May 1st in baseball history

On this day in 1912, University of Michigan freshman picher George Sisler strikes out an incredible 20 batters in seven innings. Sisler will go on to serve in a chemical weapons unit commanded by Branch Rickey during World War I before an outstanding 15-year Hall of Fame career.

1951: Minnie Minoso – the first black White Sox player – hits a home run off the New York Yankee’s Vic Raschi in his first major league at bat. Raschi, who served as a physical trainer for the Army Air Force during World War II before winning 21 games three years in a row and winning six World Series, will also allow Hank Aaron’s first major league home run three years later.

In the same game, Chicago right hander Randy Gumpert (who served in the Coast Guard during World War II) watches as rookie Mickey Mantle sends his pitch sailing over the wall – the Mick’s first major league home run. Although Mantle wanted to serve in the military, an old high school football injury prevented him from joining.

Bob Feller, who served aboard the battleship USS Alabama during World War II, throws his record-setting 12th one-hitter as the Cleveland Indians shut out the Red Sox 2-0 on this day in 1955.

1959: former U.S. Army private and future Hall of Famer Early Wynn becomes a one man Army, pitching a one-hit shutout, striking out 14 batters, hitting a double, and a home run as the Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox 1-0.

And on May 1, 1991, 44-year-old Texas Ranger Nolan Ryan throws his record-setting seventh (and final) no-hitter, striking out 16 Toronto Blue Jay batters. Ryan, who shares Feller’s record of 12 career one-hitters, missed the 1967 season while serving in the Army Reserve.