On April 5, 1971, the Washington Senators play the final home opener in team history. Dick Bosman beats the Oakland A’s, 8-0, before a crowd of 45,000 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. After the season, owner Bob Short will move the Senators to Texas, where they will play under the name “Rangers.”
Don Larsen, the last active major leaguer who played for the Browns, is released by the Orioles. As a rookie in 1953, the Michigan City, Indiana native posted a 7-12 record for the hapless franchise, which lost 100 games in its final season in St. Louis.
The Phillies trade five players, Ron Negray, Tim Harkness, Elmer Valo, Mel Geho, and Ben Flowers (the player to be named later), and send $75,000 to the Dodgers to obtain much-touted Cuban infielder Chico Fernandez. Philadelphia’s new shortstop plays three seasons in the City of Brotherly Love, batting just .242, before being traded to the Tigers.
On April 5, 1953, Minor league outfielder Herb Gorman suffers a heart attack during a Pacific Coast League game and dies while being transported to the hospital. Gorman, a member of the San Diego Padres, is stricken during the 6th inning of a game against the Hollywood Stars. In 1952 he played briefly in the major leagues for the Cardinals. @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@ Game ticket &…
1950 – The phrase “bullpen baron” — which will be applied much more famously to Pirates reliever ElRoy Face by beat writer Jack Hernon in 1959 — is coined by Joe Reichler of the Associated Press in his pre-season profile of the St. Louis Cardinals: “For relief they have Ted Wilks, the league’s bullpen baron with a 10-3 record for 59 assignments last year.”
1942- The major league season starts with three new managers: Lou Boudreau (Cleveland Indians), Mel Ott (New York Giants) and Hans Lobert (Philadelphia Phillies).
The Braves, returning north from spring training, beat North Carolina State College, 6-2, in a contest called in the seventh inning because the teams run out baseballs, having used the 100 put aside for the game. Collegiate southpaw Olney Ray Freeman strikes out a 40 year-old Babe Ruth on a two-strike curveball, a feat the lefty would brag about until his death in 2008.
Reds president Larry MacPhail hires 26 year-old Red Barber to broadcast the team games on WSAL. The not-so-old “Ol’ Redhead” will spend the first five years of his Hall of Fame career in Cincinnati, calling the contests from the stands of Crosley Field.
1934 – Babe Ruth, sponsored by Quaker Oats, agrees to do three 15-minute broadcasts a week over NBC. The total of $39,000 for 13 weeks is $4,000 more than his New York Yankees contract. Of equal weight, WSAL hires Red Barber to broadcast Cincinnati Reds games.
1925 – At spring training, the New York Yankees whip the Brooklyn Robins, 16 – 9, but the headlines are about Babe Ruth. The Bambino collapses in the railroad station in Asheville, NC, and winds up in a New York City hospital. Ruth will undergo an operation for an ulcer on April 17th and will be in bed until May 26th.
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