April 25, 1995: Baseball Resumes After Its Longest Strike

April 25, 1995: For the 1st time since August 11, 1994 -- 247 days -- a regular-season Major League Baseball game is played.

In the interim, football player-turned actor Woody Strode; former Heavyweight Champion Jack Sharkey and former Middleweight Champion Carlos Monzón; soccer legend Billy Wright; runner Wilma Rudolph; tennis legend Fred Perry; sportscaster Howard Cosell; scientist Linus Pauling; authors James Clavell, Robert Bloch, James Herriot; directors Terence Young and George Abbott; actors Patrick O'Neil, Jessica Tandy, Harriet Nelson, Martha Raye, Burt Lancaster, Raúl Juliá, Noah Beery Jr., Sebastian Shaw, Peter Cook, Donald Pleasence, David Wayne, Ed Flanders, Priscilla Lane, Burl Ives and Ginger Rogers; songwriters Jule Styne, Antônio Carlos Jobim; singers Carmen McRae, Cab Calloway, Melvin Franklin of The Temptations, Selena, and rapper Eazy-E; fashion magnate Maurizio Gucci, astronaut Stuart Roosa; former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, former Senator J. William Fulbright, and Kennedy family matriarch Rose Kennedy died.

Basketball player Jabari Parker, soccer players Bruno Fernandes, Takuma Asano, Raheem Sterling, Joshua Kimmich, Naby Keïta, Héctor Bellerín, Divock Origi and Adrien Rabiot; skier Mikaela Shiffrin; actors Zooey Deutch and Jake T. Austin; singer Halsey, rapper Megan Thee Stallion; and model Gigi Hadid were born.

The Strike of '94 began the preceding August 12. When the MLB team owners threatened to use "replacement players" -- essentially, strikebreakers, or "scabs" -- a federal Judge ruled that this was in violation of their contract. With nothing else they can do, the owners settled, and the players "won" the strike. The judge was Sonia Sotomayor, a Yankee Fan from The Bronx. In 2009, she was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

This was each MLB team's 1st game back:

* April 25: The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins, 8-7 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. Marlin pitcher John Burkett restarted the proceedings by getting Delino DeShields to fly out to center fielder Chuck Carr. Raúl Mondesi hit 2 home runs, including the 1st one in restarted baseball, while Terry Pendleton and Jeff Conine homered for the Marlins. The Marlins trailed 8-2 going into the bottom of the 8th inning, and a comeback fell just short.

On April 26:

* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 8-6 at Yankee Stadium. I was there, setting near the back of the Main Level, behind home plate. Joe DiMaggio threw out a ceremonial first ball. Danny Tartabull and Bernie Williams hit home runs in support of Jimmy Key.

* The New York Mets lost to the Colorado Rockies, 11-9 in the 1st-ever game at Coors Field in Denver. The Mets got home runs from Rico Brogna and Todd Hundley. They trailed 5-1 going into the top of the 6th, then took leads of 7-6 into the top of the 9th, 8-7 in the top of the 13th, and 9-8 into the top of the 14th. But the Rockies just kept on coming, until Dante Bichette hit a 3-run homer off Mike Remlinger to win it for the Rockies in the bottom of the 14th.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Aaron Sele allowed just 1 hit over 5 innings, and 4 relievers helped complete a 2-hit shutout.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 12-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Braves went on to win the National League Pennant.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 13-1 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Officially, since there was no World Series the year before, the Jays were now beginning their 3rd straight season as defending World Champions.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 12-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. In spite of the strike, the consecutive games played streak of Cal Ripken Jr. was officially still going. He would break Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 straight games on September 6.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 10-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 5-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

On April 27:

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Rangers, 11-6 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Indians went on to win the American League Pennant, but the Braves beat them in the World Series.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Tigers, 3-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Randy Johnson allowed 3 hits over 6 innings, and 2 relievers completed the 3-hit shutout.

*

April 25, 1995 was a Tuesday. Football was in the off-season. The NBA was between its regular season and the Playoffs. There were 5 games played in the NHL, whose regular season was pushed back by a strike of its own:

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the United Center. Murray Craven scored the winning goal, 2 minutes into overtime.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars, 8-4 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-2 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

April 2, 1995: Baseball's Longest Strike Ends

Jorge Posada and fellow Puerto Rican Sonia Sotomayor,

at the new Yankee Stadium in 2009,

after her confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court

April 2, 1995: A federal judge grants an injunction against Major League Baseball, preventing its team owners from unilaterally implementing a new collective bargaining agreement and using replacement players. This ends the Strike of '94. MLB and the Players Association reach an agreement that will start the new season on April 25.

The Judge was a 40-year-old Yankee Fan from The Bronx. I was so grateful to her for giving me back my baseball, I was willing to marry her. (Give me a break: She was very attractive back then.) At the very least, I wanted her on the Supreme Court of the United States.

The former, obviously, didn't happen. The latter did, in 2009. Her name was Sonia Sotomayor.

The next day, April 3, I went into New York, took the Subway up to Yankee Stadium, and bought a ticket for Opening Day. Main Level Reserved, Section 2, right behind home plate. $24. (About $45 in today's money.) The gates were open -- security was different in those pre-9/11 days. And I was able to walk to my seat, and just sat there for about 15 minutes, taking it all in.

Walking out, I saw a section of the outer wall's plaster displaced. I picked up a 2-by-3-inch piece, and took it home. To this day, I have a piece of the old Yankee Stadium, even if it probably dated, at most, only to the 1973-76 renovation. There was also some graffiti on the wall. When Opening Day came on April 26, the plaster was repaired, the graffiti was painted over, both looked like there had never been anything wrong, and the Yankees won.

*

April 2, 1995 was a Sunday. Obviously, there were no baseball games. Football was out of season. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat their neighbors, the New Jersey Nets, 94-85 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands, despite Queens native Kenny Anderson scoring 31 points for the Nets.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks, 94-87 in one of the last games at the Boston Garden.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat, 105-92 at the Miami Arena.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 104-101 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland. (It's now named the Rocket Arena.)

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Washington Bullets, 110-105 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 104-93 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns, 109-106 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Despite the Suns' loss, Charles Barkley led all scorers on the day with 45 points.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic, 119-112 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 105-83 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

There were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. (The New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils were not scheduled.)

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Ottawa Senators, 7-5 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Florida Panthers beat their arch-rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1 at the Thunderdome in St. Petersburg. (It's now named Tropicana Field.)

* The St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 3-3 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-4 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. (It's now named the Honda Center.)