50 Fun Facts About Baseball Opening Day

Which MLB team is the only one scheduled to open every season with a home game?

Cincinnati fielded the sport's first all-professional team; the only exceptions since 1900 came in 1966, 1990 and 2022.

What is the name of the annual parade that makes Opening Day an official city holiday in Cincinnati?

Young and old take the day off to cheer the Reds; for decades the season's first pitch was officially thrown in Cincinnati.

Which team has visited Cincinnati for 36 Reds season openers, more than any other?

The Cubs and Pirates rotated as the opponent from 1899 to 1916, then shared duties with the Cardinals until 1952.

Who was the first US president to throw out a ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, in 1910?

He did it at the Washington Senators' home opener; twelve presidents have since done the honours.

Which president threw Opening Day first pitches with both his right and his left arm in 1950?

He is the only ambidextrous entry on the presidential first-pitch list.

Which president threw the first pitch to open Cleveland's Jacobs Field on April 4, 1994?

George W. Bush did the same for Nationals Park in Washington in 2008.

Which 20th-century president never threw an Opening Day first pitch while in office?

Carter did throw one after leaving office; Trump and Biden also went without through 2025, while every other president since Taft managed at least one first pitch of some kind.

Who threw the only no-hitter in Opening Day history, for Cleveland in 1940?

He beat the Chicago White Sox; nobody has matched it in more than eighty years.

Which Hall of Famer holds the record for most Opening Day starts by a pitcher, with 16?

He did it for the Mets, Reds and White Sox, passing Walter Johnson's 14 in 1983.

In 14 openers for the Washington Senators, Walter Johnson pitched a record how many shutouts?

One of them was a 15-inning 1–0 marathon against the Athletics' Eddie Rommel.

Hank Aaron's 714th home run on Opening Day 1974 tied whose all-time record?

He passed Ruth four days later at home in Atlanta and finished with 755.

Ted Williams hit an astonishing .449 in openers, with a hit in each of how many Opening Day games?

He added three home runs and fourteen RBIs across those games.

Who hit three home runs on Opening Day 1994 for the Cubs, a National League first?

He connected three times off Dwight Gooden at Wrigley Field, then finished the year with eight homers total.

Who was the first player to hit three home runs on Opening Day, in 1988?

Tuffy Rhodes (1994) and Dmitri Young (2005) came in between.

Ken Griffey Jr. shares the record for career Opening Day home runs with Adam Dunn and which other player?

All three hit eight; Robinson's included one in his first at-bat as a player-manager.

In 1975, Cleveland's new player-manager homered in his first at-bat and broke which barrier?

He had openly campaigned for a managing job while with the Angels, who traded him to Cleveland in 1974.

Which position did Jackie Robinson play for Brooklyn on Opening Day, April 15, 1947?

He later moved to second base, the position he is best remembered at.

Who hit the first home run at Yankee Stadium on its opening day, April 18, 1923?

The park was quickly dubbed the House that Ruth Built; its short right-field fence was designed with him in mind.

In 1907 the New York Giants forfeited their opener at the Polo Grounds after fans did what?

With no police to restore order, umpire Bill Klem awarded the Phillies a 9–0 win.

Which team was the first to open its home season with a night game, in 1950?

They beat the Pirates 4–2 at Sportsman's Park on April 18.

How many innings did the longest Opening Day game in MLB history, Toronto at Cleveland in 2012, last?

Cleveland also lost the previous record-holder, a 15-inning game against Detroit in 1960.

The first Opening Day interleague game, in 2013, saw Cincinnati host which AL team?

The Angels won 3–1 in 13 innings, in the first year of year-round interleague play.

In 1968, minor-league pitcher Greg Washburn achieved what unique feat?

He won 2–0 for the San Jose Bees and then again for the Quad City Angels, in two different leagues.

The Astros' record ten straight Opening Day wins (2013-2022) is shared with which 19th-century club?

The Mets have the best overall Opening Day record, at 42–23.

Which team had MLB's best all-time Opening Day winning percentage (.646) through 2026?

That was a 42–23 record after the 2026 opener; their broadcasters have often served as masters of ceremonies for the home opener.

Which Hall of Famer launched a 2014 White House petition, backed by Anheuser-Busch, to make Opening Day a holiday?

The Wizard used the We the People site; the holiday remains unofficial.

Which writer titled a book Why Time Begins on Opening Day?

For fans the day is a symbol of rebirth, arriving after a month of spring training exhibitions.

Which Hall of Fame pitcher said of openers, "when you win the first one, you can't lose 'em all"?

Wynn pitched for the Senators, Indians and White Sox and won exactly 300 games.

In 2000, the Cubs beat the Mets in the first MLB game outside North America at which stadium?

The next day Rickey Henderson stole a base to become the second player with a steal in four different decades.

The Padres played which team in MLB's first regular-season game outside the US or Canada, in Monterrey in 1999?

The Rockies won 8–2 before an overflow crowd of 27,104.

The 2014 season opened at the Sydney Cricket Ground with the Arizona Diamondbacks facing which team?

It was March 22, more than a week before the rest of the league started.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season's Opening Day was pushed from March 26 to which date?

The season ran only 60 games, the shortest since 1878.

The strike-shortened 1995 season opened on April 25 with the Dodgers visiting which team?

Teams played a 144-game schedule and the Division Series was used for the first time.

From 2023 through 2025, on which day of the week did MLB's Opening Day fall?

2023 was the first Opening Day on which all 30 teams played, and the first since 1968 with every club in action.

The 2018 opener on March 29 was the earliest ever and the first since which year to schedule every team on the same day?

Two games were rained out anyway; in 2023 all 30 teams finally played on the same Opening Day.

The 2024 season began on March 20 in Seoul, South Korea, with the Dodgers playing which team?

The rest of the league opened on March 28.

In 2025 the Dodgers again opened abroad, in Tokyo on March 18, against which team?

The Rockies and Rays opened a day after everyone else at Steinbrenner Field, the Rays' temporary home.

The 2026 season's opening game on March 25 saw the New York Yankees visit which team?

Opening Day was spread across three days, with 22 teams starting on March 26.

The 2022 season's Opening Day was delayed a week to April 7 because of what?

It was the same reason the Reds had to open on the road in Atlanta, one of only three exceptions since 1900.

In the majors' most recent Opening Day doubleheader, in 1971, the White Sox swept which host team?

The very first was in 1903, when the Boston Americans split two games with the Philadelphia Athletics.

Home openers are the only regular-season games at which what happens before the first pitch?

For the rest of the year, ballparks introduce only the starting lineups and managers.

Which network has often televised a single regular-season game the night before Opening Day since 1994?

MLB still reserves the title Opening Day for the first day with multiple games.

In Nippon Professional Baseball, when in the calendar does Opening Day typically fall?

MLB's has been the last Thursday of March since 2023, so the two leagues start almost together.

George W. Bush threw the first pitch to inaugurate which ballpark on March 30, 2008?

It was Washington's first Opening Day in a purpose-built stadium since the Nationals arrived from Montreal.

Opening Day begins a regular season of how many games for each MLB team?

Fans famously treat the day as an unofficial holiday, calling in sick to catch a weekday-afternoon home opener.

MLB moved most 2011 openers to a Thursday or Friday to keep the World Series out of which month?

Most teams returned to Monday openers from 2013 to 2017, before every club was scheduled for the same Thursday in 2018.

Why did the Reds open the 1966 season away at Philadelphia instead of at home?

It was one of only three exceptions since 1900 to Cincinnati always opening at home; the others were lockout-affected schedules in 1990 and 2022.

Against which club did the current Reds organization play its very first opener, in 1882?

That franchise remains the Reds' second most frequent Opening Day opponent with 32 visits, most recently in 2023.

Which White Sox hitter became the fourth player to homer three times on Opening Day, in 2018?

He did it at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium, joining George Bell, Tuffy Rhodes and Dmitri Young in the three-homer club.

Which umpire awarded the Phillies a 9-0 forfeit when snowball-throwing Giants fans got out of hand in 1907?

With no police available to restore order at the Polo Grounds, Klem simply handed the game to Philadelphia.