April 9
1912 — 1st exhibition baseball game at Fenway Park.
1946 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 6-3 to win the Stanley Cup in five games.
1947 — Leo Durocher, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is suspended for one year by Commissioner A.B. “Happy” Chandler for “conduct detrimental to baseball.” Durocher is linked to gambling interests.
1950 — Jimmy Demaret wins his third Masters, by two strokes over Jim Ferrier.
1959 — 13th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics sweep Minnesota Lakers in 4 games.
1960 — The Boston Celtics beat the St. Louis Hawks 122-103 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals for their third NBA title in the last four years. Frank Ramsey leads the Celtics with 24 points and Bill Russell scores 22 points and grabs 35 rebounds.
1962 — Arnold Palmer wins a three-way playoff, beating Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald in the Masters.
1966 — Anaheim Stadium for California Angels opens.
1972 — 36th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Nicklaus leads wire-to-wire to win the 4th of his 6 Masters titles.
1978 — Gary Player shoots a final-round 64 to win his third Masters, edging Hubert Green, Rod Funseth and defending champion Tom Watson by a shot.
1978 — Denver’s David Thompson, battling San Antonio’s George Gervin for the NBA season scoring title, scores 73 points against the Detroit Pistons. It’s the third-highest output ever in an NBA game. Gervin, not to be outdone, later scores 63 against the New Orleans Jazz. It’s just enough to give Gervin the scoring crown, 27.22 points per game to Thompson’s 27.15, the tightest one-two finish ever.
1981 — LA Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela’s 1st start.
1987 — For 3rd time, Wayne Gretzky, scores 7 points (1 goal, 6 assists) in a Stanley Cup game and passes Jean Béliveau as all time playoff scoring champ.
1989 — Britain’s Nick Faldo makes a 25-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the Masters. Runner-up Scott Hoch missed a 2-foot putt for par on the first hole of the playoff that would have given him the title.
1995 — 59th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Ben Crenshaw wins his 2nd Masters title.
1997 — Major League Soccer announces Miami & Chicago as expansion teams.
2000 — Fiji native Vijay Singh meets every challenge to win the Masters, closing with a 3-under 69 for a three-stroke victory over Ernie Els.2001 — Australia sets a record for the most one-sided international win in FIFA history, beating Tonga 22-0 in an Oceania Group One qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup.
2005 — The United States beats Canada 3-1 in a penalty shootout after a scoreless regulation and 20-minute overtime to win the Women’s World Hockey Championship. The win ends the defending champions’ run of eight straight titles.
2006 — 70th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Phil Mickelson wins his 2nd green jacket.
2013 — 32nd NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: Connecticut beats Louisville, 93-60.
2016 — Manny Pacquiao returns from the biggest loss of his career with a bang, knocking down Timothy Bradley twice on his way to a unanimous 12-round decision in their welterweight showdown in Las Vegas.
2017 — Sergio Garcia overcomes a two-shot deficit with six holes to play and beats Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff at the Masters for his first major after nearly two decades of heartache. No one ever played more majors as a pro — 70 — before winning a major for the first time.
2017 — Russell Westbrook breaks Oscar Robertson’s 56-year-old record with his 42nd triple-double of the season, then he breaks the Denver Nuggets’ hearts with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer for a 106-105 victory. Westbrook has 50 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in breaking Robertson’s record of 41 triple-doubles that stood since the 1961-62 season. With his triple-double in the books, Westbrook scores his team’s final 15 points, including a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounds after a timeout with 2.9 seconds left.
2021 — San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove no-hits the Texas Rangers.
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