What is the story about?
Free
of charge for the discerning reader. Happy birthday to Todd Hollandsworth and a mighty host of others, plus more baseball stories, including more HOFers than you can shake a stick at.
Today in baseball history:
- 1903 – On Opening Day, before 8,376 fans at Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds, the Boston Americans defeat the Philadelphia Athletics in the morning game of a Patriots’ Day twin bill, 9-4. Connie Mack‘s Athletics win the matinee match-up featuring two future Hall of Fame pitchers, 10-7, as 27,658 spectators enjoy watching starters Eddie Plank and Cy Young oppose one another.
- 1908 – Henry Chadwick dies at age 83 in Brooklyn, New York. A sportswriter and historian, Chadwick was one of the prime movers in the rise of baseball to its unprecedented popularity at the turn of the 20th century.
- 1910 – Addie Joss of the Cleveland Naps pitches his second career no-hitter. A busy Joss helps himself by recording 10 fielding assists during the 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
- 1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game in the newly-built Federal League Weeghman Park, which will be renamed “Wrigley Field” in 1926. The stadium, minus the upper deck added later, seats 14,000, but 20,000 fans are on hand.
- 1932 – The New York Yankees draw the largest paid attendance, 55,452, for any Yankee Stadium opener. Babe Ruth homers as Lefty Gomez beats Lefty Grove in the 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.
- 1933 – At the Polo Grounds, umpire Charlie Pfirman officiates in his 1,700th consecutive National League game, as Carl Hubbell leads the New York Giants to a 1-0 victory over Fred Frankhouse the Boston Braves.
- 1938 – Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians pitches the first of 12 career one-hitters, beating the St. Louis Browns, 9 0.
- 1939 – The Boston Red Sox show off their prize rookie Ted Williams before 30,278 in their opener at Yankee Stadium. After striking out twice, Williams collects a double off New York Yankees pitcher Red Ruffing, who wins 2-0. Lou Gehrig makes an error, goes hitless, and lines into two double plays in the only game featuring the two great sluggers. Other notables in what will become a historic box score include Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Red Rolfe, and losing pitcher Lefty Grove.
- 1946 – In their Opening Game at Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs are shut out by Harry Brecheen of the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0. The game is the first in Cubs history to be televised, as Bert Wilson does the play-by-play for WBKB.
- 1966 – At Connie Mack Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 399th and 400th home runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to a victory, 8-1, over the Philadelphia Phillies.
- 1967 – Tom Seaver of the New York Mets records his first major league victory with a 6-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs. Seaver goes 7.2 innings and gives up eight hits and one run.
- 1983 – George Brett belts three home runs, the last a two-run shot in the top of the ninth inning, and drives in seven runs to lead the Royals to an 8-7 victory over Detroit.
- 1988 – The Baltimore Orioles set a major league record by losing their 14th consecutive game to start the season. An 8-6 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers pushes the Orioles past the 1904 Washington Senators and the 1920 Detroit Tigers for the worst start in major league history. They will lose 21 times before recording their first win of the year.
- 2006 – Julio Franco, at 47 years, 240 days old, becomes the oldest player in major league history to hit a home run. At Petco Park, Franco connects for a two-run, pinch-hit shot off Scott Linebrink that launches the Mets’ six-run eighth inning and propells them to a 7-2 comeback victory against the Padres.
Cubs Birthdays: Todd Hollandsworth,* Mike O’Berry, Milt Wilcox, Willie Prall, Charlie Smith. Also notable: Dave Bancroft HOF.
Today in history:
- 295 – Eighth recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
- 1611 – Only documented performance of William Shakespeare‘s tragedy “Macbeth” during the playwright’s lifetime occurs at the Globe Theatre, London, in notes reviewing the play by astrologer Simon Forman.
- 1910 – Halley’s Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km.
- 1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
- 1979 – US President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a swamp rabbit that swims up to his fishing boat in Plains, Georgia.
- 1986 – Chicago Bulls forward Michael Jordan sets NBA playoff record with 63 points in a game.
- 1993 – Uranus passes Neptune (once every 171 years).
- 1999 – Columbine High School massacre.
- 2020 – Price of US oil turns negative for the first time in history; West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US oil, falls as low as minus $37.63 a barrel as worldwide demand decreases.
*pictured.
