This Day in Baseball History: June 12th

In 1839, Abner Doubleday has been erroneously given credit for establishing the first baseball game played in America on this date in Cooperstown, NY. Because of a mistaken eye-witness account, America mistakenly celebrated the origin of our national pastime in the small upstate New York town, although recently it has been discovered that it is unlikely the West Point cadet was ever there or ever watched a baseball game. In 1880, Worcesters John Richmond pitched the first perfect game in MLB history. In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown, New York. The greatest-ever gathering of members and future inductees of the Hall assembled in Cooperstown, N.Y., for the dedication of the museum: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, Grover Alexander, Nap Lajoie, George Sisler, Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker, Cy Young and Connie Mack accepted their plaques. Also in 1939, in front of a record crowd of 23,864 fans at Ruppert Stadium, Lou Gehrig played his last game as a Yankee during an exhibition game against the Kansas City Blues, their AA farm team. Playing only three innings and batting eighth, the Iron Horse grounded out to second base in his only at-bat. In 1948, after 13 seasons managing the team, Charlie Grimm ended his tenure as Boston Braves skipper. The 19,802 fans in attendance at Braves Field gave the skipper, who will stay in the organization as Bostons vice-president, a long standing ovation in as he took his position in the third base coaching box for the last time. In 1954, Bob Feller got his 2,500th career strikeout. In 1981, the Major League Baseball strike began& it is noteworthy because it was the first strike to commence after the start of a season. In 1996, owner Marge Schott was forced to relinquish her role as managing general partner of the Cincinnati Reds for two years due to questionable comments she made about Adolph Hitler. In 1997, after 126 years of major league play, the first interleague games in history were played.