April 8 in Tigers and mlb history:
1909 - While at spring training, Hal Chase of the New York Highlanders contracts smallpox. The entire team is vaccinated and quarantined while traveling north.
1914 - An attempt to legalize Sunday baseball in Massachusetts is defeated.
1916 - Outfielder Tris Speaker is still a holdout as a reaction to Boston Red Sox owner Joseph Lannin's proposal to cut his salary from $11,000 to $9,000. Speaker wants $15,000. The Red Sox, in anticipation of resolving the contract dispute by trading Speaker, purchase OF Tilly Walker from the St. Louis Browns.
1927 - Four days before the season opens, recently-traded Rogers Hornsby breaks the impasse by selling his stock in the St. Louis Cardinals for $112,000. He receives $86,000 from owner Sam Breadon, $2,000 from each of the other seven National League clubs, and an extra $12,000 from the New York Giants, his new team.
1963: The Detroit Tigers claim little-known pitcher Denny McLain on waivers from the Chicago White Sox, who will regret their decision. After pitching brief stints for the Tigers in 1963 and 1964, McLain will win 108 games from 1965 through 1969.
1968 - The major leagues decide to postpone Opening Day because of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. With 11 black players on their roster, the Pittsburgh Pirates vote not to play games on Monday - the day of the scheduled opener - or Tuesday. The Pirates will open the season on Wednesday.
1974 - Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves blasts a historic home run at Fulton County Stadium, breaking Babe Ruth's career all-time record. The 715th home run of Aaron's career comes against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing and results in a game-delaying celebration. Aaron will finish his career with a total of 755 home runs.
1975 - Frank Robinson makes his debut as major league baseball's first black manager. Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson, throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a crowd of 56,204. As the player-manager of the Cleveland Indians, Frank Robinson hits a home run in his first at-bat, helping Cleveland to a 5 - 3 victory over the New York Yankees. For Robinson, it is his eighth Opening Day home run, setting a major league record which will later be tied by Ken Griffey and Adam Dunn.
1991: Major league umpires strike on Opening Day, and amateur umpires are used as replacements. The arbiters, whose working agreement expired on December 31st, will settle and return to work the next day. Among the benefits won by the Major League Umpires Association is an increase in starting salaries from $41,000 to $60,000.
2002: After opening their season with six straight losses, the Detroit Tigers fire manager Phil Garner and general manager Randy Smith. Coach Luis Pujols takes over the reins on an interim basis while team president Dave Dombrowski assumes the GM's responsibilities.
2008: Placido Polanco's major league record run of 186 consecutive errorless games and 911 consecutive errorless chances at second base ends. Polanco commits a throwing error that lets Manny Ramirez score on what would have been a triple otherwise.
2010: Dontrelle Willis pitches six solid innings in his return to the major leagues as the Tigers beat Kansas City, 7 - 3. Willis went on the disabled list after pitching poorly last June and was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. Miguel Cabrera goes 4 for 5 with a homer for Detroit.
2012: The Red Sox and Tigers stage an epic battle on Easter Sunday. Detroit takes an early 5 - 0 lead off Clay Buchholz, but Boston roars back to chase Max Scherzer in the 3rd inning after he has coughed up 7 runs. Sox closer Alfredo Aceves takes the mound in the bottom of the 9th with a 10 - 7 lead, but gives up a pair of singles and a three-run homer to Miguel Cabrera without retiring anyone. Boston scores two runs off Joaquin Benoit in the top of the 11th, but this time it's Mark Melancon who can't close the game. After giving up a sacrifice fly to Delmon Young, he has two strikes on Alex Avila with two outs when the Tigers' catcher hits a ball off the top of the railing of the right field fence for a game-winning two-run homer after 4 hours and 45 minutes of baseball.
Tigers players birthdays:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Lady_Baldwin
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/baldwla01.shtml
Lady Baldwin Detroit Wolverines 1885-1888. 42 wins in 1886.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Charlie_Maxwell
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/maxwech01.shtml
Charlie Maxwell 1955-1962.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/John_Hiller
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hillejo01.shtml
John Hiller 1965-1970, 1972-1980.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Timo_Perez
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perezti01.shtml
Timo Perez 2007.
Tigers players and managers who passed away:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/George_Moriarty
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/moriage02.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/moriage02.shtml
George Moriarty 1909-1915, manager 1927-1928.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bob_Cain
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cainbo01.shtml
Bob Cain 1951.
from Baseball Reference
