Just like tonight's 50th season home opener, the Angels franchise home opener occurred at home against the Twins on April 27, 1961! It was the first ever meeting of these two teams. The Minnesota Twins were the relocated Washington Senators, one of the original teams of the American League. An expansion Senators also debuting in 1961 later became the Texas Rangers. As that boxscore above shows, Albie Pearson had the first ever hit at home for the club and the first run scored was by Steve Bilko, driven in by the first Angel HR and RBIs at home off the bat of one Earl Averill. The game took place at Wrigley Field, south of Downtown Los Angeles, where Bilko had scored many a run for the Los Angeles Angels of the PCL.
ALSO: Game Thread 2