On This Date in Sports April 8, 1969: A New Day in Baseball
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
The era of divisional play begins for Major League Baseball, in its 100th Anniversary season as both the National and American Leagues are split into the Eastern and the Western Divisions. In addition, four new expansion teams are added two in each league. The Seattle Pilots and Kansas City Royals in the AL, with the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos, baseball’s first team based outside the United States in the NL.
The Seattle Pilots managed by Joe Schultz played their first game in Anaheim against the California Angels. Early on things looked good for the Pilots as Tommy Harper doubled off Jim McGlothlin and Mike Hegan hit a two-run home run to make it 2-0 right away. Seattle would add two more runs on a two-out single by Jim McNertney chasing the Angels starter from the game. Seattle would not score again as Clyde Wright, Eddie Fisher and Rudy May allowed just two hits over the last eight innings. Marty Pattin started for Seattle allowing two runs in five innings, highlighted by a fifth-inning home run by Jim Fregosi. Diego Segui came on and was solid over the next three innings but walked two to start the ninth inning. Jack Aker would come to get the save, though the Angels scored again on a groundout by Jay Johnstone. The Pilots 4-3 win on opening day was one of the only bright spots in an otherwise grey season. The expansion team finished last in the American League West at 64-98. It would be the team’s only season in existence as the Pacific Northwest was not ready for a Major League Stadium as Sick’s Stadium was too small and cramped leading them to move to Milwaukee and become the Brewers in 1970. The Emerald City would get another chance with the expansion Seattle Mariners in 1977, a game that saw Diego Segui get the start for the Mariners.
The Kansas City Royals were a replacement team for the fans of Kansas City, having seen the Athletics who played at Municipal Stadium from 1955-1967 move to Oakland in 1968. The Royals opened at home against the Minnesota Twins. After Wally Bunker retired the Twins in order in the first inning, Lou Piniella led off with a double against the Tom Hall. Piniella would score one batter later on a single by Jerry Adair. The Twins tied the game quickly on a home run by Graig Nettles. In the sixth, the Twins scored two runs off reliever Tom Burgmeier. The Royals would answer in the bottom of the inning with RBI hits from Piniella and Jim Campanis. From there the game remained tied until the 12th inning when Joe Keough singled home Joe Foy to give Kansas City a walk-off 4-3 win. Journeyman Moe Drabowsky got the win for the Royals while Joe Grzenda suffered the loss for the Twins. The Royals first season under Manager Joe Gordon saw them finish fourth in the AL West with a record of 69-93.
The San Diego Padres had been an International League team since 1936, in those early days they had a young kid out of high school named Ted Williams. Granted an expansion team in the National League the minor league team was honored as they played their first game at San Diego Stadium in unique brown uniforms against the Houston Astros. Manager Preston Gomez tabbed Dick Selma to make the start for the Padres. Selma was shaky in the first allowing a run on an RBI single by Doug Rader. The Padres would not get their first hit until the fifth inning, but Ed Spiezio made it count with a home run off Doug Wilson. An inning later, Ollie Brown gave the Padres a lead by doubling home Roberto Pena. The 2-1 final would stand as Selma was brilliant for San Diego allowing just one run on five hits with 12 strikeouts. It would all go downhill from there for the Padres as they went on to finish dead last in the National League West at 52-110.
For the first time two National Anthems were played as “O, Canada” was sung at Shea Stadium with the New York Mets hosting the Montreal Expos. The Expos got off to a fast start, scoring two runs on a double by Bob Bailey off Tom Seaver, scoring Gary Sutherland and Mack Jones. In the second inning, the Mets grabbed the lead on a three-run double by Tommie Agee against Expos starter Mudcat Grant. The Expos quickly tied the game on an RBI single by Rusty Staub scoring Maury Wills in the third. Montreal took a 4-3 lead on a home run by reliever Dan McGinn. McGinn though faltered on the mound allowing three runs in the bottom of the fourth. In the sixth the Expos rallied to tie the game on a two-run double off Calvin Koonce by Mack Jones, scoring Wills and Staub. In the seventh inning, Montreal took the lead when Maury Wills singled home Don Shaw. The Expos padded the lead to 11-6 on a solo home run by Rusty Staub and a three-run bomb by Coco Laboy. The Mets would mount a rally in the ninth inning a tiring Don Shaw, as Duffy Dyer followed up an RBI single by Jerry Grote with a three-run pinch home run by Duffy Dyer. Carlos Sembera would come on and relieve and stopped the bleeding earning the save as the Expos beat the Mets 11-10. Shaw despite his ninth-inning hiccup got the win while Koonce got the loss. The Expos would not win much that first season matching the Padres 52-110 record while finishing last in the Eastern Division under Manager Gene Mauch.
The Expos 11-10 win over the Mets is the most curious result of the four expansion team wins in 1969. The Mets a 1962 expansion team saw their all-time record on Opening Day drop to 0-8 with the loss. However, sometime during the season, found their groove and went on to win the World Series, after winning 100 games. The Mets in the 50 years since have a record of 38-12 in season openers the best of all team in any major professional league.