BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

2002 The Phillies make public the one-day regular-season suspension of Larry Bowa handed down by Bob Watson, Major League Baseball's vice president for on-field operations. The action comes from the Philadelphia manager's "inappropriate conduct toward the umpire" when he became enraged with the home plate umpire over two close calls on checked swings during an exhibition game against the Indians on March 9.

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2011 Citing a lack of velocity and command, Mets GM Sandy Alderson announces the release of 29-year-old southpaw Oliver Perez, who is still owed $12 million on his deal. The roster move marks the second time in four days that the team has cut a player having a considerable contract, with second baseman Luis Castillo asked to leave despite his $6 million price tag.

2013 David Wright is named the Mets captain, joining John Franco, Keith Hernandez, and Gary Carter as the fourth player honored by the franchise. Like Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter and White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko, the two other major leaguers currently with the title, the 30-year-old third baseman will not wear a "C" on his uniform.

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2018 The Cleburne Railroaders' first baseman Rafael Palmeiro becomes the oldest player in professional baseball history to homer in a game when he goes deep against Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks starter Trey McNutt in the American Association independent team's 4-3 home loss at the Depot. The 53-year-old former major league All-Star batted sixth in the lineup, behind his 28-year-old son Patrick, who plays the corner infield spots for the second-year club.

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2019 The Angels announce the signing of center fielder Mike Trout to a 12-year record-setting contract, making the biggest financial commitment to a player in North American team sports history. The Halos reportedly will pay the two-time American League Most Valuable Player more than $430 million, far surpassing the mega-deal Bryce Harper (13 yrs, $330 M) and the Phillies agreed on earlier in the month.

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2019 After a 19-year eventual Hall of Fame career, Ichiro Suzuki announces his retirement, receiving an overwhelming ovation from the Japanese crowd at the sold-out Tokyo Dome. The 45-year-old three-time Silver Slugger, who holds the MLB mark for consecutive 200-hit seasons, left the Mariners’ 5-4 extra-inning victory over the A’s in the bottom of the eighth, standing alone on the field, soaking in the admiration of over 46,000 fans in the country he started playing professional baseball.

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2021 Before an exhibition game at Surprise Stadium, the Royals announce catcher Salvador Perez has agreed to a four-year extension reportedly worth $82 million, setting a franchise record. The 30-year-old backstop's deal, with an average annual value of $20.5 million, easily surpasses the $72 million contract signed by outfielder Alex Gordon in 2014.

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On March 21 in Baseball History...

• • 1908 - Ty Cobb signs with Detroit for $4,000 plus an $800 bonus if he hits over .300. He will collect the bonus with a league-leading .324, becoming one of only three A.L. regulars to top .300 (the N.L. has five) this year.
  • 1962 - Philadelphia retires pitcher Robin Roberts number 36.
  • 1968 - Royals is chosen as the name of the new Kansas City A.L. franchise.
  • 1977 - Mark Fidrych, the 1976 Rookie of the Year, rips the cartilage in his left knee and will undergo surgery 10 days later. The injury will effectively end the fabled career of the Bird.
    
  • 1978 - The Padres fire manager Alvin Dark, replacing him with pitching coach Roger Craig. Dark and Phil Cavarretta (Cubs in 1954) were the first two managers fired during spring training, joined later by Tim Johnson (Toronto Blue Jays, 1999) and Joe Kerrigan (Boston Red Sox, 2002).
  • 1986 - The Yankees announce that their most celebrated off-season acquisition, 26-year-old pitcher Britt Burns, will not pitch at all this season because of a chronic deteriorating hip condition. He never again pitches in the major leagues. Burns had won 18 games for the White Sox the previous season.

Baseball Birthdays on March 21...

• • 1847 - Bielaski, Oscar
  • 1855 - Coon, William
  • 1867 - Collver, Bill
  • 1884 - Walker, Mysterious
  • 1890 - Sullivan, John
  • 1892 - Stumpf, Bill
  • 1897 - Lamar, Bill
  • 1897 - Ketchum, Gus
  • 1904 - Sigafoos, Frank
  • 1904 - Rollings, Red
  • 1905 - Samuels, Joe
  • 1906 - Hogan, Shanty
  • 1913 - Jacobs, Bucky
  • 1914 - Perry, Boyd
  • 1915 - Brandt, Bill
  • 1918 - Klieman, Ed
  • 1923 - Hughes, Jim
  • 1927 - Creger, Bernie
  • 1927 - Friend, Owen
  • 1929 - Browne, Pidge
  • 1937 - Thies, Dave
  • 1939 - Davis, Tommy "Meanwhile Tommy Davis, the best DH the Orioles ever had, set some personal records. During a mid-season hitting binge, Davis collected his 2,000th hit and his 1,000th RBI. A two-time NL batting champion with the Dodgers, Davis had suffered a compound fracture of his right ankle in 1965 that left him with a gimpy leg. Of all Designated Hitters, Tommy was the most grateful. 'It kept me in baseball,' he says." - Brosnan, Jim. Boys' Life: THE DESIGNATED HITTER: BASEBALL'S NEW HERO.
  • 1942 - Church, Len
  • 1944 - Sanguillen, Manny "The way to fool Manny Sanguillen is to throw him right down the middle. He'll hit anything, but a perfect pitch." - Philadelphia Phillies Batting Coach Billy DeMars (1978)
  • 1946 - Fitzmorris, Al
  • 1946 - Clark, Rickey
  • 1947 - Plummer, Bill
  • 1949 - Durham, Don
  • 1952 - Arroyo, Fernando
  • 1957 - Leal, Luis
  • 1963 - Dunston, Shawon
  • 1965 - McIntosh, Tim
  • 1966 - Smithberg, Roger
  • 1970 - DeHart, Rick
  • 1976 - Darr, Mike
  • 1978 - Guzman, Cristian

Copyright � 2001-2007. All Rights Reserved.
Part of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Around the Horn | Baseball Box Scores | Baseball Fever | Today in Baseball History.​

 

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3/22
BIRTHDAYS
1926 Billy Goodman infielder (MLB All-Star 1949, 53; AL batting champion 1950; Boston Red Sox, White Sox), born in Concord, North Carolina (d. 1984)


1952 Bob Costas sportscaster and talk show host, born in Queens, New York


1963 Rich Monteleone, pitcher (California Angels, Giants), born in Tampa, Florida


1966 Sean Berry infielder (Houston Astros), born in Santa Monica, California


1968 Ramón Martínez pitcher (MLB All-Star 1990; pitched no-hitter 1995 LA Dodgers), born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic


1979 Juan Uribe born in Sabana Grande de Palenque, Dominican Republic

 

FROM MLB's This Day in Baseball History+
1939 The 20-year-old injury-plagued Pete Reiser homers in his first at-bat during the Dodgers' second spring training game, beginning a streak of ten consecutive hits. 'Pistol Pete,' one of 74 minor-leaguer free-agents when Commissioner Landis ruled the Cardinals signed too many players to play on multiple teams in the same leagues, hits .301 in 38 games with the Elmira Pioneers, the team's Eastern League Single-A affiliate.

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1962 In the first meeting between the two New York clubs, the Mets defeated the World Champion Yankees in a spring training game with a dramatic walk-off 4-3 victory at Al Lang Field. Casey Stengel, the former skipper of the Bronx Bombers, now the expansion team's manager, clearly wanting to beat his old club, calls upon veteran Richie Ashburn, who delivers a ninth-inning pinch-hit single for the Amazins'.

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1962 Roger Maris declines to pose with Mets coach Rogers Hornsby because the veteran had criticized him in the recently published autobiography, My Wars with Baseball. In the book, the 65-year-old Hall of Famer dismisses the Yankees slugger as a mediocre hitter who couldn't bat .400 even with all of his averages added up.

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1972 The Yankees trade first baseman Danny Cater to the Red Sox for lefty reliever Albert Walter Lyle. Sparky will pitch in 420 games in relief over the next seven years with a 57-40 record and a 2.41 ERA, notching 141 saves as he helps the Bronx Bombers appear in three World Series.

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1986 The Yankees announce Britt Burns, an 18-game winner with the White Sox last season, will miss the entire season due to a degenerative hip condition. The 26-year-old southpaw will never throw another major league pitch, ending his eight-year career, played entirely with Chicago, with a 70-60 (.538) won-loss record.

2002 After a miserable spring trying to make the Dodgers as a bench player, 38-year-old Dante Bichette (.299, 274, 1,141) announces his retirement. The four-time affable All-Star, who played with the Angels, Brewers, Rockies, Reds, and Red Sox during his 14-year major league career, will have a brief stint as the Rockies' batting coach in 2009.

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2005 Giants' slugger Barry Bonds, 11 home runs shy of passing Babe Ruth on the all-time list, indicates he may not play this season. Implicated in the sport's steroids scandal, the 40-year-old National League MVP, who has had two knee operations, cites being physically and mentally "done," blaming the media for his unhappiness.

2010 With the same pen he used to sign his rookie contract in 2001, Twins catcher Joe Mauer (.365, 28, 96) signs a $184 million, eight-year contract extension, keeping him with the small-market team through 2018. Last year, the 26-year-old backstop, after starting the season on the DL as a result of back surgery the previous year, captured his third batting crown and was named the American League's Most Valuable Player.

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2016 In a game attended by Barack Obama, the first sitting United States president on Cuban soil since 1928, the Rays beat the Cuban National team, 4-1, marking the first time in 17 years a major league team has visited the island nation. In 1999 at Havana's Estadio, the Orioles edge the home team, 3-2, thanks to Harold Baines' eventual game-winning hit in the 11th inning.

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On March 22 in Baseball History...

• • 1962 - A former Giant, requesting anonymity, reveals that Bobby Thomson's home run in the 1951 playoffs against the Dodgers was helped by a sign-stealing clubhouse spy. The spying is claimed to have gone on for the last three months of the season. Thomson and former manager Leo Durocher vehemently deny that any help was received, but a source close to the team confirms the spy operation.
  • 1972 - The Yankees trade first baseman-outfielder Danny Cater to the Red Sox for relief pitcher Sparky Lyle. In seven years with the Yanks, Lyle will post a 57-40 record with 141 saves and a 2.41 ERA, win a Cy Young award, and help the team to three World Series appearances.
  • 1990 - Major league umpires announce that they will boycott exhibition games to protest not having been consulted in the revision of the regular season schedule after the lockout. They will return to work on April 1.
  • 1993 - Cleveland pitcher Steve Olin is killed instantly and new teammate Tim Crews dies several hours later as a result of a boating accident at Little Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Bob Ojeda is seriously injured as well, but he will survive and make a comeback in the major leagues. Olin and Crews are the first active major league players to die in an accident since Thurman Munson of the Yankees died in a plane crash in 1979.

Baseball Birthdays on March 22...

• • 1854 - Allen, Myron
  • 1856 - McClellan, Bill
  • 1866 - Boyle, Jack
  • 1867 - Reeder, Nick
  • 1868 - Fuller, Ed
  • 1869 - Bausewine, George
  • 1882 - Sebring, Jimmy
  • 1884 - Chappelle, Bill
  • 1889 - Shafer, Tillie
  • 1892 - Wendell, Lew
  • 1896 - Holmes, Chick
  • 1898 - Urban, Luke
  • 1906 - Tremper, Overton
  • 1906 - Solters, Moose
  • 1906 - Owen, Marv
  • 1907 - Scalzi, Johnny
  • 1909 - Cole, Ed
  • 1913 - Steinbacher, Hank
  • 1915 - Branch, Norm
  • 1918 - Miles, Carl
  • 1918 - Butland, Bill
  • 1921 - Crowe, George
  • 1926 - Goodman, Billy "But if I had to pick myself one guy that I wouldn't want to hit against it when he was right, it would be Hoyt Wilhelm. It was a battle just to get the bat on that knuckleball." - Billy Goodman in Baseball Between the Lines
  • 1927 - Stuffel, Paul
  • 1928 - Schramka, Paul
  • 1932 - Schroll, Al
  • 1935 - Oliver, Gene
  • 1940 - Ellsworth, Dick "As a major league player you never even touch your luggage - never even have to make a decision for yourself if you don't want to. A lot of ballplayers in the big leagues when I played just weren't prepared for the real world." - Dick Ellsworth
  • 1948 - Velazquez, Carlos
  • 1948 - Brown, Jake
  • 1949 - Wilshusen, Terry
  • 1952 - Bane, Eddie
  • 1952 - Rasmussen, Eric
  • 1953 - Boitano, Dan
  • 1960 - Sinatro, Matt
  • 1960 - Bradley, Scott
  • 1963 - Monteleone, Rich
  • 1965 - Hill, Glenallen
  • 1966 - Berry, Sean
  • 1968 - Martinez, Ramon Martinez tied for second in the NL's strikeout race with 223 K's in 234 innings. The poker-faced 22-year-old throws pure gas with a herky-jerky delivery that'll keep him successful for many years." - Inside Sports. February 1991.
  • 1972 - Lidle, Cory
  • 1973 - Rodriguez, Nerio
  • 1974 - Phillips, Jason

Copyright � 2001-2007. All Rights Reserved.
Part of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Around the Horn | Baseball Box Scores | Baseball Fever | Today in Baseball History.​

 

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3/23
BIRTHDAYS
1920 Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese baseball player and coach

1927 Johnny Logan, Endicott, NY, MLB shortstop (Boston and Milwaukee Braves), (d. 2013)
mingham, Alabama (d. 2017)


1944 George Scott, MLB first baseman, 1966-79 (Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and 2 other teams), born in Greenville, Mississippi, (d. 2013)


1953 Bo Diaz d. 1990)


1966 Mike Remlinger, MLB pitcher (Cincinnati Reds), born in Middletown, New York


1976 Joel Peralta relief pitcher, 2005-16 (Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays, and six other teams), born in Bonao, Dominican Republic


1979 Mark Buehrle


1981 Tony Peña, Jr.

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