April 8th, 2022 at 9:00 am 
by Jayann Kellogg April 8, 2022, marks the first official day of the 2022 regular season for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers will be playing the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. Dodgers 27-year-old Lexington, Kentucky native, and two-time All-Star right-hander Walker Buehler will be making his first-ever Opening Day start.
During the 2021 season, the Colorado Rockies went 74-87 overall and 48-33 at home. The Dodgers had a 106-56 record overall and a 48-33 record on the road during the 2021 season.
But April 8 marks another momentous day in Dodgers history, a day that made history 48 years ago. A day that many Dodgers fans would like to forget, but baseball fans in general – especially Atlanta Braves fans – will never forget. It is the day that Dodgers left-hander Al Downing faced three-time Gold Glover and Hall of Famer Henry Aaron during the fourth game of the 1974 season at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Aaron had one goal that day: to go yard and break seven-time World Series champion Babe Ruth’s all-time MLB record of 714 career home runs.
“You don’t go up there thinking, ‘Oh, he might hit No. 715.’ You’re just telling yourself: ‘Here comes Hank. This is the way I’ll pitch to Hank.‘ Your main objective was to win the ballgame, not worry about 715.” Downing would later tell reporters.
During the fourth inning and Downing on the mound, he started in the right direction by throwing the beloved Aaron a ball. That direction turned very quickly. On his second pitch to the 25-time All-Star (that’s not a typo), Downing’s hanging slider landed 385 feet over the left-field wall for career home run number 715 to break Babe Ruth’s long-standing all-time home run record. History had been made, with Downing falling short of his ‘main objective,’ suffering the eventual 7-4 Dodgers loss. He did, however, achieve baseball immortality as the answer to a baseball trivia question – ‘Who gave up the (then) MLB record home run to Hank Aaron on April 8, 1974?‘
Aaron’s record would later be broken by confirmed PED user Barry Bonds, who finished his 22-year MLB career with 762 home runs.
Now that the 2022 season has officially started, baseball fans have a lot to look forward to – records to be broken, moments to be made, and our teams to cheer on. Something tells me that the new season will be another one for the record books.
Let’s Play Ball!
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Barry Bonds did NOT break Hank Aaron’s all time homerun record any more than the 2017 Astro’s “won” the 2017 World Series.
They BOTH cheated and neither record should be accorded to them. It is a travesty that MLB’s Commissioner doesn’t vacate BOTH of these situations from the MLB record book.
It GALLS MY ASS every time I read that that “Astros’ won the 2027 World Series”. They ADMITTED they cheated so how is that a legitimate series win? It simply isn’t and Manfred is a pathetic joke for not vacating the championship, withholding the financial shares, and disallowing the issuance of rings.
Don’t shoot the messenger(s).
Totally agree. Everyone knows that Aaron and Maris are the true HR record holders. Manfred’s handling of the Astros cheating was criminally stupid. Should have vacated the title and suspended some players as well as withholding any WS money.