This Day in Braves History: Phil Niekro wins 20th game

Braves Franchise History

1917 - Jesse Barnes and Art Nehf throw a pair of shutouts in a doubleheader sweep of the Reds.

1942 - Youngsters, many who gained free admittance for bringing scrap metal to aid the war effort, grow restless and invade the field at the Polo Grounds in the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader between the Braves and the Giants. New York was leading 5-2 at the time, but umpire Ziggy Sears forfeits the game 9-0 to the Braves. Warren Spahn avoids the loss, although he was losing at the time of the forfeit, but is given credit for the complete game.

1959 - Warren Spahn picks up his 21st victory of the season in a 3-2 win over the Phillies and passes Eppa Rixey to become the winningest left-hander in National League history.

1964 - The Braves and Phillies set a major league record by using 43 players in a nine-inning game at Shibe Park. The Braves matched a nine-inning record using 25 players including eight pitchers. Joe Torre has three hits to help Milwaukee to a 6-4 win.

1979 - Phil Niekro picks up his 20th win of the season by beating his brother Joe, who is the National League’s other 20-game winner, 9-4. The Niekro brothers are the second set of brothers to win 20 games in the same season. Phil will finish at 21-20 becoming the first pitcher since Wilbur Wood to win 20 and lose 20 in the same season.

MLB History

1921 - Babe Ruth hits his 57th and 58th home runs to help the Yankees beat the Indians 8-7.

1927 - The Cubs report a season’s attendance of 1,190,000 making them the first team to ever surpass 1,000,000.

1955 - Ted Williams goes 1-for-2 to raise his average for the season to .356 which is well ahead of Al Kaline’s .340 mark, but Williams doesn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title. A rule change will be made to recognize plate appearances instead of at-bats to determine the batting champion.

1961 - In front of less than 8,000 fans, Roger Maris hits his 60th home run of the season to help the Yankees beat the Orioles 3-2.

2013 - Bud Selig announces that he will step down as Commissioner at the end of the 2014 season.

Information for this article was found via Baseball Reference, NationalPastime.com and Today in Baseball History.