April 4
1974 - Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's Major League Baseball home run record with his 714th. He would pass the record four days later.
1994 - Chicago Cub Karl Rhodes hits three home runs on opening day. Rhodes wouldn't hit another home run the rest of the season.
1997 - The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim clinch their first playoff spot in franchise history. The Mighty Ducks were eventually eliminated in the second round of the National Hockey League playoffs by Detroit.
April 5
1896 - The first modern Olympic Games officially open in Athens, Greece.
1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain's National Basketball Association record of 31,419 career points.
1993 - The Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins play their first games in the MLB. Colorado lost 3-0 to the New York Mets while Florida beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3.
April 6
1958 - Arnold Palmer wins the 22nd annual Master Golf Championship with a score of 284.
1988 - The New Jersey Devils make their first playoff appearance. The Devils lost the game 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders.
April 7
1928 - After New York Rangers goaltender Lorne Chabot was knocked out of the game with an eye injury the team's 44-year-old coach and general manager Lester Patrick replaced Chabot. Patrick allowed just one goal and helped his team to an overtime win. The Rangers went on to beat the Montreal Maroons in the Stanley Cup final after using a replacement goalie for the remainder of the series.
1970 - The Milwaukee Brewers, formerly the Seattle Pilots, play their first game in the MLB. The Brewers lose 12-0 to the Anaheim Angels.
April 8
1969 - The first MLB game is played in Canada, as the Montreal Expos hosts and beats the New York Mets 10-9.
April 9
1912 - The first baseball game at Fenway Park is played between the Red Sox and Harvard.
1978 - Denver's David Thompson scored 73 points in an NBA game to tie a league record. The same day San Antonio's George Gervin scored 63 points.
1987 - Wayne Gretzky scores seven goals in Stanley Cup playoff game and passes Jean Beliveau as the all-time playoff scoring champion.
1992 - A record 18 golfers shoot 60 during the first round of the Master Golf Championship. The previous record was 12.
April 10
1979 - Houston Astros J R Richard throws an MLB record six wild pitches at home against the Dodgers. Houston still wins the game 2-1 and Richard had 13 strikeouts.
1982 - The Los Angeles Kings trailed the Edmonton Oilers 5-0 heading into the third period only to win 6-5 in overtime.
