My Top Opening Day Performances

February 18, 2013 by Matt Nadel · 3 Comments

Hey baseball fans!Happy Spring Training! Yes, I know it’s not the official start to the MLB season, but today I will be rating the top five Opening Day performances in MLB history. (Note that I originally posted this for Big Leagues Magazine , a really great online magazine that I write for. Hope you check it out.) Number Five- George Bell , Toronto Blue Jays DH, 1988:
On Opening Day in Kansas City, Bell became the first player in history to hit three homers on Opening Day. All three homers were given up by KC pitcher Bret Saberhagen . Had he kept up the pace, he would’ve had 486 homers for the year, but he didn’t, and he finished the season with just 24.

Number Four- Frank Robinson , Cleveland Indians manager/DH, 1975: At Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, Robinson became the first African-American manager in MLB history. Not only did he lead the Tribe to a 5-3 win over the Yankees, but he also hit his 575th career homer.

Number Three- Don Drysdale , Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, 1959: At home in LA, Drysdale became the only major league pitcher in history to hit his second career Opening Day homer. Despite the homer, the Dodgers lost to the Cubs, 6-1.

Number Two- Bob Feller , Cleveland Indians pitcher, 1940: At the young age of 21, the future Hall of Famer pitched the only no-hitter on an Opening Day to this day. No pitcher has done this since. Rapid Robert pitched in Chicago against the White Sox on that historic Opening Day.

Number One- Jackie Robinson , Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman, 1947: On this historic day for sports, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to ever play in Major League Baseball. Thanks to him, all races are now able to play in all sports without any complications. On April 15, 1947, now known as Jackie Robinson Day, the future Hall of Famer went 0-3 with a run scored.

Well, there you have it: my picks for the top five Opening Day moments. Do you agree with my choices? Send me a comment on your picks. I hope you all enjoyed this article and thanks for reading it. Check back in a couple days for more of “all the buzz on what wuzz”.

P.S. – By the way, I was just recently interviewed by the New Jersey Star Ledger, NJ’s biggest newspaper. If you’d like to read the article, just click here .

Matt Nadel is a 14 year old baseball history kid blogger from Springfield, NJ who writes two baseball blogs under the name, Baseball with Matt. Matt started his original blog back in April 2012 when he saw that a lot of his friends didn’t know anything about baseball history and he thought that a blog would be a fun way to educate kids and adults about baseball history. After posting nearly 85 times, he was introduced to John Thorn, the official historian for MLB, and John liked Matt’s blog and arranged for Matt to have his own Pro Blog on MLB , making Matt the youngest Pro blogger on MLB.com. You can also follow Matt on Twitter @BaseballwMatt. Baseball with Matt is a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

Filed under Top Stories · Tagged with baseball , Baseball History , Hall of Fame , Jackie Robinson , Opening Day

Comments

3 Responses to “My Top Opening Day Performances”

Kyle says:

February 19, 2013 at 4:51 pm

What about Tuffy Rhodes?
Chris Waters says:

February 20, 2013 at 7:22 pm

Look, I am all for racial equality and such, but if the presupposition is “performance”, why include Jackie’s first game?

He did not have a good game.

So, call this article the “most significant opening day games”.
Matt Nadel says:

April 25, 2013 at 12:40 pm

Chris – Very good point.

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