April 12
1906 — Johnny Bates of Boston became the first modern player to hit a home run in his first major league at bat. Irv Young allowed one hit as Boston beat Brooklyn 2-0.
1909 — The Philadelphia Athletics opened Shibe Park with an 8-1 win over the Boston Red Sox. Shibe Park was the first concrete and steel stadium.
1911 — The Washington Senators opened Griffith Stadium with an 8-5 win over the Boston Red Sox.
1912 — The Chicago Cubs’ Tinker-Evers-Chance double play combination played its final major league game together.
1927 — Bill Terry of the New York Giants hit the first grand slam ever hit on opening day. The Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 15-7.
1955 — In their first game in Kansas City, the transplanted Athletics defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-2 at Municipal Stadium. The standing-room crowd of 32,147 was the largest paid crowd for any event in Kansas City.
1960 — The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 in the first game at Candlestick Park.
1965 — The first National League home run in the Houston Astrodome was hit by Richie Allen of the Philadelphia Phillies off Bob Bruce in a 2-0 victory over the Astros.
1966 — A crowd of 50,671 welcomed the Braves to Atlanta, but Willie Stargell spoiled the occasion with a two-run homer in the 13th inning to give the Pirates a 3-2 victory.
1970 — Plaques honoring Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle are dedicated at Yankee Stadium.
1980 — In an awesome display of power, Cecil Cooper and Don Money each hit grand slams in the second inning of Milwaukee’s 18-1 rout of the Boston Red Sox.
1992 — Boston’s Matt Young pitched eight no-hit innings at Cleveland but lost 2-1. In the second game, the Indians managed only two hits off Roger Clemens to set a major league record for fewest hits (2) in a doubleheader.
1994 — Scott Cooper hit for the cycle and drove in five runs to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 22-11 rout of the Kansas City Royals. Cooper went 5-for-6 with two doubles and completed the cycle with a single in the ninth.
2004 — Bobby Abreu of the Philadelphia Phillies hits the first home run in the new Citizens Bank Park.
2009 — For the second time in a week, a team draws four bases-loaded walks in one inning, as the Chicago Cubs score 4-runs in the 4th inning.
2010 — The Minnesota Twins inaugurate their new outdoor ballpark, Target Field, with a 5-2 win over the Red Sox.
2018 — Shohei Ohtani hit a bases-loaded triple in Los Angeles’ five-run seventh inning, helping the Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 7-1 for their fifth straight victory. The pitcher-outfielder was tied with Mike Trout for the Angels’ lead with 11 RBIs in 26 at-bats.
2020 — The Chinese Professional Baseball League, based in Taiwan, is the first pro circuit to open its season since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the global sports world in early March.
2021 — The Twins postpone tonight’s game against the Red Sox after tensions engulf the city following the killing of a black motorist by a policewoman during a traffic stop in the suburb of Brooklyn Center, Minn., a reminder to everyone of the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis a year ago.
2022 — Alyssa Nakken, the first female coach in the history of Major League Baseball, sets another milestone as she becomes the first woman to appear in uniform on the field during a game when in the top of the 3rd inning she replaces Antoan Richardson, who has just been ejected, as first base coach of the Giants in a game against the Padres.
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