April 11 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS ************************************** 1921 Jim Hearn pitcher (World Series 1954 NY Giants; MLB All Star 1952) 1933 Futoshi Nakanishi HOF infielder (Nishitetsu Lions; Pacific League MVP 1956; 7×Best Nine Award) and manager (Nishitetsu Lions) 1964 Bret Saberhagen pitcher (World Series MVP 1985 Kansas City Royals; Cy Young Award 1985, 89; 3 x MLB All Star) 1980 Mark Teixeira first baseman (World Series 2009 NY Yankees; 3 × MLB All-Star; 5 × Gold Glove Award; Texas Rangers) ***************************************
This Day in Baseball History April 11th 1907 The Giants lose their home opener to the Phillies when some Polo Grounds fans flood onto the field, disrupting the game in the top of the ninth inning. After warning the growing crowd of over a thousand patrons, who continue to pour onto the field, home plate umpire Bill Klem decides enough is enough, forfeiting the game to the visiting team, 9-0. 1907 "Boy, they sure called me lots of names when I tried on those shin guards. They must have been a good idea at that, though, because they tell me catchers still wear them." - ROGER BRESNAHAN, reflecting on being the first major league catcher to wear shin guards. On Opening Day, playing against the Phillies at the Polo Grounds, Giants catcher Roger Bresnahan becomes the first player to wear shin guards in a major league game. The future Hall of Fame receiver's innovative protective device, fastened with straps and hooks, was made of leather. 1912 Rube Marquard begins a nineteen-game consecutive winning streak by beating the Dodgers, 18-3, in a game featuring 13 ground-rule doubles hit by the visitors because of the overflow crowd in the outfield and along the foul lines. The future Hall of Fame southpaw's streak will end in July when the Giants lose to Chicago at the West Side Grounds, 7-2. 1912 Redland Field, the steel and concrete ballpark named to match the team's moniker and hue, debuts with the hometown Reds beating the Cubs, 10-6. In 1934, the Cincinnati ballpark becomes known as Crosley Field, honoring the team owner Powel Crosley.
1932 The Cardinals trade future Hall of Famer Chick Hafey to the Reds for outfielder/first baseman Harvey Hendrick, right-hander Benny Frey, and cash. The former Redbird outfielder led the National League in hitting last season, batting .349 for the World Series champs. 1954 The Yankees trade two minor leaguers and rookie right-hander Mel Wright to the Cardinals for 38-year-old right-fielder Enos Slaughter. The future Hall of Fame outfielder will hit only .239 in 79 games during his first tenure with the Bronx Bombers, but Bill Virdon, one of the prospects dealt to the Redbirds, will be named the National League's Rookie of the Year in 1956.
1961 The upstart Angels, playing their first game in franchise history, defeat a strong Orioles team at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, 7-2. Ted Kluszewski homers twice, and Eli Grba tosses a complete game for Los Angeles. 1961 Red Sox rookie Carl Yastrzemski, in his major league debut, singles off Kansas City's Ray Herbert in the team's 5-2 Opening Day loss at Fenway Park. The 21-year-old left fielder from Bridgehampton, New York, will amass 3,419 hits during his 23-year Hall of Fame career with Boston. 1961 On Opening Day, the flag is hung at half-staff at Crosley Field to honor the memory of late owner Powel Crosley, Jr., who passed away two weeks earlier. The Reds, the eventual National League Champions, get off to a good start by beating Chicago, 7-1. 1961 Robin Roberts, in his twelfth-straight Opening Day start, is tagged with the loss when the Phillies lose to the Dodgers in the LA Memorial Coliseum, 6-2. The right-hander's effort ties Grover Cleveland Alexander's National League record for consecutive season openers. 1962 After being rained out the previous night and some players getting stuck in the Chase Hotel's elevator, the Mets make their National League debut in St. Louis, losing to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, 11-4. The defeat will be the first of a record-setting 120 losses the New York expansion team will suffer this season. 1963 Don Leppert, who went deep on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues playing for Pittsburgh, hits three homers in the Senators' 8-0 victory over Boston at D.C. Stadium. The catcher's solo shot in the fourth inning, three-run blast two frames later, and bases-empty round-tripper in the eighth will account for twenty percent of his four-year career total of 15 round-trippers. 1964 A small plane privately scatters the ashes of former Houston right-hander Jim Umbricht over Colt Stadium, his home ballpark with the Colt .45s for the past two seasons. The popular 33-year-old reliever, the only pitcher to post a winning record during the expansion team's first two seasons, lost his well-publicized battle to a malignant melanoma three days ago.
1966 On Opening Day at D.C. Stadium, twenty years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Emmett Ashford becomes the first black major league umpire, working third base in the Tigers' 5-2 defeat of the hometown Senators. The dapper Californian arbitrator will become well-known for his flashy style, which includes sprinting around the infield after foul balls, karate chop strike calls, and pirouetting while dusting off home plate. 1968 Detroit dramatically gets the first win of their 103 victories of their World Champion campaign. Gates Brown, pinch-hitting for Jon Warden, hits a walk-off home run leading off the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Boston at Tiger Stadium, 4-3. 1969 The Pilots, a winner on Opening Day in Los Angeles against the Angels, are victorious in their first home game in franchise history, blanking the White Sox, 7-0, at Seattle's Sicks Stadium. Gary Bell, called 'Ding Dong' by his teammates, manages to keep Chicago from scoring, although the right-hander yields nine hits and walks four batters en route to the complete-game victory. 1971 Jerry Grote hits a walk-off homer in the 11th inning off Wayne Granger at Shea Stadium. The New York catcher's game-ending round-tripper accounts for the only run scored in the Mets' 1-0 victory over Cincinnati. 1985 Cal Ripken, nursing a sprained left ankle suffered while covering second base on a pickoff play in yesterday's game against the Rangers, is ordered by the doctor not to play in today's game against the Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. The Orioles shortstop's streak of consecutive games would have ended in its infancy at 444 games without the Annapolis exhibition contest. 1990 Mark Langston, tossing seven innings in his Angel debut, and Mike Witt, author of a perfect game in 1984, combine to pitch a 1-0 Opening Day no-hitter against the Mariners at Anaheim Stadium. Dante Bichette's seventh-inning walk with the bases loaded accounts for the game's only run. 1993 When Brewer catcher Dave Nilsson catches for Graeme Lloyd, they become the first all-Australian battery in major league history. The 23-year-old backstop hails from Brisbane, Queensland, with his rookie batterymate calling Geelong, Victoria, home. 1994 In the inaugural major league game at The Ballpark in Arlington, Holly Minter, posing for a picture, is seriously injured when she slips and falls 30 feet from the upper deck in right field to the lower section of the new $189-million stadium. Reportedly, a security guard was en route to ask the 26-year-old Ranger fan to move away from the railing. 1994 The Rangers play their first major league game in The Ballpark in Arlington, losing to Milwaukee, 4-3. Texas leadoff hitter David Hulse gets the stadium's first hit, a first-frame single, and Dave Nilsson hits the first home run in the $189-million facility, a solo shot leading off the bottom of the fifth inning. 1996 Greg Maddux's major league record of road victories ends at 18 with a 2-1 loss to the Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium. The Braves right-hander was 18-0 with an ERA under one run per game in 20 regular-season road starts, dating back to July 1994. 1997 To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the integration of baseball, Sharon Robinson, Jackie's daughter, and Pumpsie Green each threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park. In 1959, Green became the first black to appear in a Red Sox uniform, making Boston the last major league team to integrate. 2000 On a cold and snowy afternoon in front of nearly 40,000 fans, the Tigers beat the Mariners, 5–2., in the first major league game at Comerica Park. Giving up two runs in six innings, Brian Moehler gets the ballpark's first victory after being the winning pitcher in the final contest at Tiger Stadium last season. 2003 In the first of its 'home' games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Expos rout David Cone and the Mets, 10-0. The Montreal franchise, now owned by major league baseball, will play 22 games in the Commonwealth this season while exploring possible new venues for the poorly-attended Canadian team. 2003 Although Dale Petroskey still would cancel the 'Bull Durham celebration due to the anti-war criticism espoused by Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, the Hall of Fame president wishes he had called the co-stars rather than just sending a letter. The decision created a firestorm, with Cooperstown receiving over 5000 emails and noted author Roger Kahn canceling his planned August appearance to speak about his new book "October Men," a work chronicling the 1978 World Champion Yankee team, as a protest. 2006 At the home opener at RFK Stadium before the hometown team's 7-1 loss to the Mets, Dick Cheney, wearing a red-and-blue Nationals jacket, becomes the eighth sitting vice president to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. After the veep hears a chorus of boos, he bounces the pitch in front of home plate when throwing the ball from the front of the pitching mound.
************************************ 2006 Bob Sheppard misses his first Yankee Stadium home opener since 1951 after sustaining a hip injury at his home yesterday. The long-time public address announcer will return to the microphone during the team's next homestand. 2006 Jeromy Burnitz, Ryan Doumit, Jack Wilson, and Craig Wilson hit solo home runs in the Pirates' 7-6 victory over the Dodgers at PNC Park. The quartet of round-trippers blasted by the Buc sluggers is each player's second homer of the season. 2008 At Minute Maid Park, the Marlins set a club record, blasting six home runs en route to a 10-6 win against the Astros. Jeremy Hermida hit a pair of round-trippers, and teammates Mike Jacobs, Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu, and Mike Rabelo contributed solo homers in Florida's fourth straight victory, matching the team's longest winning streak last season. ************************************
Aaron Judge had 321 HRs in his first 1000 games with the Yankees. Babe Ruth had 321 HRs in his first 1000 games with the Yankees.
Cowan "Bubba" Hyde, outfielder mostly for the Memphis Red Sox, was born #OTD in 1907. A 3-time All-Star, he batted .300 five times, and led the league in steals in 1942. He was a .265 hitter in 14 seasons. Today In 1989: Ken Griffey Jr. hits his first career HR with the Seattle #Mariners! The 19-year-old rookie hits it on the first pitch he ever sees at the Kingdome!
April 13 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS ************************************** 1885 Vean Gregg player 1962 Dave Miley player and manager 1963 Mark Leiter pitcher (SF Giants) 1964 Doug Strange infielder (Seattle Mariners) 1964 José Rijo, pitcher (NY Yankees, Cincinnati Reds) 1983 Hunter Pence ***************************************
This Day in Baseball History April 13th 1883 "Good ballplayers make good citizens." - Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States. Chester A. Arthur brings the Forest Cities ball club, a recently defunct franchise of the National Association, to the White House, making it the first professional team to visit with a president in Washington, D.C. Later in the season, the country's Commander-in-Chief will host the new National League's New York Gothams, who will become better known as the Giants in 1885. 1914 Major League Baseball returns to Baltimore as the first Federal League game is played with approximately 27,000 fans in attendance to watch the Terrapins beat the Buffalo Blues at Terrapin Park, 3-2. After the elimination of the hometown Orioles from the National League at the end of the 1899 season, John McGraw's club joined the new rival American League in 1901, staying in the Charm City for two seasons before moving to New York to become the Yankees, after briefly known as the Highlanders. 1921 After President Warren Harding, an avid baseball fan, tosses the ceremonial first pitch at Griffith Stadium, Washington loses to the Red Sox, 6-3. The contest marks the first time the Senators have failed in six Opening Days contests when the United States President throws out the first pitch. 1926 On Opening Day, 38-year-old Senators' hurler Walter Johnson strikes out a dozen A's batters when he outduels Eddie Rommel for 15 innings, beating Philadelphia at Washington's Griffith Stadium, 1-0. In his next-to-last season, the Big Train finishes the campaign 15-16 (.484) with an ERA of 3.63 for the fourth-place club. 1933 At Sportsman's Park in the season's second game, Browns' flycatcher Sammy West goes 6-for-6, collecting five singles and a double. The southpaw-swinging outfielder's offensive output isn't enough when the team drops a 4-3 decision to the White Sox in 11 innings. 1939 In a spring training game played in Norfolk, Virginia, Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig, with apparent muscle loss, especially around his shoulders, goes deep twice in a 14-12 exhibition loss against the Dodgers. The second and ninth-inning home runs will be the last round-trippers the Iron Horse will ever hit.
