ON THIS DATE

April 4

1974: The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Atlanta Braves 7-6 in 11 innings before a crowd of 52,000 at Riverfront Stadium. In his first at-bat, Hank Aaron hit a three-run homer off Jack Billingham. It was his 714th, tying Babe Ruth’s career record. The Braves had considered keeping Aaron on the bench for the season-opening series in Cincinnati so that he could attempt to tie the record four days later in Atlanta. But Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered the Braves to put Aaron into the lineup for at least two of the three games.

1988: George Bell became the first player to hit three home runs on opening day, leading the Blue Jays past the Royals 5-3. Bell, bitter throughout spring training with his move to designated hitter, homered three times in that role off Bret Saberhagen.

1994: Chicago’s Karl Rhodes hit three solo home runs off Dwight Gooden in a 12-8 loss to the New York Mets on opening day at Wrigley Field. Rhodes became the second player to homer three times in an opener.

1994: The Cleveland Indians open new stadium, Jacobs Field, with a 4 - 3 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

2011: Nelson Cruz of Texas became the third player in major league history to homer in the first four games of a season and the Rangers beat Seattle 6-4. Cruz joined Willie Mays (1971) and Mark McGwire (1998) as the only players to go deep in each of their first four games of a season.

2012: The Miami Marlins open a new name and a new ballpark, Marlins Park, but lose to the St. Louis Cardinals.

2016: Colorado Rockies SS Trevor Story becomes the first player to hit two homers in his debut on Opening Day.

2018: MLB experiments with a new medium as today’s game between the Phillies and Mets is broadcast live exclusively on “Facebook Watch”.

2021: For the first time since his debut in Major League Baseball in 2018, Shohei Ohtani is in the batting order in a game in which he is also the starting pitcher.