Compiled By PAUL MONTELLA
April 12
1906 -- Johnny Bates of Boston became the first modern player to hit a home run in his first major league at bat. Irv Young allowed one hit as Boston beat Brooklyn 2-0.
1912 -- The Chicago Cubs' Tinker-Evers-Chance double play combination played its final major league game together.
1955 -- In their first game in Kansas City, the transplanted Athletics defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-2 at Municipal Stadium. The standing-room crowd of 32,147 was the largest paid crowd for any event in Kansas City.
1965 -- The first National League home run in the Houston Astrodome was hit by Richie Allen of the Philadelphia Phillies off Bob Bruce in a 2-0 victory over the Astros.
1966 -- A crowd of 50,671 welcomed the Braves to Atlanta, but Willie Stargell spoiled the occasion with a two-run homer in the 13th inning to give the Pirates a 3-2 victory.
1980 -- In an awesome display of power, Cecil Cooper and Don Money each hit grand slams in the second inning of Milwaukee's 18-1 rout of the Boston Red Sox.
1992 -- Boston's Matt Young pitched eight no-hit innings at Cleveland but lost 2-1. In the second game, the Indians managed only two hits off Roger Clemens to set a major league record for fewest hits (2) in a doubleheader.
1994 -- Scott Cooper hit for the cycle and drove in five runs to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 22-11 rout of the Kansas City Royals.
2003 -- The Detroit Tigers won for the first time this season, getting a three-run homer from Shane Halter to beat the White Sox 4-3. The Tigers (1-9), the only team since 1900 to start back-to-back seasons with nine straight losses, started 0-11 last season.
2011 -- Dan Haren pitched a one-hitter, allowing only Shin-Soo Choo's clean single in the fourth inning, and the Los Angeles Angels beat Cleveland 2-0. Haren struck out eight and walked two in his third major league shutout. Choo's single to center field came with one out in the fourth.
Today's birthdays: Brad Brach 29; Justin Ruggiano 33; Hisashi Iwakuma 34.
April 13
1914 -- The first Federal League game was played in Baltimore and the Terrapins defeated Buffalo, 3-2, behind Jack Quinn. A crowd estimated at 27,000 stood 15 rows deep in the outfield to witness the return of big league baseball to Baltimore.
1933 -- Sammy West of St. Louis went 6-for-6 in an 11-inning win over the Chicago White Sox. He had five singles and a double off Ted Lyons.
1953 -- For the first time in half a century, a new city was represented in the American or National leagues. The Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee and opened in Cincinnati, where Max Surkont set down the Reds, 2-0.
1954 -- Henry Aaron made his major league debut in left field for the Milwaukee Braves and went 0-for-5 in a 9-8 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Cincinnati's Jim Greengrass hit four doubles in his first major league game.
1963 -- Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds tripled off Pittsburgh's Bob Friend for his first major league hit.
1972 -- The first player strike in baseball history ended.
1984 -- Pete Rose got his 4,000th hit, a double off Philadelphia pitcher Jerry Koosman. The hit came exactly 21 years after his first hit.
1987 -- The San Diego Padres set a major league record when the first three batters in the bottom of the first inning hit homers off San Francisco starter Roger Mason in their home opener. The Padres, trailing 2-0, got homers from Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk.
1993 -- Lee Smith became the all-time saves leader as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-7. Smith got his 358th save, surpassing Jeff Reardon of the Cincinnati Reds.
1999 -- Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez drove in nine runs in the Rangers' 15-6 victory at Seattle. Rodriguez hit a three-run homer in the first, a two-run single in the second and his first career grand slam in the third as Texas took a 13-0 lead.
2004 -- San Francisco's Barry Bonds hit his 661st homer, passing Willie Mays to take sole possession of third place on baseball's career list.
2006 -- Cody Ross hit a grand slam and a three-run homer to help Los Angeles beat Pittsburgh 13-5.
2007 -- Carlos Lee hit three homers, including a grand slam, and drove in six runs, helping Houston to a 9-6 win at Philadelphia.
2008 -- Joe Crede and Paul Konerko each hit grand slams for the White Sox against the Tigers, the third time Chicago has had multiple grand slams in the same game in its history.
2009 -- Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle as Los Angeles beat Randy Johnson and San Francisco 11-1.
2009 -- Chicago's Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko reached 300 career homers with consecutive drives in the second inning of the White Sox's 10-6 win over Detroit. They became the first teammates to hit century milestone home runs of at least 300 in the same game.
2009 -- Jody Gerut christened the Mets' new home, Citi Field, with a leadoff homer in San Diego's 6-5 win over New York. Gerut's shot off Mike Pelfrey marked the first time in history that the first batter homered in a regular-season opener at a major league ballpark.
2011 -- A federal jury convicted Barry Bonds of a single charge of obstruction of justice, but failed to reach a verdict on the three counts at the heart of allegations that he knowingly used steroids and human growth hormone and lied to a grand jury about it.
2012 -- Matt Cain threw a one-hitter, allowing only a single by Pittsburgh pitcher James McDonald in the sixth inning during a near-perfect performance as the San Francisco Giants beat the Pirates 5-0 in their home opener.
2012 -- Aaron Harang set a Dodgers record with nine consecutive strikeouts, one short of the major league mark, and Los Angeles beat San Diego 9-8 on four straight walks in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Padres struck out 18 times, tying the most by a Dodgers pitching staff for a nine-inning game. Still, Los Angeles blew an 8-3 lead. San Diego's Chase Headley hit a tying, two-run homer with two outs in the ninth off Kenley Jansen.
2014 -- Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Raul Ibanez hit consecutive home runs off Bartolo Colon in the first inning, setting the tone for the Los Anegels Angels' 14-2 rout of the New York Mets.
Today's birthday: Lorenzo Cain 29; Hunter Pence 32; Steve Pearce 32.
April 14
1910 -- 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.
1999 -- Jose Canseco became the 28th player in major league history to reach the 400 home run plateau. He hit a 386-foot shot in the third inning of Tampa Bay's 7-6 loss to Toronto.
2001 -- The Cincinnati Reds set a modern National League record by scoring in their 175th consecutive game by shutting out the New York Mets 1-0.
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 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.
April 15
1909 -- Leon Ames of the New York Giants pitched a no-hitter for 9 1-3 innings on opening day, but 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, but 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-ever 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 in a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins and became the seventh player in major league history to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.
2005 -- Aaron Heilman pitched a one-hitter in the New York Mets' 4-0 victory over Florida.
2006 -- Eric Chavez, Frank Thomas, and Milton Bradley all homered on consecutive pitches in Oakland's 5-4 victory over Texas.
2008 -- Jose Lopez became the 12th player in major league history to hit three sacrifice flies in a game, and the Seattle Mariners tied the team record for five sac flies in an 11-6 victory over Kansas City.
2009 -- Ian Kinsler of Texas became the fourth player in team history to hit for the cycle, and was 6-for-6 in Texas' 19-6 win over Baltimore.
2010 -- Florida's Jorge Cantu extended his major league season-opening record to 10 games with a hit in a 10-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
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.
2011 -- Brennan Boesch hit a go-ahead two-run double with the bases loaded in the 10th inning and Detroit rallied to beat Oakland 8-4 for manager Jim Leyland's 1,500th career win. Leyland became the 19th major league manager to reach 1,500 wins, doing so on his first attempt.
Today's birthdays: Adeiny Hechavarria 26; Chris Tillman 27; John Danks 30.
April 16
1929 -- 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.
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.
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.
2002 -- Lance Berkman homered in his first three at-bats and drove in five runs in Houston's 8-3 victory over Cincinnati.
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.
2006 -- Albert Pujols hit three home runs, including a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth, to give St. Louis an 8-7 win over Cincinnati.
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.
2014 -- Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda pitched the New York Yankees to a 3-0, 2-0 sweep of the Chicago Cubs in a chilly day-night-doubleheader. The Yankees had not won by shutout twice in one day since April 9, 1987, against Kansas City. No team in the major leagues had done it since Minnesota swept Oakland on June 26, 1988.
Today's birthdays: Nolan Arenado 24; Paco Rodriguez 24.
April 17
1892 -- In the first Sunday game in National League history, Cincinnati defeated St. Louis 5-1.
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 -- Bill Stoneman of Montreal pitched a 7-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 10th game of the Expos' existence.
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.
2006 -- Albert Pujols of St. Louis tied a major-league record with a home run in his fourth consecutive at-bat in a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh. A day after hitting three homers, Pujols homered to center off Paul Maholm in the top of the first to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
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.
2008 -- Chipper Jones, Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann hit consecutive home runs in a span of 12 pitches in the fifth inning off Florida's Ricky Nolasco in Atlanta's 8-0 win.
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.
2010 -- Jose Reyes hit a sacrifice fly in the 20th inning and the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in the longest game in the majors in two years. Jeff Francoeur also had a sacrifice fly for New York in the 19th inning, snapping a scoreless tie, but Yadier Molina singled in Albert Pujols with two out in the bottom half. St. Louis left the bases loaded in the 10th, 12th and 14th and stranded 22 runners, including 14 in extra innings.
2012 -- Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher to ever win a major league game. The 49-year-old Moyer threw seven masterful innings and Dexter Fowler hit a two-run homer, helping the Colorado Rockies hold on for a 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres. Moyer picked up his 268th career win, tying him with Hall of Famer Jim Palmer for 34th on the career list.
2014 -- Major League Baseball suspended Seattle Mariners first baseman Ji-Man Choi 50 games following a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance.
Today's birthday: Dan Jennings 28; Jed Lowrie 31; Ryan Raburn 34.
April 18
1899 -- 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.
1997 -- Roger Pavlik of the Rangers became the first AL pitcher to walk the first four batters of the game in a 6-5 loss to Toronto.
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.
2005 -- The New York Yankees scored 13 runs in the second inning of a 19-8 win over Tampa Bay. The last time New York scored 13 runs in an inning was June 21, 1945, in the fifth inning of a 14-4 victory at Boston.
2005 -- Tim Hudson outpitched Roger Clemens, and rookie Ryan Langerhans had a pinch-hit homer in the 12th inning to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros.
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 25; Billy Butler 29; Miguel Cabrera 32.
End Adv