April 5, 1983: The New York Mets open a new season at Shea Stadium. The opponent is the Philadelphia Phillies. Making his return to his former team is Tom Seaver, against Steve Carlton. Between them, over their careers, these two men would win 640 games and strike out 7,776 batters. A crowd of 46,687 came out to see it -- meaning there were about 9,000 empty seats, in spite of the good weather.
Seaver went 6 innings, allowing no runs on 3 hits and a walk, striking out 5. Carlton went 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and no walks, striking out 9. But neither man would be the winning pitcher, as the Mets didn’t score their runs until the 7th inning, after which Seaver had been replaced by Doug Sisk. Four straight singles, by Dave Kingman, George Foster, Hubie Brooks and Mike Howard, and a sacrifice fly by Brian Giles, gave the Mets a 2-0 win.
Sports Illustrated put Seaver on the cover of their next issue. "The Dreaded SI Cover Jinx" may have kicked in: Pitching for a weak Mets team, he went 9-14, although his ERA was a decent 3.55. After the season, the Mets let him go again, this time getting nothing for him. The Phillies went on to win the National League Pennant, despite a subpar year from Carlton, 15-16, although he did lead the NL in strikeouts.
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April 5, 1983 was a Tuesday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners, 5-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Whose idea it was for the Yankees to open the season on the West Coast, I don't know, but they always seemed to have trouble in the Kingdome, no matter how good either team was.
This time, Richie Zisk hit a home run for the M's, while Dave Winfield and Steve Kemp, a much-hyped acquisition who did not pan out, hit them for the Yanks. Rookie Don Mattingly did not play.
Ron Guidry didn't have it, although Roger Erickson ended up as the losing pitcher. For Seattle, Gaylord Perry started it, and Bryan Clark won it. It was the start of Perry's last season, and he finished 314-265 with 3,534 strikeouts, more than anybody to that point except the still-active Carlton and Nolan Ryan.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Dave Stieb outpitched Dennis Eckersley.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Jack Morris got the win, while Brad Havens didn't get out of the 2nd inning. Larry Herndon went 3-for-6 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 16-7 at the Astrodome in Houston. Fernando Valenzuela and Joe Niekro -- not Nolan Ryan -- started, and neither got to a 4th inning. Ken Landreaux went 3-for-5 with 6 RBIs, while Pedro Guerrero went 3-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs.
* The California Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). This was a rematch of the previous season's American League Championship Series, in which the Angels blew a 2-games-to-0 lead, allowing the Brewers to win their 1st Pennant.
Bruce Kison outpitched Don Sutton. For the Halos, Daryl Sconiers hit a home run at 1st base in place of Rod Carew, and Reggie Jackson went 1-for-3 with a walk. For the Brew Crew, Robin Yount went 1-for-4with a walk, and Paul Molitor went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 16-13 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Tim Lollar outpitched Mike Krukow. Tony Gwynn did not play for the Padres. Garry Templeton went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs.
* The Chicago Cubs and the Montreal Expos were rained out at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game was made up the next day. The Expos won, 3-0. Steve Rogers pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Fergie Jenkins.
* And the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics were not scheduled.
Football was out of season. There were 10 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 110-107 in overtime at Madison Square Garden. Kelly Tripucka, a native of nearby Bloomfield, New Jersey, scored 36 points in defeat for the Pistons.
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Washington Bullets, 95-89 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 117-95 at The Omni in Atlanta. Larry Bird scored 39 points.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls, 101-91 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 116-108 at the Milwaukee Exposition and
Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA (now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena). Moses Malone scored 34 and grabbed 17 rebounds.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Kansas City Kings, 130-113 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets, 126-97 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 126-106 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the San Diego Clippers, 115-109 in double overtime at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 107-101 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
And the Stanley Cup Playoffs began, with 2 games. The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. And the Boston Bruins beat the Quebec Nordiques, 4-3 at the Boston Garden. Barry Pederson scored 1:14 into overtime.
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