April 251901 : In the opener at Detroit’s Bennett Park, the Tigers beat Milwaukee in a great comeback. Trailing 13-4 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers scored 10 runs for a 14-13 victory. Frank Dillon had four doubles.1904 : New York pitcher Jack Chesbro recorded the first of his 41 victories on the season, an American League record that still stands.1933 : Yankees pitcher Russ Van Atta made a spectacular debut, blanking Washington 16-0 and going four for four.1976 : Cubs center fielder Rick Monday rescued the American flag from two trespassers who tried to set it on fire in the outfield of Dodger Stadium. The incident happened in the fourth inning of a 5-4, 10-inning loss to Los Angeles.1977 : The Cincinnati Reds romped to a 23-9 victory over the Braves in Atlanta. The Reds tied a National League record by scoring 12 runs in the fifth inning off three Braves pitchers. George Foster had seven RBIs, five runs scored, two home runs, a double and a single.1995 : Major League Baseball returned after a 257-day layoff as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins 8-7. Players had gone on strike the previous season.1997 : Matt Williams hit three homers and David Justice homered twice as the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers combined to match a major-league record for home runs in a nine-inning night game with 11. Cleveland hit a club-record eight in all, including three in one inning as the Indians beat the Brewers 11-4.___April 261902 — Cleveland’s Addie Joss pitched a one-hitter in his major league debut. Joss allowed a scratch single to Jessie Burkett as the Indians beat the St. Louis Browns 3-0.1905 — Jack McCarthy of the Cubs threw out three runners at the plate, each of whom became the second out of a double play. McCarthy’s defense preserved a 2-1 win over the Pirates.1941 — The Chicago Cubs became the first major league team to install an organ at their ballpark. Roy Nelson took to the keyboard and played a pregame program.1951 — Connie Marrero of Washington pitched a one-hitter for a 2-1 win over Philadelphia. The one hit was a homer by Barney McCosky. Joe Coleman, the losing pitcher served up solo homers to Mickey Vernon and Gil Coan.1952 — Detroit’s Art Houtteman had his no-hit bid broken up on a two-out ninth-inning hit by Harry Simpson but the Tigers routed the Indians 13-0.1955 — New York’s Bob Turley pitched a one-hitter and struck 10 to lead the Yankees to a 5-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.1961 — Roger Maris of the New York Yankees began his successful run at Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record with the first of his 61 homers, connecting in the fifth inning against Detroit right-hander Paul Foytack.1970 — Willie McCovey and Dick Dietz each hit grand slams as the San Francisco beat Montreal 11-1 in the first game of a doubleheader. McCovey added another homer to back Mike McCormick’s win.1980 — Steve Carlton of Philadelphia pitched the sixth one-hitter of his career against St. Louis for a National League record. The Phillies beat the Cardinals 2-0. Ted Simmons singled to lead off the second inning.1990 — Nolan Ryan tied Bob Feller’s major league record of 12 one-hitters as the Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0. Ryan struck out 16 as he allowed only Ron Kittle’s check-swing single in the second inning.1994 — Baltimore’s Brady Anderson has four extra-base hits in the Orioles’ 10-4 win over Oakland. Anderson’s two doubles and two homers came while leading off an inning.1995 — The Colorado Rockies posted an 11-9 victory over the New York Mets in 14 innings, tying the NL record for innings played in a season opener.2002 — Odalis Perez was perfect for six innings as Los Angeles beat the Cubs 10-0 at Wrigley Field, but he wound up with a one-hitter after speedy Corey Patterson beat out a bad-hop infield single leading off the seventh. Perez faced the minimum 27 batters in his first career shutout.2005 — Alex Rodriguez hit three home runs and had a career-high 10 RBIs to lead the New York Yankees over the Los Angeles Angels 12-4. Rodriguez homered in his first three at-bats, including his 11th career grand slam in the fourth.___April 271869 — Henry Chadwick published his first annual baseball handbook. The book eventually evolved into Spalding’s Official Baseball Guide.1871 — The Fort Wayne Kekiongas beat the Cleveland Forest Citys, 2-0, in the first game played in the National Association. In the 127 games during the 1871 season, there were a total of four shutouts.1910 — The Browns and Cardinals played home games in St. Louis, and President Taft, not wanting to offend either club, saw parts of each game at Robinson Field and Sportsman’s Park.1963 — Bob Shaw of the Braves set a major league record by committing five balks. In the third inning, Shaw walked Billy Williams and balked him home with three straight balks. Shaw lasted five innings before he was ejected for arguing. The Chicago Cubs beat Milwaukee, 5-3.1969 — The Houston Astros set an NL record by turning seven double plays against the San Francisco Giants. First baseman Curt Blefary participated in all seven.1975 — Bob Watson of the Houston Astros, sensing baseball history, raced around the bases on Milt May’s home run and crossed the plate at Candlestick Park in time to score major league baseball’s 1 millionth run, seconds ahead of Dave Concepcion of Cincinnati.1981 — New York’s Ron Davis struck out eight consecutive Angels in relief as the Yankees defeated California 4-2.1989 — Toronto’s Junior Felix became the 53rd player in major league history to hit a home run in his first at-bat with a third-inning drive off California’s Kirk McCaskill as the Blue Jays lost 3-2 in 10 innings.1991 — Chris James drove in nine runs with two homers and two singles, breaking Cleveland’s club record for RBIs and leading the Indians to a 20-6 victory over the Oakland Athletics.1996 — The Texas Rangers became the first American League team in 79 years to pitch consecutive one-hitters as Roger Pavlik held Detroit to a fifth-inning home run in a 3-1 win. Ken Hill one-hit Detroit on May 3, retiring the last 26 batters he faced.2001 — Raul Mondesi of the Blue Jays went 4-for-4, with two homers, two doubles and six RBIs, leading Toronto to an 8-3 victory over Seattle.2009 — The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first National League team since 1900 to win their first 11 home games, beating Arizona 7-2. The major league mark of 12, was set in 1911 by the Detroit Tigers.2011 — Atlanta’s Tim Hudson pitched a one-hitter to ruin the Milwaukee debut of Zack Greinke. The Braves rocked the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner in a 8-0 victory to complete a doubleheader sweep of the Brewers. Hudson retired his first nine hitters before Rickie Weeks led off the fourth with a double. He was the only Brewers player to reach base, also drawing a two-out walk in the ninth.___April 281901 — Cleveland pitcher Bock Baker gave up a record 23 singles as the Chicago White Sox beat the Indians 13-1.1930 — The first night game in organized baseball was played in Independence, Kan. In a Western Association game, Muskogee defeated Independence 13-3.1934 — Detroit’s Goose Goslin hit into four double plays, but the Tigers still beat Cleveland 4-1.1945 — Chicago’s Hank Wyse pitched a one-hitter over Pittsburgh for a 6-0 win. The only Pirate hit was by Bill Salkeld in the eighth inning.1956 — Cincinnati rookie Frank Robinson hit the first home run of his 586 lifetime homers in a 9-1 win over Chicago. Robinson homer came off Paul Minner in Crosley Field.1961 — Warren Spahn, at the age of 40, no-hit the San Francisco Giants 1-0 at Milwaukee.1966 — Cleveland’s Sonny Siebert defeated the Angels 2-1 as the Indians tie the modern major league record with its 10th straight win since opening day.1971 — Hank Aaron connected off Gaylord Perry for his 600th career home run in the Atlanta Braves’ 10-inning, 6-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants.1982 — Philadelphia’s Pete Rose went 5-for-5 to tie Max Carey for the NL record with nine career 5-hit games. The Phillies scored six runs in the top of the ninth to beat Los Angeles 9-3.1988 — The winless Baltimore Orioles set an American League record by losing their 21st straight, falling to the Minnesota Twins 4-2.1989 — Rickey Henderson of the New York Yankees set a major league record when he led off a game with a home run for the 36th time in his career, breaking a tie with Bobby Bonds.1989 — Toronto’s Nelson Liriano broke up a no-hitter in the ninth inning for the second time in six days ending Kirk McCaskill’s bid with a pinch-hit double. McCaskill settled for a one-hitter as California won 9-0.1999 — Colorado’s Larry Walker hit three home runs and drove in eight runs to lead the Rockies to a 9-7 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.2002 — The Angels defeat the Blue Jays 8-5 as SS David Eckstein hits a grand slam for the second day in a row a 14th inning blast off Pedro Borbon. He also homered in yesterday’s 11-4 win over Toronto. Eckstein hit eight home runs for the year.2011 — Ben Zobrist set a Tampa Bay record with eight RBIs, hitting a home run and two doubles as the Rays routed the Minnesota Twins 15-3 in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.