IN THE NEWS: On Opening Day in Brooklyn, fans storm Washington Park hours before the 4:00 P.M. starting time, causing a near riot. An estimated 30,000 people crowd into the outfield and along foul lines. The Giants hit a record 13 ground-rule doubles and are leading 183 in the 6th when the game is called due to darkness.
In Cincinnati, the Reds open Redland Field, the first sell-and-concrete stadium, with a 106 win over the Cubs.
The Champion Athletics open at home, lacing seven hits and beating Walter Johnson and the Senators, 42. Jack Coombs takes the victory.
Playing the Red Sox in the opener at New York's Hilltop Park, the Yankees wear pinstripes for the first time. Boston scores a run in the 1st against Ray Caldwell, and the Yankees respond with two runs in the bottom against Joe Wood. That is all the scoring until the ninth inning, when the Sox score four runs, including two on a Smoky Joe single. Boston wins, 53, on Wood's seven hitter.
IN THE NEWS: The Tinker-Evers-Chance double play combination (with Ed Lennox at 3B) plays its final ML game together, a 32 loss in Cincinnati. Vic Saier will replace Chance at 1B.
The NL has a small box installed in the ground near home plate in each park to supply umpires with baseballs, eliminating the possibility of home team ballboys influencing which balls are used for each team's turn at bat.
IN THE NEWS: At the Polo Grounds, the Giants and Yankees play an charity game to raise money for the survivors of the Titanic, which sunk on April 14. The Giants belt the Yankees, now clad in their new pinstriped uniforms, to win 112.
IN THE NEWS: Behind the pitching of Walter Johnson, Washington wins its home opener 60 over the World Champion Athletics. Only 10,000 fans show up as shocking news of the Titanic sinking keeps people away. President Taft skips the game and Veep Sherman does the tossing of the first ball.
Playing their home opener against Brooklyn, the Giants win, 62. Christy Mathewson is the victor, despite giving up 13 hits.
After hitting the game-winning home run in the 11th inning to beat the Reds, 54, Cubs OF Jimmy Sheckard forgets and heads for the clubhouse after touching 2B. Teammates yell to him to complete the circuit, which he does. The manager of the Reds is Hank O'Day, who was the umpire that day in 1908 when Fred Merkle failed to touch 2B.
Detroit opens remodeled Navin Park and beats Cleveland 65 in 11 innings before 24,384. George Mullin wins his own game with a RBI single. Detroit opens with two double steals in the 1st inning, including Ty Cobb's swipe of home when Sam Crawford takes 2B. Cobb has two singles and two steals today.
In New York, Jeff Tesreau takes over for Rube Marquard in the 9th inning, with the Giants leading 21. An error lets in two Brooklyn runners, but New York scores two in the bottom of the 9th for a 43 win. Since Marquard faced three batters in the 9th, the victory is awarded to Tesreau.
IN THE NEWS: Reds SS Jimmy Esmond, a .195 hitter, hits the first home run at Redland (later, Crosley) Field, off Bill Steele. The inside-the-park blow is his only roundtripper of the year. Nobody will hit one out of the Cincinnati park until Pat Duncan does it on June 2, 1921. Esmond's 3-run homer leads the Reds to a 71 over the Cardinals.
IN THE NEWS: At Baker Bowl, Christy Mathewson subdues the Phillies on seven hits to beat Tom Seaton, 31. Two of the Phils' safeties are by 17-year-old infielder Gene Steinbrenner, the only hits of his brief ML career.
IN THE NEWS: Boston 1B Hugh Bradley is the first player to hit a ball over LF wall of Boston's new park. His 3-run shothis only homer this year and half his career totalhelps the Red Sox beat Philadelphia, 76.