This Date In Baseball

1923 - Expelled "Black Sox" players Happy Felsch and Swede Risberg sued their former club for back salary and $400,000 in damages. They were among eight members of the Chicago White Sox team charged with fixing the 1919 World Series.

1966 - The New York Mets won the right to sign Southern California pitcher Tom Seaver when commissioner William Eckert pulled their name out of a hat. Eckert had voided Seaver's contract with Atlanta, when the Braves signed him during his college season. Cleveland and Philadelphia were the other two teams that had a chance, matching the Braves' original $40,000 offer.

1985 - The Players' Association agreed with the owners to expand the 1985 League Championship Series from best-of-5 to best-of-7.

1994 - The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-4 in major league baseball's first Sunday night opener, which sent baseball into a new era with three divisions and a new playoff format.

2000 - Savannah State's baseball team set an NCAA record for consecutive victories. The Tigers beat Claflin 8-0 and 21-1, extending its streak to 42 and eclipsing the record of 40 claimed by Marietta College of Ohio, a Division II school, last year.

2001 - Houston's Craig Biggio had five hits to tie a major league record for a season opener as the Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.

2006 - Seattle's Kenji Johjima became the first Japanese catcher to start a major league game and also homered for his first hit in the Mariners' 5-3 loss to Los Angeles.

2008 - Kansas City the Tigers 4-1 at Detroit to complete a season-opening three-game sweep. It was the first time the Royals started the year with a sweep on the road since 1977.

2011 - Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz became the first set of teammates to homer in each of the first three games in a season, and Matt Harrison pitched the Texas Rangers to a 5-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

2015 - Miami Marlins pitcher Jarred Cosart was fined an undisclosed amount for violating Major League Rule 21(d)(3), which "prohibits players from placing bets with illegal bookmakers or agents for illegal book makers."

2015 - Corey Hassel hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 18th inning to lead Oklahoma State to a 6-3 victory over Texas in a game that ended after 6 hours, 51 minutes.

2018 - Didi Gregorius hit a pair of three-run homers and drove in a career-high eight RBIs, and the New York Yankees overcame five strikeouts by Giancarlo Stanton in his first game in pinstripes to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-4. Gregorius had four hits and walked, setting a major league record for RBIs by a player in a home opener.

2018 - For the first time in major league history a game both began and ended with consecutive home runs. Dexter Fowler and Tommy Pham of St. Louis connected off Chase Anderson in the span of three pitches in the first inning. In the ninth, Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun homered off Dominic Leone on consecutive pitches with two outs in the ninth to give the Brewers a 5-4 win.

Today's birthdays: Jacob Nottingham 24; Victor Alcantra 26; Blake Swihart 27; Tom Murphy 28; Jay Bruce 32; Jason Kipnis 32.