Historically Speaking: 4-20 (bro) - 09

Today's edition might very well be the most boring to date. Go ahead and skip it, and read something good from the archives instead. You'll thank me later.

* Fenway Park opened as the home of the Red Sox today in 1912. The Sox got the W as they settled things with the New York Islanders in the 11th inning.

* The year was 1916 when Wrigley Field -- though technically it was known as Weeghman Park until 10 years later -- held its first Cubs game. The home club was victorious, though it also took them 11 innings to defeat the Cincinnati Reds.

* Today in 1967, good ol' Tom Seaver got his first victory as the New York Metropolitans handled the Chicago Cubs, 6-1. The right-hander would call it a career 20 seasons later, having logged 311 wins with a 2.86 E.R.A., and 3,640 strikeouts, which is pretty decent, I guess.

* Thirty years later, Hawaii would see Major League Baseball action for the first time when the Cardinals and Padres squared off in a double-header. St. Louis took the tilt.

* And it was six years ago today when the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning would advance in the playoffs for the first time. Their victims were the Washington Capitals, and the win would be a stepping stone to a Stanley Cup Championship the following season.

And your quote of the day has very little to do with sports, but came from the mouth of...



...the one and only Frank Zappa, who once said, "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline -- it helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."