On this day in 1972 New York Mets manager Gil Hodges suffers a fatal heart attack and dies after a round of gold in West Palm Beach. The Mets would name Yogi Berra as the manager to run the team after the strike ends.
On this day in 1996 Derek Jeter hit a home run off Dennis Martinez in a Yankees 7-1 victory over the Indians. The 22 year old infielder became the first rookie Yankee shortstop to start the season since 1962 when Tom Tresh filled in for Tony Kubek. Joe Torre also won his first game as the Yankees manager on this day, the first of 1,173 victories in his 12 season tenure.
On this day in 2001 on Opening Day Roger Clemens became the all time American League strike out leader moving ahead of Walter Johnson when Roger struck out the Kansas City Ryals Joe Rana for his 3,509th K of his career. Roger was now in seventh place in Major League history in strikeouts.
On this day in 2003 Todd Zeile hit a home run in his first at bat as a Yankee becoming the only major leaguer to hit a home run for ten different teams passing Tommy Davis and his nine clubs. Zeile's list of teams he has homered with includes the Yankees, Cardinals, Cubs, Phillies, Orioles, Dodgers, Marlins, Rangers, Mets, and Rockies.