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.
1922: At Sportsman's Park, the St. Louis Cardinals wear their new uniforms (two red birds on a bat with the words "Cardinals" across the front) for the first time in an exhibition contest with 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.
1933: Prior to a pre-season contest in New York, and exactly one week before Schoolboy Rowe's official major league debut], the highly touted Tigers pitching prospect launches a batting practice bomb into the Polo Grounds' center-field bleachers, a feat never before performed since the stadium's 1923 reconfiguration. It will be more than 15 years ? July 18, 1948, to be precise ? before Rowe's feat is finally matched in the course of a game, by Negro Leaguer Luke Easter, and roughly 20 ? i.e. April 29, 1953 ? before its first major league version, courtesy of Joe Adcock.
1946: Jim (Catfish) Hunter is born in Hertford, North Carolina. The pitching ace of three World Series champions in Oakland in the 1970s and a member of two other Championship-winners with the New York Yankees, Hunter will make his major league debut in 1965 and will win election to the Hall of Fame in 1987.
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1954: Hall of Famer Gary Carter was born this day. An 11-time All-Star; won three Gold Gloves and played on the 1986 World Champion
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1955: The Detroit Tigers purchased Harry Malmberg from the Cleveland Indians.
1955: The Detroit Tigers selected Ron Samford off waivers from the New York Giants.
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 with 31 wins in the Tigers 1968 season when the team came back from a 3 games to 1 deficit and beat the Cardinals in 7 games for the World Series Championship. McLain also won 2 Cy Young Awards in '68 and '69 with the 1968 American League MVP award.
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1966: The Detroit Tigers purchased Ron Woods from the Pittsburgh Pirates for $500.
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.
1969: Four expansion teams make their debuts. The Kansas City Royals, Seattle Pilots, Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres all win their inaugural games.
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1969: After a long recovery following a 1967 beaning, Tony Conigliaro starts his first game for the Boston Red Sox. His dramatic two-run 10th-inning home run gives the Red Sox a brief lead, and his 12th-inning run wins it, 5 - 4, over the Baltimore Orioles home team.
1969: Denny McLain throws a 3-hitter and Al Kaline hits a home run as the Tigers beat Cleveland 6-2 on Opening Day at Tiger Stadium.
1970: The Detroit Tigers released Tom Tresh.
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.
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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.
1984: Tigers complete a sweep of the White Sox, improving to 5-0. Kirk Gibson hits his second home run of the year. Barbaro Garbey hits 2 doubles. Tigers score 5 runs off White Sox starter Tom Seaver in his Sox debut. #Relive84
1985: At Fenway Park, 46-year-old Phil Niekro starts for the New York Yankees, becoming the second oldest pitcher ever to start on Opening Day. Only Jack Quinn, for the Brooklyn Robins in 1931, was older at age 47.
1985: The Detroit Tigers signed Tom O'Malley as a free agent.
1987: Cleveland Indians pitchers Phil Niekro and Steve Carlton combine to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 14 - 3, making it the first time in major league history that two 300-game winners pitch for the same team in the same game.
Niekro goes six innings to get his 312th career win and Carlton blanks Toronto for three innings.
1987: Los Angeles Dodgers vice-president Al Campanis is fired after he made racist remarks on national TV two days earlier. Campanis suggested that blacks lacked the "necessities" to become managers or executives.
1989: One-handed pitcher Jim Abbott makes his major league debut for the California Angels. Born without a right hand, Abbott bypassed the minors completely after starring at the University of Michigan, heading directly to the Angels' starting rotation. He lasts only four and two-thirds innings in a 7 - 0 loss to the Seattle Mariners, but will finish his rookie season with 12 wins and a 3.92 ERA, the most major league wins in a first pro season since St. Louis Browns pitcher Ernie Wingard won 13 in his first professional season, in 1925.
1990: The Detroit Tigers signed Urbano Lugo as a free agent.
1990: The Detroit Tigers signed Mark Salas as a free agent.
1991: Starter Nolan Ryan and closer Goose Gossage pitch for the Texas Rangers in a 5 - 4 loss to Milwaukee. It marks the first time in major league history that a 300-game winner hurls in the same contest as a teammate with 300 saves.
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.
1993: Carlos Baerga is the first player in major league history to homer from both sides of the plate in the same inning.
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1995: The Detroit Tigers signed Alan Trammell as a free agent.
1997: The Detroit Tigers signed Bob Hamelin as a free agent.
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: The Detroit Tigers signed Casey Fossum as a free agent.
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.
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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.
2016: Jordan Zimmermann pitches 7 scoreless innings in his Tigers debut. The Tigers shut out the Yankees 4-0 to win their 8th straight home opener.
2018: Tigers are held to 2 hits but beat the White Sox 1-0 on a Miguel Cabrera sac fly in the first inning.
Mike Fiers threw six scoreless innings as the Tigers beat the White Sox 1-0 to complete the series sweep.
First time since 2004 the Tigers win with 2 or fewer hits.
2019: The Trump Administration aka Shitheads United cancels an agreement reached the previous December between Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation that allows Cuban players to join organized baseball through a formal transfer process, as is the case with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The current administration objects to the fact that transfer fees are being paid to the Federation; however, the agreement's demise is likely to lead to a return of danger-fraught defections as the only path for Cuban players to reach the U.S.
2024: Charlie "Paw Paw" Maxwell isn't just celebrating Opening Day, he's celebrating his 97th birthday!
And we had the Tigers and White Sox legend out to spend his special day with us.
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Tigers players birthdays:
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Lady Baldwin. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Lady Baldwin Detroit Wolverines 1885-1888. 42 wins in 1886.
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Bob Mavis. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Bob Mavis 1949.
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Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Charlie Maxwell. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Charlie Maxwell 1955-1962.
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Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of John Hiller. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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John Hiller 1965-1970, 1972-1980.
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Timo Pérez. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Timo Perez 2007.
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Dane Sardinha. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Dane Sardinha 2008-2009.
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Bobby Wilson. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Bobby Wilson 2016, 2019.
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Artie Lewicki. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Artie Lewicki 2017-2018.
Tigers players and managers who passed away:
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Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of George Moriarty. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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George Moriarty Managerial Record
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George Moriarty 1909-1915, manager 1927-1928.
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Willie Ludolph. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Willie Ludolph 1924.
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Joe Sullivan. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Joe Sullivan 1935-1936.
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Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Bob Cain. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
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Bob Cain 1951.
Baseball Reference
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Tigers 6 - Yankees 2: A chilly victory will do just fine, thanks.
Blast from Andy Ibáñez backs Casey Mize as Tigers take opener from Yankees.
Casey Mize, Detroit Tigers neutralize New York Yankees for 6-2 win.
www.mlive.com
Tigers top Yankees in snowy series opener, extend win streak to 4.
