MLB Opening Day: Top 10 Opening Day moments in history!

It’s MLB Opening Day! We look at the top 10 moments on Opening Day in MLB history

Today is Opening Day throughout MLB, with every team in action. We will celebrate Opening day by looking back over history at the top 10 moments in MLB history on Opening Day!

We will start with one that’s not a fun memory, so I’m not going to rank it for that reason…

It seemed a cruel, twisted joke on an April Fool’s Day in 1996. Pete Schourek had drawn the opening day start for the Reds, and the 27 year-old had mowed through the first two Expos hitters in 5 pitches. The Expos third hitter in that first inning, Rondell White, stepped to the plate. After the second pitch of the plate appearance, umpire John McSherry backed away from the plate quickly, reportedly muttering for time out to the Reds catcher.

In fact, many at the game initially thought McSherry was playing out an April Fool’s joke. McSherry waved toward his fellow umpires as he attempted to head toward the gate that lead to the umpire’s changing room beneath the stadium, then collapsed before he got to the gate, face down.

The crowd sat in stunned silence as team medical officials rushed to McSherry’s side, attempting to revive him. As the officials continued to work on McSherry, the crowd came to the horrid realization that this was not a joke.

Roughly an hour later, McSherry died at University Hospital in Cincinnati, believed to be the first man since Ray Chapman to die from an on-field occurrence.

From this terrible memory, we’ll turn to the countdown, starting with #10…

Next: Hail to the Chief Hurler