This Day in Baseball History 4/5

1913
In an exhibition game against the Yankees, 25,000 fans watch the Dodgers play their first game in Ebbets Field. Brooklyn beats New York, 3-2, with Casey Stengel hitting the park's first home run, an inside-the-parker.

1925
Babe Ruth collapses at a railroad station in Asheville, North Carolina. The "bellyache heard round the world," so dubbed when a writer suggests that illness was caused by a hot dogs and soda binge, will require hospitalization and an operation keeping the Yankees slugger out of the line up until May.

1934
Babe Ruth, sponsored by Quaker Oats, agrees to do weekly NBC broadcasts. His thirteen week radio salary will be $4000 more than his Yankee contract.
1934 Reds president Larry MacPhail hires Red Barber to broadcast the team games on WSAL. The not-so-old "Ol' Redhead" will spend the first four years of his Hall of Fame career in Cincinnati calling games from the stands of Crosley Field.

1957
The Phillies trade five players, Ron Negray, Tim Harkness, Elmer Valo, Mel Geho, and Ben Flowers (the player to be named later) and send $75,000 to the Dodgers to obtain much touted Cuban infielder Chico Fernandez. Philadelphia's new shortstop plays three seasons in the City of Brotherly Love, batting just .242, before being traded to the Tigers.
1966 Don Larsen, the last active major leaguer who played for the Browns, is released by the Orioles. As a rookie in 1953, the Michigan City, Indiana native posted a 7-12 record for the hapless franchise which lost 100 games in its final season in St. Louis.

1971
At RFK Stadium, 45,000 fans watch the last Opening Day game the Senators will play in the District of Columbia. Dick Bosman goes the distance, blanking the A's on six hits in Washington's 8-0 victory over Oakland.

1972
The season opener between the Astros and Reds is canceled due to the player strike which started on April 1. The cancellation marks the first time in major league history Opening Day is delayed, and a total of 86 games will be lost before the labor dispute is settled.