On April 18, 1950, the Brooklyn Dodgers opened their season with a 9-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Robin Roberts tossed a complete game for the Phillies while the Dodgers' Don Newcombe was knocked out in the second inning. Jackie Robinson played second base and hit cleanup for the Dodgers. Their manager was 65-year-old Burt Shotton, derisively referred to as "Kindly Old Burt Shotton" by New York Daily News writer Dick Young.
That game was also Vin Scully's first as a radio broadcaster for the Dodgers. He was just 22 years old, a graduate of Fordham with little broadcasting experience besides Fordham football and basketball games and some college football work the previous fall (where he impressed Red Barber, the Dodgers' lead broadcaster).