Opening Day festivities at Shibe Park are washed away…again
PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 1910 – For the second day in a row, old Mother Nature made it impossible for baseball to be played at the corner of Twenty-First and Lehigh – or many other towns for that matter.
While the Athletics are whittling the time away at home, the Highlanders are idle in their downtown hotel – giving room service a workout. The grounds crew at Shibe Park has their work cut out for them with the amount of rain that has fallen on the grounds over the last thirty-six hours – making the field more suitable for a fishing derby than a ballgame.
The weather forecast for Wednesday (April 20) is a bit more promising and if the field isn’t overly water-logged, the show will go on. Gates will open promptly at 1 o’clock for the usual Opening Day pomp and circumstance. Kendle’s First Regiment Band will entertain the arriving rooters followed by both teams marching out to center field for the flag-raising ceremony.
The pitching probabilities are Chief Bender for the Athletics and Joe Doyle will toe the rubber for the New Yorkers. Highlanders manager George Stallings stated that Rube Manning would get the start should Doyle be unable to perform. First pitch is scheduled for 3 o’clock.
Rain mars Tuesday’s major league schedule
For the second day in a row, rain did a number on the major league schedule. Only games in Boston and Chicago went off without a hitch. And, for the second consecutive day, the entire National League schedule was washed away. We all remember the line about April showers, but this is something!
American League
Yesterday’s scores (April 19, 1910):
- Boston 2, Washington 1
- Boston 5, Washington 4
- Cleveland 2, Chicago 1 (12 innings)
- New York at Philadelphia (rain)
- St. Louis at Detroit (rain)
National League
Yesterday’s scores (April 19, 1910):
- Philadelphia at Brooklyn (rain)
- Boston at New York (rain)
- Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (rain)
- Chicago at St. Louis (rain)
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