- 1942 - Due to the fear of a Japanese attack, west coast military leaders ask the Pacific Coast League to limit crowds to 3,000 fans.
- 1950 :
- ---The first opening night game was held in St. Louis . The Cardinals , behind a Complete Game by Gerry Staley and Home Run s from Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial , beat the Pirates , 4–2, at Sportsman's Park .
- ---At the Polo Grounds , Sam Jethroe becomes the first Black to play for the Boston Braves . A former Cleveland Buckeyes star, he goes 2-for-4, including a Home Run to lead the Braves to an 11–4 beating of the New York Giants . Warren Spahn is the winner. Jethroe will go on to become National League Rookie Of The Year after lead the majors in Stolen Bases .
- --- U.S. President Harry Truman throws out two balls at the Washington Senators opener—one left-handed and the other right-handed—then watches the Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics 8–7. When rain starts falling in the sixth inning, he puts on a raincoat and remains to the end.
- ---At Fenway Park , Commissioner Happy Chandler gives Ted Williams his American League MVP Award , and then Governor Paul Dever tosses out the first ball. To the delight of 31,822 fans, Boston rips New York Yankees Starter Allie Reynolds with a five-run fourth inning to drive him from the game and take a 9–0 margin. But the Yankees score four runs in the sixth off Mel Parnell and then, down 10–4, New York unloads for nine runs in the eigth. Billy Martin becomes the first player in major league history to get two base hits in one inning in his first ML game. He Doubles against Parnell on his first At Bat in the eigth inning, and Singles off Al Papai . Walt Masterson gives up Tommy Henrich 's second Triple of the game before giving way to four more Boston pitchers. Boo Ferriss , pitching in his last game, allows the last two runs in the ninth inning as the Yankees chalk up a 15–10 victory, the biggest blown lead the Red Sox have ever had at Fenway (on June 4, 1989, they'll blow a 10-run lad at home). Joe DiMaggio , Yogi Berra , Vern Stephens , and Bobby Doerr each have three hits. Don Johnson is the winning pitcher, his last one for New York, with Joe Page pitching a perfect eighth and ninth innings in Relief .
- 2006 :
- --- Hanley Ramírez of the Florida Marlins hit his first major league career Home Run , and later added a second blast, collecting four RBI , in Florida's 12–6 victory over Cincinnati .
- --- Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks Doubled to become the 21st major leaguer with 300 home runs and 500 doubles, as the Diamondbacks defeated San Francisco 7–4. Gonzalez joins a list led by Hank Aaron , who hit 755 homers and 624 doubles. The only other active player in the group is Barry Bonds , who hit his 567th double in the game.
- ---For the first time since its first month of play, the Houston Astros has a .500 franchise record. With a 13–12 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers , the Astros became the 13th team in the majors with a record of .500 or better. The victory put the franchise at .500 for the first time since the Colt .45s, as the team was known, were 6-6 before a 2–1 loss to the Milwaukee Braves on April 27, 1962. The franchise record is 3,507-3,507. Carlos Lee went 4-for-5 with a pair of two-run home runs for Milwaukee.
- --- Víctor Martínez of the Cleveland Indians extended his Hitting Streak to 13 games, going 3-for-6 in Cleveland's 15-1 rout of Baltimore .
- ---The Kansas City Royals has lost nine games in a row following a 4-1 defeat to the Chicago White Sox , its longest skid since its team-record 19-game losing streak late last year. The Royals are a major league-worst 2-11.
- --- Albert Pujols hit his major league leading 10th home run in St. Louis ' 12–4 loss to Pittsburgh .
|