BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

1981 The White Sox trade southpaw Ken Kravec to the Cubs for Dennis Lamp, who will post a 25-21 (.543) record during his three seasons with the South Side club. With the departure of Kravec, the recently acquired Carlton Fisk has an opportunity to return to his iconic uniform #27 but chooses to stay with his new reverse digits of 72, which Chicago will retire in 1997.
Kravec Lamp Fisk

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1985 Sports Illustrated's April 1st edition tricks the nation when author George Plimpton weaves a fictitious tale of The Curious Case Of Sidd Finch, a Mets rookie phenom who throws a 168 mph fastball. Staged photographs and quotes from current players help give the story a realistic edge.

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1986 The Red Sox trade designated hitter Mike Easler to the Yankees for DH Don Baylor, who will provide valuable veteran leadership for the eventual AL champs while hitting only .238. Easler, known as the 'Hit Man,' will live up to his nickname, batting .302 in his only full season with the second-place Bronx Bombers.

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1988 Four days shy of his 47th birthday, Phil Niekro's 24-year Hall of Fame career ends when the Yankees put him on waivers at the end of spring training. The right-handed knuckleballer, best known for his tenure with the Braves, compiled a 318-274 record and a 3.35 ERA while hurling for four teams, including the Yankees, Indians, and Blue Jays.

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1999 At Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano, the Orioles edge the Cuban National team, 3-2, thanks to Harold Baines' eventual game-winning hit in the 11th inning. The contest marks the first time a U.S. team had played in Cuba since 1959 when the Dodgers played the Reds in two exhibition games on the island.

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2003 The commissioner's office announces teams will pay tribute to the U.S. Armed Forces during the seventh-inning stretch of all home openers by having God Bless America performed. Although the song has been part of all games since the September 11th terrorist attacks, the fans will now hear the tune only in major league ballparks at the home openers, Sunday, and holidays games.

2003 Three days before Opening Day, the YES Network claims Cablevision has nixed a proposed deal signed 17 days ago that would have provided televised Yankee games to nearly three million cable subscribers in the NYC metropolitan area. According to a YES Network press release, the giant cable company failed to sign a finalized version of the hand-written document that both parties exchanged on March 12 when Cablevision president James L. Dolan took exception to unacceptable alterations in the typewritten draft.

2006 The insurance claim filed by the Astros in January to get back approximately $15.6 million of Jeff Bagwell's $17 million guaranteed contract is denied by the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. The insurers cite no adverse change in the 37-year-old first baseman's condition between the end of last season and the Jan. 31, 2006 policy.

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2008 The decision to have manager Manny Acta catch the ceremonial first pitch from President Bush at the Nationals' home opener is reported not to have been made by the White House. Traditionally, the honor goes to the game's starting catcher, today being Paul Lo Duca, cited in the Mitchell Report on drug use in baseball, who watches his manager catch the toss from the Commander-in-Chief.

2008 The 24,663 fans at Chase Field give opposing Rockies left-hander Doug Davis an ovation as he walks off the mound after appearing in an exhibition game against the Diamondbacks. Before the game, Colorado announces the very popular 32-year-old hurler will have his thyroid removed after a biopsy revealed a lump in his throat to be
cancerous
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2013 Mets GM Sandy Alderson announces an MRI has revealed 34-year-old Johan Santana has re-torn his surgically repaired left shoulder capsule and indicates additional surgery is a "strong possibility" for the left-hander. The Venezuelan southpaw, who missed the entire 2011 season due to the injury, will probably never pitch again for the team, finishing his six-year, $137.5 million contract with the team, a deal he signed upon his trade to the team in early 2008, on the disabled list.

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2014 Mike Trout and the Angels come to terms on a $144.5 million, six-year deal, keeping the 22-year-old outfielder on the team through 2020. The five-tool phenom from Millville, N.J., the American League's MVP runner-up in his first two seasons in the majors, was the unanimous choice for the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2012.

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2017 In the first year of his presidency, Donald Trump has declined the Nationals' invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day at Nationals Park, citing a scheduling conflict according to club officials. Since William Taft's toss in 1910, every President has participated in the tradition at some point in their term in office, except for Jimmy Carter, who tossed the CFP before Game 7 of the 1979 Fall Classic.

2019 At Dodger Stadium, en route to a 12-5 victory over the Diamondbacks, Los Angeles slams eight home runs, surpassing the Opening Day record of six, previously shared by the 1998 Mets (vs. Expos) and 2018 White Sox (vs. Royals). The long ball barrage, which includes multiple dingers in three different innings, features round-trippers by Joc Peterson (2), Kike Hernandez (2), Austin Barnes, Corey Seaver, Max Muncy, and Cody Berlinger.

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There are three things you can do in a #baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain."
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Wake up baseball fans, it's Opening Day 2024!!!
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Opening day................................
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MARCH 29 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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(1867-1955) Cy Young Hall of Fame pitcher (Cleveland Spiders, Boston Americans; most wins in MLB history 511)


1917 Tommy Holmes outfielder (MLB All Star 1945, 48; NL HR leader 1945; Boston Braves) and manager (Boston Braves


1944 Denny McLain pitcher (AL Cy Young Award 1968-69; AL MVP 1968; MLB All-Star 66, 68, 69; Detroit Tigers)


1962 Billy Beane executive (GM Oakland Athletics 1997-2016; MLB Executive of the Year Award 201


1967 Brian Jordan outfielder (MLB All-Star 1999 Atlanta Braves; LA Dodgers, St Louis Cardinals) and NFL defensive back (Atlanta Falcons 1989-91), born in Baltimore, Maryland


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This Day in Baseball History
March 29th​

1933 After missing half of last season when he broke his leg, Cubs outfielder Kiki Cuyler breaks his other leg and will miss nearly three months. The 36-year-old future Hall of Famer has led the league in stolen bases four times and will finish with 328 career steals.

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1935 The reigning National League champion Cardinals release 44-year-old right-hander Dazzy Vance, who appeared in his first and only World Series this season. The future Hall of Fame hurler will return to the Dodgers, where he spent the most productive years of his career, finishing his major league 16-year tenure in the major leagues with a 197-140 (.585) record along with an ERA of 3.24.

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1944 During a Pacific Coast League minor league exhibition game, Oakland lends Los Angels five players after some of their opponents suffer various injuries in a car accident. The 'visiting' team beats the hometown Oaks, 6-2.

1948 Thirty-four players participate in an unusually long exhibition game when the Yankees and the Red Sox take 17 innings to play to a 2-2 tie. The four-hour, two-minute contest features the Bronx Bombers scoring runs in the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings to keep the score knotted, but the team fails to push in the winning run in the final frame when Frank Crosetti attempts a two-out bunt to squeeze in a runner from third.

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1954 The Cubs fire skipper Phil Cavarretta after telling reporters the team had little chance to finish in the first division. The 36-year-old player-manager, who compiled a 169-213 (.442) record during his three years at the helm, is the first to lose a managerial position during spring training.

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1973 At the suggestion of A's owner Charlie Finley, orange-colored balls are used in an 11-5 exhibition game loss to the Indians. Major League Baseball drops the novel concept after Cleveland outfielder George Hendrick, who hit three home runs in the contest, claims he had difficulty picking up the ball due to the lack of red seams on a white sphere.

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1975 Mel Stottlemyre, suffering from a torn rotator cuff, is given his unconditional release by the Yankees. The team's future pitching coach compiled a 164-139 record and a 2.97 ERA, tossing 152 complete games, including 40 shutouts.

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2000 The Expos and Labatt announce the $100M sponsorship deal, negotiated two years ago, will go forward as planned. The Brewery has committed to paying C$40M over the next twenty years for the naming rights to Montreal's proposed downtown ballpark and approximately another C$60M to be the team's primary sponsor, the company's role for the past 15 years.

2001 Todd Helton signs a nine-year, $141.5 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid player in Rockies' history. Last season, the Colorado first baseman batted .372, hit 42 homers, and knocked in 147 runs.

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2002 The Red Sox purchases Rickey Henderson's contract from Pawtucket, placing the future Hall of Fame outfielder on their Opening Day roster. The 'Man of Steal,' who joined the exclusive 3,000-hit club on the final day of last season, will begin his 24th year in the majors, appearing with his eighth different club.

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2002 Major League Baseball announces there will be a minute of silence at 9:11 at every major league team's first-night game this season to remember September 11th's tragic events. The performing of God Bless America will continue during the seventh-inning stretch of all contests.

2002 The Brewers announce that Miller Park's retractable roof will be used only on a limited basis at the start of the season as engineers try to eliminate persistent noise from the year-old structure. According to the engineers who designed the building, the problem in the pivot system, located behind and above home plate in the so-called Uecker seats, is not a hazard.

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2007 In a split-squad game between the Cubs and Diamondbacks at Mesa's HoHoKam Park, Ria Cortesio, serving alternately as the first and third base umpire, becomes the first female ump to work a major league exhibition game since Pam Postema in 1989. The thirty-year-old Davenport (IA) native, starting her ninth year as an arbitrator and fifth in Double-A minor league ball, hopes to be the first woman umpire in major league history.

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2008 In an exhibition game celebrating the club's 50th anniversary of their move west from Brooklyn, the Dodgers lose to the Red Sox in front of 115,300 fans at the LA Coliseum. The crowd is the largest ever to watch a baseball game, surpassing the previous record when approximately 114,000 patrons attended an exhibition contest between the Australian national and American services teams during the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

2009 The Yankees dedicate a permanent September 11th memorial at the entrance of George M. Steinbrenner Field, the team's Spring Training home in Tampa (FL). The tribute to the victims and their families of the terrorist attacks of 2001 features a foundation in the shape of the Pentagon, which supports two towers made from steel from the World Trade Center placed on a grassy spot representing the heroes of United Flight 93, who perished in a field in Pennsylvania. 9-11 Memorial at George M. Steinbrenner Field -- Tampa, FL, March 17, 2015

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2009 John Franco throws out the ceremonial first pitch to a standing ovation from the crowd attending the collegiate matchup between St. John's and Georgetown in the first baseball game ever played at Citi Field. Before tossing his signature pitch, a breaking ball in the dirt, the former Mets reliever takes the mound wearing the familiar blue and orange but then removes his jacket to reveal his alma mater's colors, a Red Storm jersey with his number 45.

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2009 On a chilly afternoon, 22,397 patrons become the first fans to attend a baseball game at Citi Field, the Mets' new home, when St. John's University hosts Georgetown in a collegiate contest. The weather dampened the schools' hope of breaking the NCAA attendance record of 40,106, set during a game between San Diego State and Houston played at Petco Park in 2004.

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2009 Dontrelle Willis is placed on the 15-day disabled list by the Tigers. According to the 27-year-old southpaw, unsuccessful since winning 22 games with the Marlins in 2003, he has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, believed by doctors to be easily treatable.

2010 Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announces President Obama will throw out the first pitch before Washington's game against the Phillies at Nationals Park on Opening Day, continuing a century-old tradition. In 1910, William Howard Taft became the first Commander-in-Chief to toss the ceremonial first pitch to start the season.

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2013 The Giants and Buster Posey, the National League's MVP, agree on an eight-year, $159 million extension with a full no-trade clause. The deal, keeping the 26-year-old backstop in a Giants' uniform through 2021, is the second-richest contract ever given to a catcher, surpassed only by the Twins' signing of Joe Mauer two seasons ago to an eight-year, $184 million pact.

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2013 Tiger right-hander Justin Verlander agrees to a seven-year, $180 million contract, the richest deal for a pitcher in baseball history. The 2011 American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner, already signed through
2014 under a previous $80 million, five-year deal, decides not to test free agency in two years, stating that "the pull of Detroit was too much."

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2017 The Dodgers commemorate Kirk Gibson's historic pinch-hit, walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series by offering a special ticket package to sit in the right-field pavilion seat, recently painted blue bearing his signature, where the ball landed. The team is donating two-thirds of the $300 price of the ducats, including a companion seat, two commemorative T-shirts, and food and drink, to the Kirk Gibson Foundation to raise money and awareness for Parkinson's research, a neurological disease affecting the Fall Classic hero.

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2018 Matt Davidson becomes the fourth major leaguer to hit three home runs on Opening Day, contributing to the White Sox’s 14-7 victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. The White Sox slugging third baseman joins Dmitri Young (Tigers, 2005), Tuffy Rhodes (Cubs, 1994), and George Bell (Blue Jays, 1988) in accomplishing the feat on the first day of the season.

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2018 This date marks the earliest start of the major league season in the game's history, excluding international openers. The schedule calls for all the teams to play on Opening Day for the first time since April 10th, 1968, the last season before divisional play started in the American and National Leagues.

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2018 On Opening Day, the late right-hander Roy Halladay's number #32 is retired during an emotional on-field ceremony at Rogers Centre. In his 12 seasons with Toronto, the six-time American League All-Star, who died in a plane crash off the coast of Florida in November, compiled a 148-76 record with a 3.43 ERA before his trade to the Phillies in 2009 for minor league prospects.

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2018 At Miami, Cubs' leadoff hitter Ian Happ goes deep on the season's first pitch, homering to right field off a Jose Urena fastball in the team's 8-4 victory over the Marlins. The 23-year-old center fielder, playing in his first Opening Day contest, becomes the first player to accomplish the feat since Red Sox's Dwight Evans took Tiger right-hander Jack Morris deep on the initial delivery of the 1986 campaign.

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