April 26, 1912: In the fifth game played at Fenway Park, Red Sox first baseman Hugh Bradley becomes the first player to hit a home run over the Green Monster in leftfield; the leftfield wall wasn't quite as monstrous at 25 feet as it is today at 37 feet, but in this deadball era when Fenway opened many had predicted that no one would ever hit a ball over the [...]

April 25, 1961: Right-handed pitcher Gene Conley starts his first game for the Red Sox and gets the win in a 6-1 victory over the Washington Senators at Fenway Park; the 6'8" Conley was a key backup for the Boston Celtics and two weeks earlier he had celebrated as the Celtics won their third-straight NBA title, so it didn't take him long to get in shape!. [...]

April 24, 1901: The first game in American League history is played in Chicago between the White Sox and the Cleveland Blues; the game is umpired by one umpire, Tom Connolly of Natick, MA, who will go on to become the first umpire-in-chief of the American League and to become one of ten umpires elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. [...]

April 23, 1939: Ted Williams goes 4-5 and hits his first major league home run as the Red Sox fall 12-8 to the Philadelphia Athletics; Teddy Ballgame will go on to hit 520 more home runs, concluding his 19 seasons with the Red Sox with 521 home runs, a lifetime batting average of .344, and an all-time MLB-best on-base percentage of .482. [...]

April 22, 1876: The Boston Red Caps play the Philadelphia Athletics in the first National League game in history; the Red Caps won 6-5 behind pitcher Joe Borden in a game played in Philadelphia, PA--the National League is currently in its 139th season of continuous operation, while the "Junior Circuit" American League is in its 114th season. [...]