[The following material is reprinted with permission from Dan Schlossberg's Baseball Gold: Mining Nuggets from Our National Pastime, a $14.95 paperback published in March 2007 by Triumph Books. Copies may be ordered from www.triumphbooks.com.]
OPENING DAY
By Dan Schlossberg
Memorable moments from Opening Day games:
- 1900 - Phils beat Braves, 19-17 in 10 innings, in highest-scoring opener
- 1910 - William Howard Taft becomes the first president to throw out the first ball and watches Washington's Walter Johnson one-hit the A's, 3-0
- 1912 - Bosox need 11 innings to top Yanks 7-6 in first Fenway opener
- 1923 - Ruth homer helps Yanks top Bosox, 4-1, in Yankee Stadium bow
- 1925 - Indians score 12 runs in eighth inning to win opener from Browns, 21-14
- 1925 - Giants beat Dodgers, 7-1, in Brooklyn opener saddened by death of Dodger owner Charles H. Ebbets earlier that morning at Waldorf-Astoria apartment
- 1935 - In NL debut, Ruth's HR vs Hubbell helps Braves beat Giants, 4-2
- 1940 - Cleveland ace Bob Feller no-hits White Sox, 1-0 at Comiskey Park
- 1946 - Mel Ott hits last career homer vs Phils' Oscar Judd at Polo Grounds
- 1947 - Jackie Robinson breaks color line when he plays for Brooklyn at Ebbets Field
- 1950 - Red Sox blow 9-0 lead to Yanks and lose 14-10 in Billy Martin's debut as player (he becomes first rookie to get two hits in an inning)
- 1958 - At Seals Stadium, San Francisco, Giants' Ruben Gomez blanks Dodgers' Don Drysdale, 8-0, in first California contest
- 1961 - Rookie Carl Yastrzemski gets first of 3,318 career hits for Bosox
- 1974 - Atlanta's Hank Aaron hits three-run, first-inning homer vs Jack Billingham in Cincinnati to tie Babe Ruth's record of 714 home runs
- 1975 - Cleveland player-manager Frank Robinson not only becomes first black manager but homers to lead 5-3 win over Yankees at Municipal Stadium
- 1985 - Tom Seaver makes record 15th Opening Day start while working for the White Sox vs Milwaukee Brewers [Seaver adds a 16th Opening Day start later]
- 1988 - Toronto's George Bell is first man to hit three home runs on Opening Day
- 1992 - Baltimore's Rick Sutcliffe beats Indians, 2-0, in first Camden Yards game
- 1993 - Rangers' Nolan Ryan, 46, is oldest Opening Day starter
- 1999 - Rockies beat Padres, 8-2, in Monterrey, Mexico - first opener not in USA or Canada
- 2000 - Cubs beat Mets 5-3 at Tokyo Dome in Japan - first opener outside North America
- 2001 - Blue Jays beat Rangers, 8-1, while starting season in San Juan, Puerto Rico
