March 31, 1998: Major League Baseball Comes to Arizona and Tampa Bay

March 31, 1998: Major League Baseball's 2 newest expansion franchises, both based in places that had been used to Spring Training, but not the regular season, make their regular-season debuts. Neither wins.

Just as Florida had been home to many teams' Spring Training, known as the "Grapefruit League," Arizona, in particular Phoenix and environs, had been the "Cactus League." The Phoenix Giants, later renamed the Phoenix Firebirds, were the top farm team of the San Francisco Giants, and won Pacific Coast League Pennants in 1959 and 1977. Phoenix got an NBA team in 1968, and an NFL team in 1988. In 1995, MLB awarded Phoenix an expansion team for the 1998 season.

At Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix, the Arizona Diamondbacks lose to the Colorado Rockies 9-2. Andy Benes is their 1st pitcher, and he lasts into the 7th inning. Their 1st batter is Devon White, and he strikes out. Mike Lansing of the Rockies has the stadium's 1st hit, Travis Lee the Diamondbacks' 1st hit. Vinny Castilla hits the stadium's 1st home run (and later hits another), and Lee the Diamondbacks' 1st homer.

Chase Field

The D-backs actually made the Playoffs in only their 2nd season, and won the World Series in their 4th. But we don't talk about that around here.

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The Tampa Bay region had been trying to get a major league team for 30 years. They came within inches of having the Chicago White Sox move there for the 1989 season, and also of having the San Francisco Giants move there for the 1993 season.

Had the Seattle Mariners not won the American League Division Series in 1995, the ballot initiative to build what is now named T-Mobile Park would not have passed, and it's likely that the Mariners would have been bought by the owners of the expansion franchise granted to Vince Naimoli and his group, leaving the expansion franchise to be moved elsewhere.

But Naimoli's group got the franchise in 1995, and, on March 31, 1998, the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays played their 1st game. They lost to the Detroit Tigers, 11-6 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

With the Rays having no team legends, Hall-of-Famers Ted Williams (who lived in nearby Hernando) and Stan Musial (who trained in St. Petersburg with the St. Louis Cardinals) threw out the ceremonial first balls.

Wilson Alvarez is their 1st pitcher, and he gets knocked out of the box in the 3rd inning. Their 1st batter is Quinton McCracken, and he grounds out. Tony Clark of the Tigers has the stadium's 1st hit, Dave Martinez the Devil Rays' 1st hit. Luis Gonzalez hits the stadium's 1st home run, Wade Boggs the Devil Rays' 1st homer. The Devil Rays score 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it's not enough.

It it would be 10 years before the team simplified their name as "the Tampa Bay Rays." That year, 2008, was the 1st time they got into a Pennant race, and they won the American League Pennant.

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March 31, 1998 was a Tuesday. These other games were played that Opening Day in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Shea Stadium. Alberto Castillo singled Brian McRae home with the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning, making a winning pitcher out of Turk Wendell in relief of Bobby Jones. In 14 innings, 6 Met pitchers had allowed 9 hits and 6 walks, but no runs. Curt Schilling started for the Phils, and pitched 8 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, but it wasn't enough.

* The Atlanta Braves, formerly of Milwaukee, beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. This was the Brewers' 1st regular-season game in the National League, after having been in the American League from 1970 (plus 1969, as the Seattle Pilots) until 1997.

Greg Maddux and Cal Eldred started. In the bottom of the 9th, with Javy López up, Keith Lockhart tried to steal 2nd base, and Brewer catcher Mike Matheny threw the ball away, allowing Gerald Williams, who had been on 3rd base, to score the winning run.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs, 11-6 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-2 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. Tony Gwynn and Wally Joyner hit home runs for the Padres.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. How many Cardinal pitchers does it take to pitch a 3-hit shutout? This time, 4: Todd Stottlemyre went 7 innings, Lance Painter pitched to 1 batter in the 8th and got him out, John Frascatore finished the inning, and Brad Looper struck out the side in the 9th.

Mark McGwire went 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs, including a home run, the 1st of 70 he would hit that season, thanks to steroids.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 9-4 at the Astrodome in Houston. Astro reliever C.J. Nitkowski melted down in the top of the 13th inning, and before José Cabrera could stop the bleeding, the Giants had scored 5 runs. Barry Bonds went 2-for-6 with a walk.

* The Montreal Expos and the Pittsburgh Pirates opened the next day, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Pirates won, 4-0. Francisco Cordóva pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, Marc Wilkins pitched a perfect 8th, and Rich Loiselle finished the 5-hit shutout.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Tim Belcher, outpitched Mike Mussina. Cal Ripken went 0-for-3.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 9-2 at The Ballpark in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* And the Cleveland Indians beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-9 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Sandy Alomar Jr. went 3-for-5 with the Tribe's only home run. The M's got homers from Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martínez, Jay Buhner and Russ Davis. Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-5 with 3 strikeouts.

Football was out of season. There were 12 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 95-78 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 105-90 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 101-93 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics, 121-95 at the Miami Arena.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets, 97-86 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors, 114-105 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic, 93-86 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 128-106 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons, 106-101 at the United Center in Chicago. Grant Hill scored 37 points in defeat. For the Bulls, Scottie Pippen scored 27, and Michael Jordan 26.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Golden State Warriors, 94-89 in overtime at The Arena in Oakland (as the Oakland Coliseum Arena was then known).

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Utah Jazz, 88-86 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

* And the Dallas Mavericks beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 104-101 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

And there were 3 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the CoreStates Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes played to a tie, 3-3 at the Greensboro Coliseum (now the First Horizon Coliseum).