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Associated Press 11y

This Date In Baseball

MLB, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals

Compiled By PAUL MONTELLA

By The Associated Press

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.

Today's birthdays: Cory Gearrin 27; Chris Leroux 29; Kyle Farnsworth 37.

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 24; Chris Tillman 25; John Danks 28.

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.

Today's birthday: Paco Rodriguez 22.

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.

Today's birthday: Jed Lowrie 29; Ryan Raburn 32.

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 23; Billy Butler 27; Miguel Cabrera 30; Alberto Gonzalez 30.

April 19

1900 -- 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.

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 23; Alberto Callaspo 30; Joe Mauer 30; Zach Duke 30.

April 20

1910 -- Addie Joss of Cleveland pitched the second no-hitter of his career, a 1-0 win over the White Sox in Chicago.

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. Walker hit the cycle in reverse order: home run, triple, double, single.

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.

1990 -- Seattle's Brian Holman lost his bid for baseball's 13th perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning on Ken Phelps' pinch-hit home run in the Mariners' 6-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

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.

2001 -- Carlos Delgado of the Blue Jays hit three homers for the second time this season, as Toronto beat the Kansas City Royals 12-4.

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: Brandon Belt 25.

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