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.
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