From Los Angeles to Philadelphia

     Today on our Ballpark Openings week we look at Major League Baseball parks with an opening date of April 10. We start with two parks on April 10, 1962. One park was built as a temporary stadium for three seasons of use, the other is still in use today. On this date the Los Angeles Dodgers invited the Cincinnati reds to town to help them open their new park Dodger Stadium. The Reds made themselves very comfortable in the Dodgers new stadium, handing the hometown club a 6-3 loss. The dodgers did however win their next four home games, including two from the Cincy club. On that same day, the Houston Colt .45s invited the Chicago Cubs to town for their Major League debut. The Cubs had nothing to teach the newbies who pouded out an 11-2 win over their visitors. The Colts went on to sweep the three game series.

    Moving ahead to 1971, we arrive in Philadelphia for the opening of Veterans Stadium. The Phillies invited the Montreal Expos to town for the opener. The Phillies and Future Hall of Famer Jim Bunning took command and a 4-1 win from the Expos. Two years later the Kansas City Royals got their opportunity to open a brand new ballpark as Royals Stadium was ready for them. They invited the Texas Rangers to town for the event. The Royals feasted on the Rangers pitching in taking a 12-1 victory in their opener. Before the Royals were able to get too cocky with their own ballpaark, the hosted the California Angels for a quick mid-May two game series. In the second game the Royals became the first of seven clubs that future Hall of famer Nolan Ryan pitched a no-hitter against, when Ryan spun a 3-0 gem over the Royals. The Royals did recover to have a 48-33 record at Royals Stadium for the season. For the 1993 season the park was renamed Kaufman Stadium, in honor of Ewing Kaufman, their founder.

    Our final ballpark today is Busch Stadium III in saint Louis, Missouri. The third version of Busch Stadium opened on April 10, 2006, when the Milwaukee Brewers arrived in town as the visitors. The Cardinals and Mark Mulder were able to hold off the Brew Crew for a 6-4 win over the Brewers. Three of our five April 10 ballpaks are still open today. Colts Stadium was only intended as a temporary park before it gave way to the Harris County Domed Stadium, better known as the AstroDome in 1965. The Astros themselves are now in their third home park. Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia served as the Home of the Phillies until giving way to Citizens Bank Park in 2004.

   The answer to yesterdays trivia question is Frank McNally, whose 1907 birth is only described as occuring in Nevada, became the first Silver State native to reach the National Football League as a player when he began a 4 career as the center for the Chicago Cardinals in 1931. The state would not send another player to the NFL until 1941 and would not obtain a long run in the league until 1968. That streak continues too this date.

   Todays trivia question is which teams served the opponents for the second series to be played at each of todays featured new stadiums? The answers in tomorrows daily blog as ballpark openings week continues.