Portal:Baseball/Anniversaries/March 31

Events

• 1945 - The Pittsburgh Pirates trade Vince DiMaggio to the Philadelphia Phillies for Al Gerheauser.
• 1958 - The Cleveland Indians trade Gene Woodling, Dick Williams and Bud Daley to the Baltimore Orioles for Larry Doby and Don Ferrarese.
• 1959 - The Milwaukee Braves trades Gene Conley, Joe Koppe and Harry Hanebrink to the Philadelphia Phillies for Stan Lopata, Ted Kazanski and Johnny O'Brien.
• 1962 - The Milwaukee Braves trade Andre Rodgers and Daryl Robertson to the Chicago Cubs for Moe Drabowsky and Seth Morehead.
• 1968 The American League new franchise in Seattle chooses Seattle Pilots as its nickname one year prior to its opening day.
• 1969 - The Seattle Pilots trade Chico Salmon to the Baltimore Orioles for Gene Brabender and Gordy Lund.
• 1971 - The New York Mets trade Ron Swoboda to the Montreal Expos.
• 1980 - The Montreal Expos trade Rusty Staub to the Texas Rangers for Chris Smith and LaRue Washington.
• 1982 - The Texas Rangers trade Al Oliver to the Montreal Expos for Larry Parrish and a minor leaguer .
• 1993 - The St. Louis Cardinals trade Mark Clark and a minor leaguer to the Cleveland Indians for Mark Whiten.
• 1994 - The New York Mets trade Anthony Young to the Chicago Cubs for José Vizcaíno.
• 1994 - The Chicago White Sox assign Michael Jordan to the Double-A Birmingham Barons of the Southern League.
• 1995 - The longest strike action in sports history ends - in a courtroom. A U.S. District court order forbids owners from implementing new financial working conditions in the wake of the negotiations impasse. The court decides that conditions will revert to the old rules from the previous season. Because of the timing of the court order, 18 games will have to be trimmed from the major league schedule.
• 1996 - For the first time in Major League history, Opening Day occurs in March as the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox in 12 innings.
• 1998 - In their first game ever, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays lose to the Detroit Tigers.
• 1998 - In their first game ever, the Arizona Diamondbacks drop lose to the Colorado Rockies.
• 1998 - The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies tie the National League mark for the longest Opening Day game, with New York coming out on top with a 1 - 0 victory in 14 innings.
• 1998 - Cincinnati Reds shortstop Pokey Reese commits four errors on his first three chances in the field.
• 1998 - Florida Marlins catcher Charles Johnson, who had not committed an error in a record 172 consecutive regular season games, is charged with one on a wild throw in the first inning of Florida's Opening Day against the Cubs.
• 1998 - The Milwaukee Brewers play their inaugural game as a National League team and lose to the Atlanta Braves.
• 2001 - The Pittsburgh Pirates play their first game at PNC Park.
• 2008 - The Chicago Cubs unveil a statue of Ernie Banks outside of Wrigley Field.

Births

• 1842 - Al Wright, manager (d. 1905)
• 1862 - Art Benedict, infielder (d. 1948)
• 1867 - Bill Hallman, infielder, manager (d. 1920)
• 1868 - Jack Stivetts, pitcher (d. 1930)
• 1880 - Ernie Ross, pitcher (d. 1950)
• 1882 - Big Jeff Pfeffer, pitcher (d. 1954)
• 1884 - Frank Truesdale, infielder (d. 1943)
• 1885 - Herman Bronkie, infielder (d. 1968)
• 1885 - Brick Owens, umpire (d. 1949)
• 1886 - Fred Kommers, outfielder (d. 1943)
• 1891 - Johnny Couch, pitcher (d. 1975)
• 1894 - Ben Mallonee, outfielder (d. 1978)
• 1894 - Tom Sheehan, pitcher, manager (d. 1982)
• 1895 - Carson Bigbee, outfielder (d. 1964)
• 1897 - Jim Brown, outfielder
• 1899 - Ed Johnson, outfielder (d. 1975)
• 1900 - Mule Suttles, Negro League infielder; Hall of Fame (d. 1966)
• 1918 - Marv Grissom, pitcher; All-Star (d. 2005)
• 1920 - Dave Koslo, pitcher (d. 1975)
• 1931 - Gene Snyder, pitcher (d. 1996)
• 1938 - Moose Stubing, pinch hitter, manager
• 1946 - Bill Denehy, pitcher
• 1946 - Gonzalo Márquez, infielder (d. 1984)
• 1953 - Tom Hausman, pitcher
• 1961 - Tracy Jones, outfielder
• 1964 - Chris Cron, infielder
• 1964 - Balvino Gálvez, pitcher
• 1964 - Rafael Montalvo, pitcher
• 1975 - Tim Christman, pitcher
• 1975 - Ryan Rupe, pitcher
• 1977 - Jamie Brown, pitcher
• 1979 - Josh Kinney, pitcher
• 1979 - Charlie Manning, pitcher
• 1980 - Chien-Ming Wang, pitcher
• 1983 - Jeff Mathis, catcher

Deaths

• 1901 - George Popplein, infielder/outfielder (b. 1840)
• 1921 - John Fitzgerald, pitcher (b. 1870)
• 1936 - Anton Falch, outfielder (b. 1860)
• 1941 - Kit McKenna, pitcher (b. 1873)
• 1942 - Ray O'Brien, outfielder (b. 1894)
• 1957 - Billy Meyer, catcher, manager (b. 1892)
• 1966 - Grady Adkins, pitcher (b. 1897)
• 1968 - Grover Lowdermilk, pitcher (b. 1885)
• 1971 - Sam Post, infielder (b. 1896)
• 1974 - Bunny Hearn, pitcher (b. 1904)
• 1977 - Johnny Mann, infielder (b. 1898)
• 1992 - Ken Silvestri, catcher, manager (b. 1916)
• 1993 - Jimmie Crutchfield, Negro League outfielder (b. 1910)