Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
This date in baseball
APRIL 23
1903 The New York Highlanders won their first game as a major league team 7-2 over the Washington Senators.
1913 New York Giants ace Christy Mathewson beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1, throwing just 67 pitches.
1939 Rookie Ted Williams went 4 for 5, including his first major league home run, but the Boston Red Sox lost to Philadelphia 12-8 at Fenway Park.
1946 Ed Head of the Brooklyn Dodgers no-hit the Boston Braves 5-0 at Ebbets Field. Head was making his first start after a year’s military service.
1952 Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians and Bob Cain of the St. Louis Browns matched one-hitters. Cain wound up as the winner, 1-0.
1952 Hoyt Wilhelm of the Giants hit a home run at the Polo Grounds in his first major league at-bat. He was the winner, too, and pitched 1,070 games in the majors — but never hit another home run.
1954 Hank Aaron hit the first home run of his major league career. The drive came against Vic Raschi in the Milwaukee Braves’ 7-5 victory over St. Louis.
1962 After an 0-9 start, the expansion New York Mets won their first game beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 behind Jay Hook.
1964 Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s became the first pitcher to lose a nine-inning no-hitter when Pete Rose scored an unearned run to give the Cincinnati Reds a 1-0 victory.
1989 Nolan Ryan came within two outs of his sixth career no-hitter, losing it when Nelson Liriano tripled in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1. Ryan finished with his 10th lifetime one-hitter.
1999 Fernando Tatis of St. Louis became the first in major league history to hit two grand slams in one inning in a 12-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tatis also set the record with eight RBI in one inning.
2008 The Chicago Cubs won their 10,000th game, joining the Giants as the only franchise to reach that mark with a 7-6, 10-inning victory at Colorado.
2009 Ichiro Suzuki lined James Shields’ second pitch of the game for a home run, the only run of Seattle’s 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the 22nd time a leadoff home run was the deciding run in a game, and it was just the second time it happened for the Mariners.
2013 B.J. Upton and his brother Justin hit back-toback home runs for the first time, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Colorado Rockies 10-2 to complete a doubleheader sweep. It was the 27th time in major league history that brothers homered in the same game, but only the second time they went deep in consecutive at-bats. Lloyd and Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates also accomplished the feat on Sept. 15, 1938.