April 22

From BR Bullpen


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Stats of players who were born this day
Stats of players who died on this day
Standings on this day
Permanent link to Today's Entry
Sources
Baseball Library Chronology
Today in Baseball History

Events, births and deaths that occurred on April 22.

[edit] Events

1876 - In the first National League game ever played, Joe Borden of the Boston Red Caps beats the hometown Philadelphia Athletics team 6 - 5.
1898 - In the same day, Ted Breitenstein of the Cincinnati Reds and Jay Hughes of the Baltimore Orioles each pitch no-hit ball games. Breitenstein against the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11 - 0, and Hughes over the Boston Beaneaters, 8 - 0.
1903:
- The American League formal Opening Day is played at Columbia Park, with the Philadelphia Athletics winning over the Boston Americans, 6 - 1, before 13,578. Rube Waddell bests Bill Dineen as AL President Ban Johnson presents the 1902 AL Championship pennant to the Athletics.
- At American League Park, the New York Highlanders lose their first game to the Washington Senators, 3 - 1, before 11,950 fans. Washington elects to bat first, but the New Yorkers score in the bottom of the opening inning to take a 1 - 0 lead. Each starter gives up six hits with Jack Chesbro, the National League's top winner last year (28-6) taking the loss. Al Orth, in his second season with Washington, is the winner.
1906 - A new baseball rule puts the umpire in sole charge of all game balls. The home team manager previously had some say as to when a new ball was introduced.
1908 - In the New York Giants home opener, 25,000 fans watch the Brooklyn Superbas take a 2 - 1 lead into the ninth inning against Christy Mathewson. But in the bottom, with Fred Tenney on first base, Mike Donlin hits a walk-off home run to give the Giants a 3 - 2 win.
1910 - The Boston Doves and Philadelphia Phillies combine for a major-league record fewest at-bats by two teams in a nine-inning game: 48 (25 for the Doves, 23 for the Phils). Boston wins 3 - 0. The mark will be tied next year and topped in the American League in 1964.
1914:
- At age 19, Babe Ruth plays his first professional game as a pitcher, as he throws a six-hit, 6 - 0 shutout for the Baltimore Orioles over the Buffalo Bisons. The second batter Ruth faces is Joe McCarthy, the manager he will play for 17 years later with the Yankees. Ruth is 2-for-4.
- In Federal League action, the Chicago Chi-Feds host the Kansas City Packers at newly built Weegham Park, on Chicago's North Side. With two home runs by Art Wilson, and a five-hitter by Claude Hendrix, the Chi-Feds coast to a 9 - 1 win before a crowd of 21,000. The name of the stadium will change to Cubs Park in time for opening day, 1920, and renamed Wrigley Field in 1920.
1915 - Pinstripes first appear on New York Yankees uniforms.
1916 - Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Jack Nabors tops the Boston Red Sox, 6 - 2. His only victory of the season evens his record at 1 - 1. Nabors will follow with 19 straight losses to set a major-league record. Teammate Tom Sheehan will be right behind him at 1 - 16.
1922 - At Sportsman's Park, Ken Williams of the St. Louis Browns hits three home runs and two singles in the Browns' 10 - 7 victory against the Chicago White Sox. Williams is the first American League player to hit three home runs in a game. Given a head start on the suspended Babe Ruth, he will take the American League home run and RBI titles and become the first 30-30 man, with 39 home runs and 37 stolen bases.
1923 - The first Sunday game at Yankee Stadium draws an estimated 60,000, but the Yankees suffer their first loss of the year, 4 - 3, to the Washington Senators.
1931 - Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees collides with Charlie Berry, Boston Red Sox catcher and former pro football player, while trying to score on a sacrifice fly. Ruth is carried off the field at Fenway Park and taken to a hospital.
1934 - Lon Warneke of the Chicago Cubs pitches his second consecutive one-hitter, beating the St. Louis Cardinals and Dizzy Dean, 15 - 2, at Sportsman's Park.
1937 - Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson are among 18 black players who jump to the Dominican Republic league. Negro League owners regard this as desertion and plan to ban the players from the league. In May, Paige will be banned for life.
1946 - Eddie Pellagrini of the Boston Red Sox hits a home run in his first major league at-bat, in a 5 - 4 Red Sox victory over the Washington Senators at Fenway Park.
1947 - Al Zarilla's single in the seventh inning is the only hit off Bob Feller as the Indians beat the Browns, 5 - 0, at Cleveland Stadium.
1955 - Though the Brooklyn Dodgers take a 3 - 0 lead into the eighth inning, their 10-game winning streak ends as the New York Giants win, 5 - 4. Don Zimmer is called out at home plate on a squeeze play by Jackie Robinson that would have tied the game.
1956 - New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen hits a grand slam off Frank Sullivan of the Boston Red Sox, as New York wins 13 - 6 at Yankee Stadium.
1957 - John Kennedy becomes the first black to play for the Philadelphia Phillies, making them the last National League team to integrate. Kennedy pinch runs for Solly Hemus in the 5 - 1 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. He will play only briefly in five games, two at third base, and will go hitless.
1959:
- The Chicago White Sox, down 6 - 1 after two innings, score 11 runs with only one hit in the seventh inning of a 20 - 6 rout of the Kansas City Athletics. Johnny Callison has the hit - a single. In the inning, Chicago is the recipient of 10 walks - five with the bases loaded - three Kansas City errors and one hit batsman. Nellie Fox collects five RBI, including two in the inning, both times by walking. He also goes 4-for-5 in the game, while Luis Aparicio is 3-for-4, including a three-run home run, and scores four runs. Jim Landis causes two outs, both on grounders to the pitcher, in the strange inning.
- At Griffith Stadium, Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees pitches a 14-inning, 1 - 0 shutout against the Washington Senators, giving up eight hits while striking out 15. The Yankees win in the first half of the 14th inning on a Moose Skowron solo home run - the longest contest in major league history ending 1 - 0 on a home run.
1960 - A record opening day crowd of 53,563 at Briggs Stadium sees the Detroit Tigers chalk up their third straight win, 6 - 5, against the Chicago White Sox. Recently acquired Rocky Colavito blasts a home run in his first at-bat with Detroit, and Eddie Yost adds a home run in the 5th inning.
1961 - At Comiskey Park, Pumpsie Green hits a home run in the 11th-inning as the Boston Red Sox snap a 13-game losing streak by edging the Chicago White Sox, 7 - 6.
1962 - The Pittsburgh Pirates win their 10th straight game, edging the New York Mets, 4 - 3, and matching the major-league record to start a season, while the Mets tie a National League record by opening 0 - 9.
1966 - The Braves win their first game in Atlanta by beating the Mets 8 - 4.
1969 - In his first major league start, Rollie Fingers of the Oakland Athletics shuts out the Minnesota Twins 7 - 0, at Metropolitan Stadium, stopping Minnesota's seven-game winning streak.
1970 - Tom Seaver of the New York Mets strikes out the last ten batters he faces in a 2 - 1 victory against the San Diego Padres. Seaver gives up only two hits and finishes with a total of 19 strikeouts, tying Steve Carlton's major league record.
1981 - Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Fernando Valenzuela pitches his third shutout in four starts, strikes out 11, and has the game's only RBI with a single in a 1 - 0 win against the Houston Astros.
1982 - The Atlanta Braves' major league record for the fastest start is stopped at 13 straight victories when they lose 2 - 1 to the Cincinnati Reds.
1985 - The Minnesota Twins collect 16 hits in a 9 - 5 victory over the Seattle Mariners. In the fourth inning, Kirby Puckett hits a three-run home run, his first homer in the majors, off Matt Young. After no homers last year, Puckett will hit four homers this season before blossoming into a power hitter with 31 next year.
1991:
- Frank Thomas is the first Chicago White Sox player to hit a home run at the New Comiskey Park. Chicago is an 8 - 7 winner over the Baltimore Orioles.
- Robby Thompson of the San Francisco Giants hits for the cycle in a 7 - 5 loss to the San Diego Padres. Thompson triples in the first inning, hits a home run in the third, singles in the sixth, and doubles in the ninth.
1993 - Chris Bosio pitches a no-hitter to give the Seattle Mariners a 7 - 0 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Bosio walks the first two batters he faces, then finishes the game by retiring the last 27 Red Sox in a row. He strikes out four in his 97-pitch gem.
1996 - John Franco of the New York Mets becomes the first left-handed pitcher to reach the 300-save plateau with a scoreless ninth inning in a 3 - 2 Mets win over the Expos at Shea Stadium.
1997 - After four months of on-and-off negotiations, the New York Yankees acquire the rights to Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu from the San Diego Padres for $3 million. Irabu's team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, gave the Padres exclusive rights to the 27-year-old righthander, but Irabu refused to sign with them, saying he would only go to the Yankees.
1998 - Chicago White Sox second baseman Ray Durham ties a major league record by reaching base on an error three times in Chicago's 14 - 7 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Durham adds three hits with four runs and two RBI. Durham is also involved in two other plays in which he advances on errors - a stolen base in which he goes to third base on a throwing error, and he triples and scores on another error.
1999 - Tampa Bay defeats Baltimore, 1 - 0, as pitchers Tony Saunders, Jim Mecir and Roberto Hernandez combine on a one-hitter. Mike Bordick's single with two outs in the eighth inning off Mecir is the only hit Baltimore hit.
2000 - The Colorado Rockies defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7 - 6. Mark McGwire and Fernando Tatis hit home runs for St. Louis as the Cardinals set a National League mark for most home runs in the month of April (42).
2007 - The Boston Red Sox complete their first sweep of the New York Yankees in Fenway Park in 17 years. Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek hit consecutive home runs, making it the fourth instance in MLB history that four straight hitters have gone deep. The victim for all four gopher balls is Chase Wright, who ties the MLB record for home runs allowed in an inning. Paul Foytack in 1963 had been the only prior pitcher to allow four straight homers in an inning.
2008 - John Smoltz becomes the 16th major league pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters. The 40-year-old Braves hurler gets Felipe Lopez swinging on a 2-2 offering in the third for his 3,000th K. He is the 6th-quickest to the mark in terms of innings pitched (3,386). Smoltz fans 10 in 7 innings in this win, showing that age has not yet caught up to him.
2009:
- Boston sweeps a day-night doubleheader with the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park. Tim Wakefield pitches a seven-inning rain-shortened complete game in the opener as the Red Sox won 10 - 1, then Brad Penny earns the 7 - 3 win in the nitecap. In the second game, in his first at-bat since being recalled from AAA to replace the injured Rocco Baldelli, Jeff Bailey hits a three-run homer off Francisco Liriano who falls to 0-4 for the year.
- There are two games in the Chinese Professional Baseball League and in both of them, one of the Chen brothers is named game MVP with 4 hits and 4 RBI apiece. Chin-Feng Chen went 4 for 6 with two doubles and 4 RBI to lead the La New Bears to a 10-3 win over the Sinon Bulls, while Lien-Hung Chen goes 4 for 5 with a double, triple and 4 RBI to power the Uni-President Lions past the Brother Elephants 17-3.