April 20 in Tigers and mlb history:
1903: On Opening Day, before 8,376 fans at Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds, the Boston Americans defeat the Philadelphia Athletics in the morning game of a Patriots' Day twin bill, 9 - 4. Connie Mack's Athletics win the matinee match-up featuring two future Hall of Fame pitchers, 10 - 7, as 27,658 spectators enjoy watching starters Eddie Plank and Cy Young oppose one another.
1908: Henry Chadwick dies at age 83 in Brooklyn, New York. A sportswriter and historian, Chadwick was one of the prime movers in the rise of baseball to its unprecedented popularity at the turn of the 20th century. He will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee in 1938.
1910: Addie Joss of the Cleveland Naps pitches his second career no-hitter. A busy Joss helps himself by recording 10 fielding assists during the 1 - 0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
1912: The Boston Red Sox play the first game in the history of Fenway Park, after three previous attempts to play the opener have been rained out. The Red Sox open up with an 11-inning, 7 - 6 victory over the New York Highlanders, the predecessors to Boston's arch-rivals, the New York Yankees. Tris Speaker delivers the game-winning RBI before a crowd of 27,000 fans.
1912: The Detroit Tigers christen their Navin Field with a 6 - 5 win over the Cleveland Naps.
Ty Cobb has 2 hits, scores 2 runs, and steals 2 bases. Starting pitcher George Mullin hits the walkoff RBI.
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1914: The 25-player limit is suspended in the American and National leagues. With uncertainty over who has signed with what teams as a result of the creation of the Federal League, it is almost impossible to know how many players may be on the roster at any one time.
1927: WWJ airs the first #Tigers first radio broadcast from Navin Field, with Ty Tyson at the microphone. Tyson would call Tiger games until 1953.
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1932: The New York Yankees draw the largest paid attendance, 55,452, for any Yankee Stadium opener. Babe Ruth homers as Lefty Gomez beats Lefty Grove in the 8 - 3 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.
1937: Gee Walker hits for the cycle on Opening Day to lead the Tigers to a 4 - 3 victory over Cleveland. Walker hits the cycle in reverse order: home run, triple, double and single. This game starts a 27 game hitting streak for Walker.
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1938: Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians pitches the first of 12 career one-hitters, beating the St. Louis Browns, 9 - 0.
1939: The Boston Red Sox show off their prize rookie Ted Williams before 30,278 in their opener at Yankee Stadium, delayed two days because of rain. After striking out twice, Williams collects a double off New York Yankees pitcher Red Ruffing, who wins 2 - 0. Lou Gehrig makes an error, goes hitless, and lines into two double plays in the only game featuring the two great sluggers. Other notables in what will become a historic box score include Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Red Rolfe, and losing pitcher Lefty Grove. New York scores its first run on a home run by Dickey and its second tally on an error by Foxx. Boston has baserunners in each inning, but Ruffing tosses just the second opening day shutout in Yankees history. Four umpires work the game including third base ump George Pipgras, the starting pitcher for the Yankees in the 1929 opener against Boston. Curiously, his opponent for that day was Ruffing.
1941: The Brooklyn Dodgers become the first major league team to wear protective headgear. Each player's cap features a special plastic lining designed to fend off the effects of beanballs. It is a cautious response to the numerous beanball wars of 1940 that hospitalized Joe Medwick and Billy Jurges, among others. The liners in the caps are thin enough to be hardly noticeable, but most major league players disdain the protection.
1943: The season starts, two weeks later than customary. Stalwarts such as Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Enos Slaughter and Johnny Mize are gone to military service, among some 60 players who could have been classified as regulars in the 1942 season.
1944: Elmer Gedeon becomes the first major league player to lose his life serving in World War II. The 26-year-old Gedeon, who played briefly as an outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1939, dies when his plane is shot down over St. Pol, France. Gedeon served in the Army Air Corps.
1948: Tigers' Sam Vico hits a home run on the first pitch of his first career at bat in tigers 5 - 2 win over white sox.
1966: At Connie Mack Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 399th and 400th home runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to a victory, 8 - 1, over the Philadelphia Phillies. The first shot is off starter Ray Culp in the 1st inning, and number 400 comes in the 9th, off Bo Belinsky.
1967: Tom Seaver of the New York Mets records his first major league victory with a 6 - 1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs. Seaver goes 7 2/3 innings and gives up eight hits and one run.
1968: Detroit Tigers pitcher Jon Warden, the last man to make the team in spring training, makes his third appearance, and wins for the third time in relief, as Detroit beats the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park in 10 innings, 4 - 1.
Tigers improve to 7-1 on Dick Tracewski's 2-run single in the 10th.
Due to a torn rotator cuff injury after being selected by the Kansas City Royals in the expansion draft, the rookie sensation, who will be the only Tiger not to appear in the World Series, will pitch only one season finishing with a 4-1 record and a 3.62 ERA.
1973: Four months after his death, Pittsburgh Pirates great Roberto Clemente is inducted into the Hall of Fame in a special election.
1984: Milt Wilcox holds the White Sox to 2 runs over 8 innings. With 2 outs in the 9th, Lance Parrish hits a fly ball toward RF, Ron Kittle dives, ruled a trap, Lou Whitaker scores for the walk-off win. The Tigers never led till the final play and 33,554 fans go home happy with the 3 - 2 victory.
1986: Vida Blue of the San Francisco Giants wins his 200th career game, combining with Jeff Robinson to shut out the Padres, 4 - 0.
1988: On the 76th birthday of Tiger Stadium, the Tiger Stadium Fan Club organizes a "Stadium Hug".
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1988: Orioles fall to 0-14, breaking the record for losses to start a season that was held by the 1904 Senators and 1920 Tigers.
2006: Julio Franco, at 47 years, 240 days old, becomes the oldest player in major league history to hit a home run. At Petco Park, Franco connects for a two-run, pinch-hit shot off Scott Linebrink that launches the Mets' six-run 8th inning and propells them to a 7 - 2 comeback victory against the Padres. This gives Franco the spot in the record book that had belonged to Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Jack Quinn, who was 46 years, 357 days old when he homered on June 27, 1930. Franco already was the oldest player to hit a grand slam and a pinch-hit homer, and to have a multi-homer game. He also has four career pinch-hit homers.
2012: The Detroit Tigers purchased Zach Miner from the Kansas City Royals.
2014: The Detroit Tigers released Alex Gonzalez.
2016: Victor Martinez gets his 1,000th career RBI in a 3-2 win in Kansas City.
2018: Tigers win on a walk-off home run by JaCoby Jones and beat the royals 3 - 2.
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Lou_Vedder
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/veddelo01.shtml
Lou Vedder 1920.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/harriea01.shtml
Earl Harrist 1953.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Milt_Wilcox
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wilcomi01.shtml
Milt Wilcox 1977-1985.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tolmati01.shtml
Tim Tolman 1986-1987.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/murphjo03.shtml
John Murphy 1903.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mootyja01.shtml
Jake Mooty 1944.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/alusige01.shtml
George Alusik 1958, 1961-1962.
Baseball Reference
