On April 12, 1976 Los Angeles Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey uses umbrella as he watches rain fall at Dodger Stadium. After a wait of 75 minutes the scheduled home opener with the San Diego Padres was postponed. “The rainout was the first for a regular-season game at Dodger Stadium since April 21, 1967, when…
4/10/1976: On the second day of the season in Milwaukee, Don Money batted with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the Brewers behind the Yankees 9-6. Before Dave Pagan delivered his second pitch to Money, New York manager Billy Martin yelled to first baseman Chris Chambliss to call time. Chambliss asked umpire Jim McKean. Money hit the pitch and circled the bases. The Brewers celebrated and went into the clubhouse thinking they had won for the second time in two games. However, before Money crossed the plate Martin was on the field arguing with McKean. After a couple of minutes of Martin’s tirade, the umpires sent for the Brewers to come back on the field. The Brewers were obviously upset about the call. First base coach Harvey Keunn said that the pitcher was already in his motion when Chambliss yelled for time. Some Brewers went so far as to say that Martin intimidated McKean into reversing the homer. The Yankees won the game, 9-7, and the Brewers protested the outcome to no avail.
Orioles’ right-hander Jim Palmer and Boston’s Ferguson Jenkins, both future members of the Hall of Fame, stage a classic pitching duel at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium on Opening Day. The Birds, behind the eight-inning, six-hit effort by ‘Cakes,’ beat the Red Sox and Fergie, who goes the distance, 1-0, thanks to an unearned run scored in the fourth inning.
The White Sox’s new owner Bill Veeck, known for his promotional genius, surprises the Opening Day crowd at Comiskey Park when he, Rudie Schaffer, and Paul Richards take the field wearing battered Continental Army uniforms to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial. The trio, caring a fife, drum, and flag, strike a pose in their tattered garb, reminiscent of Archibald MacNeal Willard’s painting The Spirit of ’76, a popular piece of art depicting Revolutionary War veterans that was displayed at Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition 100 years earlier.
April 7, 1976 – Joe Niekro strikes out 5 batters in a single inning, with two of the strikeout victims reaching first base as Niekro’s fluttering knuckleball eludes his catcher. The feat occurs, however, during the final pre-season game of the 1976 season, preventing it, by one day, from becoming a major league record.
April 5, 1976 The first professional baseball game was played in the Superdome. Unlike with football and basketball, the Superdome didn’t have a baseball tenant when it initially opened. New Orleans had been unable to lure a big-league baseball team for the opening of the facility. Superdome officials settled for a three-game exhibition series between the…
In a deal negotiated in the groundskeeper’s office under the third base stands at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, 31 year-old right-hander Tom Seaver agrees to a three-year contract with the Mets. The pact makes ‘Tom Terrific,’ who posted a 25-9 record last season while leading the league in strikeouts with 243, the first hurler in baseball history to earn $200,000 annually.
1976 – Angels outfielder Bobby Bonds suffers a fractured finger during an exhibition game with the Dodgers. After 99 painful games, Bonds will have surgery on August 9th.
On April 2, 1976, the Oakland A’s trade two key members from their recent World Series championship teams, sending All-Star outfielder Reggie Jackson and pitcher Ken Holtzman to the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Don Baylor and pitchers Mike Torrez and Paul Mitchell…
After being released by the Padres, Bobby Tolan (.255, 5, 48), signs as a free agent with the Phillies. The outfielder-first baseman, who plays only 15 games for Philadelphia, will ink a deal with the Pirates in June.
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