the cleveland blues played their first game of the season against the chicago white stockings on april 24, 1901. this was the first games in the history of the american league; three other games scheduled that day were rained out. the starting lineup consisted of: ollie pickering (rf), jack mccarthy (lf), frank genins (cf), candy lachance (1b), bill bradley (3b), erve beck (2b), bill hallman (ss), bob wood (c), and bill hoffer (p). hoffer allowed seven runs in the first two innings and the blues failed to recover, as they lost the game 8–2, earning the first loss in american league history. in the second game of the season, beck hit the first home run in american league history off pitcher john skopec, but the blues lost again, 7–3.