This date in baseball
April 9
1913 Ebbets Field opened in Brooklyn and Philadelphia defeated the Dodgers 1-0 before a crowd of 10,000. The stadium, which cost $750,000 to build, was named after Charles Ebbets, the club's principal owner.
1947 Brooklyn Dodgers Manager Leo Durocher was suspended for one year by commissioner Happy Chandler for "the accumulation of unpleasant incidents" detrimental to baseball.
1959 The Baltimore Orioles, playing against the Washington Senators, became the first team in history to execute a triple play on opening day. The Senators won the game 9-2.
1965 The Houston Astrodome opened with an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and the Astros. President Johnson attended and Gov. John Connally threw out the first ball. Mickey Mantle hit the first home run, but the Astros won 2-1 in 12 innings.
1969 Billy Williams of Chicago hit four consecutive doubles to lead the Cubs to an 11-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
1974 San Diego Padres owner Ray Kroc criticized his club over the public address system during a game! "Ladies and gentlemen, I suffer with you," Kroc said. "I've never seen such stupid baseball playing in my life." The announcement occurred during San Diego's 9-5 loss to the Houston Astros. Also, the San Diego Chicken team mascot made its debut that day.
1981 Fernando Valenzuela made his first major league start a stunning success by pitching a 2-0, five-hit victory over the Houston Astros in Los Angeles. He would go on to win his first eight games.
1985 Chicago's Tom Seaver made his 15th opening day start to break Christy Mathewson's record. Seaver pitched 62/3 innings and was credited with the victory as the White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2.
1993 The Colorado Rockies beat the Montreal Expos 11-4 for their first win and set a National League record for attendance in their home debut. The crowd of 80,227 broke the record of 78,672 set on April 18, 1958, by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
2000 In a 13-7 victory over Kansas City, Minnesota's Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones and Matt LeCroy hit consecutive home runs. The Royals' Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye and Mike Sweeney repeated the feat, marking the first time in major league history that both teams hit three consecutive home runs in the same game.
2003 Detroit became the second major league team to start successive seasons 0-7 after a 9-6 loss to Kansas City. The Tigers started 0-11 last year. The 1962-63 New York Mets started 0-9 and 0-8 in their first two seasons.
2006 Cory Sullivan tied a major league record by hitting two triples during a seven-run fifth inning, helping Colorado rout San Diego 10-4.
2014 Garrett Richards and two relievers combined on one-hitter as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0. Richards threw seven shutout innings. Abraham Almonte was the only Seattle batter to reach via hit when he singled in the third inning.