April 7
1925 — Babe Ruth collapsed in a railroad station in Asheville, N.C. He would be hospitalized in New York and operated on 10 days later for an ulcer.
1964 — Shea Stadium in New York opened for the first regular season game. The Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3.
1969 — The Yankees spoiled the managerial debut of Ted Williams by defeating the Senators 8-4 in the opener at Washington’s RFK Stadium. President Nixon and a crowd of 45,000 attended.
1969 — Dodgers relief pitcher Bill Singer was credited with the first official save. Los Angeles beat Cincinnati, 3-2. The game started with Cincinnati’s Pete Rose hitting Don Drysdale’s first pitch for a home run. Drysdale threw his next pitch to Bobby Tolan and Tolan hit it for a home run. After the first two pitches, Drysdale settled down and threw a shutout.
1970 — Three weeks after moving from Seattle to Milwaukee, the former Pilots played their first game as the Brewers and lost 12-0 to the visiting California Angels.
1973 — Cleveland set an attendance record for day games and opening-day games by attracting 74,420 fans. The Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1.
1977 — The expansion Toronto Blue Jays began their major league odyssey with a 9-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium. Al Woods, pinch hitting for Steve Bowling in the fifth inning, became the 11th pinch hitter with a home run in his first at-bat.
1979 — Ken Forsch of the Houston Astros pitched a no-hitter against Atlanta to duplicate the no-hitter tossed by his brother Bob of the Cardinals against the Phillies on April 16, 1978. They are the first brothers to pitch no-hitters.
1984 — Detroit’s Jack Morris pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox despite giving up six walks. It was the first Tigers no-hitter since Jim Bunning’s in 1958.
1987 — Atlanta’s Rick Mahler pitched his third opening day shutout tying an NL record.
1988 — Cincinnati Reds rookie third baseman Chris Sabo ties a major league record with eleven assists in one game.
1998 — On the same day that Major League Baseball returned to Wisconsin 28 years earlier, National League baseball returns to Milwaukee for the first time in 32 years.
2000 — The Tampa Bay Devil Rays retire uniform number 12 in honor of Wade Boggs. Although the former Red Sox and Yankees third baseman only spent two seasons with Tampa Bay, he hit the franchise’s first home run and became the 23rd member of the 3,000-Hit Club as a member of the team.
2003 — Seven months before a November deadline, the Boston Red Sox exercise their 2004 contract option on Pedro Martinez, making him the highest-paid pitcher for a season in major league history.
2012 — J.D. Martinez homered and drove in three runs and Houston beat 49-year-old Jamie Moyer and Colorado 7-3. Moyer became the oldest player to appear in a game since 1980, when 54-year-old Minnie Minoso played in a game for the White Sox. Moyer became the second-oldest pitcher to start a major-league game and was the oldest starting pitcher ever on a team’s opening-day roster.
2013 — Will Middlebrooks hit three home runs and the Boston Red Sox roughed up Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, routing the Toronto Blue Jays 13-0.
2013 — Matt Cain became the first Giants pitcher to allow nine runs in an inning since 1902 when Matt Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals tagged him in a 14-3 romp over San Francisco.
2022 — Opening Day of the 2022 season is finally here, having been delayed by a week by the 2021-2022 lockout.
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