Apr 17, 2023 2 min read

ON THIS DATE

April 18

1950 – The first opening day night game is held in St. Louis. The Cardinals, behind a complete game by Gerry Staley and home runs from Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2.

1952 – Donora’s Irving Peatross runs the 100-yard dash in 9.9 seconds to equal the WPIAL record in the Dragons’ dual meet against Charleroi.

1968 – Connie Hawkins scores 39 points as the Pittsburgh Pipers win the opening game of the ABA’s best-of-7 championship series, 120-112, over the New Orleans Buccaneers at the Civic Arena.

1977 – Jack Cox is promoted to head football coach at Peters Township High School.

1979 – Philadelphia’s Greg Luzinski becomes the first visiting player to hit an upper-deck home run at Three Rivers Stadium. Luzinski hits a 483-foot homer to the left-field seats off the Pirates’ Don Robinson.

1982 – Super Bowl XVI MVP Joe Montana of the San Francisco 49ers returns to Washington County and receives the Observer-Reporter Sports Headliner Award at the 28th Annual Knights of Columbus Coach of the Year Banquet at the Washington Elks Lodge.

1987 – Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt hits his 500th home run with two outs in the ninth to rally the Phillies to an 8-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.

1989 – Duquesne University hires John Carroll as its basketball coach. Carroll spent the previous seven seasons as the top assistant at Seton Hall.

1999 – Wayne Gretzky ends his NHL career at Madison Square Garden with an assist, setting up a second-period goal as his New York Rangers fall to Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime. Before the game, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announces the league is retiring No. 99 in honor of “The Great One.”

2008 – Darcie Vincent, who coached California University’s women’s basketball team to 212 wins and one NCAA Division II national championship in eight seasons, resigns to take the head coaching job at Appalachian State.

2012 – California High School baseball coach Don Hartman gets his 200th career win, a 16-3 victory over West Greene. Jake Columbus leads the Trojans at the plate with a home run and four RBI.

2018 – Chartiers-Houston scores eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and then holds off defending Class A state champion West Greene for a 13-11 victory in a non-section softball game. Ella Brookman hits a three-run homer for C-H in its big inning.

2018 – Pittsburgh legend and profesisonal wrestling great Bruno Sammartino dies at age 82.