August 12 - Mickey Mantle sets switch hitting mark

This Day in Baseball - The Daily Rewind

August 12, 1912 three men attack Ty Cobb on his way to the Detroit rail station. Cobb sustains a cut on his shoulder but catches one of his attackers and pistol-whips him. To no one’s surprise, Cobb then travels to Syracuse and gets two hits in an exhibition game.

There was no joy in Mudville on August 12th, 1940 as Ernest Lawrence Thayer, author of "Casey at the Bat", dies in Santa Barbara, CA at age 77.

Cleveland and Detroit square off to decide ownership of the division lead. In a duel between the two aces‚ Bob Feller tops Hal Newhouser 8-5 and becomes the majors' first 20-game winner on August 12th, 1940.

1964 - Mickey Mantle sets a major league record hitting home runs from both sides of the plate for the 10th time in his career. Mantle hits a left-handed homer off Ray Herbert clear over the 461 ft. marker in centerfield that lands 15 rows into the bleachers, 502 ft. from the plate.

On August 12th, 1995 the Dodgers defeat the Pirates‚ 11-10 in 11 innings on the oddest play of the year. With the potential winning run at third‚ Mitch Webster of the Dodgers swings at a pitch in the dirt. Pittsburgh’s rookie catcher Angelo Encarnacion casually picked up the ball with his mask‚ leading Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda to appeal‚ citing the rule which awards a runner two bases if a fielder uses his mask to touch a thrown ball. The umpires agree and allow the winning run to score. Encarnacion is given an error.

In 1996, Geronimo Berroa hits 3 home runs in the Athletics' 11-1 win over Minnesota. He becomes the 10th player in history to have a pair of 3-homer games in the same season. Berroa accounts for 5 of Oakland's runs and Mark McGwire accounts for 4 with a pair of homers himself. McGwire‚ who missed 30 games‚ now has 41 homers on the season.