BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

2000 The Mets' former closer, John Franco, signs a three-year pact as a set-up man to stay with his hometown team, giving up the opportunity to close for the Phillies. The 40-year-old Staten Island resident, who needs 59 saves to break Lee Smith's career record of 478, lost his closing job to Armando Benitez during the 1998 season.

2002 The Phillies, filling the void created when Scott Rolen was traded to the Cardinals last July, sign third baseman David Bell to a four-year, $17 million free-agent deal. The 30-year-old infielder, whose father (Buddy) and grandfather (Gus) were also major leaguers, played for the National League champion Giants last season after being traded by the Mariners during the spring.

2004 After guiding the Dodgers to their first title since 1995, the club signs Jim Tracy (356-292) to a two-year extension to manage the team. The 48-year-old skipper, who led Los Angeles to a 93-69 record last season, has had four consecutive winning seasons in the City of Angels.

2005 The Marlins cut their payroll when the team sends last season's premiere free agent Carlos Delgado (.301, 33, 115) and $7 million to the Mets for Mike Jacobs (10 homers in 100 at-bats), minor league infielder Grant Psomas and Yusmeiro Petit, a highly touted pitching prospect. In January, the free-agent first baseman left Toronto after 12 years of service to sign a four-year deal worth a reported $52 million to play for Florida.

2005 The Marlins begin carving away at their payroll on Thanksgiving night by completing the trade with the Red Sox, which sends 2003 World Series MVP hurler Josh Beckett, Gold Glove third baseman Mike Lowell, and set-up man Guillermo Mota to Boston. This deal, where the Fish receives four minor leaguers, including top shortstop prospect Hanley Ramirez, and trading Carlos Delgado to the Mets, will save the club $27 million next season.

2006 Carlos Lee, who turned down a four-year, $48 million offer from the Brewers, signs the richest contract in franchise history, agreeing to a six-year deal with the Astros worth $100 million. El Caballo, who split last season playing left field and DHing for the Brewers and Rangers, becomes the second player this off-season and the 12th overall in baseball history to sign a contract that reaches one-tenth of a billion dollars.

2007 New Mexico governor Bill Richardson admits the part of his bio that he had been picked by the Kansas City A's in the 1966 amateur baseball draft is untrue. An Albuquerque Journal investigation debunked the claim of the potential presidential candidate, who pitched for Tufts University, finding no evidence of the Guv ever being selected by any major league team.

2008 As a result of being the top finishers among approximately 30,000 contestants in an Indian reality TV show called the "Million Dollar Arm," Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel sign free-agent deals to pitch for the Pirates, becoming the first players from India to sign a contract with a major league organization. The pair of 20-year-old cricket players, who had never thrown a baseball until earlier this year, will have a Disney movie made about their experience.

2009 Albert Pujols (.327, 47, 135), the writers' unanimous choice, wins his third National League MVP award, copping the honor for the second consecutive year. The Cardinals' first baseman joins Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Mike Schmidt, and Barry Bonds, who won the award seven times, becoming the Senior Circuit's fifth player selected three times as the recipient of the prestigious prize.

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2010 The commissioner's office announces Vladimir Guerrero has won the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. The Rangers' DH, who hit .306, with 25 homers, along with 106 RBI for the American League Champions, beat out Boston's David Ortiz and Minnesota's Jim Thome for the honor.

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2010 After designating him for assignment last week, the Pirates trade left-hander Zach Duke to the Diamondbacks for a player to be named later, right-hander Cesar Valdez. Beginning with an 8-2 mark, the 27-year-old southpaw has compiled a 37-68 record since his impressive debut with the Bucs in 2005.

2015 Hall of Famers Yogi Berra and Willie Mays become the 10th and 11th major leaguers to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Obama honored the baseball icons in a White House ceremony, praising the recently deceased Yankee catcher and the Giants superstar outfielder for inspiring generations of Americans.

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"Reggie! The candy they named after me!" ~ Reggie Jackson (Classic "Reggie!" Candy Bar Commercial)

 

NOVEMBER 25 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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(1914 Joe DiMaggio Hall of Fame center fielder (13 × MLB All-Star; 9 x World Series; 3 x AL MVP; MLB record 56-game hitting streak; NY Yankees)


1951 Bucky Dent shortstop (World Series 1977, MVP 1978 NY Yankees; MLB All-Star 1975, 80, 81) and manager (NY Yankees 1989–90)


1966 Mark Whiten MLB baseball outfielder (4 home runs in one game 1993; St. Louis Cardinals)

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This Day in Baseball History
November 25th​

1930 The Sporting News selects Giants' first baseman Bill Terry (.401, 14, 117) as the NL's Most Valuable Player, and Senator shortstop Joe Cronin (.346, 13, 126) receives the American League honor. The Associated Press also names Joe Cronin as its unofficial AL MVP, with the BBWAA choosing Hack Wilson, who gets a $1000 bonus from the Cubs for receiving the award, as its Senior Circuit honor.

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1941 The Indians name Lou Boudreau, with only three years of major league experience, the team's new manager, replacing Roger Peckinpaugh, who moves up to the front office. The 24-year-old shortstop is the youngest skipper of this century but is a year older than Jim McCormick, a right-handed pitcher who managed the Cleveland Blues in 1879 at the age of 23.

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1944 At Chicago's St. Luke's Hospital, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball's only commissioner, dies surrounded by family five days after his 78th birthday. After the former federal judge served in the national pastime's top post for 24 years, the owners renewed his contract on November 17 for another seven-year term. Two weeks after his death, a special committee will vote Landis into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, making him, along with Lou Gehrig, the second person to have the five-year waiting period waived. - LP)

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1949 The BBWAA selects Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams (.343, 43, 159), the American League MVP. The 'Splendid Splinter,' who barely lost the Triple Crown when his batting average was .0002 below that of Tiger third baseman George Kell, wins the award with an overwhelming margin, easily outpointing runners-up Phil Rizzuto and Joe Black of the Yankees.

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1958 The BBWAA selects Ernie Banks as the National League's Most Valuable Player, the first of two consecutive MVP awards the Cub shortstop will win. The 27-year-old former Negro League standout, who batted .314 and hit 47 home runs, easily outdistanced Giant outfielder Willie Mays for the honor.

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1970 Thurman Munson (.302, 6, 53) is named American League Rookie of the Year. The 23-year-old Yankee backstop, who threw out 52% of would-be base stealers, received twenty-three of the twenty-four first-place ballot votes cast, with Indian outfielder Roy Foster named on the other.

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1980 Gene Michael becomes the 25th Yankees' manager, replacing Dick Howser, who led New York to a first-place finish in the American League East after compiling a 103-59 record. The tall, thin skipper called 'Stick' will be fired in September but rehired by the Bronx Bombers' Boss, George Steinbrenner, at the end of April of the following season, only to be dismissed again in August.

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1981 Brewer hurler Rollie Fingers becomes the first relief pitcher to win the American League MVP Award. The 34-year-old right-hander, also this season's Cy Young Award recipient, narrowly beats former A's teammate Rickey Henderson by 11 points.

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1986 Jose Canseco (.240, 33, 117) wins the American League's Rookie of the Year Award, narrowly outpointing Angels' first baseman Wally Joyner, 110-98. The 22-year-old Cuban-American is the first Oakland A's player selected for the freshman honor, becoming the first to accomplish the feat for the franchise since right-hander Harry Byrd (15-15, 3.31) copped the award in 1952 when the team played in Philadelphia.

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1998 The Angels make Mo Vaughn the highest-paid player in baseball when they sign the former Red Sox slugger to a six-year, $80-million free-agent contract that includes an option for a seventh year. The deal, with an average annual value of $13.33 million, surpasses the yearly salaries of Mets catcher Mike Piazza and Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams.

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2002 The Red Sox hire the youngest general manager in major league history. Twenty-eight-year-old Theo Epstein, a lifetime Red Sox fan who grew up about a mile from Fenway Park, becomes the team's eleventh GM sincethe club established the position in 1933

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2003 The Cubs trade first baseman Hee Seop Choi (.210, 10, 32) and a minor league player to be named later (Mike Nannini) to the World Champion Marlins in exchange for Gold Glove first baseman Derrek Lee (.271, 31, 92).

2004 After spending $67 million to acquire its former president's shares of the Mariners, the Nintendo U.S. subsidiary now owns more than 50 percent of the Northwest franchise. Due to Japanese superstar Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle is a favorite U.S. major league team in the Land of the Rising Sun.

2005 The Phillies trade Jim Thome (.207, 7, 30) to the World Champion White Sox for center fielder Aaron Rowand (.270, 13, 69) and a pair of southpaw pitching prospects, Daniel Haigwood and Gio Gonzalez. The 35-year-old injury-ridden first baseman completed three seasons of his six-year $85 million deal with Philadelphia, helping the franchise establish creditability when the team moved to a new ballpark in 2004.

2008 Chase Utley, expecting four to six months to recover, undergoes arthroscopic hip surgery at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery. Despite battling the injury for much of the year, the All-Star Phillies' second baseman played a pivotal role in the team's World Championship this season.

2008 The Marlins will endure a one-year delay in building their 37,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium, now set to open in 2012. Club president David Samson cites recent litigation slowed down the start of construction, and now it would not be cost-effective to keep to the original timeline.
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'77 All Stars
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Gehrig got 173 RBI's in 1927, he batted 60 times after Ruth had cleared the bases.
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In 1927 Ty Cobb hit .357 with 104 Runs and 93 RBI He was 40
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NOVEMBER 26 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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1866 Hugh Duffy HOF outfielder (Triple Crown & MLB record .440 batting average, single season 1894 Boston Beaneaters)


1905 Bob Johnson outfielder (8 x MLB All Star; Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox)

1908 Lefty Gomez HOF pitcher (7 × MLB All-Star; 5 × World Series; Triple Crown 1934, 37; NY Yankees),


1916 Bob Elliott (Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Braves)


1941 Jeff Torborg (Los Angeles Dodgers)


1947 Larry Gura

1947 Richie Hebner

1950 Jorge Orta second baseman and outfielder (MLB All Star 1975, 80; Chicago White Sox

1955 Bob Walk

1955 Jay Howell pitcher (NY Yankees, Oakland A's)

1959 Mike Moore

1960 Harold Reynolds infielder who was MLB All-Star 1987, 88; 3 × Gold Glove Award; Seattle Mariners; and broadcaster for ESPN, MLB.com


1962 Chuck Finley, pitcher (California Angels


1969 Sam Militello

1976 Brian Schneider (Washington Nationals),

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Today in Baseball History
November 26th
1937 Manhattan Merry Go Round, a musical comedy featuring Joe DiMaggio as himself, premieres today. On the set, the Yankee Clipper meets Dorothy Arnold, who will become his first wife in 1939 and the mother of his only child, Joe Jr.


1960 After moving from Washington, D.C., to an area near Minneapolis and St. Paul, known as the Twin Cities, the newly-arrived ballclub named the Minnesota Twins become the first major league team to represent an entire state. The American League's new expansion team in the nation's capital will continue to call the club the Senators, but it will be an entirely different franchise.

1962 After batting .326 to capture his second batting title, Red Sox infielder Pete Runnels is traded to the Colt .45s, as he requested. Boston swaps the 34-year-old Texas native, who will hit only .252 next season, for outfielder Roman Mejias, who will spend two seasons with Boston in a part-time role before retiring.The two-time batting champ, who won his first title in 1960, will spend two seasons with Houston before ending his 14-year career with a .291 lifetime batting average.


1962 The Dodgers trade pitcher Stan Williams (14-12, 4.46) for Yankee first baseman Bill Skowron (.270, 23, 80). 'Moose' will hit .385, including a home run in Game 2, against his former teammates in Los Angeles' four-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers in next season's Fall Classic.

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1963 Pete Rose, who still shares a room with his brother in their childhood home seven miles from Crosley Field, is named the National League Rookie of the Year. The 22-year-old Reds second baseman collects 17 of the 20 votes cast by the BBWAA, with Mets infielder Rookie Hunt named on two of the ballots and Phillies right-hander Ray Culp listed on the other.


1965 Dodgers second baseman Jim Lefebvre is selected as the National League Rookie of the Year, receiving 13 of 20 first-place votes to easily outdistance runners-up Astro second baseman Joe Morgan (4) and Giants reliever Frank Linzy (3). Frenchy hit a team-leading 12 home runs (tied with Lou Johnson) and led the league with 14 game-winning hits (tied with Cubs outfielder Billy Williams) for the eventual World Champs.