4/9/2000 - Another Opening Day
With a victory over the Kansas City Royals, the first Opening Day of the new millenium enters the history books, to take its place beside the frigid cold day of April 7th, 1977, when the Blue Jays had their very first Opening Day against the Chicago White Sox (who had finished dead last in the rankings the year before).
Believe it or not, the matchup against the White Sox was not really the first game in Blue Jay history. That honour goes to a 3-1 spring training win against the New York Mets on March 11th, 1977 in Dunedin, Florida. Ironically, Bill Singer got the start that day, as well.
However, the first game of the regular season would go down in Major League history as the only major league game to be played with the entire field covered in snow. With heavy snow flurries blanketing Toronto, there was some concern as to whether the game would take place at all.
After the 48th Highlanders performed the Star Spangled Banner, Ann Murray, dressed in her red parka, did a rather hurried version of "O Canada", so as to not to make the crowd of 44, 649 endure any more of the –2 degree weather than necessary.
There had been plans for more ceremonies involving Ontario Premier Bill Davis, Metro Chairman Paul Godfrey and baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, but they were scrapped due to the lousy weather. Perhaps it was for the best. Davis’s government was responsible for the ruling that prohibited the sale of beer at Exhibition Stadium, making it the only dry stadium in major league baseball, and prompting chants of "We Want Beer!" from the crown. Kuhn, meanwhile, had been opposed to the granting of an American League franchise to Toronto.
Instead, it was time for the game itself. Manager Roy
Hartsfield had put together the best team he could
from the collection of cast-offs that had been
available during the Expansion draft:
Getting the nod to start on Opening Day was Bill Singer, who the Jays had selected in the third round from Minnesota, where he had gone 9-9 in 1976. However, Singer was a two-time 20 game winner, having achieved that with the Dodgers in 1969 and the Angels in 1973.
The umpiring crew was headed by the late Nestor Chylak and included Richie Garcia (who was seeing his first snow), Joe Brinkman and 27-year-old Steve Palermo, who was umpiring his first major league game that day in Toronto.
CBC would broadcast the game, but it would be the first of only sixteen games to appear on the network. Don Chevrier and legendary Whitey Ford would handle the play-by-play and colour, respectively.
With a scheduled start time of 1:35 p.m, it was actually 1:50 before Singer threw that first pitch to Chicago’s left-fielder Ralph Garr. While every Toronto fan remembers that the first pitch was a strike, what has been lost to history is that Garr battled back from an 0-2 count off to draw a walk. Garr would steal second, reach third on an errant throw from Cerone, and then score on a sacrifice fly from second baseman Jorge Orta. Right fielder Rich Zisk then homered off Singer to make the score 2-0 for Chicago. After Singer gave up a single and a walk to the next two batter, Hartsfield got Jerry Johnson up in the bullpen and paid Singer a visit on the mound. Afterwards, Singer got third baseman Eric Soderham to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Just as the first pitch of the top of the first had been a strike, so too was the first pitch of the bottom of the first, as John Scott, representing the first at-bat in Blue Jay history, struck out against Ken Brett, the Chicago starter. Doug Ault, in his first at bat would send a 1-1 pitch over the fence in left field, as the first Blue Jay hit in history would also be their first home run.
By the bottom of the second, the score would be 4-1, when Gary Woods bunted for a single, then stole second and eventually scored on a single by Garcia. The Jays had scratched out another run.
In the 3rd, Hector Torres singled and then scored as Ault took a 1-1 fastball and deposited over the wall in right field. Ault was 2 for 2 with two home runs, making him the first hero in Blue Jay history, as his blast tied the game at four apiece.
In the fourth, McKay became a hero in his own right, singling to right field to score Garcia, who had doubled to centre, for Toronto’s first lead.
With one out in the fifth, Hartsfield felt that Singer had had enough, and yanked him. As Singer walked back to the dugout, he tipped his hat to the crowd. Singer would appear in only twelve more games, before having back surgery in July. He would be placed on the disabled list on Opening Day, 1978 and by the next year would be back in California, selling real estate.
Jerry Johnson came on in relief and got the final two outs of the 5th. In Toronto’s half of the same inning, Alvis Woods (another selection from Minnesota in the draft and a Blue Jay until 1982) homered to score Velez to make it 7-4 Toronto until in the bottom half of the 6th, when the White Sox added one more to their total.
Peter Vuckovich came on in relief in the 8th. Selected from Chicago, Vuckovich would have the best ERA of the staff in 1977 at 3.47. His half of the eighth inning involved two strike outs, a walk, a single and the finally a ground ball to end the inning.
In the 8th, Ault would help out again, singling in a run to make it 8-5, and another run would score to make it 9-5. As the eighth inning ended, the cold and the lack of suspense for the final inning caused many in the crowd to head home.
In the 9th, Vuckovitch retired Orta on a grounder, struck out Zisk (who had gone 4 for 5 to be the White Sox star of the game). Chicago’s first baseman Jim Spencer hit a line drive to left that looked to be the final out. Instead, Scott dropped the ball and allowed Spencer to get to second. He would get no further, however, as DH Oscar Gamble grounded to short to end the game at just after 5:10 in the aftenoon.
The Blue Jays had won the day, dispatching the White Sox 9-5 in the first regular season game in their history. Chicago had left 19 base-runners on, just one short of the major league record.
Johnson would be credited with the win, his first of only two games he would win as a Blue Jay. Released during spring training the following year, he would later continue his career as a Hollywood stuntman.
Vuckovich picked up the save. He was traded to St. Louis later that year for Tom Underwood. He would make his way to Milwaukee where, as a starter, he would win the 1982 Cy Young Award.
The Blue Jays meanwhile would win only 53 more times that first season, finishing 54-107, in 7th place and 45˝ games behind the first place New York Yankees.
John M. Milner firmly believes that Joe Carter's home run in the 1993 World Series was one of the turning points of his life. Discuss this, his columns, baseball or life in general with him at docmilner@yahoo.ca.
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