 just over the wall in left field with two outs in the fourth inning. McGwire's shot off the Chicago Cubs' Steve Trachsel set off a wild celebration at Busch Stadium.
• September 11 - The Florida Marlins lose to the Atlanta Braves, 8?2, to become the first World Series champion in history to lose 100 games the next season.
• September 15 - Ken Griffey, Jr. hits homer #52 and drives in the 1,000th run of his career in the Mariners 12?7 win over the Twins. He becomes the 4th?youngest player in history to reach the milestone, after Mel Ott, Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig. A day after, Griffey will collect his 20 stolen base of the season to become just the third player in major league history to record at least 50 homers and 20 steals in the same season. Willie Mays and Brady Anderson are the others.
• September 17 - Denny Neagle put the Atlanta Braves pitching staff into the baseball record books as he limited Arizona to four hits in six innings for a 1-0 win. Neagle improved to 15-11, making the Braves the first major league team with five 15-game winners since the 1930 Washington Senators. Neagle joined Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Kevin Millwood.
• September 20 - Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles takes himself out of the lineup prior to the game with the Yankees to end his major league record consecutive game streak at 2,632. The Orioles lose the historic game by a score of 5?4. Ryan Minor, Ripken's replacement at 3B, gets one hit in four at bats.
• September 21 - Jason Kendall of the Pittsburgh Pirates steals his 26th base of the season to set a new National League record for catchers. The previous mark was set by John Stearns in 1978.
• September 24 - Boston Red Sox pitcher Tom Gordon records his 42nd consecutive save of the year for a new major league mark as Boston defeats Baltimore, 9?6. Rod Beck and Trevor Hoffman shared the old mark.
• September 26 - Dennis Eckersley gets a standing ovation from the Fenway Park crowd as he appears in his 1,071st game, breaking Hoyt Wilhelm's record for most appearances by a pitcher.
• September 27 - Cincinnati Reds double up on the Pirates, beating them 4?1. Cincinnati uses a brother infield of Bret Boone (2B), his brother Aaron (3B), Barry Larkin (SS) and his brother Stephen (1B).

October

• Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa each chase the home run season-record set previously by Roger Maris in 1961. Both players end up breaking the record; McGwire with 70 and Sosa with 66.
• World Series: New York Yankees win 4 games to 0 over the San Diego Padres. The Series MVP is Scott Brosius, Yankees third baseman.

November-December

• November 9 - It is revealed that Hall of Fame P Jim "Catfish" Hunter is suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the progressive, ultimately fatal neurological condition better known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
• November 23 - The Atlanta Braves sign free agent outfielder Brian Jordan to a 5-year contract.
• November 30 - The Arizona Diamondbacks sign free agent P Randy Johnson to a 4-year contract.
• December 12 - The Dodgers set the salary bar higher by signing free agent P Kevin Brown to a 7-year, $105 million contract, the largest in the majors.