April 16, 1940: It is the Opening Day of a new baseball season. At Comiskey Park in Chicago, the Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0. Bob Feller pitches a no-hitter.
It's not close to a perfect game: He walked 5 batters, and a batter reached base on an error. Rollie Hemsley's triple in the 4th inning brought home the game's only run. It was the 1st of 27 games that Feller would win that season, a career high.
This was the 1st of 3 no-hitters that Feller went on to pitch, on top of 12 one-hitters. He would later say that his 2nd no-hitter, against the New York Yankees on April 30, 1946, was the highlight of his baseball career. He said, "The no-hitter on opening day in Chicago is the one that gets all the attention. But my no-hitter at Yankee Stadium was against a much better team than the White Sox. There was no comparison. I had to pitch to Tommy Henrich, Charlie Keller and Joe DiMaggio in the 9th inning to get the Yankees out." His 3rd no-hitter came against the Detroit Tigers on July 1, 1951.
This game remains the only no-hitter ever pitched in a team's opening game of the season, although the expansion of the MLB schedule means that no-hitters have been pitched earlier in the calendar year. Through the 2022 season, the record was set by Hideo Nomo, then with the Boston Red Sox, against the Baltimore Orioles, on April 4, 2001.
And yet, Feller was almost topped on that Opening Day. The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 1-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. President Franklin D. Roosevelt threw out the ceremonial first ball, making him 8-for-8 on Opening Days, setting a record that has not been seriously approached. He would make it an absolutely unbreakable (due to the later 22nd Amendment) 9-for-9 the next year, but decided not to do it while World War II was in progress.
Lefty Grove outpitched Dutch Leonard, allowing only 2 baserunners, and taking a perfect game into the 8th inning. But he started that inning by giving up a fly ball to Gerald "Gee" Walker, and Boston's left fielder dropped it, before throwing him out at 2nd base. Then Grove gave up singles to Cecil Travis and Jimmy Bloodworth, before stranding them.
That left fielder went 2-for-4 that day. His name was Ted Williams. Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. But the only run of the game came in the top of the 2nd, when Grove himself singled Bobby Doerr home.
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April 16, 1940 was a Tuesday. Queen Margarethe II of Denmark was born.
These other baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-1 at Shibe Park. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. Charles "Red" Ruffing got the 1st out in the bottom of the 10th inning, but walked Frankie Hayes, gave up a double to Al Rubeling, walked Dee Miles, and gave up a game-losing sacrifice fly to the opposing pitcher, Alfred "Chubby" Dean, who also went the distance. (He was no relation to Dizzy Dean, and, being listed at 5-foot-11 and 181 pounds, he wasn't all that chubby.)
As so often happened early in his career, Joe DiMaggio was injured in Spring Training, and did not play on Opening Day. This was also the Yankees' 1st season opener without Lou Gehrig in the lineup since 1925.
* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at the Polo Grounds. Kirby Higbe, who would help pitch the Dodgers to the Pennant the next year, outpitched Hall-of-Famer Carl Hubbell. Gus Suhr drove in the Phils' runs with a home run. Mel Ott went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Bees, 5-0 at National League Park in Boston. Whitlow Wyatt pitched a 5-hit shutout. Dolph Camilli went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. This would be the 5th and final year of the Boston's team's rebrand (as we would say today), after a disastrous 1935 season. In 1941, they went back to calling themselves the Boston Braves, and their stadium Braves Field.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Paul Derringer outpitched Bill Lee (no relation to the later Red Sox pitcher of the same name). Frank McCormick and Ival Goodman hit home runs for the Reds, Augie Galan for the Cubs. Ernie Lombardi went 1-for-4.
* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-1 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium). George Coffman outpitched Bobo Newsom. Hank Greenberg went 0-for-4, but drove in the Tigers' only run with a groundout.
* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Virgil Davis hit a home run for the Bucs, and Joseph "Arky" Vaughan went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Paul Waner struck out as a pinch-hitter, and his brother Lloyd did not play.
Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NHL season had ended 3 days earlier, when the New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup.
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