Events in Sports History in April 1988

Cricket Debut

Apr 2 West Indies cricket fast bowling great Curtly Ambrose makes his debut in 9 wicket 1st Test defeat to Pakistan in Georgetown, Guyana; low key debut with 2-108

Apr 3 7th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Louisiana Tech beats Auburn, 56-54; Lady Techsters Erica Westbrooks MOP

Sports History

Apr 3 Mario Lemieux wins NHL scoring title, stopping Gretzky's 7 year streak

Golf Major

Apr 3 Nabisco Dinah Shore Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Amy Alcott wins the 2nd of her 3 DS events, 2 strokes ahead of runner-up Colleen Walker

Apr 3 NJ Devils beat Blackhawks, 4-3 in OT to join playoffs for 1st time
Apr 4 50th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kansas beats Oklahoma, 83-79; Jayhawks power forward Danny Manning named tournament Most Outstanding Player
Apr 4 Eddie Hill becomes the world's first driver to cover the quarter mile in under 5 seconds
Apr 4 Largest crowd (55,438) at an MLB Opening Day game at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium; Reds win over St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 in 12 innings
Apr 4 MLB New York Mets set Opening Day record with 6 HRs, in a 10-6 win over Expos at Montreal
Apr 6 NJ Devils' 1st playoff game; lose to NY Islanders 4-3 (OT) in 1st round
Apr 9 142nd Grand National: Irish jockey Brendan Powell wins aboard 10/1 shot Rhyme 'n' Reason by 4 lengths from Durham Edition
Apr 9 NHL New Jersey Devils win 3-0 over New York Islanders; Devils lead 2-1 in playoff 1st round
Apr 10 52nd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Scotsman Sandy Lyle claims his second major title with a birdie on the 72nd hole to win by 1 stroke over Mark Calcavecchia
Apr 10 Islanders beat Devils 5-4 (OT) 1st round tied at 2-2
Apr 12 Devils 4-2 over Islanders-Devils lead 3-2 in 1st round

Sports History

Apr 12 Frank Robinson replaces Cal Ripkin as manager of Baltimore Orioles

Baseball Outfielder and Manager Frank Robinson

Apr 14 NHL playoffs: New Jersey Devils win 6-5 over NY Islanders to take 1st round 4-2
Apr 17 Ethiopian Belayneh Densimo runs world record marathon (2:06:50)

Boston Marathon

Apr 18 92nd Boston Marathon: Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya wins men's race in 2:08:43; Rosa Mota of Portugal repeats as women's champion in 2:24:30

Apr 20 Baltimore Orioles set worst record to start a season 0-14 (will go 0-21)
Apr 20 NJ Devils 1st playoff hat trick-Eric Broten
Apr 20 Yanks HR 9,999 (D Winfield) 10,000 (C Washington) 10,001 (J Clarke)
Apr 21 1st four-day games in County Cricket Championship commence
Apr 22 NJ Devil Patrik Sundstrom sets NHL playoff record of 8 pts in a playoff game (hat trick & 5 assists) in 10-4 rout over the Capitals
Apr 22 Women are allowed to compete in Little 500 bicycle race (Indiana)
Apr 24 NFL Draft: Auburn tight end Aundray Bruce first pick by Atlanta Falcons
Apr 26 NBA approves addition of 3rd referee in 1988-89 season

Sports History

Apr 26 NY Met Davey Johnson becomes 2nd manager to record 400 victory in 1st 4 years (Al López was 1st)

Apr 28 Baltimore Orioles lose AL record 21 games in a row
Apr 28 NJ Devils set all time playoff mark for penalty minutes
Apr 29 Baltimore Orioles end their record 21-game losing streak by beating the White Sox 9-0
Apr 29 Orioles beat White Sox 9-0 for 1st 1988 win after 21 loses
Apr 30 NJ Devils beat Caps 3-2 taking 7th game of Patrick Division final