April 1, 2001: Major League Baseball In Puerto Rico

April 1, 2001, 25 years ago: For the 1st time, a regular-season Major League Baseball game is played in Puerto Rico. The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 8-1 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.

The 1st at-bat was the Jays' Esteban Loaiza hitting the Rangers' Rusty Greer with a pitch. He was then erased in a double play. But Alex Rodriguez, playing his 1st game for the Rangers after signing a record $252 million contract, singled, and Rafael Palmeiro doubled him home.

That would be the highlight for the Rangers. In the 3rd, Shannon Stewart hit Puerto Rico's 1st regular-season MLB home run. Tony Batista would also hit a home run for the Jays.

Built in 1962, the stadium was named for Hiram Gabriel Bithorn Sosa, the 1st Puerto Rican to play in the major leagues. Light-skinned enough to be considered "white" in that segregated era, "Hi" Bithorn debuted with the Chicago Cubs in 1942, and led the National League in shutouts in 1943 with 7, then served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, missing the Cubs' Pennant season of 1945.

He returned to the Cubs in 1946, and pitched with the Chicago White Sox in 1947. His major league record was 34-31, with a 3.16 ERA. In 1951, still in professional baseball, he was murdered by a Mexican policeman who falsely accused him of being a Communist. Bithorn was only 35 years old. The policeman served 8 years in prison.

In 1973, an arena, the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, opened next-door to Bithorn Stadium. This was appropriate, not just because of all that Clemente, who had died a few weeks earlier, did for Puerto Rico, but because he had played for the team that still plays its home games at Bithorn Stadium, Cangrejeros de Santurce (the Santurce Crabbers).

The Expos played 11 "home games" at Bithorn Stadium in 2003, and again in 2004, but between San Juan and Montreal, they were unsuccessful in 3 languages, and were moved to become the Washington Nationals for 2005.

In 2010, Major League Baseball returned to the stadium, as the Florida Marlins faced the New York Mets in a 3-game series during the regular season. Known as the Miami Marlins since 2012, they were to play the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 30 and 31, 2016 in honor of Roberto Clemente Day. However, on May 6, 2016, it was announced that the Puerto Rico games would be postponed due to the Zika virus outbreak, and moved to Marlins Park in Miami.

The Cleveland Indians and the Minnesota Twins played a 2-game series at Hiram Bithorn Stadium on April 17 and 18, 2018. Another series, between the Marlins and the Mets, was scheduled for April 2020, but was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bithorn Stadium has also hosted Caribbean "Winter league" games and World Baseball Classic games.

April 1, 1996: An Umpire Dies On the Field

April 1, 1996, 30 years ago: Umpire John McSherry dies of a heart attack while officiating at the Opening Day game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Montreal Expos, at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. He was 51 years old, and listed at 325 pounds. The game was called and postponed.

McSherry had just begun his 26th season as a National League umpire (the 2 Leagues have had a combined umpiring crew since 2000), and was one of the most respected "men in blue." He officiated in 12 postseasons, including the 1977 and 1987 World Series, plus 3 All-Star Games.

Opening Day is a big deal in Cincinnati, perhaps more so that in any other Major League Baseball city. Because it was home to the 1st openly professional baseball team, the 1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings -- the current Reds team dates to 1882 -- it was traditional for them to start the day before the rest of the National League teams, and have a parade before the game.

Reds owner Marge Schott was a Cincinnati native, and loved the Opening Day tradition. She expressed concern that the children in the stands saw a man die, which was a reasonable concern. But she made it sound like the tradition was more important than a man's life, saying, "Snow this morning, and now this. I don't believe it. I feel cheated. This isn't supposed to happen to us, not in Cincinnati. This is our history, our tradition, our team. Nobody feels worse than me."

Eventually, the controversies, including several incidents of bigotry, piled up, and the other MLB team owners forced her to sell the team in 1999. She died in 2004.

The game was restarted the next day, with the statistics already tallied thrown out. The Reds won, 4-1.

McSherry was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York – the same cemetery as Babe Ruth.

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In addition, the Final of the NCAA Tournament was held that day, at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, at what was then known as the Continental Airlines Arena. Kentucky beat Syracuse, 76-67.

This is the only time the NCAA Final Four has ever been held in New Jersey, and the only time it's been held in the New York Tri-State Area since 1950. And it's the last time the Final Four has been held in a venue with fewer than 40,000 seats.

March 31, 2001: The Death of David Rocastle

March 31, 2001, 25 years ago: David Rocastle dies of lymphoma. He was just 33 years old, and was one of the best English soccer players of his generation.

He was born on May 2, 1967 in Lewisham, South-East London, the son of Caribbean immigrants. He was 5 when his father died of pneumonia, and his mother remarried and had 2 more children. He became an expert schoolboy midfielder, to the point where Terry Murphy, a scout for North London team Arsenal Football Club, told team owner Peter Hill-Wood, "I think I saw a Brazilian today." Murphy also discovered centrebacks Tony Adams and Martin Keown, and midfielder Michael Thomas.

Rocastle, nicknamed "Rocky," and Thomas joined midfielder Paul Davis and forward Kevin Campbell to give Arsenal one of the earliest groups of talented young black players in England. He made his debut early in the 1985-86 season, and a replay of the 1987 League Cup Semifinal, away to Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, he scored the winning goal as regular time ran out, sending them to the Final, where they beat Liverpool.

He gained a penchant for superb dribbling and passing, and scored some wonder goals. He was a key figure in Arsenal winning the Football League Division One title in 1989, with Thomas' goal in the last minute of play against Liverpool clinching it. But a knee injury in 1990 curtailed Rocastle's career. He was able to help Arsenal win the League title again in 1991, but in the 1992 off-season, manager George Graham, sensing that, despite being only 25, the knee injury had ended his effectiveness, sold him to Yorkshire team Leeds United. This proved to be incredibly unpopular among Arsenal fans.

Leeds fans liked him, but injuries limited his appearances, and after 1 season, he was sold to Manchester City. After a difficult season there, he was sold to West London team Chelsea in 1994. He played 4 painful seasons for them, including loan spells with Norfolk team Norwich City and Yorkshire team Hull City, before closing his playing career in 1999, with a season in Malaysia, for Sabah.

He played 14 matches for England, and never lost: 7 wins and 7 draws. But he was never selected for a major tournament: Not Euro 88, not the 1990 World Cup, not Euro 92, not Euro 96. (England did not qualify for the 1994 World Cup.)

He married Janet, and has son Ryan and daughters Melissa and Monique. His brother Stephen played for Norwich City, and a cousin, Craig, went on to play for several teams, including Yorkshire team Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester-area team Oldham Athletic, and U.S. team Sporting Kansas City.

In October 2000 -- shortly before a previous Arsenal Number 7 with similar skills, George Armstrong, then an assistant coach, died at age 56 -- David Rocastle was diagnosed with terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy, and announced in February 2001 that he was hopeful of recovery, but he died early in the morning of March 31, 2001.

It was mere hours before Arsenal were scheduled to play Tottenham at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury. Some of his former teammates were still with the club. And there was the worry that the visiting "Spurs" fans, who hate Arsenal much more than Arsenal fans hate their team, might boo during the minute's silence that would be held in his memory before the kickoff. After debating whether to appeal to the Premier League (founded in 1992) to postpone the game, the Arsenal board of directors decided to go forward with it.

The silence was respected by the visiting fans. The game was a bit slow, taking on the character of the muted atmosphere, until Robert Pires found a goal in the 70th minute. Thierry Henry added one in the 87th, and it ended 2-0. As with Yankee Stadium the night after Thurman Munson's funeral in 1979, this may be the only time Arsenal fans left Highbury in tears after an Arsenal win.

Matching his uniform number, Arsenal fans still sing his song during the 7th minute of home games: "Oh, Rocky, Rocky! Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky Ro-cas-tle!" In 2006, Arsenal named a training facility at their academy after him: The David Rocastle Indoor Centre. Inside, there is a mural of him, and a quote which, while not originating with him, became associated with him: "Remember who you are, what you are, and what you represent."

March 31, 1976: The Karen Ann Quinlan Case

March 31, 1976, 50 years ago: The Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey rules in the case of In re Quinlan, that Karen Ann Quinlan, a hospital patient in a persistent vegetative state, can be disconnected from her ventilator.

Karen had been born on March 29, 1954 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Roxbury, Morris County, New Jersey. She graduated from Morris Catholic High School in Denville, and worked several jobs, moving to a house in Byram, Sussex County, with 2 roommates.

On April 15, 1975, she attended a friend's birthday party at a local bar. Having eaten almost nothing for 2 days, as part of a crash diet, she got drunk and took a Valium pill. Her friends took her home, and discovered her not breathing. She was taken to a hospital in Newton, Sussex County, but never regained consciousness. Unresponsive, she was taken to St. Clare's Hospital in Denville, which was better able to handle her condition: A persistent vegetative state.

After doctors refused the request of her parents, Joseph and Julia Quinlan, to disconnect her ventilator, her parents filed suit to get her disconnected. They believed that her still being connected constituted extraordinary means of prolonging her life.

Interestingly, both sides used Catholic theology to make their cases: The defense, that life must be preserved at all costs; the plaintiffs, that "extraordinary measures" to preserve life are a contradiction of God's will, citing a Papal message from Pope Pius XII in 1957.

The State Supreme Court ruled in the parents' failure, and the respirator was disconnected. Karen's feeding tube was not: Her parents did not consider that to be "extraordinary measures." As a result, Karen lived on until June 11, 1985. She had been in a coma for 10 years. Her case has affected the practice of medicine and law around the world. A significant outcome of her case was the development of formal ethics committees in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices. 

Yankees Start Season With Sweep of Giants

Barring inclement weather, or a more drastic reason for postponement, today will be the last Sunday without Yankee baseball until at least October 4. (That day could have a postseason game.) That gives me plenty of time to summarize the season-opening series away to the San Francisco Giants.

This past Wednesday, the Yankees opened the 2026 season at Oracle Park in San Francisco, and beat the Giants, 7-0. After a day off on Thursday, Cam Schlittler started. Through 5 1/3rd innings, he had allowed just 1 baserunner, a double by Heliot Ramos in the 2nd inning.

Aaron Judge continued to strike out, but he also hit his 369th career home run, tying him with Ralph Kiner, Todd Helton, and the still-active Manny Machado on the all-time list. And Giancarlo Stanton hit his 454th home run. He is Major League Baseball's active leader.

These homers gave Schlittler a 3-0 lead. He had thrown only 68 pitches, 49 of them for strikes. There was absolutely no good reason to take him out.

Boone took him out, and brought in Fernando Cruz. He walked a batter, but allowed no more baserunners. Tim Hill pitched a perfect 7th, Doval a perfect 8th, and David Bednar survived a leadoff walk and ended the game. So, how many Yankees does it take to pitch a one-hit shutout? This time, 5.

It was the 1st time the Yankees had opened the season with back-to-back shutout wins since 1967. But that wasn't a good sign: The Yankees finished 9th out of 10 teams in the single-division American League that year.

Nevertheless: 18 innings, no runs, 4 hits, 4 walks. Pretty snazzy pitching.

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And then last night was the Fox Saturday Game of the Week. With Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt unavailable, and 2024 American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil apparently no longer trusted by Yankee management to be a starter, Will Warren was given the start. Between the game being on Fox, and the Yankees having a pitcher named Warren -- Adam Warren was even worse -- I was not optimistic.

In the top of the 5th, Judge hit his 370th home run, surpassing Kiner, Helton and Machado, and tying Gil Hodges. So far, this season, he is 2-for-13, a batting average of .154, an on-base percentage that is also .154, and 7 strikeouts. But both of those hits are home runs, so he has 3 RBIs, his slugging percentage is .615, and his OPS+ is 122.

Warren got through 4 1/3rd innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks, the 2nd of those walks having just happened when Boone relieved him. Headrick finished the 5th inning with no damage. Bird pitched the 6th and most of the 7th, Hill pitched the rest of the 7th and all of the 8th, and Bednar allowed a hit and a walk in the 9th, bringing the winning run to the plate, but induced a double play to end it. Yankees 3, Giants 1. Bird was credited with the win.

So: 27 innings, 1 run, 13 hits, 7 walks. Cliché Alert: They say pitching is 75 percent of baseball. If so, then that's a very good reason why the Yankees are 3-0.

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Next up on the all-time home run list: For Stanton, the next names are José Canseco and Adam Dunn, each with 462; for Judge, his own Yankee teammate, Paul Goldschmidt, with 372, followed by Rocky Colavito, with 374.

This day begans with the Los Angeles Dodgers also 3-0; while the Mets, the Atlanta Braves, the Miami Marlins, the Milwaukee Brewers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Toronto Blue Jays have started 2-0.

The Yankees head up the coast to face the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. The Monday and Tuesday games start at 9:40 PM Eastern Time (6:40 Pacific/local), while the Wednesday game is at 4:10 PM (1:10 local). Then, after a day off, on Friday, at 1;35 PM, we have the home opener, against the Miami Marlins.

Let's see how far the Yankees can take this season-opening streak, and this season.

March 29, 1976: College Basketball's Last Undefeated Team

Left to right: Bob Knight, Scott May and Quinn Buckner.

Knight was hardly the only basketball coach to favor

plaid sportsjackets -- it was the 1970s, after all --

but he hadn't yet started wearing his more familiar red sweaters.

March 29, 1976, 50 years ago: Indiana University beats the University of Michigan, 86-68, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, to win the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. The Hoosiers finish the season 32-0. It remains the last undefeated National Championship season in college basketball.

Head coach Bobby Knight -- sometimes listed as "Bob Knight," which he apparently preferred -- always thought his previous season's team was better. They went 31-1, beating teams that were, at the time the Hoosiers played them, ranked Number 7, away to Kansas on December 4; Number 11, away to Notre Dame on December 11; Number 15, home to Kentucky on December 7; Number 17, away to Michigan on January 6; and Number 20, home to Purdue on January 25.

They won the Big Ten Conference title, going a perfect 18-0 in the league, and beat Texas-El Paso and Oregon State in the NCAA Tournament, before Kentucky beat them in the Elite Eight, 92-90 in Dayton, Ohio.

They did this without Larry Bird, who began the schoolyear as a freshman at IU, but found the transition difficult, and transferred to Indiana State University, which he eventually led to an NCAA Final.

With guard Quinn Buckner and forward Scott May returning for their senior years, and center Kent Benson returning as a junior, Knight was more determined than ever to win it all. They opened the season on November 29, 1975, ranked Number 1, playing defending National Champions UCLA, ranked Number 2 but playing with a head coach other than John Wooden for the 1st time since 1949 (Gene Bartow), at the St. Louis Arena, on national television. Indiana won convincingly, 84-64.

It was only the beginning. They beat Number 8 Notre Dame at home on December 11. They beat Number 14 Kentucky in Louisville. In the week between Christmas and New Year's, they won the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, beating schools from 3 different Boroughs of New York City: Columbia, of Manhattan, 106-63; Manhattan College, which is located not in Manhattan but in The Bronx, 97-61; and Number 17 St. John's, of Queens, 76-69.

They beat Number 19 Michigan away on January 10. They needed overtime to beat Michigan at home at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, but did it, 72-67. They finished the regular season 27-0, again going through the Big 10 18-0.

The NCAA Tournament put them in Notre Dame's Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana for their 1st round game, but they beat St. John's, then ranked Number 17, again. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, they beat Number 6 Alabama and Number 2 Marquette, to put them in the Final Four at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Again, they played UCLA, then ranked Number 5, and beat them, 65-51. In the Final, they had to play Michigan for a 3rd time, and Michigan were ranked Number 9. This time, it wasn't close: Indiana won, 86-68. They were 32-0, undefeated, and National Champions.

None of Knight's "Big Three" became professional stars. Buckner played in the NBA from 1976 to 1986, was a member of the Boston Celtics' 1984 NBA Champions, and later became a broadcaster. May played from 1976 to 1981, mostly for the Chicago Bulls. Benson played from 1977 to 1988, for 4 different teams. Both May and Benson later played in Italy's league.

Knight led Indiana to a 2nd National Championship in 1981, and a 3rd in 1987. They had previously won in 1940 and 1953, both under Branch McCracken. So Knight got the program to where it had won 5 titles. He also became, for a time, the winningest coach in college basketball history, before he was surpassed by a former assistant of his, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke. Eventually, his excesses could no longer be stood by IU administrators, and he was fired in 2000.

March 29, 1976 was a Monday. Tennis star Jennifer Capriati was born.

March 27, 1926: The Death of Georges Vézina

March 27, 1926, 100 years ago: Georges Vézina dies of tuberculosis in his hometown of Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada. The greatest goaltender the sport of hockey had yet seen, he was only 39 years old.

Joseph Georges Gonzague Vézina was born on January 21, 1887 in Chicoutimi, since absorbed into the city of Saguenay, in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, 125 miles north of Quebec City and nearly 300 miles northeast of Montreal. He dropped out of school at age 14 to work in his father's bakery.

In 1908, he married Marie-Adélaïde-Stella Morin. A story spread by his later boss, Montreal Canadiens part-owner Leo Dandurand, said that the couple had 22 children, and that Georges spoke no English. Although both parts were plausible -- the Catholic Church in Quebec heavily encouraged big families, to overcome the Anglophone dominance of their Province through "the revenge of the cradles," and rural Quebec was almost entirely Francophone -- neither part was true: They had just 2 children, and Georges did speak some English.

At the time, transportation and media links being what they were, Chicoutimi was so remote that there was only one way for a player for the Chicoutimi Hockey Club, nicknamed the Saguenéens, could get noticed by those larger cities, and that was to tour the Province of Quebec, playing exhibition games.

The Montreal Canadiens were founded in 1909, and, in their 1st season, on February 17, 1910, they played the Chicoutimi Hockey Club. They lost, and their goaltender, Joseph Cattarinich (later to be a part-owner with Dandurand) suggested that they offer Vézina a tryout. Vézina refused. Later in the year, the teams played each other again, and Chicoutimi won again. Again, the Canadiens offered Vézina a tryout. He accepted on the condition that they also try out his brother Pierre. They did, although Pierre didn't make the team. Georges did, and made his professional debut on December 31, 1910, a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Silver Seven (the original Ottawa Senators).

It took a while for the Canadiens to get good. In 1914, they finished tied for 1st in the National Hockey Association, with the Toronto Blueshirts, and lost a Playoff for the title and the right to play the Pacific Coast Hockey Association Champions for the Stanley Cup. The Blueshirts ended up beating the Victoria Aristocrats.

In 1916, the Canadiens won the NHA title outright, and beat the PCHA Champion Portland Rosebuds for their 1st Stanley Cup. This was also the 1st time an American-based team had played for the Cup. In 1917, the Canadiens were NHA Champions again, but lost the Stanley Cup Finals to the Seattle Metropolitans, the 1st U.S. team to win the Cup.

The Canadiens joined the new National Hockey League for the 1917-18 season. On February 18, 1918, the Canadiens beat the Toronto Arenas, 9-0, and Vézina became the 1st NHL goalie to record a shutout. On December 28, 1918, again against Toronto, he became the 1st NHL goalie to be credited with an assist, when Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde, the Canadiens' best attacking player, took a rebound from one of his saves, took the puck up the ice, and scored. The Canadiens won the NHL title, but the worldwide influenza epidemic rebounded in the Spring of 1919, killing Canadiens defenseman Joe Hall, and forcing the abandonment of the Finals between the Canadiens and the Metropolitans.

The Canadiens won the NHL Championship again in 1924, and beat the Vancouver Millionaires for their 2nd Cup. They won the NHL Championship again in 1925, but lost the Finals to the Victoria Cougars, Champions of what was now known as the Western Hockey League. The Cougars became the last team from outside the NHL to win the Cup, as the WHL collapsed after 1 more season, making the Cup an all-NHL affair.

From 1917 to 1925, in NHL play, Vézina won 103 games, lost 81, and had a goals-against average of 3.28. At the time, that was the lowest in the League's young history. What's more, he had played every minute of every game. The attempt to do so was not rare, but actually doing it was. In fact, the Canadiens hadn't played a league (NHA or NHL) game without him since December 1910 -- almost 15 full seasons. He was seen as unflappable on the ice, "cool as a cucumber," and was nicknamed "the Chicoutimi Cucumber."

But when he reported to training camp for the 1925-26 season, he was noticeably ill. He made no mention of it. The season opened on November 28, against an expansion team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. (Named for the city's baseball team, they only lasted through the 1930 season, and have no connection to the Pittsburgh Penguins.) In the intervening 6 weeks, he had lost 35 pounds. When he reported for the opening game, he had a fever of 102 degrees. He insisted upon playing.

He got through the 1st period without allowing a goal. But upon his return to the locker room, he began to vomit blood, a sure sign of tuberculosis. Today, it is curable with antibiotics; but, then, the treatments were not very effective. For the rest of the game, he was replaced by Alphonse Lacroix. Despite his French name, he was an American, and had played for the U.S. in the 1st Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France the year before. The Canadiens lost, 1-0.

Vézina never played again, and the Canadiens finished last in the NHL for 1925-26. Nevertheless, knowing that he was dying and the family couldn't afford his medical expenses otherwise, the team paid his full salary of $6,000 (Canadian). He died on March 27, 1926, just 39.

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At the start of the 1926-27 season, the Canadiens donated the Vezina Trophy to the NHL, to be awarded to the goaltender of the team that allowed the fewest goals during the regular season. (Note that the Trophy's name does not have the accent over the E in "Vézina.") George Hainsworth, whom the Canadiens signed from the Saskatoon Crescents, one of the teams that went out of business with the Western Hockey League the season before, won the Trophy the 1st 2 times it was awarded.

In 1981, the NHL changed the format: The Vezina Trophy went to the winner of a poll for the best goalie of the year, while the Jennings Trophy was instituted, to go to the goalie with the fewest goals allowed.

Jacques Plante holds the record for most Vezina Trophies won: 7, 6 with the Canadiens and 1 with the St. Louis Blues. Although the Canadiens have retired some uniform numbers for more than one player, they have retired Number 1, the traditional number for a goalie, only for Plante, not for fellow Vezina Trophy winners Hainsworth, Bill Durnan, Charlie Hodge or Gump Worsley; nor for Vézina himself, who became the 1st NHL player to wear Number 1. (Later Canadiens' Vezina Trophy winners have not worn 1: Ken Dryden wore 29, Patrick Roy wore 33, José Théodore wore 60, and Carey Price wore 31.)

In 1945, Vézina and Charlie Gardiner of the Chicago Black Hawks, who also died while still an active player, became the 1st 2 goalies elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1965, his hometown of Chicoutimi recognized Vézina, as the 1st professional athlete to come from there, by renaming their arena the Centre Georges-Vézina.

In 1998, The Hockey News ranked Vézina 75th on their list of the 100 Greatest Players. In 2017, the NHL named its 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. Vézina was the earliest player selected.