On this day in baseball – Beltre hears the nutcracker suite – 09/01/2010

Phil Gurnee ♦ September 1, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

http://www.nationalpastime.com/

2007 – In his first game back from the DL after suffering a torn right testicle when a bad hop grounder hit him in the groin last month, Adrián Beltre hears the The Nutcracker Suite when he steps into the batter’s box. Mariner teammate Ken Griffey Jr. arranged to have the Safeco Field PA system play the waltz to have some fun with the third baseman, who decided not wear a protective cup until today’s game.

2008 – Adrian Beltre triples in the eighth inning off Rangers’ right-hander Josh Rupe to become the fourth player in franchise history, joining Jay Buhner (1993), Alex Rodriguez (1997), and John Olerud (2001), to hit for the cycle. The rare event is accomplished twice today as Diamondbacks shortstop Stephen Drew also collects a single, double, triple, and home run in a game against the Cardinals at Chase Field.

1969 – At Dodger Stadium, Willie Davis ties the franchise record by hitting in 29 consecutive games with his second-inning single in LA’s 10-6 victory over New York. The mark was established by Zack Wheat in 1916.

Willie would go on to hit in 31 straight games

1964 – Masanori Murakami becomes the first native-born Japanese player to appear in the U.S. major leagues when throws a scoreless eighth inning in the Giants’ 4-1 loss to the Mets at Shea Stadium. The 20 year-old southpaw, who was to play only minor league ball until June as an ‘exchange player’, will be allowed to stay and play in one full season with San Francisco next year, before returning to the Nankai Hawks, ending his brief American stint with a 5-1 record and an ERA of 3.75.

I had his baseball card, wish I still had it.

Time magazine did a story on him 

In 1964, Murakami, a 20-year-old pitcher for the Nankai Hawks, was in America on a kind of cultural exchange program with the San Francisco Giants. He was called up from the Giants’ single-A team in Fresno on Aug. 30, joined the team in New York, and on Sept. 1 came in as a late-inning reliever for against the Mets at Shea Stadium. History was made.