May 31st in 1990s Baseball
Happy 1990s Birthday to Kenny Lofton, who is one of two people to play in a Final Four and a World Series (Tim Stoddard) and led the American League in stolen bases in each of his first five full seasons in the big leagues. He also won four Gold Gloves and was a six-time All-Star.
Happy 1990s Bithday to Dave Roberts, who was born in Japan and spent ten years in the bigs with five teams, winning a ring in 2004 with the Red Sox and another with the Dodgers as a manager.
Happy 1990s Birthday to Jose Malave, who played in 45 games for the Red Sox in 1996 and 1997, He also played in Japan and Mexico.
Happy 1990s Birthday to Dilson Torres, who went 1-2 for the Royals in 1995.
Happy 1990s Birthday to Rikkert Faneyte, who was born in Amsterdam and spent parts of five seasons in the bigs with the Giants and Rangers. Both he and his father, Jose Faneyte, played in the Hoofdklasse, the Dutch Major Leagues.
Happy 1990s Birthday to Tim VanEgmond, who won five games for the Red Sox and Brewers between 1994 and 1996.
Happy 1990s Birthday to Jeff Schaefer, who spent parts of five seasons in the bigs with the White Sox, Mariners, and A’s and also played “Pirate on Second Base” in Major League II.
Happy 1990s Birthday to Marty Janzen, who was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Yankees in 1991 and was traded to Toronto as part of the package for David Cone.
Marty won 6 games for the Jays between 1996 and 1997 and later pitched in Mexico, Korea, and China.
Happy 1990s Birthday to Mac Suzuki, who spent parts of six seasons in the bigs with the Royals, Mariners, Rockies, and Brewers and later pitched in Japan, China, and Korea.
Happy 1990s Birthday to Joe Orsulak, who made his debut with the Pirates in 1983 and played until 1997 as an outfielder for five teams.
5/31/91
The Mets trade Tim Teufel to the Padres for Garry Templeton.
Tempy hits .228 in 80 games for the Mets and his career is over.
5/31/94
The Red Sox trade Billy Hatcher and Paul Quantrill to the Phillies for minor leaguer Mike Sullivan and Wes Chamberlain.
Quantrill wins 13 games for the Phillies over the next two seasons while Chamberlain wraps up his career after 1995 with Boston.
5/31/96
The Braves trade minor leaguer Anton French to the Tigers for Danny Bautista.
5/31/91
Brian R. Hunter goes 0-for-2 against the Giants in his big-league debut for Atlanta.
He hits .251 in 97 games and finishes 4th in the Rookie of the Year race before spending nine years in the bigs.
5/31/94
Jose Mercedes throws five and third scoreless innings in relief in his big league debut against Texas.
He goes 2-0 as a rookie and wins 33 games over 8 seasons.
5/31/97
Jose Cruz Jr. goes 0-for-4 against the Tigers in his big-league debut.
He hits .248 with 26 homers as a rookie and finishes 2nd in the Rookie of the Year race to Nomar Garciaparra.
5/31/98
Mike Redmond goes 3-for-3 with a homer against the Brewers in his big-league debut.
He hits .331 in 317 games in 1998 and spends 13 years in the bigs with the Marlins, Twins, and Indians.
5/31/97
Joe Torre reluctantly wears a mic during a Fox broadcast of a Yankees/Red Sox game after being told the team could be fined up to $100,000 if he didn’t.
Torre said it didn’t have to be him that wore it but he did so that if something went wrong it would be on him.
When Paul O’Neill hit his second home run of the game, the Fox mic caught Torre saying, “The (F-bomb) worm has turned.”
Torre apologized but was upset with the Fox crew for airing the comment. He had a point.
5/31/99
Umpire Frank Pulli uses a television replay to change a home run call to a double by Cliff Floyd.
The Marlins lose the game 5-2 to the Cadrinals and protest the game.
The ball was initially ruled a double, then changed to a home run, then changed back to a double after Pulli checked the replay on an ESPN camera.
5/31/92
Gary Carter becomes just the third player to reach the 2,000 games caught mark, joining Carlton Fisk and Bob Boone.
He also homers in a 6-3 Expos win over the Reds.
Carter finishes his career with 2,056 games behind the plate, currently 5th on the all-time list.
5/31/94
The Padres score 13 runs in the bottom of the second inning en route to a 15-5 win over the Pirates.
The Pads send 17 men to the plate and pitcher Andy Ashby walks and contributes an RBI single.
5/31/94
Wade Boggs goes 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI in a 10-1 Yankees win over the White Sox.
From May 15 through May 31, Boggs hits .474 with 6 homers in 10 games.
He finishes the year with 11 home runs, the final season in which he reaches double figures.
5/31/94
Brian McRae goes 5-for-5 with an RBI and two stolen bases in a 9-7 Royals win over the Red Sox.
It is the only 5-hit game of McRae’s career.
5/31/96
Roger Cedeno goes 5-for-5 out of the leadoff spot as the Dodgers beat the Mets 10-3 at Shea.
5/31/97
Ila Borders becomes the first woman to play in a minor league game. The St. Paul Saints reliever gives up three runs to the Sioux Falls Canaries without recording an out, but will redeem herself the next day by striking out the side.
5/31/97
Andres Galarraga hits a slam off Kevin Brown that travels 500+ feet in Miami.
5/31/99
The Mariners hit four home runs, including two from Alex Rodriguez, to beat the Orioles 10-6. The four homers give Seattle 100 home runs in the first 56 games of the season, setting a new big-league record.
5/31/93
The Angels release Chuck Crim.
He signs with the White Sox and goes 5-4 in his final big-league season.
5/31/94
The Astros release Mitch Williams.
He sits out the rst of the season and signs with the Angels in November.
5/31/96
Albert Belle trucks Fernando Vina in Milwaukee and things escalate quickly.
5/31/95
Randy Johnson comes up and in on Jim Leyritz and the ball deflects off Leyritz’s hand and hits him in the face.
The benches empty, but no punches are thrown.
“We’ll take care of him one way or the other,” says Leyritz. “He’s got to go out in public somewhere.”
5/31/97
After Andres Galarraga hits a tape-measure slam, Dennis Cook hits Galarraga on the elbow and the Big Cat charges the mound.
5/31/92
The Padres place Benito Santiago on the DL with a broken finger suffered on a slide into second base.
He misses 39 games, returning to the lineup on July 11th.
5/31/95
Deion Sanders injures his ankle on a play at third base and misses six weeks of action.
He does not return to the lineup until July 17 and is dealt to the Giants on July 21st.
5/31/96
The Reds place Eric Davis on the DL with a rib cage injury suffered after making a diving catch a week earlier.
He returns to the lineup on June 10th.
5/31/96
After being roughed up by the Braves, the Reds place starter Pete Schourek on the DL with an elbow problem.
He makes just two more appearances the rest of the season and throws only 84 2/3 innings in 1997.
5/31/97
The Orioles place Eric Davis on the DL with what was diagnosed as a stomach ailment.
The “ailment” turned out to be colon cancer and he eventually has a portion of his colon removed.
He returns to the lineup in September and hits .310 in the final 8 games of the season.
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