April 8, 1969 - Opening day - Richard Nixon officially opens the 1968 season - Don Drysdale was the victim of a stop-watch call by the 3rd base umpire for taking over 20 seconds between pitches. - Yankees beat the Senators, spoiling Ted Williams debut as a rookie manager, he was the first million dollar manager

April 9, 1969 - 36 year old Johnny Podres wins his first game since 1965, beating the Astros 2-0 - Billy Williams ties a major league record of 4 doubles in a 9 inning game, Cubs beat the Phillies 11-3 - Reds' Jim Maloney left game with a pulled hamstring, the Reds beat the Dodgers 3-1 - KC Athletics' Rookie Lou Piniella gets a 17th inning single to defeat the Twins 4-3 - Ted Williams gets his first win, beating the Yankees with the help of HR from Frank Howard, Paul Casanova and Ken McMullen.

April 10, 1969 - With the help of the Expo's expansion pitchers, the NY Mets are batting .343 compared to last year's .228 - Last year at this time 211 runs have been scored in the majors, with the same number of games, compared to 251 runs this year.

 April 11, 1969 - Pirates on a 4 games win streak - Dodger's rookie, Ted Sizemore, hits a bases loaded triple in the defeat over Houston 9-3 - Brave's Orlando Cepeda's HR against the Reds helped the Braves extend their 4 games winning streak Undefeated - Cubs - Pirates - Braves

April 12, 1969 - Aaron hits #511, tying him with Mel Ott for 7th place on the all-time HR list - Boston's Tony Conigliaro is back after missing last year due to a bean ball and drove in the winning run with a single. Winless - Astros - Indians - Twins

April 13, 1969 - Strike at Louisville Slugger over, all players will have their bat in a week - Boston's 1967 Cy Young winner, Jim Lonborg is sitting out due to a shoulder ailment, unsure as to when he will return - Canada has it's first major league game, the Expos defeated the Cardinals 8-7 some permanent seats weren't in and fans had to sit on folding chairs.Winless - Indians

April 14, 1969 - 2,321 witness Cleveland winning their 1st game of the year - Yankee Bobby Murcer has hit safely in all 7 games, 3 HR with a .438 BA - Giants Manager Clyde King considers Willie Mays, in his 19th year, the fastest man in baseball to go from 1st to 3rd.

April 15, 1969 - Cardinal's Schoendienst "Look out for the Mets, they're going to be tough to beat" - White Sox are the first to play on artificial turf outside - Standings - NL West Card - NL East - Reds - AL West - Twins - AL East - Orioles

April 16, 1969 - Indian's Luis TIant starts year 2-0, 5.14 era - World Series pay-out to players increased to $15,000 for winner and $10,000 for losers - Boston's Billy Conigliaro hits 2 HR in his major league debut.

April 17, 1969 - Giant's Willie Mays ties a NL record for outfielders, playing his 2,421st game - Cubs lead major with a 9-1 record - Expo's Bill Stoneman throws a 7-0 no-hitter against the Phillies.

April 18, 1969 - Red Sox RIco Petrocelli gets 3rd HR in 3 days, Sox defeated the Indians 10-7 - Orioles defeat the Senators, winning 7 of last 8 games.

April 19, 1969 - AL West - 3 way tie - Royals - Twins - Athletics
Major League Leaders:
OBP - Norm Cash - .548
SLG - Willie McCovery - 1.000
HR - W. McCovey - F. Robinson - 6
Hits - P. Blair - 21

Wns - 6 with 3 wins
Saves - D. Higgins - 4
Complete G - Niekro - McLain - Stottlemyre - 3
K - Gibson-- 26

April 20, 1969 - Future All-Star, Darrell Evans, makes his debut with the Braves - Red Sox Ken Harrelson retires after being traded to the Indians - Athletics Dick Green hits 2 triples in a 5-1 win over the Royals - Twins extend their winning streak to 6 games .

 April 21, 1969 - Braves take over 1st place from Dodgers - Cubs start year 12-1 - Ron Santo, "Hell, you know Leo (Durocher). He is the fastest thinker in the game, you either love him or hate him, if you play for him you love him" - Cubs, Billy Williams only 63 games away from Stan Musials N.L. consecutive game record of 895 - Last years A.L. RBI leader, Ken Harrelson (27) has retired instead of accepting trade from the Bosox to the Indians - Yankees Mel Stottlemyre wins his 4th straight game - Pirates' Matty Alou goes 5 for 10 in a double header

April 22, 1969 - Former Baseball Commissioner, William Eckert, is being paid off $50,000 for each of the next 20 years - Cubs' manager, Leo Durocher, "These days you must have more than one reflief pitcher to be a winner" - Athletics' Rollie Fingers throws a shut-out gives up 5 hits in his first major league start, beating the Twins 7-0

April 23, 1969 - Senators' manager, Ted Williams, cheered in his first appearance back at Fenway - Astro's Larry Dieker throws a 2 hitter against the Padres, ending the Astros 7 game losing streak - Bowie Kuhn took 4 hours to convince Ken Harrelson to accept the trade to the Indians from the BoSox

April 24, 1969 - After 15 games, the 5 Pirates' starters have an ERA of 5, some are blaming it on the new reduced mound height from 15" to 10" - Indians start the year 1-12 - Athletics' Reggie Jackson hits 2 HR and than in ejected for charging mound when Twins' Dick Woodson throws a couple near his head - Astros' Jack Billingham gives up his first HR in 58 games, in a lost to the Padres (4-1) - Cubs trade away Joe Niekro for 2 young pitchers - Rumors are that the Cardinals will trade 32 year old Curt Flood

April 25, 1969 - Yankees' Mel Stottlymyre goes 5-0, beating the Orioles - A.L. President Joe Cronin warned that Rule #8.02, paragraph C will be strictly enforced, pitchers will be ejected if throwing at batters - Dodgers' Don Drysdale put on the 21 day diabled list, torn muscle in the right shoulder of his throwing arm

 April 26, 1969 - Bostons' Carl Yastrzemski breaks out of his .194 slump and hits 2 HR (1 a grand slam) defeating the Tigers 7-4 - Senators' relief pitcher, Casey Cox was walked with the bases loaded, his first time on base since coming to the big leagues in '66, beating the Indians 8-1

April 27, 1969 - Alvin Dark's Indians drop their 10 straight, sitting at 1 - 15 - Pirates' new computer ticket system breaks down, some fan don't get into the game until the 2nd inning - Giants' McCovey hits a HR in each game of the double header, his 8th of the season, Giants beat the Astros in both games - Orioles' Frank Robinson drives in 8 runs in the double header sweep of the Yankees, he leads the AL with 9 HR and 22 RBI

April 28, 1969 - Last years World Series champs, Cardinals have played .440 ball since August 1968 - Aaron hits #513 - Giants extend their winning streak to 7 games, beating the Reds 4-2 - Ken Harrelson causing a media stir because of his un-traditional long hair - Harry Carey, "Bob Gibson is pitching like the Gibson of old"

April 29, 1969 - Winner of the last 2 NL Pennants, Cardinals, are only batting .238 - Cubs' Fergie Jenkins (4-1) throws a 4 hit shut-out, defeating the Phillies - Giants give the Reds their 5th straight loss - Cards have a record payroll of close to $1M - a handful of players recieve over $50K - Pilots' Marty Pattin pitches his first complete game, shutting out the Angels 1-0