No April Foolin'

While there's no action today, we have plenty of April 1st baseball highlights to savor:

April 1st, 2008: The last opening day at the old Yankee Stadium was a night game. Pushed back a day after a rainout. Melky Cabrera makes two terrific catches and adds a solo home run, while Chien-Ming Wang outpitches Roy Halladay, and gets late inning relief from Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera in a 3 -2 Yankees victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

 April 1st, 1996: In one of the wildest home openers ever at Shea Stadium, the Mets rally from 6 - nothing down to beat the Cardinals 7 - 6. They closed the gap on home runs by Todd Hundley and Bernard Gilkey, while Rico Brogna's 7th inning sacrifice fly gives them the lead for keeps. John Franco works a one-two-three 9th inning, retiring all three St. Louis batters on ground outs.

April 1st, 1972: Baseball players strike for the first time, with the walkout wiping out the the last week of exhibitions and the first 10 days of regular season games.

April 1st, 1970: Auto dealer Bud Selig leads a group of investors who purchase the bankrupt Seattle Pilots and quickly move the team to Milwaukee, where they are renamed the Brewers.

April 1st, 1969: In a deal involving future and past Yankees, the American League's two expansion teams swap outfielders. The Seattle Pilots send Lou Piniella to the Kansas City Royals for Steve Whitaker. Launching a terrific 15 year big league career, Sweet Lou goes on to become the American League Rookie of the Year.

 April 1st, 1963: Near the end of spring training, the Mets bring Duke Snider back to New York, purchasing the future Hall of Fame from the Dodgers. At age 36, there wasn't much left in his tank, but he did provide a few thrills in that final Polo Grounds season, belting 14 home runs and leading the regulars with a .345 on base percentage. The beloved Brooklyn Dodger also represented Casey Stengel's crew in the All Star Game.


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