
2019: With the Yankees visiting Camden Yards in Baltimore, the Orioles pay tribute to Frank Robinson, who had passed away a couple of months earlier. A legendary player, Robinson became the first African-American manager in MLB history when he served as a player-manager for the Indians in a game against the Yankees on April 8, 1975. (Cleveland won that game, 5-3, and Robinson homered off Doc Medich in the first inning.) When play begins in Charm City, a three-run homer by Clint Frazier in the top of the eighth inning off Miguel Castro propels the Yanks to a come-from-behind, 6-4 win.
2016: As part of a 16-6 wipeout of the Astros in the Bronx, Starlin Castro goes 4-for-5 with a home run and five RBI. After recording a two-run double in the Yankees' season opener the day before, this performance made Castro the first Yankee to ever have seven RBI within their first two games with the team -- he had just been acquired from the Cubs in a December 2015 trade. Castro also became the fourth Yankee to have at least seven RBI within the first two games of a season -- those who did so before him were Babe Ruth (1932), Yogi Berra (1956) and Tino Martinez (1997).
2015: On Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, Joe Torre throws out the ceremonial first pitch. It's his first Opening Day since being inducted into the Hall of Fame as a manager in the summer of 2014. When the play gets going, the Yankees lose to the Blue Jays 6-1.
2014: In a game between the Yankees and Blue Jays in Toronto, Derek Jeter ties and passes Paul Molitor for eighth place on the all-time MLB hits list with singles in the third and fourth innings off Jays starter Drew Hutchison. They are the 3,319th and 3,320th hits of his career. Jeter and the Yanks would win the game, 6-4.
2007: In the bottom of the third inning of a game between the Yankees and Orioles in the Bronx, Derek Jeter doubles off Adam Loewen, giving him career hit No. 2,154 and moving him past Don Mattingly for sixth place on the Yanks' all-time franchise list. The Yankees would lose the game, 6-4. Jeter is currently Mattingly's boss -- Donnie Baseball is the manager of the Marlins while Jeter is the team's CEO.
1982: Out of nowhere, a heavy spring snowstorm blankets the northeast and midwestern regions with frigid temperatures and causes a wave of postponements. As reigning American League Champions coming off a strike-shortened year, the Yankees were supposed to open the season with an afternoon game against the Rangers in the Bronx, but the game was postponed early in the morning.
1974: Opening Day marks the beginning of the Yankees' two-year stint playing home games at Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium is being remodeled. The Yanks win their first "Shea opener," defeating the Indians, 6-1. Mel Stottlemyre pitches a complete game for the win while the Yanks defeat Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry, who briefly pitched for the Yankees later in his career. Graig Nettles and Gene Michael have two RBI each. Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer have multi-hit games.
1973: On Opening Day against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, the Yankees' Ron Blomberg becomes the first designated hitter in MLB history. In his historic first plate appearance as a DH, Blomberg draws a first-inning walk from Luis Tiant with two out and the bases loaded, giving himself an RBI as Matty Alou is forced home to score, though Blomberg himself would not score in the inning. Despite putting up three runs in the first, the Yankees get blown out by Boston, losing, 15-5. Blomberg ends up 1-for-3 with that walk and that RBI. He also singled off Tiant in his second plate appearance.
MLB Hall of Famer birthdays: Bert Blyleven (1951), Ernie Lombardi (1908), Mickey Cochrane (1903)