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 major league baseball to Baltimore.
1921 — With new U.S. President Warren G. Harding, former president Woodrow Wilson, and VP Calvin Coolidge watching, the Washington Senators lose their home opener, 6-3, to the Boston Red Sox.
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 — Montreal’s Pete Rose got his 4,000th hit, a double off Philadelphia pitcher Jerry Koosman. The hit came exactly 21 years after his first hit. Rose would score on Tim Raines one out single, sliding into home to give Montreal a 4-1 lead in their eventual 5-1 victory.
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.
1998 — Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Seattle Mariners hits his 300th career home run to become the second-youngest player to reach the milestone.
1999 — Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez drove in nine runs in the Rangers’ 15-6 victory at Seattle.
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.
2009 — Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Randy Johnson and San Francisco 11-1.
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.
2018 — Houston’s Gerrit Cole struck out a career-high 14 batters in seven innings to lead the Astros to a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers. Cole joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in major league history to strike out at least 11 in three consecutive starts to start a season. Cole also set an major league record with 36 strikeouts in his first three starts with a new team, surpassing Randy Johnson in 1999 with Arizona (34).
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