Today marks the 76th anniversary of the highest single day total of hits in the American (or any other) League. In just six games played by the eight teams in the AL, there were an astounding 190 hits.

Only one team failed to reach double figures in hits in a game. And surprisingly, it was the Yankees who failed to do it. The same 1932 Yankees who would go 107-47 and score 1002 runs.

The hit total was helped not just by the two doubleheaders (Detroit at Boston, St. Louis at New York), but also by a single game that served as a doubleheader, an 18-inning game between the A's and Indians in Cleveland that featured 58 hits as the A's won 18-17.

Norman Macht detailed the Philadelphia-Cleveland game in an article for the SABR 38 Convention publication Batting Four Thousand: Baseball in the Western Reserve. Macht's article is entitled "Marathon at League Park."

The A's had just finished playing three consecutive doubleheaders against the White Sox in Philadelphia. They could not play home games on Sunday because of Phiadelphia blue laws, so the A's and Indians were scheduled to play one game in Cleveland on Sunday and then head back to play four in Philadelphia.

With his pitching staff tired, Mack decided to take just two pitchers to Cleveland with him: rookie Lew Krausse and veteran Ed Rommel. After Krausse gave up three runs in the first, Mack pulled him and put in Rommel. Mack had only other sub with him, his third string catcher Ed Madjeski. Second string catcher John Heving had started.

With literally no relief in sight, Rommel stayed in while the Indians battered him to the tune of 29 hits and 14 runs allowed in 17 innings of relief. And Rommel got the win as the A's held on for a win. Johnny Burnett of Cleveland got a record 9 hits in a losing cause.

Elsewhere in the AL this day, the Tigers split a doubleheader against the woeful Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Tigers won the opener 7-5 and the Red Sox took the nightcap 13-2. There were a total of 49 hits in the doubleheader.

The Browns swept a pair from the Yankees in the Bronx, winning 10-9 and 8-7 in 10 innings. There were 52 hits in this doubleheader. The Yankees 9 hit effort in the first game was the low mark for the day.

Finally, over in Washington, the Senators pounded the White Sox 13-3 with a total of 31 hits in the game. (It adds up to 190. It bet somebody else double-checked.)

The NL single day high in hits is a mere 183 in eight games played on July 21, 1963.