Baseball Firsts and Records in the 1980s

Squelle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Major League Baseball players gave us plenty to cheer about in the 80s. First-time achievements and long-standing records being broken fueled the fantasies of little league players like myself to be played out in our backyards. Baseball-Almanac.Com has compiled all those great memories in one place and I've listed just a sampling here. I hope baseball fans will enjoy this look back at our childhood idols and remember why they were so highly revered.

• 10-21-1980: Phillies win their first World Championship in their ninety-eight year history.
• 09-26-1981: Nolan Ryan is the first and only pitcher with more than four no-hitters.
• 11-11-1981: Fernando Valenzuela is the first pitcher to win both the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.
• 08-21-1982: Rollie Fingers is the first pitcher to record three-hundred career saves.
• 08-27-1982: Rickey Henderson sets a record and is the first player with more than one-hundred and nineteen steals in a single season.

• 07-06-1983: Fred Lynn hits the first grand slam in an All-Star game.
• 1983: Cal Ripken, Jr. is first to play every inning of every game through the World Series.
• 09-11-1985: Pete Rose sets the record and is first player with 4,192 hits.
• 04-29-1986: Roger Clemens set the mark and is the first pitcher to fan twenty hitters in one game.
• 09-29-1986: Two pitchers who knew each other well, Greg Maddux & Mike Maddux, become the first two brothers to pitch against each other as rookie starting pitchers in Major League history.
• 09-14-1987: Blue Jays set a record by being first team to hit ten home runs in one game.

• 09-21-1987: Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson are first 30 / 30 club teammates.
• 11-18-1987: Andre Dawson is first to win MVP Award on a last place team.
• 1987: Cal Ripken, Sr. is the first father to manage his two sons - Billy & Cal Jr.
• 08-08-1988: Wrigley Field plays its first night game which is rained out in the fourth.
• 09-23-1988: Jose Canseco is the first player to steal 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in the same season.
• 04-06-1989: Orel Hershiser gives up first run in a record fifty-nine scoreless innings.