On This Day in Baseball: A Historic Home Run Hitting Match-up

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

With Major League Baseball continuing to scuffle on returning to play let's continue to look into the past and bring us some positive memories of the game we love so much.

On this day in 1970, it was a match-up of epic proportions as the San Francisco Giants played host to the Chicago Cubs. You might be thinking to yourself, "What's so epic about two average teams squaring off 50 years ago?"

That's a great question because during that season the Cubs finished 2nd in the National League East at 84-78 while the Giants finished 3rd in the National League West Division at 86-76. The main reason this match-up was so epic was that it featured Willie Mays for San Francisco and Ernie Banks for Chicago.

When this game happened Mays sat at 615 homers while Banks had clubbed 504 dingers in his career. During this series, both guys hit home runs and this marked the first time that two guys competed against one another who each had hit more than 500 home runs in their careers.

Banks didn't hit many more after that series as he finished his career with 512 career round-trippers and Willie Mays completed his career with 660 long balls in his illustrious career. Ernie played until 1971 and Willie played until 1973.

Both guys are enshrined in Cooperstown, both Mays and Banks were two-time MVPs.

The Baltimore Orioles won the World Series that season in 1970 defeating the Cinncinatti Reds in five games.

For all my sports posts and to hear my inner sports thoughts, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook