Baseball history unpacked, April 5

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.

Today in baseball history:

• 1913 - In an exhibition game, 25,000 fans watch the Brooklyn Superbas play their first game in Ebbets Field. Brooklyn beats the Yankees, 3-2, with Dodgers outfielder Casey Stengel hitting the park’s first home run, an inside-the-parker. (2)
• 1925 - At spring training, the New York Yankees whip the Brooklyn Robins, 16-9, but the headlines are about Babe Ruth. The Bambino collapses in the railroad station in Asheville, NC, and winds up in a New York City hospital. Ruth will undergo an operation for an ulcer on April 17th and will be in bed until May 26th. (1,2)
• 1966 - Pitcher Don Larsen, who is the last active major leaguer who played for the St. Louis Browns, is released by the Orioles. As a rookie in 1953, Larsen posted a 7-12 record for the hapless franchise which lost 100 games in its final season in St. Louis. (2)
• 1972 - For the first time in Major League Baseball history, the regular season fails to open due to the player strike which started on April 1st. 86 games will be lost before the labor dispute is settled. (2)
• 1993 - The expansion Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins play their first games ever. After Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio throws out the first ball at Joe Robbie Stadium, the Marlins defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3. Jeff Conine goes 4 for 4 while Charlie Hough gets the win. In the meantime, the Rockies lose to Dwight Gooden and the Mets, 3-0, at Shea Stadium. (1,2)
• 1997 - Just one day after Turner Field opens its doors for baseball, the stadium holds its first slumber party. Rain showers force Saturday night’s Cubs-Braves game to be suspended in the seventh inning late Saturday night, but because of the change to daylight saving time and a day game on Sunday, several players decide to spend the night in the clubhouse at the brand-new stadium. The Braves win the completion of the suspended game, 11-5, and then win the regularly-scheduled game, 4-0.
• 2010 - Jason Heyward, the Minor League Player of the Year last year, starts his major league career with fireworks, connecting for a three-run home run off Carlos Zambrano in the 1st inning in front of 60 friends and family members at Turner Field as Atlanta cruises to a 16-5 win over the Cubs. (2)
• 2015 - The opening game of the 2015 Major League Baseball season is a 3-0 win by the Cardinals over the Cubs as Adam Wainwright gets the better of marquee free agent signee Jon Lester. RF Jason Heyward has three hits, including a pair for extra bases, and scores his team’s first run in his first game for St. Louis, while LF Matt Holliday drives in two runs. For the occasion, venerable Wrigley Field unveils a new state-of-the-art video scoreboard. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Chuck Lauer, Jimmie Schaffer, Don Prince, Ron Campbell, Greg Smith, Ross Gload, Jorge De La Rosa, Ian Stewart, Steve Clevenger*.

Today in history:

• 456 - Saint Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop.
• 1058 - Bishop Giovanni “Minchus” [“the thin”] elected as Anti-Pope Benedict X.
• 1621 - Mayflower sails from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England.
• 1722 - Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen is the first European to discover Easter Island / Rapa Nui in the southeastern Pacific.
• 1887 - Anne Sullivan teaches “water” to blind and deaf six-year-old Helen Keller by holding one of her hands under a dripping water pump and spelling out “w-a-t-e-r” in Keller’s palm. She goes on to learn how to read, write, speak and graduate from college.
• 1923 - Firestone Tire and Rubber Company starts producing inflatable tires.
• 1948 - WGN-TV channel 9 in Chicago begins broadcasting.
• 1970 - WSNS-TV channel 44 in Chicago begins broadcasting.
• 2063 - Earth’s first contact with the extraterrestrial Vulcan species in the Star Trek universe.

Common sources:

• (1) — Today in Baseball History.
• (2) — Baseball Reference.
• (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
• (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
• For world history.

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid, so that we can address that to the originators and provide clarity if not ‘truth’. Nothing is posted here without at least one instance of corroboration (this also includes the history bullets). Thanks for reading, and thanks also for your cooperation.