This day in baseball: Cunningham’s wild pitch record

In a Players’ League game between the Buffalo Bison and the Chicago Pirates on September 15, 1890, Bison pitcher Bert Cunningham threw five wild pitches in the first inning at South Side Park. This performance established a dubious regular-season record, which would later be matched by Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel during a 2000 playoff game against the Mets.

Cunningham was nevertheless inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 1996.

Bert Cunningham with the Louisville Colonels, 1897 (public domain)

This day in baseball: Carl Weilman strikes out 6 times

On July 25, 1913, Carl Weilman became the first player ever recorded to strike out six times in a single game. The St. Louis Browns’ 23-year-old lefty entered the game in relief with one out in the first inning, pitching the rest of the contest. Weilman accomplished the dubious strikeout feat over the course of 15 innings at Griffith Stadium against the Senators, and the game ended in an 8-8 tie.

Carl Weilman, 1915 (public domain)