The San Diego Padres obtain OF Al Martin from the Pirates for OF John Vander Wal, and pitchers Jim Sak and Geraldo Padua. San Diego also signs pitcher Matt Clement to a four-year agreement.
Braves minor leaguer Roger Blanco is killed by robbers in Catia La Mar, Venezuela. Blanco, 30, was traded to the Braves in 1996 for Mark Whiten.
The Cubs and Reds split a pair with Chicago taking game 1, 2 – 1 and the Reds coming back, 10 – 3. When the Cubs Brian McNichol pitches in game 2, he is the 25th pitcher the Cubs have used this season.
1991 – The California Angels obtain DH Dave Parker from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for OF Dante Bichette. Parker will be released by the Angels before the end of the season, and will finish his 19-year major league career with the Toronto Blue Jays, while Bichette will turn into one of the decade’s most feared hitters while playing for the expansion Colorado Rockies.
Dante Bichette, Dave Winfield and Brian Downing each homer twice in the California Angels’ 8 – 7 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. This is the 8th time three teammates have done this in the major leagues.
The Pirates trade Tony Pena, three-time Gold Glove catcher, to the Cardinals in exchange for three youngsters, Mike LaValliere, Mike Dunne, and Andy Van Slyke, who thinks the deal is an April Fool’s Day joke. The former Pittsburgh backstop cries at a news conference with Bucs’ skipper Jim Leyland announces the swap with the Redbirds.
Dwight Evans completes a cycle with a walk-off home run, becoming only the fourth major league player to accomplish the feat. The Red Sox outfielder’s game-ending three-run blast in the 11th inning gives Boston a dramatic 9-6 victory over Seattle at Fenway Park.
On April 7, 1979 the Pittsburgh Pirates traded lefty pitcher Jerry Reuss to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right-handed pitcher Rick Rhoden. Reuss was a 29-year-old starting pitcher with ten season in the majors, five with the Pirates, at the time of the trade. He had won 48 games between 1974-76, but his last two…
On April 2, 1975 the Pittsburgh Pirates signed pitched Sam McDowell as a free agent. The 32-year-old was a Pittsburgh native, signing with the Indians in 1960 right out of Central Catholic HS in Pittsburgh. He was one of the most intimidating pitchers of his time, possibly the hardest thrower of his day, who not…
White Sox rookie Brian Downing cracks his first major league hit‚ a home run off Detroit’s Mickey Lolich. Downing’s debut dinger is a first in the majors since at least 1945 – an inside-the-park homer. It will be matched in two years by the Giants’ Johnnie LeMaster‚ who will do it in his first at bat.
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