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Happy ’80s Birthday to Bobby Mitchell, who played in the 1967 Little League World Series and spent four years in the big leagues with the Dodgers and Twins.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Rick Engle, who appeared in one game for the Expos in September of 1981.
Longtime broadcaster Warner “The Fuse” Fusselle was born OTD in 1944. Warner is well known for his work on “This Week in Baseball” and he was also a play-by-play man for multiple minor league teams. He passed away in 2012.
Legendary Braves broadcaster Pete Van Wieren was born OTD in 1944.
Pete called Braves games for 33 years and retired in 2008. He wrote a book about his career called “Of Mikes and Men.” Pete passed away in 2014.
4/7/81
The Royals sign Jerry Grote as a free agent. He splits the year between KC and the Dodgers and his career is over.
4/7/82
The A’s sign Jeff Burroughs as a free agent.
The 1974 AL MVP spends the last four years of his career in Oakland and retires after the 1985 season with 220 career homers.
4/7/83
Craig Lefferts faces three future Hall of Famers in his big league debut against the Expos. He allows one run over two innings and wins three games for the Cubs as a rookie before being dealt to San Diego.
4/7/84
19-year-old Dwight Gooden makes his major league debut against the Astros in Houston, going five innings and allowing just one run while striking out five to earn the win.
4/7/84
Mark Langston goes seven and picks up the win against the Brewers in his big league debut. He’d win 17 games and finish 2nd to his teammate Alvin Davis in the Rookie of the Year balloting.
4/7/86
Bip Roberts goes 0 for 4 against the Dodgers in his big league debut. He’d have a rocky start to his career, going 0 for 20 to begin the season but he finishes the year batting .253.
4/7/86
John Kruk makes his big league debut as a pinch-runner for Steve Garvey. He gets his first at-bat two days later and hits .309 in his rookie season.
4/7/89
Major League hits theaters.
The film cost $11 million to make and grossed nearly $50 million, which made Jobu very happy.
Here’s some behind the scenes footage shot by extras
Big Days
4/7/84
Jack Morris no-hits the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park.
Morris strikes out eight and walks six on 120 pitches in a game televised by NBC to a national audience with crowds gathering around television displays at malls across Detroit.
4/7/86
Boston’s Dwight Evans leads off the game and becomes the first person to homer on the first pitch of the season. The shot comes off Jack Morris, but the Tigers win the game 6-5.
4/7/87
Rick Mahler throws his 3rd straight Opening Day shutout, blanking the Phillies 6-0.
He’d finish the season 8-13.
4/7/88
Chris Sabo ties a major league record by recording 11 assists in an 8-1 win over the Cardinals.
Spuds would win Rookie of the Year in a tight race against Cubs first baseman Mark Grace.
Transactions
4/7/84
Less than 12 hours after booting a ground ball against the Rangers, which ultimately cost the Yankees a win, George Steinbrenner sends Bobby Meacham to Double-A as punishment. “It’s not my doing and I don’t want any part of it,” says manager Yogi Berra.
Meacham returns to the bigs in June.
Fights
4/7/82
Cubs pitcher Dickie Noles drills Clint Hurdle in the 4th inning and the benches empty at Riverfront Stadium.
Hurdle was caught up in a long-running feud between Noles and Paul Householder, who had just homered off Noles.
Injuries
4/7/84
Ken Forsch suffers a dislocated shoulder while diving for a ground ball.
The injury costs him the rest of the season and all of 1985. He returns in 1986, but throws just 17 innings and his career is over.
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