ON THIS DATE

APRIL 1 1931:

Pitcher Virne Mitchell, 17, signed with the Chattanooga club of Tennessee, becoming the first woman to play for an otherwise all-male baseball team.

1942: Major league owners decide not to allow furloughed players in the military to play.

1969: The Seattle Pilots trade minor league OF Lou Piniella to the Kansas City Royals. Piniella will go on to win American League Rookie of the Year.

1970: An investment group headed by Bud Selig bought the Seattle pilots for $10.8 million.

1972: The first collective players strike in major league history began. The strike lasted 12 days and canceled 86 games.

1988: For the first time since 1956, the Special Veterans Committee does not elect anyone to the Hall of Fame.

1989: A. Bartlett Giamatti took over as baseball commissioner.

1996: Longtime umpire John McSherry collapses and dies from a heart attack on Opening Day at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, in the 1st inning of a game between the Reds and Expos. The game is cancelled.

The New York Yankees set a major league record by winning their 11th straight home opener.

Bryce Harper homered in his first two at-bats, Stephen Strasburg retired 19 batters in a row and the defending NL East champion Washington Nationals opened the season with a 2-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. Harper, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, hit solo shots over the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field off Ricky Nolasco in the first and fourth innings.

Clayton Kershaw launched his first career home run to break a scoreless tie in the eighth inning, then finished off a four-hitter that led the Los Angeles Dodgers over the San Francisco Giants 4-0 on opening day. Kershaw became the first pitcher in the majors to homer on opening day since Joe Magrane of St. Louis in 1988. He was the first pitcher to throw a shutout and hit a home run in an opener since Bob Lemon for Cleveland in 1953.

Three days after starting at DH on Opening Day in his major league debut, Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani makes his debut on the mound, pitching 6 innings in leading the Angels to a 7 - 4 win over the Athletics.