This Weekend in Baseball History
April 17th, 2007: At Yankee Stadium: Jorge Posada's two-run homer in the second inning (off Jake Westbrook) is the 200th of his career. He becomes the 12th member of the Yankees' 200-homer club.
April 17th, 1976: Mike Schmidt belts four consecutive home runs as the Phils, down early 13 -2 rally for an 18-16 win at Wrigley Field. He makes it a family affair: his first homer comes off Rick Reuschel in the 5th inning; his 10th inning shot, the game winner came off the older of the pitching siblings, Paul Reuschel.
April 17th, 1975: Ted Simmons homers from both sides of the plate. Hitting righthanded, he connects off Jerry Koosman; later, hitting lefty against Rick Baldwin. But they're not enough to offset a four-RBI game from ex-Cardinal Jack Heideman in a 14 - 7 Mets victory.
April 17th, 1965: Don Drysdale ties a major league record when he strikes out four Phillies in order (Wes Covington: who reached base on John Roseboro's passed ball; Tony Gonzalez, Dick Stuart and Clay Dalrymple) during the 2nd inning at Connie Mack Stadium. But the legendary Dodger righthander also surrenders home runs to Covington and Johnny Callison -- his a two-run, inside-the park shot that made the difference in a 3 - 2 Phillies victory.
April 17th, 1964: The Mets open their brand new home, Shea Stadium, but lose 4 - 3 to the Pirates. Bob Friend outpitches Jack Fisher, while Willie Stargell crushes the park's first home run.
April 17th, 1953: Mickey Mantle hits the longest home run of his career, a 565-foot rocket off the Senators' Chuck Stubbs at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Yankees won the game 7 - 3.
April 18th, 2006: Pedro Martinez notches his 200th career victory, working the first 6-2/3 innings in the Meys 4 - 3 Shea Stadium victory over the Braves.
April 18th, 1987: Mike Schmidt's 500th career home run is a game winner. His three-run blast with two out in the top of the 9th brings the Phils from behind for an 8 - 6 win over the Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.
April 18th, 1958: In the first major league game at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Dodgers defeat their longtime rivals and fellow transplants, the San Francisco Giants 6-5. Starting pitcher Carl Erksine earned the win, and Clem Labine the save. A few "famous firsts": the Giants'Jim Davenport was the first batter, and led off the game with a single. Teammate Daryl Spencer had the first RBI and Hank Sauer belted the game's (and Coliseum's) first home run.
April 18th, 1950: Vin Scully, age 22, calls his first game as the Dodgers visit the Phillies at Shibe Park. It was hardly a memorable day for defending NL champs. Don Newcombe didn't make it out of the 2nd inning in a 9 - 1 loss. Scully went on to call games during 12 presidential administrations -- from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. (Ironically, Scully's mentor Red Barber, made his Dodger broadcast debut 11 years earlier on the same date.)
April 18th, 1945: Pete Gray, makes his major league debut for the St. Louis Browns.Batting second, the one-armed outfielder goes one for four -- but has no fielding chances -- in a 7 - 1 opening day win over the Tigers.
April 18th, 1929: The Yankees introduce numbers on the backs of their uniforms. Corresponding to the batting order, leadoff hitter Earle Combs wore number-one; Mark Koenig followed, at two; Babe Ruth, hitting third, wore three and cleanup hitter Lou Gehrig followed, wearing four. An exception: starting pitcher George Pipgras wore 14.
April 19th, 2012: Curtis Granderson homers in his first three times up, and then adds two hits his final times up, as the Yankees edged the Twins 7 - 6. It was the first five-for-five, three home run game in team history! It was the first three homer game in the new Yankee Stadium.
April 19th, 2005: At Citizens Bank Park, Jose Reyes leads off the game with a home run -- the first of a club-record seven the Mets slug in a 16-4 win over the Phillies. Reyes hit another roundtripper later in the game, Victor Diaz also belted a pair. Doug Mientkiewicz, Mike Piazza and David Wright also went long for New York.April 19th, 1972: Steve Carlton throws his first shutout as a Phillie, outdueling former Cardinal teammate Bob Gibson in a 1 - 0 Veterans Stadium victory.
April 19th, 1963: Ed Kranepool's second inning home run off Bob Shaw of the Milwaukee Braves is the first of his career. It opens the scoring in a game the Mets won 5 - 4, on Ron Hunt's two-run walk off double in the last of the 9th. At age 18 years and 162 days, he's the youngest Mets player ever to hit a home run -- a record that still stands!
April 19th, 1960: Roger Maris' Yankee debut is a game to remember: four hits including a pair of homers in an 8 - 4 victory at Fenway Park.
Comments
And Carl Erskine on the mound for the Dodgers debut in L.A. It seems like he had pitched for Brooklyn forever. He did- 10 years. He was only 31 in 1958,yet just a season away from the end of his career.
Now 93, he's the last of the Boys of Summer....