1869: Professional baseball was born. The Cincinnati Red Stockings played their first game as paid professionals. They clobbered the Great Western Base Ball Club 45-9.
1968: They won the league’s first title. The Pittsburgh Pipers bested the New Orleans Buccaneers 122-113 in Game Seven of the first ABA championship series. Charlie Williams notched 35 points for the Pipers.
2018: He became the newest member of the 3,000 hit club. The Angels’ Albert Pujols collected the 3,000th base hit of his career in a 5-0 win over Seattle. Pujols ended his career with 3,384 hits.
Happy birthday today to . . . former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, who’s 48, and Milwaukee Bucks point guard Kevin Porter, Junior, who’s 26.