ON THIS DATE

APRIL 16

1929: Cleveland’s Earl Averill became the first American League player to hit a home run in his first major league plate appearance. The Indians won the game 5-4 in 11 innings on Carl Lind’s double.

1935: Babe Ruth, 40, made a sensational National League debut in Boston. His single and homer off Carl Hubbell led the Braves over the Giants 4-2.

1940: Bob Feller of Cleveland defeated the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in the only opening day no-hitter in major league history.

1948: WGN-TV televised a baseball game for the first time. It was an exhibition game at Wrigley Field with Jack Brickhouse doing the play-by-play. The White Sox defeated the Cubs 4-1.

1961: Beginning his historic chase of Babe Ruth’s 60 home run season-record, Roger Maris connects for his first homer in the twelfth game of the season for the Yankees.

1972: Burt Hooton of the Cubs no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 at Wrigley Field. 1978: Bob Forsch of the St. Louis Cardinals no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0. Less than a year later, Bob’s brother Ken of the Houston Astros pitched a no-hitter against Atlanta. They are the only brothers to throw no-hitters.

1983: LA Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey appears in his 1,118th straight National League game, breaking the mark held by Billy Williams.

1984: Dave Kingman of the Oakland A’s hit three home runs, including a grand slam, in his first three at-bats. In total, he drove in eight runs in a 9-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

1989: Kelly Gruber becomes the first player in Toronto Blue Jays history to hit for the cycle in a 15-8 victory against the Kansas City Royals.

1997: The Chicago Cubs set the mark for worst start in National League history, making three more errors as they extended their losing streak to 12 with a 4-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Chicago broke the modern NL record of 0-10 set by Atlanta in 1988 and the overall NL record of 0-11 by the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.