LINEDRIVER'S April 21st Baseball History Picks
APRIL 21, 1990...The Cincinnati Reds, led by their new manager Lou Piniella, beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-1. The Reds run their record to 9-0, the best start in club history. Starter Jack Armstrong improves his record to 3-0.
APRIL 21, 1970...The Cincinnati Reds flex their muscles and hit seven homers to beat the Braves, 13-8, in Atlanta. Braves’ starter and knuckleball specialist Phil Niekro allows four homers and seven runs before leaving the game in the sixth-inning. Braves’ pitcher and onetime Reds’ starter Milt Pappas is knocked around for four runs in the eighth-inning. Reds' rookie left fielder Bernie Carbo hits two HR's and roookie shortstop Dave Concepcion hits his first major league homer in the sixth-inning off Niekro. Gary Nolan’s record jumps to 3-0. Niekro has lost each of his four starts this season.
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APRIL 21, 1963…Toronto Maple Leafs' catcher Rico Carty proudly pulls off nearly the impossible when he hits two home runs in one at-bat. The first homer is nullified after an umpire makes it clear that time had been called. Four pitches later, Carty hits another long ball over the fence. Pitcher Ferguson Jenkins of the International League’s Little Rock Travelers is the victim of Carty’s second-inning feat. Toronto over Little Rock, 5-1.
APRIL 21, 1966...The Cubs trade veteran pitchers Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson to the Phillies for 22-year-old pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, outfielder Adolpho Phillips and OF/1B John Herrnstein. Jenkins will quickly blossom into one of the National League's best pitchers, winning at least 20 games in every season from 1967-1973.
APRIL 21, 1967…A Dodgers’ game is rained out for the first time since the team moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles to start the 1958 season. The Dodgers and Cardinals will try again tomorrow night with Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson scheduled as the starting pitchers.
APRIL 21, 1971...Pirates' slugging left fielder Willie Stargell mashes three homers in the same game for the second time this young season. Tonight’s homers come at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium in Stargell’s first three at-bats. Atlanta starter Jim Nash is victimized in the second and fourth-innings and Tom Kelley serves up Stargell’s final blast in the sixth-inning. Pirates 10, Braves 2.
APRIL 21, 1977…New York Yankees’ skipper Billy Martin, desperate to find a way to bust his team out of a 2-8 slump over the last ten games, decides to draw his line-up out of a hat. First baseman Chris Chambliss, relegated to today’s eighth slot on Martin's line-up card, responds by knocking in five runs with a pair of doubles and a HR. New York 8, Toronto 6.
APRIL 21, 1990…CBS-TV broadcaster Jack Buck jokingly offers one thousand dollars to any cameraperson who can catch Mets’ outfielder Kevin McReynolds smiling. Deena Sheldon does, and Buck writes her a check on the air. New York 5, Montreal 4.