April 141910 — William Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to throw out the first ball at a baseball opener in Washington.1910 — Chicago's Frank Smith pitched a one-hitter in the season opener to give the White Sox a win over the St. Louis Browns.1915 — In the opening game at Philadelphia, left-hander Herb Pennock of the A's blanked the Red Sox 5-0. He gave up only one hit — a scratch single by Harry Hooper with two outs in the ninth.1917 — Ed Cicotte of the Chicago White Sox pitched an 11-0 no-hitter over the St. Louis Browns.1925 — The Cleveland Indians opened the season with a 21-14 victory over the St. Louis Browns, the most runs scored by one club on opening day. The Indians scored 12 runs in the eighth inning when the Browns made five errors. Browns first baseman George Sisler had four errors in the game.1967 — Boston rookie Bill Rohr lost a no-hit bid in his first major league start when Elston Howard singled in the ninth inning for the New York Yankees' only hit in a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox.1969 — The first major league game outside the United States was played in Montreal's Jarry Park with the Expos defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 8-7.1999 — John Franco struck out the side in the ninth inning of the New York Met's 4-1 win over the Florida Marlins, becoming only the second pitcher to reach 400 career saves. The only reliever with more saves than Franco is Lee Smith, who retired with 478.2005 — Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield got into a brief scuffle with a fan along the right-field fence at Fenway Park during New York's game against the Boston Red Sox.2010 — Jorge Cantu homered, making him the first player in major league history to have at least one hit and one RBI in each of his team's first nine games, and the Florida Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3.2014 — Neil Walker and Gaby Sanchez hit back-to-back homers twice, and the Pirates and Reds combined for 10 homers in only six innings before rain forced a suspension. Pittsburgh had three sets of back-to-back homers, only the third time that's happened in major league history. The NL Central rivals completed the game the next day. Andrew McCutchen doubled and came around on Russell Martin's single in the seventh inning, giving the Pirates an 8-7 win.Today's birthdays: Jacob Barnes 29; Cory Gearrin 33; Greg Maddux 53.April 151909 — Leon Ames of the New York Giants pitched a no-hitter for 9 1-3 innings on opening day and lost 3-0 to Brooklyn in 13 innings.1915 — Rube Marquard of the New York Giants no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers, winning 2-0.1947 — Jackie Robinson played his first major league game, for the Dodgers. He went 0-for-3, then scored the deciding run in a 5-3 victory over the Boston Braves in Brooklyn. He was the first black to appear in the majors since 1884.1957 — President Eisenhower officially opened the 1956 season by tossing out the first ball at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. The ball was the 10 millionth Spalding baseball to be used in major league play.1958 — Major league baseball came to California as the transplanted Giants and Dodgers played the first game on the Pacific Coast. Playing in Seals Stadium in San Francisco, Ruben Gomez blanked Los Angeles 8-0.1968 — Houston and the New York Mets played 24 innings in a night game in the Astrodome before the Astros won 1-0. The game lasted more than six hours.1976 — New York opened the refurbished Yankee Stadium with an 11-4 rout of the Minnesota Twins.1987 — Juan Nieves threw the first no-hitter in Brewers history as Milwaukee beat Baltimore 7-0.1993 — Sparky Anderson earned his 2,000th victory as a manager as the Detroit Tigers rallied to beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2.1993 — Andre Dawson became the 25th player to hit 400 home runs as the Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3.1998 — The first AL-NL doubleheader is held in New York's Shea Stadium as the New York Yankees beat the Anaheim Angels 6-3 and the New York Mets edge the Chicago Cubs 2-1. The Yankees draw a crowd of 40,743, a dramatic contrast to the gathering of 16,012 who show up for the Mets game at night.2000 — Cal Ripken became the 24th player to reach 3,000 hits when he lined a clean single to center off Twins reliever Hector Carrasco. He reached the milestone with his third hit of a 6-4 victory over Minnesota at the Metrodome. Ripken became the seventh player in major league history to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.2006 — Eric Chavez, Frank Thomas, and Milton Bradley all homered on consecutive pitches in Oakland's 5-4 victory over Texas.2009 — Ian Kinsler of Texas became the fourth player in team history to hit for the cycle and was 6-for-6 in the Rangers' 19-6 win over Baltimore.2011 — Texas tied an AL record by turning six double plays and the Rangers picked up where they left off last October, beating the New York Yankees 5-3. This was the 15th time an AL team made six DPs in a game. The major league mark for double plays in a game is seven by San Francisco in 1969.Today's birthdays: Danny Jansen 24; Trev Wingenter 25; Adeiny Hechavarria 30.April 161929 — Cleveland's Earl Averill became the first American League player to hit a home run in his first major league plate appearance. The Indians won the game 5-4 in 11 innings on Carl Lind's double.1935 — Babe Ruth, 40, made a sensational National League debut in Boston. His single and homer off Carl Hubbell led the Braves over the Giants 4-2.1940 — Bob Feller of Cleveland defeated the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in the only opening day no-hitter in major league history.1948 — WGN-TV televised a baseball game for the first time. It was an exhibition game at Wrigley Field with Jack Brickhouse doing the play-by-play. The White Sox defeated the Cubs 4-1.1972 — Burt Hooton of the Cubs no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 at Wrigley Field.1972 — San Francisco's Dave Kingman hit for the cycle in a 10-6 win against the Houston Astros at the Astrodome.1978 — Bob Forsch of the St. Louis Cardinals no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0. Less than a year later, Bob's brother Ken of the Houston Astros pitched a no-hitter against Atlanta. They are the only brothers to throw no-hitters.1984 — Dave Kingman of the Oakland A's hit three home runs, including a grand slam, in his first three at-bats. In total, he drove in eight runs in a 9-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners.1989 — Toronto's Kelly Gruber hit for the cycle as the Blue Jays pound the Kansas City Royals 15-8. Gruber, who drove in six runs, became the first player in franchise history to hit for the cycle.1997 — The Chicago Cubs set the mark for worst start in National League history, making three more errors as they extended their losing streak to 12 with a 4-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Chicago broke the modern NL record of 0-10 set by Atlanta in 1988 and the overall NL record of 0-11 by the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.2005 — Toronto's Reed Johnson was hit by a major league record-tying three pitches — two with the bases loaded — in the Blue Jays' 8-0 victory over Texas.2007 — The Cleveland Indians became the first team in nearly 55 years to win a game with their only hit coming in their first at-bat. Grady Sizemore led off Cleveland's 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox with a double.2009 — Grady Sizemore hit a grand slam and Cleveland ruined the first game at the new Yankee Stadium by beating New York 10-2.Today's birthdays: Albert Almora 25; Keone Kela 26; Nolan Arenado 28; Travis Shaw 29; Richard Bleier 32.April 171892 — In the first Sunday game in National League history, Cincinnati defeated St. Louis 5-1.1924 — Baby Doll Jacobson of the St. Louis Browns hit for the cycle in a 6-3 loss at the Chicago White Sox.1932 — New York first baseman Bill Terry tied an NL record with 21 putouts as the Giants beat Boston 5-0 behind Hal Schumacher's two-hitter.1951 — In his first major league game, Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4 as the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-0.1953 — Mickey Mantle cleared the bleachers at Griffith Stadium with a 565-foot home run off Chuck Stobbs. The shot came in the fifth inning of a 7-3 win over the Senators.1964 — The New York Mets lost their first game at Shea Stadium to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3. Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell hit the first homer at Shea.1969 — Montreal's Bill Stoneman pitched a 7-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 10th game of the Expos' existence. Rusty Staub hit a home run with three doubles and drove in three runs to back Stoneman's gem at Connie Mack Stadium.1976 — Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hit four consecutive home runs and a single in an 18-16, 10-inning victory over the Cubs in Wrigley Field. Hitting .167 going into the game, he connected twice off Rick Reuschel, once off Rick's brother, Paul, and once off Darold Knowles. He drove in eight runs.2001 — Barry Bonds became the 17th major leaguer to hit 500 home runs. Bonds' two-run, eighth-inning drive off Terry Adams went into San Francisco Bay to lead the Giants over the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2.2008 — Troy Tulowitzki's RBI double with two outs in the 22nd inning scored Willy Taveras and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 2-1 in the longest game in the majors in nearly 15 years, a 6-hour, 16-minute marathon.2009 — Jason Kubel completed the ninth cycle in Twins history with a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning that helped Minnesota to an 11-9 victory over the Angels.2010 — Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the first no-hitter in the Colorado Rockies' 18-year history, dominating the Atlanta Braves in a 4-0 victory. Jimenez (3-0) walked six — all in the first five innings. He was helped by Dexter Fowler's diving backhanded catch in left-center field in the seventh inning.2009 — Gary Sheffield of the New York Mets became the 25th member of the 500- home run club. Sheffield delivered a pinch-hit homer off the Milwaukee's Mitch Stetter in the seventh inning to tie the score 4-4. It is Sheffield's first home run for the New York Mets, after having been released in spring training by the Detroit Tigers. The Mets beat the Brewers 5-4, on Luis Castillo's ninth inning two-out single.2010 — Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies pitched the first no-hitter in franchise history for a 4-0 win over the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. Jimenez struck out seven and walked six, all in the first five innings. Jimenez, who had an RBI single in the fourth inning, was helped by a spectacular diving catch of a Troy Glaus line drive by Dexter Fowler in the seventh inning.Today's birthdays: Deolis Guerra 30; Jed Lowrie 35.April 181899 — John McGraw, only 26, made his managerial debut with the Orioles. He led them to a 5-3 victory over the New York Giants, a team he later managed for more than 30 years.1916 — Philadelphia's Grover Alexander pitched his first of 16 shutouts of the season with a win over the Boston Braves.1923 — In the first game played in Yankee Stadium, a record crowd of 72,400 watched Babe Ruth lead the Yankees to victory over the Red Sox with a home run.1945 — In his major league debut, one-armed outfielder Pete Gray got one hit in four at-bats in the St. Louis Browns' 7-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.1950 — The first opening night game was held in St. Louis. The Cardinals, behind a complete game by Gerry Staley and home runs from Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2.1970 — Nolan Ryan of the New York Mets allowed one hit — a leadoff single by Denny Doyle — and struck out 15 for a 7-0 win over Philadelphia.1982 — The Atlanta Braves defeated the Astros 6-5 in Houston to set a National League record as they won their 11th straight game to start the season.1987 — Philadelphia's Mike Schmidt hit his 500th home run with two outs in the ninth to rally the Phillies to an 8-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.1994 — Tim Raines hit three homers as the Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox 12-1 at Fenway Park. Raines hit solo homers leading off the first and third innings and a two-run drive in the eighth. He also walked, singled and reached on an error in the ninth. Raines scored five runs and drove in four.2000 — Adam Kennedy tied a club record with eight RBIs and came within a double of the cycle as the Anaheim Angels defeated Toronto 16-10. A hot dog promotion at the SkyDome went awry as fans got splattered with bits of wiener when they fell apart in midair after being shot from the "Hot Dog Blaster." Although the hot dogs repeatedly disintegrated, promoters continued shooting them into the stands.2007 — Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox faced the minimum 27 batters in a 6-0 no-hit victory over the Texas Rangers. Buehrle walked Sammy Sosa with one out in the fifth, then promptly picked him off first base.2009 — Asdrubal Cabrera and Mark DeRosa went a combined 8-for-13, with 11 RBIs in Cleveland's 22-4 victory against New York at Yankee Stadium. The Indians put together the first record-setting performance in the new Yankee Stadium, scoring 14 runs in the second inning — the most ever allowed by New York in an inning.Today's birthdays: Henderson Alvarez 29; Evan Marshall 29; Miguel Cabrera 36.April 191900 — The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Braves 19-17 in 10 innings to set a major league record for most runs scored by two clubs on opening day. The Braves scored nine runs in the ninth inning to put the game into extra innings.1920 — Al Schacht, who later became the "Clown Prince of Baseball," was all business as he pitched the Senators to a 7-0 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.1935 — Cy Blanton threw a one-hitter to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field. Blanton, who also gave up a walk, gave up a second-inning single to Spud Davis.1938 — Emmett Mueller of the Phillies and Ernie Koy of the visiting Dodgers each homered in their first major league at-bats as Brooklyn defeated Philadelphia 12-5.1956 — The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 in 10 innings at Jersey City's Roosevelt Stadium, the first major league game held in New Jersey.1981 — In an International League night game, the Rochester Red Wings and Pawtucket Red Sox played to a 2-2 tie through 32 innings before play was suspended at 4:07 a.m. The game was completed later in the season with Pawtucket scoring the winning run in the 33rd inning of the longest game in professional baseball history.1987 — Rob Deer hit a three-run homer to tie the score and Dale Sveum won the game with a two-run shot as the Milwaukee Brewers rallied for five runs in the ninth inning to beat the Texas Rangers 6-4 and set an American League record with their 12th straight victory to start the season.1996 — Juan Gonzalez homered and drove in six runs as Texas beat Baltimore 26-7. The Rangers scored 16 runs in the eighth inning — one short of the modern major league mark — and scored the most runs by an AL team in 41 years.2004 — Seattle became the third team since 1974 to win a game on a balk in extra innings edging the Oakland 2-1. With runners on first and third and two out in the bottom of the 14th inning A's reliever Justin Duchscherer was called for a balk to score Quentin McCracken from third.2012 — Curtis Granderson hit three home runs in the first four innings and matched a career high with five hits, sending the New York Yankees to a 7-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins.2012 — The Houston Astros set a franchise record by hitting three triples in a five-run first inning on the way to an 11-4 victory over Washington. Jose Altuve, Brian Bogusevic and Matt Downs had the triples off Edwin Jackson.Today's birthdays: Jackie Bradley 28; Brian Flynn 29; Zach Duke 36.April 201910 — Addie Joss of Cleveland pitched the second no-hitter of his career, a 1-0 win over the White Sox in Chicago. An official scoring change aided Joss. In the second inning Freddy Parent lightly topped a ball to Cleveland third baseman Bill Bradley. Bradley raced toward the ball, juggled it and failed to get Parent before he crossed first base. The initial ruling on the play was a base hit, but the official scorer later changed it to an error on Bradley. Joss allowed two walks and fielded ten balls from the mound and earned ten assists.1912 — Fenway Park was opened in Boston and the Red Sox defeated the visiting New York Highlanders, later known as the Yankees, 7-6 in 11 innings. Tiger Stadium in Detroit also opened its doors as the Tigers defeated the Cleveland Indians 6-5.1916 — The Chicago Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park — renamed Wrigley Field in 1926 — defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings.1920 — Manager Gavvy Cravath of the Philadelphia Phillies inserted himself as a pinch hitter and beat the New York Giants with a three-run homer, 3-0. It was his last home run in the majors.1937 — Gee Walker hit for the cycle on opening day to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 4-3 win over Cleveland.1938 — Cleveland's Bob Feller pitched the first of 12 career one-hitters, beating the St. Louis Browns 9-0.1939 — In his first major league game, Ted Williams hit a 400-foot double in four at-bats as the Boston Red Sox lost 2-0 to New York at Yankee Stadium.1967 — Tom Seaver of the New York Mets recorded his first major league victory with a 6-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs. Seaver went 7 2-3 innings and gave up eight hits and one run.1982 — The Atlanta Braves recorded their 12th consecutive victory from the beginning of the season — a 4-2 decision over Cincinnati in Atlanta — and eclipsed the major league record set a year earlier by the Oakland A's.1988 — The Baltimore Orioles set a major league record with their 14th straight defeat at the start of the season, losing to the Milwaukee Brewers 8-6.1997 — The Chicago Cubs stopped their season-opening losing streak at 14 games, rallying in the sixth inning to beat the New York Mets 4-3 in the second game of a doubleheader. The Mets won the opener 8-2. Chicago's 0-14 start set a National League record and was the second worst behind the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who began 0-21.2006 — Julio Franco became the oldest player in major league history to hit a home run when he hit a two-run, pinch-hit shot in the eighth inning to help the New York Mets rally for a 7-2 win over San Diego. Franco, 47, replaced Athletics pitcher Jack Quinn in the record book who was 46 years, 357 days old when he homered on June 27, 1930.2007 — Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with two home runs in a 7-6 loss to Boston and joined Mike Schmidt, who hit 12 homers in the first 15 games in 1976, as the fastest to reach a dozen in baseball history.2012 — Drew Stubbs had three hits and drove in three runs to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 9-4 win over the Chicago Cubs — the 10,000th victory in franchise history.Today's birthday: Drew Robinson 27; Brandon Belt 31.END ADV