April 18
1899 — John McGraw made his managerial debut at age 26 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 past the Red Sox with a home run.
1945 — In his major league debut, one-armed outfielder Pete Gray had one hit in four at-bats in the St. Louis Browns’ 7-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
1942 — Due to the fear of a Japanese attack, west coast military leaders ask the Pacific Coast League to limit crowds to 3,000 fans.
1946 — Jackie Robinson makes his minor league debut for the Montreal Royals, the International League affiliate club of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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.
1955 — Roberto Clemente’s first major league home run, an inside-the-parker.
1958 — The LA Dodgers play their first game at the Los Angeles Coliseum in front of a crowd of 78,672.
1964 — Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers strikes out the side on nine pitches, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to achieve the feat twice.
1970 — Nolan Ryan of the New York Mets allowed one hit — a leadoff single by Denny Doyle — and struck out 15 in a 7-0 win over Philadelphia.
1982 — The Atlanta Braves defeated the Astros 6-5 in Houston for their 11th straight win to start the season, a National League record.
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 mid air 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.
2006 — Luis González of the Arizona Diamondbacks doubles to become the 21st major leaguer with 300 home runs and 500 doubles.
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 allowed by New York in an inning.
2017 — Pirates All-Star CF Starling Marte is handed an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
2018 — Owners of the worst record in the majors at 3-15, the Reds fire manager Bryan Price following a 2-0 loss to the Brewers.
2023 — Clayton Kershaw records the 200th win of his career with a typical performance, holding the Mets scoreless over seven innings while racking up nine strikeouts in a 5 – 0 Dodgers win. At 200-88, Kershaw is just the fourth pitcher of the modern era to record his 200th win before having 100 losses, following Whitey Ford, Lefty Grove and Pedro Martinez.
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