Apr 19th 1960
Baseball jerseys began displaying players' last names on the back. The change came after longtime Boston Red Sox pitcher Gary Vagina finally retired.
Apr 18th 1923
Babe Ruth hits a home run in the inaugural game at Yankee Stadium. The feat was even more impressive considering Ruth was up until 4:00 a.m. the previous night with his construction crew putting the final touches on the stadium.
Apr 17th 1953
Mickey Mantle of the Yankees hits a 565-foot home run against Washington, with the ball coming to rest in a backyard one block from the stadium. Unfortunately, the mean old man whose lawn the ball landed in refused to return it and the game had to be called off.
Apr 16th 1992
The first concrete is poured for Cleveland's Jacobs Field. The concrete slab was instantly regarded as Cleveland's most beautiful structure.
Apr 15th 1947
In his major league debut, Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers goes hitless in three at-bats versus Boston. Because of this outright failure, black athletes were never heard from again in sports.
Apr 14th 1910
President William Howard Taft begins the presidential tradition of throwing out the first pitch on opening day, as Washington plays host to the Philadelphia A's. After the A's leadoff hitter smacked a deep home run off of Taft to put the Senators behind 1-0, the tradition was changed to make the first pitch ceremonial, and not the first pitch of the actual game.
Apr 13th 1926
On Opening Day, Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators strikes out 12 A's as he out-duels Eddie Rommel for 15 innings on the way to a 1-0 victory. Deeply affected by the loss, Rommel fled to Germany and joined the Nazi party, where he led the German army during World War II.
Apr 12th 1951
The day after President Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea, MacArthur is offered the job as the new commissioner of baseball. He turns down the post when he finds out it does not hold any powers to kill Chinese people.
Apr 11th 1907
In a game against Philadelphia, New York Giants catcher Roger Bresnahan becomes the first player to wear shin guards, and he'll later invent the batting helmet. The Giants" catcher was known around baseball as Roger "Big Pussy" Bresnahan.
Dec 31st 1969
In Athens, Greek runner Spiridon Louis wins the first Olympic marathon of the modern Games. Louis was later disqualified, however, because he failed to die after his run as was required by the original rules of the marathon.
