Ken Griffey Jr.’s 8th (!) Opening Day Homer & Derek Jeter’s 1st MLB Dinger – HR History For Week of 3/31
Come for the homers, stay for a quick recap of the Yankees' incredibly powerful weekend.
MLB’s regular season is officially back! And now that games are starting to count again, that means my weekly home run videos are shifting from being random to looking at what happened on that specific day in home run history.
And since you’re on this email list, you get a sneak peek of what I’m sharing for the upcoming week before everyone else does. Enjoy!
Monday, 3/31
3/31/1996: Frank Thomas began his season by hitting this Opening Day homer against Randy Johnson. He finished the year with 40 dingers and 134 RBI for the White Sox.
3/31/1998: Wade Boggs etched his name in Tampa Bay’s record books by slugging the organization’s first home run.
3/31/2008: Kosuke Fukudome tied things up for the Cubs with a three-run homer in the ninth. Was the bat flip or the call in the booth better? Let’s call it a tie.
Tuesday, 4/1
4/1/2021: Miguel Cabrera hit the first homer of the 2021 regular season and did it while snow was falling from the sky at Comerica.
4/1/1997: Chris Gomez, Rickey Henderson, and Quilvio Veras went back-to-back-to-back in a Padres Opening Day victory vs. the Mets.
4/1/2013: A 20-year-old Bryce Harper enjoyed a two-homer Opening Day performance for the Nationals.
Wednesday, 4/2
4/2/1996: Derek Jeter hit the first home run of his Hall of Fame career with the Yankees.
4/2/1998: Jeromy Burnitz helped the Brewers notch their first victory as a National League club by slugging this grand slam.
4/2/2011: Adrián Beltré made his first home run as a member of the Rangers count by slugging this grand slam against his former squad.
Thursday, 4/3
4/3/2000: Andres Galarraga emphatically returned for the Braves after missing the 1999 season because of cancer treatments by blasting this home run.
4/3/2002: After hitting two homers on Opening Day, Barry Bonds came back and hit two more homers for the Giants.
4/3/2024: Taylor Ward went to the deep part of loanDepot park for his third homer of the year. He finished the year with 25 homers, which led the Angels.
Friday, 4/4
4/4/2005: Dmitri Young had a memorable Opening Day in Detroit thanks to this three-homer performance.
4/4/1974: Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list after slugging his 714th career home run.
4/4/1988: George Bell became the first player in MLB history to slug three homers on Opening Day.
Saturday, 4/5
4/5/2010: Jason Heyward, a 20-year-old rookie for the Braves, took Carlos Zambrano deep for a three-run homer in his first MLB at-bat.
4/5/2013: Chris Davis homered in his fourth straight game to begin the season. This one was a go-ahead grand slam for the Orioles. He finished with a league-leading (and franchise record) 53 dingers.
4/5/2014: Ike Davis became just the second player in Mets history to slug a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam.
Sunday, 4/6
4/6/2009: In his first game back with the Mariners since getting traded a decade earlier, Ken Griffey Jr. tied a record with his eighth Opening Day home run.
4/6/2009: Hanley Ramirez’s first career grand slam was absolutely crushed.
4/6/2005: Brad Wilkerson did a little bit of everything for the Nationals by hitting for the cycle.
The Yankees Went to *Work* vs. the Brewers This Weekend
The New York Yankees opened up their 2025 season against the Milwaukee Brewers with a three-game series at home. Milwaukee probably doesn’t want to go near the Bronx anytime soon after what just happened.
New York won all three games and tied an MLB record with 15 homers through their first three games of the regular season.
It was highlighted by a 20-9 shellacking on Saturday afternoon. The Bombers got off to a quick start against old friend Nestor Cortes. Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge hit homers on three consecutive pitches in the bottom of the first inning, which had never happened before.
Austin Wells added another dinger to make it four in the first inning. New York eventually broke a franchise record by hitting nine total homers in the victory. It was highlighted by Judge hitting three for the third time in his career. He finished the game with four hits and eight RBI — he was also just a few feet away from hitting his fourth homer but settled for an opposite-field double.
This power binge nearly tied the MLB record, as well. The Yankees are now just one of three teams to hit at least nine homers in one game. They join the Cincinnati Reds (nine homers on 9/4/1999) and the Toronto Blue Jays (10 homers on 9/14/1987).
Single-Season HR Performances | Career HR Performances | Postseason HR Leaders | HR Derby Performances
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