April 6 in Tigers and mlb history:
1903: Gordon (Mickey) Cochrane is born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Cochrane will make his ML debut in 1925, when he bats .331 for the Philadelphia Athletics. A standout defensive catcher, Cochrane will bat .320 over a 13-year career. He will gain Hall of Fame honors in 1947.
1928: Playing in the Philadelphia city series between the A's and the Phillies‚ Ty Cobb makes an unassisted double play.
1938: The Detroit Tigers released Izzy Goldstein.
1939: A howling windstorm of 50 mph does not deter the Red Sox and Reds from playing an exhibition game in Florence‚ SC, but the weather and the rock-hard infield results in the game being called in the 9th inning when all 54 baseballs have disappeared. "Grounders were actually blown off the ground and over the outfield fences‚" observed Lou Smith in the Cincinnati Enquirer. The score is 18 - 18 when the game ends with both teams covered with grime.
1970: Mickey Lolich strikes out 10 in an Opening Day 5 - 0 shutout win in Washington.
1971: Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants hits a home run on Opening Day, marking the start of a historic streak. Mays will hit home runs in each of the Giants' first four games, setting a major league record that will later be tied.
1971: A Tiger Stadium record Opening Day crowd of 54,089 watches Mickey Lolich fan 8 in a 8 - 2 win over Cleveland.
1971: Before 41‚121 at Chicago‚ Billy Williams clubs a 10th-inning homer off Bob Gibson to give the Cubs a 2 - 1 win over the Cards. Joe Torre's homer‚ off Fergie Jenkins‚ is the only Cardinal score.
1971: The Mets win their first opener ever at Shea Stadium‚ beating the Expos‚ 4 - 2‚ in 5 innings. Heavy rain and wind cuts the contest short. Tom Seaver is the winner over Carl Morton.
1972: The first general strike in the history of the major leagues officially begins with the cancellation of Opening Day games in both leagues. The strike will be settled seven days later when the players and owners come to agreement on pension fund payments. The two sides agree not to make up the 86 missed games.
1973: The Pittsburgh Pirates retire Roberto Clemente's uniform number 21 in a moving pre-game ceremony before 51,695 fans at Three Rivers Stadium. The 38-year-old Clemente died in a plane crash the previous New Year's Eve.
1973: At Fenway Park, Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees becomes the first designated hitter in major league history. In his first plate appearance, Blomberg walks with the bases loaded against Luis Tiant. He will end up with one hit in three at-bats. Meanwhile, Carlton Fisk hits two home runs (one a grand slam) to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 15 - 5 victory over New York.
1973: At Baltimore‚ Dave McNally fires a three-hitter as the Orioles roll over the Brewers‚ 10 - 0. Don Baylor has three doubles‚ a homer‚ and 4 RBIs‚ while Brooks Robinson bangs two homers for 4 RBIs.
1974: The Royals set a team record for runs‚ rolling over the Twins‚ 23 - 6. The 20th Kansas City run comes on Frank White's first major league homer.
1975: The Detroit Tigers released Luke Walker.
1979: At Baltimore‚ manager Earl Weaver wins his 1‚000th game as a skipper‚ as the O's open with a 5 - 3 win over the White Sox. Jim Palmer allows 3 hits to win.
1982: A freak heavy spring snow storm brings sub-freezing temperatures across the northeast and midwest and causes the postponement of home openers for the Yankees, Tigers, White Sox, Brewers, Indians, Phillies and Pirates.
1989: The consecutive scoreless innings streak of Los Angeles Dodgers ace Orel Hershiser comes to an end. Hershiser gives up a run in the 1st inning of a loss to the Cincinnati Reds, ending his scoreless innings streak at 59.
1992: Toronto's Jack Morris sets a record with his 13th consecutive Opening Day start‚ as he goes all the way in defeating the Tigers‚ 4 - 2.
1992: The Detroit Tigers signed Les Lancaster as a free agent.
1993: Jack Morris sets an MLB record with his 14th straight Opening Day start, for the Blue Jays. 11 of those came with the #Tigers.
1996: Tiger CF Melvin Nieves bangs two doubles‚ a triple and a homer as the Tigers top the A's‚ 6 - 1. Nieves was acquired from the Padres in a spring training trade.
1999: The U.S. government garnishes Denny McLain's pension in order to reimburse the pension fund that he was convicted of laundering money from. McLain was recently divorced and under the terms of the settlement‚ all of his assets went to his wife‚ including his pension‚ while McLain got all of the debts. But‚ a federal judge overruled that and ordered that all of McLain's pension benefits be used to reimburse his victims.
2001: On Opening Day at Veterans Stadium, Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning's number 14 jersey is retired. Bunning, who compiled a 224-184 record in his 17-year career pitching for the Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers, joins Richie Ashburn (1), Robin Roberts (36), Steve Carlton (32) and Mike Schmidt (20) as the fifth player to have his number retired by the Phillies.
2003: Tigers become the 1st team since the 1962-63 Mets to go 0-6 in 2 straight seasons. White Sox score 9 in the 8th to win 10-2.
2005: The Detroit Tigers signed C.J. Nitkowski as a free agent.
2006: Using his newly-perfected knuckleball, Texas P R.A. Dickey ties a post-1900 major league record by surrendering six homers to the Tigers in a 10 - 6 Detroit victory. The only major league pitcher to give up more homers was Charlie Sweeney of the St. Louis Maroons, who allowed seven to the Detroit Wolverines on June 12, 1886.
Detroit clouts 7 round-trippers in the contest, and sets a major league record with 15 homers in their first three games, breaking the mark of 10 set by the 1998 Mariners. The Tigers set a team record for any three-game span, breaking the mark of 14, set in 1997.
2006: The Detroit Tigers signed John Ennis as a free agent.
2016: Jerrod Saltalamacchia hits a 2-run home run and 2-run double to lead #Tigers over the marlins his former team.
Tigers players and managers birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Mickey_Cochrane
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cochrmi01.shtml
https://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/cochrmi01.shtml
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/a80307f0
Mickey Cochrane 1934-1937, manager 1934-1938.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Phil_Regan
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reganph01.shtml
Phil Regan 1960-1965.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/willike02.shtml
Ken Williams 1989-1990.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kalliru01.shtml
Rudy Kallio 1918-1919.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kneisru01.shtml
Rudy Kneisch 1926.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnske01.shtml
Ken Johnson 1952.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Lou_Berberet
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/berbelo01.shtml
Lou Berberet 1959-1960.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wyattjo02.shtml
John Wyatt 1968.
Baseball Reference
