On April 5, 1913, in Brooklyn Dodger history, in 1913 Genevieve Ebbets, daughter of the club president, throws out the first ball before 25,000 as the new $750,000.00 Ebbets Field opens in Brooklyn. Nap Rucker pitched the 3-2 win over the New York Yankees and Casey Stengel of the Dodgers hits the first inside the…
Philadelphia A’s rookie Stan Coveleski makes his first appearance in the majors and shuts out Detroit, 3 – 0.
On April 20, 1912, the Detroit Tigers host their first game at Navin Field. The original opening day was to be April 18th but it was delayed, as was Fenway Park’s by multiple days of heavy rain. The starting lineups included three future members of Baseball’s Hall of Fame: charter member Ty Cobb, Wahoo Sam…
At the age of 24, Grover Cleveland Alexander makes his major league debut, losing a 5-4 decision to the Rustlers on an unearned run in the tenth inning at Boston’s South End Grounds. The Philadelphia rookie who will become known as ‘Old Pete,’ will go on to post a 28-13 (.683) record, which will include seven shutouts and 31 complete games.
Red Sox rookie Larry Pape makes his debut with a 2 – 0 win over the Nationals.
The Senators’ 19-year-old rookie right-hander Walter Johnson makes his major league debut, losing to the Tigers, 3-2. Ty Cobb, with a bunt single, gets the first hit off of the future Hall of Famer, who will finish with a 417-279 (.519) record while compiling an ERA of 2.17 during his 21-year big-league tenure, all with Washington.
In his first major league at-bat, 18 year-old center fielder Ty Cobb doubles off Jack Chesbro in the first inning of the Tigers’ 5-3 victory over the Highlanders at Detroit’s Bennett Park. The two-bagger is the first of the 4,189 hits the ‘Georgia Peach’ will collect during his 24-year Hall of Fame career.
At Brooklyn, the Giants tally seven runs in the first three innings off Mal Eason to coast to an 11 – 1 victory. Christy Mathewson leaves after five innings of shutout ball. Dan McGann paces the offense with a triple and homer, while Moonlight Graham, in his only game in the majors, takes over in right field as a late-inning replacement. Graham will have no at-bats but will be made famous in the movie Field of Dreams.
1904 – Ty Cobb, making his pro baseball debut at the age of seventeen, hits a home run and double for the Augusta Tourists in the South Atlantic League.
1902 – At Sportsman’s Park, Addie Joss of the Cleveland Bronchos pitches a one-hit shutout in his major league debut, beating the hometown St. Louis Browns, 3 – 0. The lone hit is a scratch single by Jesse Burkett.
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