On This Day In Baseball...

1924: Hall of Fame pitcher Candy Cummings passed away. If you don't know who he is, you at least know what he is famous for - creating the curve ball. Roy Halladay, Gio Gonzalez and Justin Verlander should be thanking Mr. Cummings today, as they have thrown the 3 most effective curveballs since 2010. 

1955: Jack Morris was born. Rumor has it he threw 10 innings in the crib.

1998: The Yankees were 27-9, 3.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for the division lead, on their way to 114 victories and the 2nd World Series for the "Core Four".

2002: The Montreal Expos released Henry Rodriguez, who would finish his career with 160 home runs, 139 of which came between 1996-2000. In 1996, at 28 years old on the Expos, Henry Rodriguez hit .276/.325/.562 with 36 homers and 103 RBI with a previous career high of 8 home runs. Jose Bautista who? "Oh Henry" would then play a few more years on the Cubs, Marlins, Yankees (when did this happen?), and finally the Expos who released him on May 16th 2002. Fun fact: There have been two Henry Rodriguez's that have played in the MLB and both have played for the Expos or the Ex-Expos a/k/a the Nationals. 

2009: Albert Pujols was batting .320/.423/.664 with 13 homers and 37 RBI.

2012: The Dodgers lead baseball with 24 wins, Albert Pujols is batting .212/.248/.288 with a 53 OPS+.