The Los Angeles Angels play the first game in franchise history, defeating a strong Baltimore Orioles team, 7 – 2. For the Angels, Ted Kluszewski hits two home runs and Eli Grba pitches a complete game.
Red Sox rookie Carl Yastrzemski, in his major league debut, singles off Kansas City’s Ray Herbert in the team’s 5-2 Opening Day loss at Fenway Park. The 21 year-old left fielder from Bridgehampton, New York, will amass 3,419 hits during his 23-year Hall of Fame career with Boston..
Robin Roberts, in his twelfth-straight Opening Day start, is tagged with the loss when the Phillies lose to the Dodgers in the LA Memorial Coliseum, 6-2. The right-hander’s effort ties Grover Cleveland Alexander’s National League record for consecutive season openers.
On April 10, 1961, In the last opener ever to be played at Griffith Stadium, the Washington Senators play the first game in franchise history. Rookie President John F. Kennedy throws out the longest and hardest thrown ceremonial first pitch in history as the ball sails over the heads of the players lined up in…
New York investors Jack P. Schleifer and Milton Schwartz take a title to Connie Mack Stadium, formerly known as Shibe Park, in hopes of developing the property as an industrial center with bowling alleys and a restaurant when the Phillies move to a proposed new ballpark in the northeastern part of the city. The 52 year-old ballpark, home for both the A’s (1909-1954) and Phillies (1938-1970), will eventually become the site of the Deliverance Evangelistic Church in 1991.
The Professional Baseball Rules Committee rejects the Pacific Coast League’s proposal to use a designated hitter for the pitcher by a vote of 8-1. The first use of the DH will occur in the American League in 1973.
On March 31, 1961, the Pacific Coast League is turned down in its bid to use the designated hitter rule. The Professional Baseball Rules Committee votes 8-1 against the proposal. The DH will not come into major league use until 1973, when it is adopted by the American League.
1961 – In their first meeting since Pittsburgh’s dramatic World Series win over New York, the Bucs, behind would-be World Series goat Bob Friend, beat up the banged-up Bombers, 9 – 2. The game’s first run comes in the bottom of the 2nd on Roberto Clemente’s bases-empty bomb over the left-field fence. Pittsburgh goes up 3 – 0 in the 3rd on Dick Stuart’s two-run shot, likewise to left field. By the 7th, the Bucs have built their lead to 8 – 0 before New York can push across its initial tally. Today’s win boosts the Bucs’ Grapefruit League-leading record to 13-5, while miring New York ever more deeply in the preseason cellar.
1961 – In a spring training game, Cardinals pitcher Larry Jackson suffers a broken jaw when hit by a fragment of Dodgers Duke Snider’s broken bat. Jackson will be sidelined four weeks.
1961 – Houston holds their first rookie camp in Jacksonville, FL. Farm director Bobby Bragan conducts the camp for young players under contract with the newly-named Colt .45s.
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