The Promise of Opening Day This Red Sox program from April 17, 1934, not only celebrates the home opener but also the re-birth of Fenway Park and the team itself. For only a year earlier, 33-year-old Thomas Austin Yawkey purchased a last-place team which had lost a franchise single-season record of 111 games. He soon…
On Opening Day at the newly-named Crosley Field, Reds’ announcer Red Barber calls his first play-by-play for a major league team. The 26 year-old future Hall of Fame broadcaster had never attended a major league game before today’s 6-0 loss to Chicago.
1934 – Rabbit Maranville breaks his left leg while sliding home on a double steal in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees. The Boston Braves veteran is out for the season and will play just 23 games next year. He had broken his right leg earlier in spring training of 1926.
1934 – In New Orleans, Louisiana Mildred Didrickson (Babe Zaharias) pitches again, this time for the New Orleans Pelicans against a split squad of the Cleveland Indians. She throws two scoreless innings and lines out in her only plate appearance. In nearby Lafayette, manager Walter Johnson pitches for the other Cleveland squad against the minor league Kansas City Blues.
1934 – The National League loans the Cincinnati Reds $50,000 at 4.5% interest. Powel Crosley, who bought the team 10 days ago, will repay Cincinnati’s debt in full by 1938.
1934 – Cincinnati Reds players and officials set sail from New York City to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a month of spring training. They will finish the grapefruit season in Tampa, Florida.
1934 – The National Recovery Administration says athletes advertising athletic goods must actually use them or advertisers will lose the NRA Blue Eagle and be fined.
The late Bill Veeck Sr., a former sports writer who won three pennants (1918, 1929, and 1932) during his reign in Chicago’s front office, is replaced by William Walker as president of the Cubs. The 56 year-old baseball executive, whose son will become a Hall of Fame major league owner, died of leukemia during the World Series last season.
Gene Freese is born in Wheeling, WV. A former all-star third baseman, Freese bats .091 in 21 games for the Astros in 1966, the final stop in his big league career.
1933 – New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert refuses to release Babe Ruth from his contract, thus preventing him from becoming the manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Ruth will never receive a chance to manage a major league team.
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