Dreaded April 15
Charlie Anderson
This past week as my procrastination over pulling together information for my income tax preparation had me looking at April 15 as a most dreaded day; the thought occurred to me that there were probably a lot of good things about that day and that the way most of us look at in this country might be a little unfair. With that in mind my curiosity sent me looking for some positive things that have occurred on April 15, so I could honestly say I was giving the day the benefit of doubt.

Naturally with so many areas in which to look for positives I had to narrow the field some. Considering that I have a great deal of interest in sports and in particular baseball during this time of year, I thought I would begin my search there. Fortunately I have some resources available to me in the library of sports books I have collected over the years. One of those books is a virtual timeline of Major League Baseball appropriately entitled "The Baseball Timeline" by Burt Solomon. How could I go wrong using it as a starting point?

Just as I suspected it had more information to offer about baseball than I could read and digest in my lifetime. As I looked year by year through the book zeroing in on anything that was associated with the April 15 date, it came as no surprise that many things occurred on that date in baseball, some of them good and some not so good. I already had enough negative vibes about the date coming from my search for tax information so I made the decision to focus on only the positives.

My first stop was on April 15, 1915 when New York Giants pitcher Richard 'Rube' Marquard no-hit the Brooklyn Robins 2-0 at the Polo Grounds. Moving along I discovered that on April 15, 1918 the New York Yankees, for those of you who are diehard Yankee fans, finally broke the opening day jinx Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators had over them when they beat the "Big Train" 6-3 in Washington D. C.

Moving ahead a couple of decades I discovered that on April 15, 1946 Mel Ott, who was at that time a player/manager for the New York Giants, hit his 511 and ultimately his last homerun against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The very next year on April 15, 1947 one of the most significant things in the history of Major League Baseball occurred when Jackie Robinson became the first black player to play in the Major Leagues when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers. On that same day, but lost in all that surrounded Robinsons' appearance, was the debut of Duke Snider who though little known at the time would become probably the best known center fielder in Dodger history.

Moving ahead to April 15, 1954 Milwaukee Brave rookie Hank Aaron, who would become a legend himself, got his first hit as a Major Leaguer against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The next year, on April 15, 1958 Major League Baseball came to the west coast for the first time when the San Francisco Giants opened their season against their long time rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers in Seals Stadium in San Francisco. This event was both loved and hated at the time as all those on the west coast who had longed for Major League baseball were elated and those who felt like they had been betrayed when the Giants and Dodgers moved from New York and Brooklyn were devastated. Still to this day it sparks controversy when discussed in New York and Brooklyn among those who were around at the time.

Looking ahead ten years I discovered that on April 15, 1968 the Houston Astros and New York Mets set a record when the Astros beat the Mets 1-0 in 24 innings. The game which took six hours and six minutes to play is the longest shut-out and longest night game in Major League history.

Although there are still three more decades and seven years to research I guess it is time I bring a halt to this search of mine, especially considering I am still not finished in my search for tax documents and the clock is steadily ticking its way to the deadline. But in all fairness I will have to say that April 15, despite being tax day can lay claim to good things and bad things much like any other day.

Now if I can just find all the other tax information I need, I can get that off my mind and concentrate on more important things like baseball.

Until next time.......be safe!

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