Portal:Baseball/Anniversaries/April 2
Events
- 1901 - Jimmy Collins leaves the Boston Beaneaters' National League club to play and manage the American League's new Boston Americans.
- 1918 - The New York Yankees purchase George Burns from the Detroit Tigers and immediately trade him to the Philadelphia Athletics for Ping Bodie.
- 1931 - At Engel Stadium, 17-year-old female pitcher Jackie Mitchell strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game held in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
- 1952 - New York Giant Monte Irvin breaks his ankle sliding into third base during an exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians, forcing him to miss most of the 1952 season.
- 1962 - The Minnesota Twins trade Pedro Ramos to the Cleveland Indians for Vic Power and Dick Stigman.
- 1963 - The Houston Colt .45s trade Manny Mota to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a prospect and cash.
- 1976 - The Oakland Athletics Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman to the Baltimore Orioles for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez and Paul Mitchell.
- 1996 - Due to renovations to McAfee Coliseum, the Oakland Athletics play their season opener in Las Vegas, Nevada, losing to the Toronto Blue Jays, 9 - 6, in front of only 7,296 fans at Cashman Field.
- 1996 - Detroit Tigers first baseman Cecil Fielder steals the first base of 1,097 game career, establishing the longest duration a player had ever gone without a stolen base.
- 1998 - Colorado Rockies Ellis Burks hits a home run in Bank One Ballpark, setting a major league record by having homered in 33 different stadiums.
- 2001 Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki becomes Major League Baseball's first position player born in Japan.
- 2001 - New York Yankee Roger Clemens becomes the all-time American League career strike out leader passing Walter Johnson.
- 2002 - 6'-11" Chicago White Sox pitcher Jon Rauch becomes the tallest pitcher to appear in an MLB game.
- 2003 - New York Yankee Todd Zeile becomes the first Major Leaguer to hit a home run for ten different teams.
- 2008 - Kevin Youkilis plays his 194th consecutive error-free game at first base, breaking Steve Garvey's 23-year-old major league record.
Births
- 1856 - Tommy Bond, pitcher, manager (d. 1941)
- 1869 - Hughie Jennings, infielder, manager; Hall of Famer (d. 1928)
- 1877 - Ed Siever, pitcher (d. 1920)
- 1878 - Jack Harper, pitcher (d. 1950)
- 1881 - Joe Stanley, outfielder (d. 1967)
- 1884 - Howard Wakefield, catcher (d. 1941)
- 1889 - Ben Demott, pitcher (d. 1963)
- 1907 - Luke Appling, infielder, manager; All-Star, Hall of Famer (d. 1991)
- 1911 - Cotton Pippen, pitcher (d. 1981)
- 1915 - Al Barlick, Hall of Famer (d. 1995)
- 1917 - Vedie Himsl, manager (d. 2004)
- 1919 - Earl Johnson, pitcher (d. 1994)
- 1924 - Bobby Ávila, infielder; All-Star (d. 2004)
- 1927 - Billy Pierce, pitcher; All-Star
- 1930 - Gordon Jones, pitcher (d. 1994)
- 1937 - Dick Radatz, pitcher; All-Star (d. 2005)
- 1938 - Al Weis, infielder
- 1945 - Mike Kekich, pitcher
- 1945 - Reggie Smith, outfielder; All-Star
- 1945 - Don Sutton, pitcher; All-Star, Hall of Famer
- 1948 - Daniel Okrent, author
- 1950 - Milt Ramirez, infielder
- 1951 - Tom Johnson, pitcher
- 1953 - Hector Cruz, outfielder
- 1955 - Billy Sample, outfielder
- 1956 - Bill Plaschke, writer
- 1958 - Mike Howard, outfielder
- 1959 - Al Nipper, pitcher
- 1960 - Tom Barrett, infielder
- 1964 - Pete Incaviglia, outfielder
- 1968 - Curt Leskanic, pitcher
- 1969 - Steve Hosey, outfielder
- 1970 - Dennis Hocking, infielder
- 1970 - Jon Lieber, pitcher; All-Star
- 1973 - Marc Kroon, pitcher
- 1977 - Mike Gallo, pitcher
- 1978 - John Gall, outfielder
- 1981 - Brian Barden, infielder
Deaths
- 1910 - Jim Nealon, infielder (b. 1884)
- 1920 - Matty McIntyre, outfielder (b. 1880)
- 1927 - Mike Lynch, pitcher (b. 1880)
- 1932 - John Morrill, infielder, manager (b. 1855)
- 1934 - John Roach, pitcher (b. 1867)
- 1935 - Brad Hogg, pitcher (b. 1889)
- 1944 - Bob Brush, infielder (b. 1875)
- 1947 - Charlie Jones, outfielder (b. 1876)
- 1970 - Dave Hoskins, pitcher (b. 1925)
- 1972 - Gil Hodges, infielder, manager; All-Star (b. 1924)
- 1978 - Bill Brubaker, infielder (b. 1910)
- 1992 - Dib Williams, infielder (b. 1910)
- 2003 - Hilly Flitcraft, pitcher (b. 1923)