The Detroit Tigers improve their record to 26-4 with an 8 – 2 victory over the California Angels and establish a new record for the best 30-game start in major league history, eclipsing the 25-5 mark set by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955.
In the Giants’ 4 – 2 loss at Pittsburgh, Giants CF Chili Davis throws out two runners in one inning. Dale Berra drives in three runs for the winners. Don Robinson, relieving in the 8th with the bases loaded and no outs, stops SF on no runs.
Umpire Joe West ejects two television cameramen from Shea Stadium when they allow the Mets to view replays of a controversial play at the plate in which Hubie Brooks is called out. The Mets beat Atlanta, 3 – 1, with Ron Darling getting the win.
Dwight Gooden becomes the first teenager to strike out a least ten batters in a game since Bert Blyleven accomplished the feat in 1970. The Mets’ 19-year-old phenom, who will set a major league rookie record with 276 strikeouts, will have a total of 15 double-digit strikeout games this year.
After committing a two-out error in the bottom of the eighth inning to allow the eventual winning run to score in the Yankees’ 7-6 loss to the Rangers at Arlington Stadium, New York shortstop Bobby Meacham is sent to the minors after the fourth game of the season on the orders of owner George Steinbrenner. The move, which stuns manager Yogi Berra, will prove to be a precursor to the ‘Boss’ firing him next season after the team drops ten of its first sixteen decisions.
Arbitrator Richard Bloch rules that the Royals’ Willie Wilson and the Mets’ Jerry Martin can return to action on May 15th, the day their year-long suspensions for cocaine abuse are first due to be reviewed.
The Seattle Mariners trade reliever Bill Caudill and a player to be named later (minor leaguer Darrel Akerfelds) to the Oakland Athletics for catcher Bob Kearney and reliever Dave Beard.
1983 – University of Alabama first baseman Dave Magadan, who led the NCAA with a .535 batting average last season, wins the Golden Spikes Award as the outstanding amateur baseball player in the United States. Magadan will play for ten major league clubs in a span of 16 years.
Mets reliever Jesse Orosco garners four votes for the National League Most Valuable Player Award, ending a six-year drought in which not one player on the team received a single vote for the honor. The last time a writer cast an MVP vote for a New York National Leaguer was on the 1976 ballot when the writers gave Tom Seaver was given consideration.
1983 – Chicago White Sox pitcher LaMarr Hoyt, who led the American League with 24 wins but whose 3.66 ERA was not among the league’s 15 best, wins the Cy Young Award, beating out the Kansas City Royals’ Dan Quisenberry and the Detroit Tigers’ Jack Morris.
Enjoy our free trial and start listening to games, interviews and shows! Ruth, Mantle, Aaron, and Seaver!