There is something magical about Opening Day, isn’t there?
This is the beginning of a new season. Hope spring is eternal. The excitement of what can happen is intoxicating. We are waiting, and if we are not focused on one particular team, we are rarely disappointed.
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So, to kick off the 2021 season, let’s look at the 21 most impressive individual performances in the last 100 years of baseball’s Opening Day.
A quick note: This list is not just in moments, but about overall performance. If it was about moments where historical significance was the primary factor, the list would start with these three…
1. Jackie Robinson broke MLB’s color blocker in 1947
2. Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth with his 714th homer in 1974
3. Babe Ruth inaugurated Yankee Stadium with a homer in 1923
But that is for the second list.
For this, two homers are better than one, and 13 strikes are better than 10. We gave a little extra weight to the performance, helping a player’s team win a close ballgame, especially when the play was involved in the late innings. I mean, we have some way of separating the 16 players who have six RBIs on Opening Day. Speaking of him, Eric Hosmer apologized for not making this list until 2020 after his six-RBI day; His padras won by five runs.
21. Randy Johnson, The Mariners, 1993
Why she is here: Not a shocking / shocking statistic here: Only five times in MLB history, at least 14 batters have been beaten early on Opening Day, and Randy Johnson has two of those five 14K games. He did it for the first time in 1993, giving 14 in seven innings, while giving up seven hits and one run. In ’96, Johnson scored 14 runs in seven innings, allowing three hits and two runs.
20. Matt Davidson, White Sox, 2018
Why she is here: Due to three home runs against the Royals. Davidson was the fourth player in MLB history to pop three homers on Opening Day. We will not spoil the list by taking the names of others here.
19. Carlton Fisk, Red Sox, 1973
Why she is here: In his first three at-bats known as AL Rookie of the Year in 1972, Fiske hit a homer, a double and a homer in that order. The first round-tripper was a two-run shot, and the second was a grand slam, which helps the Red Sox run away from the Yankees as a 15–5 win for Boston.
18. Brent Eliya, twins, 1970
Why she is here: This, folks, is how you make a good first impression. Elia was traded to the Senators on March 21, 1970, with twins. Less than three weeks later, in her first regular season game with the club, Elia became the first player in MLB history to record seven RBIs on Opening Day. He had an RBI single in the first, a three-run homer in the fifth and another three-run homer in the seventh.
17. Sam Horn, Orioles, 1990
Why she is here: Remember how likely it was for Sam Horn that all Red Sox fans believed that 50 home runs a year at Fenway’s stand? This never happened, and Boston let him loose after the 1989 season. His debut for the 1990 campaign with AL East rival Baltimore, Red Sox fans, had to wonder if his team had made a huge mistake. In that first game as the Orioles, Horn went 4-for-5 with two homers – including a three-run shot and six RBIs in his first AB. His second three-run homer of the game equaled 6-6 in the eighth inning. Baltimore eventually won 7-6 in 11 innings.
16. Tom Glavin, Braves, 1992
Why she is here: Glavin won the 1991 Cy Young Award for NL and began the 1992 season, as if he was determined to win one more (spoiler: he was second only to future teammate Greg Maddux). In the ’92 opener, Glavin gave up a single in the first and second and then was not allowed to play the second game. Glavin allowed a pair of nine walks in his 103-pitch effort.
15. Dimitri Young, Tigers, 2005
Why she is here: Young had five plate appearances on Opening Day and all of them reached base safely five times. He hit home runs in the second and third innings, then was hit on a pitch in the fifth. In the seventh, he sang and in the eighth, he popped his third home run of the game. Last number in the box score: 4 AB, 4 R, 4 H, 5 RBI. not too shabby.
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14. Sixto Lezcano, Brewers, 1980
Why she is here: A great year was coming for Lezcano Brewers; He hit .321 with 28 homers, 101 RBI and 5.6 bWAR, all career-best numbers. And after this Opening Day performance, he was on pace for another better year. Lejcano edged Dennis Eckersley in the fourth with a two-run homer. Milwaukee led 5–3 in the ninth, when the Red Sox tied the game on solo homers by Carl Yastremski and Butch Hobson. With two outs and the bases loaded at the bottom of the ninth, Lezcano stepped up and hit a grand slam down the right-field line, the first walk-off grand slam on Opening Day in MLB history.
13. George Bell, Blue Jas, 1988
Why she is here: Ding, ding, ding! No one ever hit three homers on Opening Day until Bell completed the feat, the first game he was named the 1987 AL MVP. Even more impressive: All three left Brett Seberhagen, winning the AL Cy Young Award in 1985, KC Dhurandhar and would do so again in 1989. The third homer broke the tie at 3-3 in the eighth inning in a game. The Blue Jays won by a score of 5–3.
12. Don Drydale, Dodgers, 1960
Why she is here: Drysdale was just 23 entering the 1960 season, but it was his third consecutive Opening Day start for the Dodgers. The first two did not go so well; He allowed 11 earned runs in a combined innings of 8 2/3. In this one, however, he allowed just two runs in 11 innings. Big numbers, though? They expelled 14 cubs that day.
11. Minnie Minso, White Sox, 1960
Why she is here: Minoso did it to prevent the White Scorks from playing any dramatic late innings, scoring a run in the second inning with a sacrifice fly and then destroying a grand slam in the fourth. It tied Chicago 9–2, but the A’s held the game to two runs in the ninth. Minoso led the bottom half of the frame and looked at the first pitch he gave the Chinox 10–9 victory.
10. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers, 2013
Why she is here: Kershaw pulled a Maddux and a MadBum in a single game, and they did it on Opening Day! He needed just 94 pitches to shut down the Giants on four hits and seven strikeouts (any sub-100-pitch shutout “A Maddux”), and a home run in the eighth inning for the first run (like Madbaum) Popped Of the ball game. Praise.
9. Camilo Pascual, Senator, 1960
Why she is here: I think there was something about the opening of the 1960 season. We’ve already talked about Drysdale and Minoso, and now this one: focused on at least one batsman in every innings. He hit two in the sixth and eighth innings and three in the second and fourth innings. Every Boston starter dropped out at least once, with the exception of Pete Runline (who led the AL with an A. L. 320 average that year) and Ted Williams, who went 1-for-2 with a home run. gone. If Pascal had dropped Williams even once, he could have been number 1 on this list.
8. Raul Mondesi, Dodgers, 1999
Why she is here: Mondesi makes the list due to his late-coming heroines, but let’s not ignore Randy Johnson’s one RBI in his first AB of the season. When Mondesi stepped into the plate in the bottom of the ninth, he had two outs and two outs, trailing the Dodgers 6-3. With a 3–0 count, Mondesi went up to Gregg Olson and parked it under the left-hand line on the wall. tie game. Extra innings. In the 11th, Mondesi’s turn came again with two outs, and again with a two-run homer to lead the Dodgers to an 8-6 victory. Final count: four hits, two homers, six RBIs.
7. Shane Bieber, Indian, 2020
Why she is here: After the coronovirus epidemic delayed the start of the 2020 season for a long time, we all needed to see something surprising as soon as baseball resumed, and Bieber gave in. He played “only” six innings, throwing 97 pitches, but faced 14 of the 24 Kansas City batters that day, July 24.
6. Tuffy Rhodes, Cubs, 1994
Why she is here: Perhaps there are some personal biases affecting this ranking. I was 1 year old when it happened and just dumbstruck that a guy named Tuffy Rhodes could score three home runs against Dwight Gooden on Opening Day. Not that my love for baseball needed any cement from that point in my life, but the idea that something could happen on any random day in this great game was just something.
5. Bob Gibson, Cardinals, 1967
Why she is here: Gibson had five strikeouts, five batters in the 1967 season. Very impressive, even more so when you consider that two of those five Hall of Famers were Willie Maye and Willie McCovey (yes, young Giants fans, Cove in San Francisco was named after it). Gibson eventually allowed contact and even had a few hits, but hurt 13 batters in a five-hit-hit shutout, with Fane’s Juan Marichill’s compatriot running out of the hall.
4. Jim Presley, The Mariners, 1986
Why she is here: All of Mondesi’s play, but with an impressively impressive cherry on top. Like Mondesi, Presley tied the game with a ninth-inning home run – a two-run shot – to send the game to extras. And like Mondesi, Presley won the game with a walk-off home run. This one, though? It was a walk-off grand slam capping a two-homer, six-RBI opening day.
3. G. Walker, Tigers, 1937
Why she is here: I was struggling in where to put this achievement. This is a cycle, so it is good, but not necessarily rare (330 in MLB history, though none in short seasons). And Chakra said – his Tigers beat Cleveland 4-3. So how about this nugget: This is one of only 10 reverse natural cycles in MLB history. what is that? Walker hit a homer to his first AB, a second-time triple, doubling his third trip to the plate and closing out the day with a single in the seventh inning. And that’s why it is in the top five.
2. Walter Johnson, Senator, 1926
Why she is here: Just for a moment, imagine how baseball Twitter would react to a pitch thrown 15 innings of shutout baseball on Opening Day. It would be almost as much fun as dominating hitters opposing the Big Train. About.
1. Bob Feller, Indian, 1940
Why she is here: I mean, it’s not a hitter. I have seen a couple of other similar lists and none of them had Feller’s no-hitter at number 1. It is a no-hitter on Opening Day. On April 25, 1940, The Sporting News issue ran a picture of Felder with his parents and sister, who was having dinner in a restaurant after an accomplishment. TSN also ran a story that included this passage:
“Three times before, Iowa’s young pitching pride came within one hit of this goal, and he eventually accomplished the feat with a flourish in an exciting game that would become the first pitcher since the opening of the current century and There was only the second. The history of the two major leagues to gain distinction. There was another touch of drama in the performance, as their parents and sisters were present to witness the achievement. “
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