Baseball History
This Day in Baseball History
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On April 9th, 1981, as a last minute fill-in on Opening Day when scheduled starter Jerry Reuss pulled a calf muscle, Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela shut out the Astros 2-0 on five hits in his first major league start. He would go on to win eight consecutive games. In 1981, Fernando Valenzuela led the league in For context from Read more
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On April 8, 1974, In the fourth inning of the Braves home opener against the Dodgers, Hank Aaron parks an Al Downing pitch in the left-center field stands for career home run No. 715, breaking Ruth’s once thought to be unapproachable record. How good was Hank Aaron? Do the math. If a rookie starting this season hit 30 homers Read more
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On April 6th, 1982, The Minnesota Twins played their inaugural game at the brand-new Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Twins rookie Gary Gaetti had four hits with a pair of home runs, but Seattle won, 11-7. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was home to the Minnesota Twins for 27 years, from 1982-2009. I have always felt like the Read more
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On April 5th, 1979, Future Hall of Fame Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver wins his 1,000th game as a skipper. He would end up with 1480 in his career. Earl Weaver was the manager for Orioles between 1968 and 1986. I say “between” because like most managers he was fired a few times during that Read more
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On April 2nd, 1997, for the first time in Major League Baseball history, the salary of one player surpasses the payroll of an entire team. In 1997, the Chicago White Sox will pay Albert Belle $10 million for the season which is $928,333 more than the entire Pittsburgh Pirates payroll. The first officially all-professional baseball team was the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings (Reds). Read more
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On April 1st, 1997, the Padres score 11 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning en route to a 12-5 rout of the Mets. Setting a record for the most runs scored in one inning of an Opening Day contest this century. Chris Gomez, Rickey Henderson, and Quilvio Veras lead the attack with back-to-back-to-back Read more
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On April 28, 2024, the last Opening Day game for the Oakland Athletics took place between the then Oakland A’s and the Cleveland Guardians . I have been lucky enough to be in person for a few moments of Baseball History. All of them have been joyful occasions with the exception of this one, the Read more
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On September 28th, 1941, At Shibe Park, Batting .399955, Ted Williams elected to play in a doubleheader against the A’s on the final day of the season rather than to back into the a .400 average because the number would be rounded up. In game one, Williams went 4-5 against a trio of Philadelphia A’s Read more
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On September 26th, 1998, Oakland A’s Rickey Henderson swiped second and third off Steve Sparks and Phil Nevin in the bottom the third inning of the A’s 4-3 victory over the Angels. 39 year-old Rickey became the oldest player ever to steal over 50 bases and lead the league in stolen bases. Let’s face it, Read more
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