5 Great Moments In Major League Baseball Opening Day History: 2021 Edition

Hello again everyone! It was around nine months ago we were talking about Major League Baseball's 2020 Opening Day, which got underway way later than it normally would have on account of the pandemic and owner/player/union/league infighting. And though nothing in the baseball realm is quite 100% where it was before the pandemic just yet (we still can't have a full stadium of fans, and some of the eyebrow-raising rules implemented last year are still in effect at least for this season), we are hands down in a much better place now than we were this time in 2020. 

So let's celebrate! The 2021 Major League Baseball campaign's (a full 162 gamer too!!) Opening Day is here today! And before we check out the full slate of fifteen games that await us, let's first perform our (other) favorite pastime: stepping inside our NYPL time machine, and revisiting some of the other memorable moments that occurred on baseball's Opening Day. There are plenty to keep us occupied, and we did take a look at some of them prior to the curtain coming up on 2019's season. So let's do it once more—here are five great moments that took place during baseball's Opening Days of eld!

1. Baseball Comes to Toronto (1977) – First I just want to say how weird it is seeing the Blue Jays play anywhere other than the Rogers Centre (known as the Skydome when I was a kid). And that includes when they played last season in Buffalo (and it turns out the ban on cross-border travel will again prevent the Blue Jays from playing in their home city, at least to kick off 2021). But, for the first twelve nd a half years of their existence, they called freezing cold, open air Exhibition Stadium home. And when the stadium opened its doors to everyone for the first time in 1977, they took the words "freezing cold" to a whole new level. With snow adorning a lot of Exhibition Stadium's AstroTurf playing surface, many wondered whether this game would be able to occur as scheduled. Nonetheless it did, and the weather conditions provided a memorable backdrop to what would be a memorable day in Torontonian history. An early three-run deficit to the visiting Chicago White Sox would prove to be shortlived. First baseman Doug Ault would not only hit the first home run in Blue Jays' history, but the second as well. Jerry Johnson and Pete Vuckovich tossed 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball in relief, preserving the snowy first win, a 9-5 final, in the zany first game in Toronto Blue Jays' history.

2. A Stunner in Cincinnati (2005) – Ah man, I remember rushing home from junior year in high school to watch this one. It was the day that both Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez were making their New York Mets debuts out in Cincinnati against the Reds ("The New Mets" as Beltran referred to the '05 squad during his introductory press conference that offseason), and I couldn't wait to take it in. And their debuts did go well. Beltran tallied three hits (including his first Mets home run), and Martinez fanned twelve, seemingly on the way to his first win as a Met, with his new club holding a two-run lead entering the bottom of the 9th at Cincy's Great American Ball Park. Unfortunately for all connected with the Mets, it just wasn't meant to be. Mets closer Braden Looper, who had been serviceable in 2004, came on to try and lock down the team's first win of '05, but it all went horribly wrong. After a leadoff single, Adam Dunn cracked a two-run blast to even the score. Up next came third baseman Joe Randa, making his own debut that day with the Reds. And it was his debut that would be the memorable one as opposed to Beltran and Martinez's. Randa took the eighth pitch of the at-bat over the wall in left, stunning Looper, and stunning the Mets and their fanbase as well, giving Cincinnati an exhilarating 7-6 Opening Day victory at home.

3. The Kid is Born (1989) – Ken Griffey Jr. If you saw him play, you know just how good he was. Owner of nearly 2,800 hits, 630 home runs (seventh all-time), ten Gold Glove awards, thirteen All-Star Game appearances, a record three Home Run Derby victories, and the 1997 Most Valuable Player Award. What a resume, what a career! It is true that injuries did sap a little bit of his effectiveness over the course of the latter part of his career. Imagine if they hadn't? With the Hall of Fame resumé he boasted, one that players would do anything to have, could you imagine it being even stronger? Ah well. Sometimes it doesn't pay to play "what if" like that. Griffey was one of the best, and he provided fans with countless memories we'll never forget. And the first of those memories? Well it happened on the very first day of his major league career, 1989's Opening Day. With his Seattle Mariners visiting the Oakland Athletics' Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Griffey started his career batting second in manager Jim Lefebvre's lineup, facing off against the eventual MVP of the 1989 World Series, Dave Stewart. That didn't phase Griffey one bit. Coming to the plate in the top of the first for his first at-bat as a big leaguer, The Kid drilled a line shot to the opposite field gap that smacked off the base of the wall. Griffey nearly went yard in his first career at-bat, but had to settle for a ringing double instead. Just outstanding, it took no time at all for Griffey to make an impression. What a player, what a career!

4. Returning for Seconds: Grand Slam Edition (1980) – It's tough to hit a grand slam, you know? I mean, I'm not just talking about the skill it takes to connect with, as well as power a baseball 350+ feet away, high enough to clear an outfield fence. But you have to be at the plate at the right time, while there's a runner occupying every bag. Oakland's Matt Olson memorably did it last season on Opening Day, forty years after Sixto Lezcano's heroics kicked off baseball in the 1980s. Lezcano's Milwaukee Brewers were hosting the Boston Red Sox on Opening Day 1980. Brewers starter Jim Slaton was still in the game in the top of the ninth (yes, starting pitchers did that back in the day folks), trying to get a 5-3 Milwaukee lead to stick for good. However that did not happen, as Boston's Carl Yastrzemski and Butch Hobson both clubbed solo home runs to tie the score at 5. All that however did set the stage for Lezcano. Coming to the dish with the bases loaded and two men down, Lezcano hit a walk-off grand slam, to send the County Stadium faithful home happy with a 9-5 Brewers victory. Now what made this slam of Lezcano's doubly memorable, was that it was his second career Opening Day grand slam. He hit one during 1978's season opening contest as well, making him the first player in major league history with two grand slams on Opening Day.

5. Yoenis Cespedes Provides One Final Memory in Queens (2020) – Yes, I know, I know. Cespedes' tenure in New York really ended on a down note, I'm not denying that at all. Coming off his scintillating 2015 and 2016 seasons in Flushing, Cespedes was injured for the vast majority of the 2017 and 2018 seasons, before not appearing in a single game at all in 2019. Couple that with him getting injured in a bizarre incident with a boar on his ranch, and the team brass significantly altering his deal on account of the boar escapade being a breach of his contract, Cespedes and the Mets entered the truncated 2020 season already in somewhat of a rocky marriage. Cespedes only lasted eight games in 2020, mustering a sad .161/.235/.387 slash line before opting out due to coronavirus concerns (at least allegedly that was the reason given). He only managed five hits, but one of them was an unforgettable moonshot of a home run, in the seventh inning of Opening Day last season against the Atlanta Braves, the only run driven in during the Mets 1-0 shutout victory. With the pandemic last season really throwing into flux whether or not we'd have any baseball on American soil at all in 2020, Opening Day was arguably extra special when it finally came around in July. And with Cespedes providing all the offense in the entire game with his blast, I know as a Mets fan I'm thankful that he made game number one a winner, and helped increase the Mets win percentage on Opening Day to a league-best .661. 

And I know I'm also thankful we as a society have gotten a little bit better here in the coronavirus era, to the point where a full, 162 game baseball season is now a reality once again. Stay well everybody, and enjoy Opening Day!

Below are a few new baseball titles in NYPL's collection. To check out more, please visit our catalog.

Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush With Baseball Historyby Jacob Kornhauser
Most baseball players will never reach the major leagues. While many that do stay there for a long time, there are a select few that played in just one major league game. The Cup of Coffee Club tells the stories of eleven of these players and their struggles to reach the major leagues, as well as their struggles to get back.

The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell: Speed, Grace, and the Negro Leagues by Lonnie Wheeler
Documents the life of the Negro League star and Hall of Famer, tracing Bell's sharecropping heritage, his extraordinary switch-hitting talents, and how Major League Baseball's racial barriers impacted his career.

One Line Drive: A Life-Threatening Injury and a Faith-Fueled Comeback by Daniel Ponce de Leon
Daniel Ponce de Leon's journey to a Major League Baseball roster has been roundabout. After four years of climbing his way up through the minors, he finally reached AAA, one step from the big leagues. Then, while pitching in a game, Daniel was struck in the head by a line drive. He suffered a large epidural hematoma and skull fracture that resulted in brainswelling and hemorrhaging, and spent almost three weeks in the intensive care unit. Just fourteen months later, fully recovered, he made his first Major League start, becoming just the fifth pitcher in modern Major League history to throw seven innings of no-hit ball in his debut. One Line Drive tells the full story of his journey, sharing how he never would have made it without his faith in God and the support of family and friends. 

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.