ON THIS DATE

April 22

1876: In the first National League game, Joseph Borden of Boston beat the hometown Philadelphia team 6-5.

1898: Theodore Breitenstein of the Cincinnati Reds and James Hughes of Baltimore each pitched no-hit ball games. Breitenstein no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0 and Hughes no-hit the Boston Braves 8-0.

1903: The New York Highlanders lost their first game at Washington 3-1 before 11,950 fans.

1914: At age 19, Babe Ruth plays his first professional game as a pitcher, as he throws a six-hit, 6 - 0 shutout for the Orioles over the Buffalo Bisons.

1934: Chicago’s Lon Warneke pitched his second consecutive one-hitter, beating St. Louis and Dizzy Dean 15-2.

1957: John Kennedy becomes the first black to play for the Philadelphia Phillies, making them the last National League team to integrate.

1959: The White Sox scored 11 runs with only one hit in the seventh inning of a 20-6 rout of the A’s. Johnny Callison had the hit--a single. In the inning, Chicago was the recipient of 10 walks--five with the bases loaded-- three Kansas City errors and one hit batsman.

1962: The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the New York Mets 4-3 in a game in which two NL records were tied. Bill Mazeroski tripled in a run in the eighth to give the Pirates a 10-0 record, which matched the record for most consecutive wins since the start of the season set by the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. The Mets lost their ninth straight to match the mark set by Brooklyn in 1918 and tied by the Boston Braves in 1920.

1970: Tom Seaver of the Mets struck out the last 10 Padres he faced for a 2-1 victory over San Diego. He gave up two hits and finished with a total of 19 strikeouts, tying Steve Carlton’s major league record.

1976: Montreal’s Tim Foli hit for the cycle in a 12-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

1978: Andre Thornton of the Cleveland Indians hit for the cycle in a 13-4 win against the Boston Red Sox.

1980: Ivan DeJesus of the Chicago Cubs hit for the cycle in 16-12 win against the St. Louis Cardinals.

1981: Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Fernando Valenzuela pitches his third shutout in four starts, strikes out 11, and has the game’s only RBI with a single in a 1 - 0 win against the Houston Astros.

1982: The Atlanta Braves’ major league record for the fastest start was stopped at 13 straight victories when they lost 2-1 to the Cincinnati Reds.

1991: San Francisco’s Robby Thompson hit for the cycle in a 7-5 loss to the San Diego Padres.

1993: Chris Bosio pitched a no-hitter to give the Seattle Mariners a 7-0 win over the Boston Red Sox.

2007: The Boston Red Sox hit four straight home runs against the New York Yankees, tying a major league record. Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek connected in a span of 10 pitches during the third inning against Chase Wright, who was making his second major league start for New York. Boston won 7-6.

2008: Atlanta’s John Smoltz became the 16th pitcher in major league history to reach the 3,000-strikeout plateau in the Braves’ 6-0 loss to the Washington Nationals.

2014: Albert Pujols became the first major leaguer to hit his 499th and 500th homers in the same game, driving in five runs to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Washington Nationals 7-2.

2020: The Commissioner issues his findings in his investigation into allegations of sign-stealing by the 2018 Boston Red Sox, in the wake of a similar investigation into the illicit doings of the 2017 Houston Astros. While the investigation reveals that the Red Sox’s scheme was more limited in scope than the Astros’, it was still illegal, and the person responsible for the team’s video room is issued a one-year suspension, while the team must forfeit its second-round selection in the 2020 amateur draft. While there is no additional punishment for manager Alex Cora, already handed a one-year suspension for his role with the Astros.

April 23

1903: The New York Highlanders won their first game as a major league team, 7-2 over the Washington Senators.

1913: New York Giants ace Christy Mathewson beat the Phillies 3-1, throwing just 67 pitches.

1939: Rookie Ted Williams went 4-for-5, including his first major league home run, but the Red Sox lost to Philadelphia 12-8 at Fenway Park.

1946: Ed Head of the Brooklyn Dodgers no-hit the Boston Braves 5-0 at Ebbets Field. Head was making his first start after a year’s military service.

1952: Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians and Bob Cain of the St. Louis Browns matched one-hitters. Cain wound up as the winner, 1-0.

1952: Hoyt Wilhelm of the Giants hit a home run at the Polo Grounds in his first major league at-bat. He was the winner, too, and pitched 1,070 games in the majors: but never hit another homer.

1954: Hank Aaron hit the first home run of his major league career. The drive came against Vic Raschi in the Milwaukee Braves’ 7-5 victory over St. Louis.

1962: After an 0-9 start, the expansion New York Mets won their first game beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 behind Jay Hook.

1964: Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s became the first pitcher to lose a nine-inning no-hitter when Pete Rose scored an unearned run to give the Cincinnati Reds a 1-0 victory.

1978: Joe Morgan of the Cincinnati Reds makes an error at second base, bringing his major league record of 91 consecutive errorless games to an end.

1989: Nolan Ryan came within two outs of his sixth career no-hitter, losing it when Nelson Liriano tripled in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1. Ryan finished with his 10th lifetime one-hitter.

1990: Steve Lyons of the Chicago White Sox plays all nine positions during an exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs.

1999: Fernando Tatis of St. Louis became the first in major league history to hit two grand slams in one inning in a 12-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tatis also set the record with eight RBIs in one inning.

2008: The Chicago Cubs won their 10,000th game, joining the Giants as the only franchise to reach that mark with a 7-6 10-inning victory at Colorado.

2009: Ichiro Suzuki lined James Shields’ second pitch of the game for a home run, the only run of Seattle’s 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the 22nd time a leadoff homer was the deciding run in a game, and it was just the second time it happened for the Mariners.

2012: Ivan Rodriguez, who has caught more games than anyone in big league history, announces his retirement after a 21-year career.

2013: B.J. Upton and his brother Justin hit back-to-back homers for the first time, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Colorado Rockies 10-2 to complete a doubleheader sweep. It was the 27th time in major league history that brothers homered in the same game, but only the second time they went deep in consecutive at-bats. Lloyd and Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates also accomplished the feat on Sept. 15, 1938.

2022: Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers becomes the 33rd member of the 3,000 hit club.

April 24

1901: Chicago defeated Cleveland 8-2 in the first American League game. Three other scheduled games were rained out. The game lasted 1 hour, 30 minutes in front of a reported crowd of 14,000 at the Chicago Cricket Club.

1911: Battle Creek of the South Michigan League turned two triple plays in the first two innings against Grand Rapids.

1917: George Mogridge of the New York Yankees pitched a no-hitter against the Red Sox in Boston, winning 2-1.

1947: Johnny Mize of the New York Giants hit three consecutive homers in a 14-5 loss in Boston. It was a major league-record fifth time in his career that Mize hit three home runs in one game.

1957: The Chicago Cubs set a National League record by walking nine batters in the 5th inning of a 9-5 loss to the Cincinnati Redlegs.

1962: Sandy Koufax struck out 18 Chicago Cubs and pitched the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 10-2 victory at Wrigley Field.

1965: Casey Stengel recorded his 3,000th victory as a manager as the Mets beat the San Francisco Giants 7-6.

1978: Nolan Ryan of the California Angels strikes out 15 batters for the 20th time in his career.

1994: Julio Franco and Robin Ventura twice hit back-to-back homers in Chicago’s 7-6 loss to Detroit.

1996: Greg Myers and Paul Molitor each had five RBIs as the Minnesota Twins set a team record for runs and routed the Detroit Tigers 24-11. It was the highest run total against the Tigers in 84 years, matching the mark set in a 24-2 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics on May 18, 1912.

1998: Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza ties a major league record hitting his third grand slam of the month.

1998: Moises Alou drove in five runs and Carl Everett homered from each side of the plate to lead Houston to an 8-4 win over Montreal.

2001: The American League celebrates its 100th anniversary as a major league.

2007: Oakland set a major league record in a 4-2 win over Baltimore, keeping the Orioles off the scoreboard in the first inning. It was the 20th straight game in which the A’s did not allow a first-inning run, a record for the start of the season.

2009: Zack Greinke continues to dominate opposing hitters as he pitches a second straight complete game for the Kansas City Royals.

2012: Chipper Jones homers on his 40th birthday as the Braves beat the Dodgers, 4-3. He becomes the fifth player in major league history to do this, following Bob Thurman, Joe Morgan, Wade Boggs and Tony Phillips.

2014: P Michael Pineda of the Yankees is handed a ten-game suspension after being caught using pine tar on the mound in the previous day’s game.

2015: Rumors emerge that the Rangers have reached a tentative deal with the Angels to acquire troubled OF Josh Hamilton. Hamilton left Texas after the 2012 season to sign a five-year deal worth $125 million, but has not been as productive a player since the deal and suffered a relapse of dependency problems. He has yet to play a game this season.