TODAY IN BASEBALL courtesy of National Pastime
1940 – On Opening Day, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s errant ceremonial first pitch smashes a Washington Post camera. The Chief Executive is not charged with a wild pitch as Red Sox hurler Lefty Grove blanks the Senators, 1-0.
1989 – Blue Jays third baseman Kelly Gruber becomes the first player to hit for the cycle in franchise history when he singles in the eighth inning of the team’s 15-8 win against Kansas City. The 27 year-old All-star infielder’s Toronto teammates buy him a tricycle in recognition of the Exhibition Stadium accomplishment.
1994 – After being escorted into Mile High Stadium by a Colorado National Guard contingent, the ‘dinosaur egg’, which was ‘uncovered’ during the excavation for Coors Field, hatches, revealing an anthropomorphic purple triceratops named Dinger, the Rockies’ new mascot. The use a three-horned dinosaur as the team’s good luck charm was inspired the actual discovery of a number of dinosaur fossils throughout the construction site of the new ballpark, including a 7-foot-long triceratops skull that weighed a half ton.
And finally…in 2015, Giancarlo Stanton becomes the Marlins’ all-time home run leader when he goes deep off Dillon Gee in the first inning of the team’s 7-5 loss to New York at Citi Field. The Miami outfielder’s two-run blast, the 155th round-tripper of his career, surpasses the franchise mark established in 2010 by Dan Uggla.
PLAYERS BORN TODAY
Paul Waner (1903), Bruce Bochy (1955), Fernando Vina (1969), Antonio Alfonseca (1972) and Nolan Arenado (1991)
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