Six Trips, Six Strikeouts

Six Trips, Six Strikeouts (1913)

The Browns and Senators played fifteen innings to an 8-8 tie before darkness ended it, and Browns pitcher Carl Weilman used the extra time to make history he never asked for. He batted six times and struck out six times, the first man ever to do it, and the first to do it six straight. Walter Johnson, working in relief, got him four of those on his way to 15 strikeouts. Ty Cobb named Weilman one of the toughest pitchers he ever faced.

Nine Times Around (1937)

Mel Almada of the Senators scored nine runs in a doubleheader at St. Louis, five in one game and four in the other, and nobody has scored more in a twin bill since. He went 6 for 9 with a homer and two doubles as Washington won 16-10 and 15-5. Almada was born in Huatabampo, Sonora, and in 1933 became the first Mexican born player to reach the majors. He was thrown at often enough that his own brother said it drove him out of the game early.

The Only One There Has Ever Been (1956)

Pittsburgh trailed 8-5 in the ninth. Turk Lown loaded the bases without getting an out. Jim Brosnan came in, threw one pitch high and inside, and Roberto Clemente drove it off the fencing at the base of the left field light tower. Three runs scored. Bobby Bragan threw up both hands at third base. Clemente ran straight through him, beat the relay, overslid the plate and reached back with his hand. It remains the only walk off inside the park grand slam in major league history.

The Letter That Brought Him Home (1998)

Jim Bouton wrote Ball Four in 1970 and the Yankees left him off the Old-Timers' Day list for 28 years. On Father's Day 1998, his son Michael published an open letter in the New York Times asking the club to forgive his dad. A month later Frank Messer introduced the prodigal Yankee, and the man who won 21 games in 1963 walked back onto that grass to a roar. Twenty-eight years, undone by a kid standing up for his father.