Tuffy Rhodes Three Home Runs On Opening Day

On April 4, 1994 Tuffy Rhodes of the Chicago Cubs became the first National Leaguer to hit three home runs on Opening Day.  He accomplished the task against New York Mets ace Dwight Gooden. Rhodes only hit 10 other home runs in his 590 career at-bats. Finishing his major league career with 13 home runs and 44 RBI.

Rhodes would enjoy a stellar career in Japanese baseball where he hit 464 home runs including tying Sadaharu Oh’s season record of 55 home runs (since broken by Wladimir Balentein in 2013 with 60). He also drove in 1269 runs.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Sadaharu Oh Hits First Home Run

April 26, 1959, Sadaharu Oh, the most prolific home run hitter in the history of professional baseball connects on his first home run of his career. He will another 867 home runs before his playing days are done. Below is a home run from an exhibition when he was 55 years old. He played his entire career with the YomiYomiuriuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball from 1959 to 1980.