Happy ’80s Birthday to Bruce Bochy, who won three World Series titles as a manager and also has more than 5 times as many career homers as any other player who was born in France.
So there’s that.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Curt Young, who made his big league debut in 1983 and was a member of the 1989 World Series Champion Oakland A’s.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Bruce Robinson, who played in three seasons in the majors but had his career cut short after he and Dve Righetti were hit by a drunk driver. Robinson suffered a severe shoulder injury and never made it back to the bigs.
He also invented the “Robby Pad,” the flap on a chest protector that covers the throwing shoulder of a catcher.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Dick Grapenthin, who spent 3 years with the Expos at the major league level in the mid-1980s.
4/16/86
Graig Nettles’ walk-off single gives the Padres a 2-1 win over the Dodgers and causes a problem for San Diego area Arby’s restaurants.
Arby’s ran a promotion that offered a free sandwich to anyone with a ticket stub from a one-run Padres win. The Pads won five of six games during their opening homestand, all on walk-off hits, meaning Arby’s had the potential to have to hand out 156,739 free sandwiches.
No word on how many were distributed.
4/16/83
Steve Garvey plays in his 1,118th straight game, breaking the N.L. record previously held by Billy Williams.
Garvey’s streak would eventually stretch to 1,207 games.
4/16/84
Mr. Congeniality Dave Kingman hits 3 HRs, including a Grand Slam, in his first 3 at-bats as the A’s beat the Mariners 9-6.
Kong drives in 8 of Oakland’s 9 runs.
4/16/84
Kent Hrbek singles, steals a base, scores twice, and hits a grand slam in the 6th inning as the Twins beat the Angels 9-2.
4/16/85
Jose DeLeon allows one run through 8 innings and strikes out 14 but loses 2-1 to the Mets because sometimes life sucks.
Jesse Orosco blows the save for Ron Darling in the 8th and then gets a vulture win because sometimes life sucks.
4/16/85
Dennis Eckersley goes 10 and strikes out 11 Phillies as the Cubs beat Philadelphia 1-0 at Wrigley
4/16/88
The Indians beat the Orioles 1-0 in 11. Starting pitchers Greg Swindell and Mike Morgan combine to throw 19 scoreless innings and Willie Upshaw’s 11th inning single wins it for Cleveland.
The loss drops Baltimore to 0-11 and it would get worse.
4/16/89
Kelly Gruber becomes the first Blue Jays player to hit for the cycle.
Gruber goes 4 for 6 with 6 RBI in a 15-6 win over the Royals.
4/16/86
The White Sox and Tigers exchange pleasantries at Comiskey Park.
4/16/82
The Padres release Rick Wise and the career of a man traded for two different Hall of Famers is over.
Wise was a solid pitcher and once no-hit the Reds while hitting two homers. He finished his career with 188 wins.
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