Dolph Camilli, Billy Herman, Pee Wee Reese and Arky Vaughan during Spring Training 1941 or 42 in Havana, Cuba.
MARCH 10 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS ************************************** 1918 Heywood Hale Broun TV commentator and sports correspondent 1961 Pam Oliver sportscaster 1963 John Cangelosi outfielder (Houston Astros) 1966 Michael Timlin pitcher (Toronto Blue Jays) ***************************************
This Day in Baseball History March 10th1941 The Dodgers announce their players will start to wear helmets when batting. The safety headgear will not become mandatory in the National League until 1954, with the AL will follow suit four years later. 1951 J. Edgar Hoover, longtime Federal Bureau of Investigation director, declines the baseball commissioner's post. President Calvin Coolidge appointed him in 1924, and the nation's top cop remained in the FBI until he died in 1972. 1962 At St. Petersburg's Al Lang Field, the ballpark the team shares with today's opponents, the Mets, playing their first major league exhibition game, drop an 8-0 decision to the Cardinals. The New York National League expansion club's hurlers, Jay Hook, Clem Labine, and Craig Anderson, give up twelve hits, including two homers to Minnie Minoso and Gene Oliver. 1963 In an exhibition game against the White Sox, 21-year-old rookie Pete Rose goes 2-for-2 in his first appearance in a Reds' uniform. The future all-time major league leader in hits will be named the National League's Rookie of the Year
1966 The Orioles trade 22-year-old minor league outfielder Lou Piniella to the Indians for reserve catcher Camilo Carreon, who retires at the end of the season after playing in only four contests for his new team. The Tribe's latest flycatcher will appear in more than 1,700 big-league games, but only six games for Cleveland, all in 1968, before his selection in the expansion draft by the Pilots, the team that trades him at the start of 1969 campaign to the Royals for John Gelnar and Steve Whitaker. 1967 Ted Davidson, who had five wins and four saves for the Reds last season, is gunned down in an alley as he leaves a local restaurant, telling police his estranged wife shot him once in the abdomen and twice in the chest. The judge dismisses the charge against Mary Ruth Davidson when the southpaw, who will return to the team in June, but without his same effectiveness, fails to appear in court on two occasions.
1992 The Pirates trade pitcher Neal Heaton (3-3, 4.33) to the Royals for outfielder Kirk Gibson (.236, 16 HR, 18 SB). After being released by the Bucs in May, the veteran flycatcher, who will turn down an offer to play for the Arena Football League's Detroit Drive, ends his brief retirement, playing his last three years as a Tiger for his former manager Sparky Anderson. 1993 Sherry Davis becomes the first full-time female major league public address announcer when the Giants hire her to work at Candlestick Park. The legal secretary, chosen from five hundred contestants, won the job in an open audition. 1995 Former Chicago Bull superstar Michael Jordan, citing labor unrest as the reason, announces that he is leaving the White Sox organization to return to the Chicago Bulls. In his only season in professional baseball, the future NBA Hall of Famer batted .202, hit three home runs, drove in 51 runs, stole 30 bases, and made 11 errors playing the outfield for the Double-A Birmingham Barons last season.
MARCH 11 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS ************************************** 1870 Herm McFarland MLB outfielder (first grand slam in AL history) 1930 Bobby Winkles College Baseball Hall of Fame coach (Arizona State University) and manager (California Angels, Oakland A's), 1945 Dock Ellis pitcher (MLB All-Star, World Series 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates; pitched no-hitter 1971) 1948 César Gerónimo player 1974 Bobby Abreu outfielder, 1996-2014, 2X All-Star (Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and four other teams) 1980 Dan Uggla 1982 Brian Anderson ***************************************
This Day in Baseball History March 11th 1901 John McGraw, manager of the new American League's Orioles, signs Charlie Grant, trying to pass off the black infielder as a Cherokee Indian named Tokohoma. The skipper's scheme to secretly integrate the major leagues unravels in Chicago when White Sox president Charles Comiskey objects to Baltimore's new player after recognizing the team's second baseman's true identity. 1933 A significant earthquake during an exhibition game in L.A. sends the Cubs and Giants scurrying to second base until the tremors stop. The seismic event, which takes place along the 46-mile-long Newport-Inglewood Fault, is estimated at a magnitude of 6.3. 1933 Rogers Hornsby returns to the Cardinals as a player after being fired as the Cubs' manager last August. After a six-year absence, the 'Rajah's' return to the Redbirds will be short-lived when he is claimed on waivers in July by the crosstown AL's Browns, who make him the skipper of the last-place club, replacing the recently-resigned Bill Killefe
1953 Braves' owner Lou Perini proposes a ban on any major league franchise shift to an existing minor league city until October 1st. Boston, who owns the Milwaukee minor league franchise, had invoked its territorial privilege last week to block the Browns' attempt to shift their franchise to Milwaukee. 1953 The Dodgers defeat the A's, 4-2, in the first game played in Holman Stadium, their Grapefruit League ballpark at the team's spring training complex in Vero Beach, better known as Dodgertown. Fifty-five years later, Carl Erskine, the game's starting pitcher, will return to play the national anthem on his harmonica as an 81-year-old at the club's last game at the storied facility. 1957 Representative Emanuel Celler, chair of a congressional committee investigating baseball, calls Commissioner Ford Frick a czar. The New York congressman takes exception when the baseball boss cautions the major league owners about commenting on the Supreme Court's recent decision concerning pro football coming under antitrust rules. 1958 American League president Will Harridge informs the circuit's umpires that wearing a helmet is mandatory for batters this season, reinforcing the mandate passed by the owners' 7-1 vote at their December meeting in Colorado Springs. The Red Sox dissent, knowing their slugger Ted Williams adamantly opposes wearing headgear, asserting the protective equipment will interfere with their hitters' timing.
1961 At Palm Springs, former president Dwight Eisenhower is a no-show at the Angels' first-ever exhibition game, an 8-3 victory over the Cubs. Ike had been scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch but decided to go fishing instead. 1973 "I didn't think I'd have to tell them everytime I cross the street. He made his point and he was right. I made a mistake. I should have told him." - WILLIE MAYS, commenting on his fine for leaving the Mets during spring training. Mets manager Yogi Berra fines Willie Mays $500 for leaving the club without permission and missing the Saturday's workout. The aging superstar left the team for two days during spring training without notice and flew to California to be with his wife. 1988 California Angels manager Gene Mauch, citing health issues, takes a leave of absence and is replaced by Cookie Rojas. The Halos' skipper will officially announce his retirement in two weeks, leaving the game with a managerial record of 1,902 wins and 2,037 losses during his 26-year tenure in the dugout with the Phillies, Expos, Twins, and California.
2001 Preston Wilson, the franchise's first 30-30 player, signs a $32 million five-year contract with Florida. The 26-year-old Marlin center fielder, the stepson and nephew of former major leaguer Mookie Wilson, was obtained from the Mets in the Mike Piazza deal in 1998. 2002 The Boston replaces Joe Kerrigan, the once-popular skipper fired last week, with Grady Little, who will manage the team for two years, compiling a 188-136 (.580) record and making one appearance in the postseason as the AL wild card. The Red Sox do not renew their new manager's contract when he becomes the target of fans' angst for not replacing Pedro Martinez in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the ALCS, a contest the team loses in the eleventh on Aaron Boone's walk-off home run. 2004 The first contest played at Petco Park, the Padres' new home, establishes the record for the best-attended game in college baseball history when 40,106 fans watch Tony Gwynn's San Diego State Aztecs beat the University of Hawaii, 4-0. The previous mark of 27,673 was established in 2002 when state rivals LSU and Tulane met in New Orleans's Superdome. 2006 First baseman Nick Johnson (.289, 15, 74) and the Nationals agree to a $16.5 million, three-year contract extension. The 27-year-old first baseman, who signed a $3.2 million, one-year deal in January to avoid arbitration, has often been injured since making his big league debut with the Yankees five years ago. finish in a while
2010 Todd Helton and the Rockies agree to a $9.9 million contract extension that takes the first baseman through the 2013 season. The 38-year-old fan favorite, who has played his entire career in Colorado, hit .325 with 15 home runs, driving in 86 runs last season after undergoing back surgery at the end of the 2008 season. 2018 Taking a significant pay cut, unsigned free-agent Mike Moustakas signs a one-year contract to stay with the Royals, the team he set a franchise record for home runs (38) last season. The 28-year-old All-Star third baseman agrees to 6.5 million, having turned down a qualifying offer of $17.4 million at the start of the off-season. ***************************************** 175,647
