Modern Era Famous Firsts

The "streak" begins and ends. Greg Maddux shows everyone that control is the key and three-hundred wins now ensures your place in the Hall of Fame.

Once unbeatable records fall away from the likes of Lou Gehrig, Roger Maris, and Lou Brock. New teams, new records, and new stars are proof that the Modern Era has begun.

"Vaseline is manufactured right here in the United States." - Don Sutton
The Modern Era

1977 - 1999

Date Event Description
01-04-1977 The White Sox hire Mary Shane who becomes the first woman on television to do play-by-play for a major league baseball game.
04-06-1977 Seattle Mariners play their first game and lose to the Angels 7-0.
04-07-1977 Toronto Blue Jays play their first game and beat the White Sox 9-5.
09-17-1977

Dave Kingman became the first player ever to play for four different divisions in the same season. He played for the New York Mets, San Diego Padres, California Angels, and New York Yankees in that order during the season.

10-02-1977 Dodgers are the first team with four thirty home run hitters in the same season.
06-03-1978 Davey Johnson is the first to hit two game winning pinch hit grand slams in one year.
10-02-1978 First division playoff game occurs - Yankees 5 Red Sox 4.
10-25-1978 Gaylord Perry is the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award from each league.
04-07-1979 Ken Forsch pitches a no-hitter and is the first player with a brother (Bob) that has also pitched a no-hitter.
06-24-1979 Rickey Henderson, the future all time stolen base king, steals his first base ever.
09-12-1979 Carl Yastrzemski is the first American League player with four-hundred home runs and three thousand hits.
09-15-1979 Bob Watson hit for the cycle and bcame the first player to do this feat once in each league.
09-28-1979 Garry Templeton is the first player with one-hundred hits from each side of plate in one season.
11-13-1979 Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez are the first co-Most Valuable Players.
10-21-1980 Phillies win their first World Championship in their ninety-eight year history.
1981 Frank Robinson is the first black manager in the National League with the San Francisco Giants.
09-26-1981 Nolan Ryan is the first and only pitcher with more than four no-hitters.
10-03-1981 Brewers and Expos both appear in their first post season games.
11-25-1981 Rollie Fingers is the first relief pitcher to win an American League Most Valuable Player Award.
11-11-1981 Fernando Valenzuela is the first pitcher to win both the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.
05-30-1982 Cal Ripken, Jr. plays his first game in a streak of consecutive games that will last until 09-19-1998.
08-04-1982 Joel Youngblood is first with two hits on two teams in two different cities on the same day.
08-21-1982 Rollie Fingers is the first pitcher to record three-hundred career saves.
08-23-1982 Gaylord Perry, a career spitball thrower, is ejected for the first time ever in twenty years for a spitball.
08-27-1982 Rickey Henderson sets a record and is the first player with more than one-hundred and nineteen steals in a single season.
10-12-1982 Paul Molitor is the first player to ever get five hits in a single World Series game.
10-17-1982 Robin Yount is the first player with two four hit games during one World Series.
07-06-1983 Fred Lynn hits the first grand slam in an All-Star game.
07-24-1983 Lee MacPhail overrules umpires for first time in the George Brett pine tar incident.
08-28-1983 Greg Luzinski is first to hit three career home runs onto the roof at Comiskey Park
11-15-1983 Cal Ripken, Jr. is first to win Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player award consecutively.
1983 Cal Ripken, Jr. is first to play every inning of every game through the World Series.
06-24-1984 Joe Morgan sets the mark and is first second baseman with two-hundred sixty-five home runs.
1984 Jim Rice is the first player to ground into thirty-six double plays in one season.
1985 Don Sutton is the first pitcher to fan more than one-hundred hitters in twenty consecutive seasons.
1985 First year that the League Championship became a 4 of 7 format.
09-11-1985 Pete Rose sets the record and is first player with 4,192 hits.
10-27-1985 Royals are the first team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in a LCS.
08-04-1985 First time two players: Rod Carew three-thousand hits and Tom Seaver three-hundred wins, achieve clubs on same day.
04-07-1986 Dwight Evans of the Boston Red Sox is the first to hit the first pitch in the first game of the season (all teams included) for a home run.
04-29-1986 Roger Clemens set the mark and is the first pitcher to fan twenty hitters in one game.
06-18-1986 Don Sutton is the first pitcher to need more than twenty seasons to win three-hundred games.
08-05-1986 Steve Carlton is first southpaw with 4,000+ strikeouts.
09-25-1986 First no-hitter pennant decision is thrown by Astro Mike Scott.
1986 Bert Blyleven is the first pitcher to surrender fifty plus home runs in a single season.
04-13-1987 San Diego (Wynne, Gwynn, Kruk) is the first team to hit three consecutive home runs from the start of a game (versus SF).
09-14-1987 Blue Jays set a record by being first team to hit ten home runs in one game.
09-21-1987 Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson are first 30 / 30 club teammates.
10-17-1987 First indoor World Series game is played: Twins 10 vs Cardinals 1.
11-18-1987 Andre Dawson is first to win MVP Award on a last place team.
1987 Cal Ripken, Sr. is the first father to manage his two sons - Billy & Cal Jr.
1987 Benito Santiago is the first rookie to hit safely in thirty-four straight games.
06-11-1988 Rick Rhoden is first pitcher to start as a designated hitter.
08-08-1988 Wrigley Field plays its first night game which is rained out in the fourth.
09-23-1988 Jose Canseco is the first player to steal 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in the same season.
1988 Jerry Reuss is the first left-hander to win two-hundred games without a twenty win season.
04-06-1989 Orel Hershiser gives up first run in a record fifty-nine scoreless innings.
10-17-1989 First earthquake to disrupt a game occurs before game 3 of the WS.
1989 Nolan Ryan is first forty year old to strikeout three-hundred in a season.
05-22-1990 Andre Dawson is the first player intentionally walked five times in one game.
07-17-1990 The Twins are the first team to turn two triple plays in the same game.
08-28-1990 Ryne Sandberg is the first second baseman with thirty home runs in two consecutive seasons.
08-31-1990 Ken Griffey Jr. and Sr. are first father / son to play on same club.
09-02-1990 Dave Stieb pitches first no hitter in Blue Jays' history.
09-14-1990 Ken Griffey Jr. & Ken Griffey are first father / son combo to hit back-to-back home runs.
09-29-1990 Reds are first National League team to lead from opening day through one-hundred and sixty-two games.
10-03-1990 George Brett is the first player to win a batting title in three different decades.
04-18-1991 First game ever at New Comiskey Park: Detroit 16 - White Sox 0.
05-01-1991 Rickey Henderson passes Lou Brock and is first to steal nine-hundred and thirty-nine bases.
08-25-1991 Doug Dascenzo commits his first career error after two-hundred forty-two games setting a National League record for most errorless games from start of a career.
09-11-1991

Kent Mercker (6 IP), Mark Wohlers (1 IP), and Alejandro Pena (1 IP) are the first national League pitchers to toss a combined no-hit game.

10-19-1991 The Braves and Twins are the first teams to ever move from last place to a World Series.
08-19-1992 Bret Boone is first third generation player (grandpa Ray & dad Bob).
08-23-1992 Dennis Eckersley is first pitcher with forty saves in four different seasons.
10-14-1992 Cito Gaston is the first black manager to win a league pennant.
10-20-1992 First World Series game is played on foreign (Canadian) soil.
10-24-1992 Cito Gaston is the first black manager to win the World Series.
10-24-1992 Blue Jays are first team from Canada to win the World Series.
04-05-1993 Marlins and Rockies both play their first game.

04-08-1993

Carlos Baerga of the Cleveland Indians becomes the first player in Major League history to hit a home run batting lefty, then during the same inning (the 7th), hits another home run batting righty [click here for a complete list of Home Runs From Both Sides of Plate in Same Game].

04-03-1994 First night game as a season opener is played in Cincinnati.
04-08-1994 Chan Ho Park of the Dodgers entered the ninth inning, bowed to the umpire, and became the first Korean born major leaguer.
04-21-1994 Eddie Murray is the first player to hit home runs from each side of plate eleven times in a career.
07-28-1994 Kenny Rogers is the first lefthander in the American League to throw a perfect game.
05-19-1995 Milwaukee Brewers are first to add replacement players to roster. Ron Rightnowar is first to be added and debuts one day later.
09-06-1995 Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks Lou Gehrig's record and is the first player to appear in 2,131 consecutive games. Streak continues to 09-19-1998!
09-30-1995 Albert Belle is first to have fifty home runs and fifty doubles in same year.
10-01-1995 Rockies are first expansion team to reach postseason in only three years.
10-06-1995 Mark Lewis hits the first ever pinch hit grand slam in playoff history.
11-12-1995 Greg Maddux is the first pitcher to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards.
03-31-1996 The first opening day in March occurs.
05-11-1996

Terry Pendleton became the first player ever to homer in three distict no-hitters. He homered this day during Al Leiter's no hitter; September 11, 1991 in a combined no-hitter by the Atlanta Braves, and on April 8, 1994 in Kent Mercker's no-hitter.

07-13-1996 Danny Graves debut is first by a Vietnamese born player / pitcher.
09-16-1996 Paul Molitor joins the 3,000 Hits Club and is the first player to do so with a triple.
09-17-1996 Hideo Nomo throws the first no-hitter in hitter friendly Coors Field.
04-15-1997 Jackie Robinson is first player who's number is retired by MLB.
08-08-1997 Randy Johnson is the first pitcher to strikeout nineteen batters twice in a single season in nine-inning games.
10-14-1997 Marlins are first expansion team to make World Series in just five seasons.
11-05-1997 Davey Johnson is first to resign and win Manager of the Year on same day.
11-10-1997 Roger Clemens is the first American League pitcher to win the Cy Young four times.
03-31-1998 Arizona Diamondbacks play first game in Bank One Ballpark.
03-31-1998 Devil Rays play first game ever at Tropicana Field losing to Tigers 11-6.
05-06-1998 Kerry Wood is first National League pitcher to fan twenty players in one game.
08-20-1998 Mark McGwire is the first player to hit fifty or more home runs in three consecutive seasons.
08-23-1998 Barry Bonds becomes the first player in history with at least four-hundred stolen bases and four-hundred home runs.
09-08-1998 Mark McGwire is first player to hit more than sixty-one home runs in a single season of play.
09-19-1998 Cal Ripken, Jr. ends the streak and is the first to appear in 2,632 consecutive games.
09-27-1998 Mark McGwire is the first to hit seventy home runs in a single season.
11-16-1998 Roger Clemens is the first pitcher to win five Cy Young awards.
04-23-1999 Fernando Tatis is the first player to hit two grand slams in the same inning.
05-20-1999 Robin Ventura is the first player to hit a grand slam in each game of a doubleheader.
05-23-1999 Brady Anderson is first American League player hit-by-a-pitch twice in the same inning.
05-31-1999 Umpire Frank Pulli is first to use TV replay to reverse a call in a game taking away a Marlins home run versus the Cardinals.
05-31-1999 The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Kansas City Royals twice in the first interleague doubleheader ever.
08-07-1999 Wade Boggs joins the 3,000 Hits Club and is the first player to do so with a home run.
08-14-1999 Ivan Pudge Rodriguez becomes the first catcher to have twenty stolen bases and twenty home runs in the same season.
09-18-1999 Sammy Sosa hits home run number sixty and is the first player with back-to-back sixty plus home run seasons.
09-24-1999 Arizona Diamondbacks are the first expansion club to win a division title in less than eight years when they clinch in two.
Date

Event Description


At the end of the 1990 season Dennis Eckersley had become the first closer in history to have more saves (forty-eight) than baserunners (forty-five)

Did you know that the first father and son combination to play on the same team appeared during the 1990 season?

The first player in history won a Cy YoungandRookie Of The Yearaward during the same season during the Modern Era.