On this day in baseball history, the 3rd in June, two events happened involving two Hall of Fame ballplayers.

Eddie Collins records 3,000th Hit:

On this day in 1925, Eddie Collins, one of the greatest second basemen of all time and also one of the smartest ballplayers of all time, entered the game playing for the White Sox at the old Navin Field in Detroit, taking on the Tigers with 2,999 career Hits. In the sixth inning, he singled to Centerfield, making him the sixth player in baseball history to eclipse the 3,000th hit milestone. Ironically, Ty Cobb was on the opposing team and was the one who scooped up the ball in Center Field.

Lou Gehrig hits Four Home Runs in a game:

Posed batting of New York Yankees Lou Gehrig, no date

On this day in 1932, at the old Shibe Park taking on the Philadelphia Athletics in Philadelphia, the Yankees were in town. On a day Tony Lazzeri hit for the cycle, he didn’t even receive the game’s headlines, Thanks to Lou Gehrig, who hit FOUR HOME RUNS in his first four At Bats. In the first inning, Gehrig hit his 1st to left-centerfield, and he hit his second in the fourth to right field. He hit it back to left-center in the fifth inning, and then in the seventh, he cleared the right field fence for his fourth of the game. Gehrig became the first player in baseball history to ever hit three home runs in one game for the fourth time. Also worth noting is that the third home run Gehrig hit was a back-to-back-to-back shot, as Earle Combs and Babe Ruth homered ahead of him.

References:

  1. Jordan, Douglas. June 3, 1925: Eddie Collins joins the 3,000-hit club via SABR: https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/june-3-1925-eddie-collins-joins-the-3000-hit-club/
  2. Huber, Mike. June 3, 1932: Lou Gehrig hits four home runs, Tony Lazzeri hits for cycle in Yankees romp via SABR: https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/june-3-1932-lou-gehrig-hits-four-home-runs-tony-lazzeri-hits-for-cycle-in-yankees-romp/