April 7, 1970: The first Milwaukee Brewers opening day

Like so many others, I skipped school and attended the Brewers' very first opening day game.

For the record, I don't remember whether or not I got permission from Mr. Wolff, our school principal.   On the other hand, he did not say anything so I guess that it was OK!   Frankly, there were so many kids in the park that it would have been difficult to suspend us!

Opening Day 1970 was very unique.

The Brewers went into spring training as The Seattle Pilots.

During March, we got reports that Seattle would move to Milwaukee. Eventually, the deal was made and the team moved a couple of days before the season started.

Who was on that team?

Tommy Harper, Mike Hegan, Danny Walton, Lew Krausse, Marty Pattin, etc.

What happened on opening day? The Brewers were destroyed by the Angels, 12-0!

The Angels scored quickly and often. The game was over by the 3rd inning!

The Brewers did have Danny Walton, who thrilled fans with majestic home runs. Unfortunately, pitchers caught up with Danny and he was traded the following season.

They had young pitchers like Marty Pattin, who pitched well but it's tough to pitch for a bad team.

It wasn't much of a game but it was a great memory.

It is still my favorite opening day!   Thanks to Mr Selig for bringing baseball back to Milwaukee!

Who knew back then that Bud Selig would end up as commissioner of major league baseball?

This is my chat with Tom Skybosh who also skipped school that day.

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Listen to "April 7, 1970: The first Milwaukee Brewers opening day" on Spreaker.

The Rangers and DFW Sports with Dave Michaels

Dave Michaels, DFW podcaster and sports journalist, joins me for a chat about the Rangers, Stars, Mavs & Cowboys.  The Rangers are 8-2 and looking great.  They are off to play the Cubs and Mariners.  The pitching has been super and Josh Smith continues to impress me.  

CANTO TALK podcasts of the week

Click to listen to our podcasts last week:

Jasmine Dixiecrat

Jasmine Dixiecrat: Once upon a time, interracial marriage was a big issue in the US. I thought that the whole debate was in the past, but I guess not. The vocal Representative Crockett has put the issue on the front page again when talking about Representative Byron...

Click to read:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/04/jasmine_dixiecrat.html

Jasmine Dixiecrat - American Thinker https://t.co/XNJF4yi8sQ

— Silvio Canto. Jr. (@silvio_canto) April 6, 2025

Happy # 74 Bert Blyleven

We say happy birthday to Bert Blyleven who was born on this day in 1951.  We also remember one of the best curve balls in baseball history.  

Blyleven was born in Zeist, Netherlands and raised in Southern California.  
Bert was 19 when he broke into the majors with the Twins in 1970.   Overall, he won 287 games with a 3.31 career ERA & 3,701 strikeouts.     Blyleven was also a workhorse with 4,970 innings pitched and 242 complete games.

Blyleven went into the Hall of Fame in 2011.   A great pitcher!   He remains a fan favorite in the Twin Cities.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

We remember Marty Pattin (1943-2018)

Marty Pattin was born on this day in 1943.    He broke with the Angels in 1968 and ended up with the Seattle Pilots that became the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970.

Pattin was a tough pitcher: 35-38 record over 3 seasons as a starter with the expansion Brewers.    He started 92 and completed 22 during that time.  I recall that he always kept Milwaukee in the game.   As we say today, he pitched a lot of innings and had that "bulldog" personality that you value in a starter.

In 1972, Pattin was traded to the Red Sox and eventually the Royals.  He was an important part of KC' s post season run in the late 1970's:  43-39 with a 3.48 ERA.

Overall, Marty Pattin was 114-109 with a 3.64 ERA & 64 complete games.   Naturally, he would have gotten a lot more headlines had he pitched with some better teams in his career.

Pattin died in 2018.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

RIP Mike Sandlock 1915-2016

Major league players put their names on the record books with homeruns, wins or living a long life.    We learned that Mike Sandlock died today.  He was the oldest living major leaguer and had a huge influence on a young catcher Roy Campanella:

Sandlock played 16 seasons of professional baseball, most of it in the minor leagues. Though he had batted over .300 in a handful of seasons in the minors, Sandlock, a switch-hitter, did not exactly scare big league pitchers from either side of the plate.
He played parts of two seasons with the Boston Braves in 1942 and 1944 — he spent 1943 working in a munitions factory — and had his best year in 1945 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, batting .282 in 80 games and swatting the only two home runs of his career. Both, oddly enough, came off pitcher Harry Feldman of the Giants.
By 1947, with many major league players having returned to baseball after serving in World War II, Sandlock was back in the minor leagues with Montreal, the Brooklyn farm team from which Jackie Robinson made his history-making leap to the major leagues.
Robinson was gone from Montreal by then, but one of Sandlock’s teammates was a young catcher he took under his wing: Roy Campanella, who would go on, as a Dodger, to win three Most Valuable Player Awards and enter the Hall of Fame. Campanella gave Sandlock credit for curing him of a tic in his throwing motion that slowed his release on stolen-base attempts.

RIP Mike Sandlock.  

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"2001 the movie" released this week in 1968

Stanley’s Kubrick’s science-fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey made its debut in the US in 1968.   
To be honest, I did not see the movie until many years later.   It was on TV the other night and it looks a lot better 50-something years later.   

Last, but not least, the musical introduction was fantastic!

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

A chat with George Rodriguez, South Texas conservative

Guest: George Rodriguez, South Texas conservative.   A new book about Biden and 2024 confirms what we suspected about his conditions.   Rep. Jasmine Crocket vs Rep. Byron McDonalds....School choice in Texas....  We will remember Dr. King's assassination 1968.   Plus other stories...

What a month of April 1968

What a month of April 1968: Maybe it’s me, but certain events are frozen in my memory. Back in 1968, I was at home reading my brand new The Sporting News, the weekly sports newspaper that we used to read before ESPN or the internet. My parents had given me a…

Click to read:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/04/what_a_month_of_april_1968.html

What a month of April 1968 - American Thinker https://t.co/rNMHUQbDbv

— Silvio Canto. Jr. (@silvio_canto) April 5, 2025

Maybe it’s me, but certain events are frozen in my memory.

Back in 1968, I was at home reading my brand new The Sporting News, the weekly sports newspaper that we used to read before ESPN or the internet. My parents had given me a subscription for Christmas, and I loved rushing to the mailbox to consume every bit of information. It was "box score" heaven for baseball fans like me. Who knew back then that someday I'd be getting all of that on my phone? I didn't, but that's where we are today.

And then the phone rang. It was my late school buddy Harvey with the news that Dr. Martin Luther King had been shot in Memphis. Then President Johnson spoke to the nation! By a crazy coincidence, he had just announced days before that he would not be running for re-election in 1968.

Then all hell broke loose. Cities were burning from coast to coast. I shared the frustration about Dr. King’s assassination but did not understand what looting businesses had to do with the shooting. My guess is that all of the chaos boosted Governor George Wallace’s campaign, the “law and order” man that election.

In later years, we created a national holiday to remember Dr. King, and his words are heard over and over again.

Nevertheless, I’ve asked myself a simple question: what would Dr. King say of the state of black America today? the collapse of the black family? the black on-black crime? the terrible black Democrat leadership that runs cities like Baltimore and Chicago? The dependence on government programs?

We will never know, but I’ll submit that Dr. King would have mixed emotions. Yes, lots of progress here and there, but too many problems everywhere.

I can’t believe Dr. King would be very happy looking at the state of black America today. I’m sure he’d be reminding the “identity politics” Democrats to judge people by their character, not the color of their skin.

Well, it was one heck of an April day to remember. It may have been the first time that I stayed up all night watching a developing story on television.

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