Baseball

On this day in Missouri history, the third version of Busch Stadium opens in St. Louis.

The two sides of the new Stan Musial Memorial Bridge across the Mississippi were joined in the middle on this day in St. Louis.

After a fan's nose was broken by a Jim Bottomley home run, the fan sued. In court, "Sunny Jim" was forced to admit that he "intentionally hit the ball to create a situation known as a home run." He had to pay $3,500.

It was "Dizzy Dean Week" in St. Louis in celebration of the movie The Pride of St. Louis. Dizzy was in town for the week and said he didn't care if it wasn't exactly accurate. "Jeez," he said, "they're gonna give me 50,000 smackers just fer livin'."

This is the birthday of Kansas City's dominating right-handed starting pitcher, Bret Saberhagen. At 21 he was the World Series MVP when the Royals beat the Cardinals.

The Kansas City Royals played their first game on this day. They beat the Minnesota Twins at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City.

To test the market for professional baseball, a team of professional players played an amateur all-star team in St. Louis, winning 15 to 0.

The cardinals came up with a new idea. Players would begin wearing numbers on their uniforms.

In Kansas City Rube Foster organized the Negro National League. Both St. Louis and Kansas City were among the original franchises.

Satchel Paige was signed to pitch for the St. Louis Browns at age 46. Between innings Paige lounged in a rocking chair near the dugout.