1915 – The Boston Braves break ground on the construction of Braves Field on Commonwealth Avenue.
1934 – All-around female athlete Mildred Babe Didrickson pitches the first inning for the Philadelphia Athletics in a spring training exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She gives up one walk but no hits. Two days later she pitches again, this time one inning for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Red Sox. She is less successful this time, giving up four hits and three runs. Didrickson is the second female to play exhibitions with a major league team (first baseman Lizzie Murphy played for an A.L. all-star team on August 14, 1922).
1953 – Senator Edwin C. Johnson offers a bill to give clubs the sole right to ban radio-TV broadcasts of major league games in their own territory. The Antitrust Division of the Justice Department outlawed this practice in 1949. Johnson believes that it started the decline of baseball in small towns and cities throughout the country. His bill will restore the equity between large communities and the small areas.
1973 – In a special election held by the BBWAA, the late Roberto Clemente receives 393 of 424 votes to earn entry in the Hall of Fame. The Hall’s Board of Directors had earlier waived the five-year-wait rule for Clemente, who was killed on New Year’s Eve 1972 with four others when a plane carrying supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua crashed. His number 21 will be retired in Pittsburgh 17 days later.
1976 – Leo Durocher, hired to manage the Yokohama Taiyo Whales (Japanese League), is sick with hepatitis and asks for a five-week delay in reporting. The Lip receives a telegram from the Whales stating: Since the championship starts in twenty days, it’s better if you stay home and take care of yourself for the remainder of the season.
1989 – The commissioner’s office announces that Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation for unnamed serious allegations
2006 – Al Leiter announces his retirement.
2019 – The Major League season opens at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, with the A’s hosting the Mariners in the first game of a two-game series. Ichiro Suzuki will retire immediately after this series.
2024 – The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres open the season with the two games series in Seoul, South Korea
