April 7, 1989: The film Major League premieres. It was a victim of timing, coming so soon after Bull Durham, with many similarities:
* The lead character (Tom Berenger) is an aging wreck of a catcher.
* His love interest (Rene Russo) is an intellectual, in this case a librarian rather than an English professor at a junior college.
* There's a wild young pitcher (Charlie Sheen, who actually could throw a baseball at up to 87 miles per hour).
* There's a slugger (Dennis Haysbert) who considers himself a voodoo priest.
* There's an idiosyncratic broadcaster (Bob Uecker).
* And there's an industrial town that’s seen better days and could use a winning ballclub (Cleveland, with Milwaukee standing in for it, thus making Uecker available, because Milwaukee County Stadium was available, and Cleveland Municipal Stadium, hosting Browns games in the Autumn, was not; as opposed to Durham, North Carolina).
There are notable differences:
* In Bull Durham, the villain is life itself, and the team's owner is never seen, identified, or even mentioned; in Major League, the villain is the owner (Margaret Whitton), who wants to drive down attendance so she can use a loophole to get out of her lease, and move the team to Miami. (Ironically, in 1997, the real Indians would lose the World Series to a Miami expansion team.)
* There's a cynical religious-hypocrite old pitcher (Chelcie Ross), whereas, in Bull Durham, except for Crash, the players are all young guys on the way up, yet to realize that this is as far as they'll go. And the player vocal about his faith seems to be completely sincere.
* There's a money-hungry slugger (Corbin Bernsen) among the major leaguers, whose minimum salary is well above a minor-leaguer's pay; whereas, in Bull Durham, the wild pitcher is a "bonus baby," so he's the only one with money.
* There's a hotshot speedster (Wesley Snipes, replaced in the sequel by Omar Epps), with no equivalent in Bull Durham.
* And Major League has 2 real-life major leaguers, not counting Uecker: Former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Steve Yeager plays 3rd base coach Duke Temple, and former Milwaukee Brewers Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich plays disgusting Yankee slugger Clu Haywood.
Major League suffers in comparison to Bull Durham, but, judged on its own merits, it's a good movie. Even if the Yankees are cast as the villains.
*
April 7, 1989 was a Friday. These games were played in the real Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees did, indeed, play the Cleveland Indians on this day, and the Indians won, 4-2 at Yankee Stadium. Rich Yett outpitched John Candelaria. Joe Carter went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Don Mattingly went 0-for-3 with a walk. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-4. Dave Winfield was injured, and missed the entire season.
* The New York Mets lost to the Montreal Expos, 7-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Kevin Gross outpitched Ron Darling.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Kal Daniels hit a sacrifice fly to score Herm Winningham, winning the game in the bottom of the 16th inning.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Robin Yount went 0-for-4. Paul Molitor was injured and did not play.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Cal Ripken went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-8 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett did not play.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 10-9 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 5-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
* The California Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-3.
* And the Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-1 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled, as they prepared to start a series the next day, the Phils' Opening Day. The Phils won, 5-4 in 11 innings.
Football was out of season. No games were scheduled for the NHL. There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets beat their arch-rivals, the New York Knicks, 115-105 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 107-96 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. Jeff Malone scored 37 points.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 118-108 at the Charlotte Coliseum. Charles Barkley scored 31 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Houston Rockets, 120-112 in overtime at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings, 115-102 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Derek Harper scored 34 points.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Chicago Bulls, 114-112 in overtime at the Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan scored 40 points in defeat.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 99-97 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Boston Celtics, 113-100 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
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