BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

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Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays and Henry Aaron pose after winning the 1961 Major League All-Star Game at Candlestick Park, San Francisco!
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Pittsburgh #Pirates legend Roberto Clemente collects his 3,000th hit, which sadly would be the last regular season hit of his amazing major league career. (September 1972)
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January 2 Baseball Birthdays
1885 José Méndez HOF pitcher (NgL World Series 1924; 3 × NgL NL pennants; Kansas City Monarchs), born in Cárdenas, Cuba (d. 1928)


1963 David Cone, pitcher (perfect game 1999; AL Cy Young Award 1994; 5 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1992 Toronto Blue Jays; 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 NY Yankees), born in Kansas City, Missouri


1963 Edgar Martínez HOF third baseman and DH (7 × MLB All-Star; 5 × Silver Slugger Award; AL batting champion 1992, 95; Seattle Mariners), born in NYC, New York


1965 Greg Swindell pitcher (World Series 2001; MLB All Star 1989; Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, Arizona Diamondbacks), born in Fort Worth, Texas


1970 Royce Clayton shortstop (MLB All Star 1997; SF Giants, St Louis Cardinals,Rockies) and actor (The Rookie, Moneyball), born in Burbank, California

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This Day in Baseball History
January 2nd
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1879 The Northwestern League, considered the first minor league circuit in baseball history, is organized in Rockford (IL). The fledgling organization, which includes teams from Davenport, Omaha, Dubuque, and Rockford, will be defunct before the season ends due to lacking a fixed schedule and paying the players more than their counterparts in the rival National League.

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1912 Charles Ebbets announces the purchase of 4.5 acres of land in the Pigtown section of Brooklyn to build an 18,000-seat concrete and steel stadium. The team's new ballpark location, which will be the Dodgers' home until 1957, is presently a neighborhood that consists of deplorable housing with piles of garbage strewed everywhere.

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1918 In a deal featuring two future Hall of Famers, the Dodgers exchange outfielder Casey Stengel and infielder George Cutshaw to the Pirates for right-handers
and Al Mamaux, along with infielder Chuck Ward. Grimes, known as Ol' Stubblebeard, and Stengel, dubbed The Old Perfessor, will be enshrined in Cooperstown

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Casey Stengel and George Cutshaw​

Burleigh Grimes
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1946 The Senators sell right-hander Alex Carrasquel and shortstop Fred Vaughn to the White Sox. The 33-year-old Caracas, Venezuela native rejects the deal and signs a three-year contract to hurl in Jorge Pasquel's Mexican League, becoming the first major leaguer to jump to a team south of the border.

Vaughn Alex Carrasquel

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1977 Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspends Ted Turner for one year due to tampering while trying to obtain free-agent outfielder Gary Matthews, who signed a five-year, $1.875 deal with the team in November. The Braves owner, an accomplished sailor, uses his free time to pursue another goal, winning this year's America's Cup, which he will accomplish in September.

1986 Former owner of the Browns, White Sox, and Indians Bill Veeck, well-known for his promotions and innovative ideas, dies of cardiac arrest in Chicago. Some of the Hall of Famer's creative ideas included pinch-hitting a little person, an exploding scoreboard, and putting players' names on the back of their uniforms, in addition to breaking the color barrier in the American League, signing Larry Doby in 1947 to play for Cleveland.

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1992 The Red Sox sign Mets' free agent Frank Viola, a former Cy Young Award winner (1988, Twins), to a three-year, $13.9 million deal. The 31-year-old southpaw will injure his arm and undergo 'Tommy John' surgery with Boston, posting a 25-21 record and a 3.40 ERA during his three seasons with the team.

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1996 The Red Sox sign free-agent hurler Jamie Moyer. The 33-year-old southpaw will compile a 7-1 record for Boston before being traded to Seattle in July, where he will enjoy a pair of 20-game victory seasons en route to winning over 100 games during his 11-year tenure with the Mariners.

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2003 Due to a conflict with the major league schedule, the annual Hall of Fame game, previously held the day after the inductions of new members since 1940, will take place on a different weekend. This year's scheduled contest between the Phillies and Devil Rays will occur on June 16, five weeks before July 27 induction ceremonies in Cooperstown.

2013 Avoiding arbitration, the Rays announce the team has reached an agreement with left-handed starter David Price on a one-year deal, worth $10.1125 million. The 27-year-old American League Cy Young Award winner, who finished with a 20-5 record with a 2.56 ERA last season, earned $4.35 million playing for the third-place Tampa Bay club.

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2020 Without having played a major league game, Luis Robert, a Cuban defector, agrees to a multiyear deal with the White Sox. The 22-year-old future Gold Glove center fielder, called La Pantera by his teammates, signs a $50 million six-year contract, with team options worth an additional $38 million over the two final seasons.

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New York #Yankees pitcher David Cone hurls a perfect game vs. the Montreal Expos on "Yogi Berra Day" at Yankee Stadium! Don Larsen is in the house to witness baseball history

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Edgar Martínez! ~ The Seattle #Mariners legend & HOF'er
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Lou Gehrig
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Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs
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Baseball Birthdays January 2
1906 Gus Suhr first baseman (1435 MLB games Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies; only player to be sued by a fan injured after struck by a foul ball), born in San Francisco, California (d. 2004)


1910 Frenchy Bordagaray utility (World Series 1941; Brooklyn Dodgers), born in Coalinga, California (d. 2000)


1912 Cliff Melton, pitcher (MLB All Star 1942; NL saves leader 1937; NY Giants), born in Brevard, North Carolina (d. 1986)


1915 Sid Hudson pitcher (MLB All Star 1941, 42; Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox), born in Coalfield, Tennessee (d. 2008)

1949 Gary Lavelle pitcher (MLB All Star 1977, 83; SF Giants), born in Scranton, Pennsylvania

1962 Darren Daulton catcher (MLB All-Star 1992, 93, 95; World Series 1997; Silver Slugger Award 1992; Philadelphia Phillies), born in Arkansas City, Kansas (d. 2017)

1966 Luis Sojo, infielder (World Series 1996, 1998–2000; Seattle Mariners, NY Yankees), born in Petare, Edo Miranda, Venezuela

1977 A.J. Burnett pitcher (MLB All Star 2015; World Series 2009; AL strikeout leader 2008; no-hitter 2001), born in North Little Rock, Arkansas

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This Day in Baseball History
January 3rd​

1920 The public becomes aware of the secret deal made on December 26 to sell Babe Ruth to New York for $125,000, equaling twice the previously paid for a player. Harry Frazee, the Red Sox's cash-strapped owner, also secures a $300,000 loan from the Yankees as part of the deal.

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1943 In a surprising move, Uncle Sam decides to draft 37-year-old Yankee right-hander Red Ruffing into the Army, where he will be assigned to non-combative duty, tossing baseballs and leading the soldiers' physical fitness training. The future Hall of Famer lost four toes on his left foot in a mining accident in Coalton, Illinois, as a 15-year-old.

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1946 The Tigers trade first baseman Rudy York to the Red Sox for infielder Eddie Lake, who will replace current shortstop Skeeter Webb with two solid defensive years before a broken finger relegates him to a utility role on the team. Boston's new first baseman's offensive output, which includes 119 RBIs, propels the club to an American League pennant this season.​

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1961 Frank 'Trader' Lane becomes the A's general manager and executive vice president. The former Cleveland GM, best remembered by Indians fans for last season's controversial trade of Rocky Colavito to the Tigers in exchange for Harvey Kuenn, a swap that gave rise to the Colavito Curse, believed to bring a series of unfortunate events to the Tribe over many decades.

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1962 Adjacent to Colt Stadium, where the Colt .45s will play the first three seasons of their existence, construction begins on the 18-story Harris County Domed Stadium dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World." The first enclosed 'outdoor sport' becomes known as the Astrodome, when artificial turf, known as AstroTurf, replaces the dying grass playing surface.

1973 "There is nothing in life quite so limited as being a limited partner of George Steinbrenner." - Yankees minority owner John McMullen
Tampa shipbuilder George Steinbrenner, heading a limited partnership with Lester Crown, John DeLorean, and Nelson Bunker Hunt, purchases the Yankees from CBS. 'The Boss' will become a well-known owner due to his pursuit of expensive talent, well-publicized feuds with players and baseball's brass, and the frequent firing of GMs and managers.

1974 The Yankees hire Bill Virdon as the team's manager after American League president Joe Cronin voids the contract signed by A's skipper Dick Williams. The former Pirates skipper will manage New York for two years, never winning a game at Yankee Stadium because the club will play their home games at Shea Stadium while renovations occur at the Bronx ballpark.

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1977 Joining Harry Caray, Jimmy Piersall, and Lorn Brown in the White Sox broadcast booth, Mary Shane becomes the first female play-by-play announcer for a major league team regularly. The contract of the hard-working pioneer, but inexperienced broadcaster, will not be renewed by owner Bill Veeck at the end of the season.

1981 University of Arizona standout Terry Francona wins the Golden Spikes Award, an honor given to the nation's most outstanding amateur player by the U.S. Baseball Federation. The 21-year-old southpaw-swinging collegiate outfielder/first baseman, signed by the Expos, was selected by the NCAA as the College World Series MVP last season after helping the Wildcats capture the National Championship.

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2001 The Astros sign free-agent hurler Kent Bottenfield to a one-year contract. The 32-year-old right-hander, who started last season with the Angels after being traded by the Cardinals with Adam Kennedy for Jim Edmonds, will post a 2-5 record for Houston

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2005 Bud Selig okays the trade, which will send Shawn Green to the Diamondbacks, dependent on the team and the outfielder coming to terms on a contract extension within 72 hours. The commissioner's approval is necessary because the Dodgers will pay $8 million to help offset Green's current contract in the finalized deal.

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2005 Commissioner Bud Selig approves the potential trade of Diamondback southpaw Randy Johnson to the Yankees in exchange for Javier Vazquez, Dioner Navarro, Brad Halsey, and $9 million. Arizona will likely include Navarro and much of the cash to the Dodgers to obtain Shawn Green, another deal approved today by the commissioner's office.

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2005 Hoping to make the team appeal to a broader marketplace, the Angels announce the franchise will now be known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Officials from Anaheim likely will file a lawsuit to block the change, believing the new name violates the terms of the team's 33-year lease with the city.

 

2008 The A's, continuing to deal established players, trading outfielder Nick Swisher, a fan favorite, to the White Sox for minor league hurlers Gio Gonzalez and Faustino De Los Santos, and fly chaser Ryan Sweeney. Two weeks ago, the club dealt front-line pitcher Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks for another threesome of promising prospects.

2012 The Indians formally announce the team has signed free-agent Nick Swisher to a four-year deal, reported to be worth $56 million that also includes an additional $14 million option for a fifth season. The switch-hitting right fielder, who spent the past four seasons with the Yankees, will fill the void created in December when Cleveland traded Shin-Soo Choo to Cincinnati as part of a three-team trade.

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George Steinbrenner & his wife
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