Today in Sports History: August 15

By Jonah Sharf

Today’s Blog will be presented as a “double header”

Part One

On August 15, 2011, then-Minnesota Twins slugger and baseball legend Jim Thome hit two home runs—numbers 599 and 600 of his career, to make him just the eighth player in MLB history to reach 600 career home runs. Thome joined the likes of Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Ken Griffey, Jr. among others. He wound up with 612 home runs for his career, and is still number eight on the all-time list of home run leaders. Thome was recently inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a part of the 2018 class. 

Part Two

On August 15, 2012, the Seattle Mariners’ ace Felix Hernandez threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays for the 23rd perfect game in MLB history. He was the first Mariner to throw for a perfect game, surprisingly, considering Randy Johnson spent 10 seasons with Seattle. In the outing, King Felix threw for 12 strikeouts and the Mariners won 1-0 in a pitching duel between him and the Rays’ Jeremy Hellickson. The 2012 game is still the most recent perfect game in the major leagues.