BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

1996 The Giants signed much-acclaimed amateur free-agent Osvaldo Fernandez. The Cuban National squad's All-Star hurler, who defected when his club played Team USA in Tennessee, will post a disappointing 10-17 record during his two-year stay by the Bay.

1997 At the winter meetings in Phoenix (AZ), the owners voted 26-2 to place the Devil Rays in the American League and put the Diamondbacks in the Senior Circuit. The Royals and the Rangers opposed the plan, fearing realignment may result in their team playing in a western division, a reality Texas is trying to escape and a scenario Kansas City wants to avoid due to the two-hour difference in the starting times.

 

2001 The BBWAA elects Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett to the Hall of Fame. The former Twins, both selected in their first year of eligibility, played together for Minnesota in 1993-94, becoming the seventh pair of teammates to be chosen by the writers in the same year.

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Kirby Puckett to the Hall of Fame
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2001 The Angels sign free agent Jose Canseco, offering an incentive-laden contract ranging from $200,000 to $5 million based on plate appearances as a designated hitter. At the end of spring training, after 39 at-bats, Anaheim releases the 36-year-old slugger, who will start the season with the independent Atlantic League Newark Bears before joining the White Sox in June.

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2002 Pedro Astacio (8-14, 5.09) agrees to a one-year, $5 million incentive-laden free-agent deal with the Mets. After being traded to the Astros by the Rockies last season, the 32-year-old right-hander developed shoulder problems.

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2003 The owners establish the minimum age of 14 for batboys after a near collision at home plate during Game 5 of the World Series involving four-year-old Giants' batboy Darren Baker. The Nationals will select the San Franciso skipper Dusty's son, who prompted the change from not having any age requirement, in the 27th round of the 2017 MLB draft.

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2003 Gary Carter will become the first player, and most likely the only one, to wear an Expos hat on his Hall of Fame plaque. Although the former catcher had expressed his wish to go in as a member of the Mets, the team which now employs him, and the franchise he helped win the 1986 World Series, Cooperstown decided the 'Kid' should enter the Hall with a Montreal logo.

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2003 To restore the competitive edge to the All-Star Game, the owners unanimously approve the World Series home-field advantage to go to the team representing the winning league of the Midsummer Classic. The players' approval is needed to change the current rotation between the two circuits, a schedule used since the inception of the World Series in 1903.

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2006 Dontrelle Willis (22-10, 2.63), signing a record-setting one-year contract with the Marlins, avoids arbitration by agreeing to a $4.35 million one-year offer, potentially worth $4.55 million if he reaches specific performance-based incentives. The All-Star southpaw's deal surpasses those for Roy Halladay and Andy Pettitte, each inking $3.8 million contracts for the highest amount ever given to a starting pitcher in his first year of arbitration eligibility.

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2007 The Marlins, the team with the lowest payroll in the majors, spending only $15 million last season, agrees to a one-year deal with southpaw Dontrelle Willis (12-12, 3.87) for $6.45 million, a significant raise from the $4.35 million he received on this date last season. In his final season with the club before being traded to the Tigers in December, the 25-year-old Florida ace leads the league in games started (35) but also gives up the most earned runs (118) in the circuit, compiling a 10-15 record along with a hefty ERA of 5.17.

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2008 Jon Lieber (3-6, 4.73), a former 20-game winner with the team in 2001, signs a $3.5 million, one-year deal to rejoin the Cubs. The right-handed veteran, who played with the Phillies for the past three years, missed most of last season due to surgery needed to repair a ruptured tendon in his foot.

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2008 The Tigers, avoiding salary arbitration, sign Nate Roberts (9-13, 4.76) to a three-year $21.25 million deal. The 30-year-old southpaw, who would have been eligible to become a free agent after the 2009 season, has made 30+ starts during his four seasons with Detroit.

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2009 The Red Sox sign another infielder to a long-term contract when Kevin Youkilis agrees to a four-year deal reportedly worth $41 million. The 29-year-old Gold Glove first baseman will join Dustin Pedroia, who inked a six-year contract extension in December, on the right side of Boston's infield for the foreseeable future.

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2010 Scott Hairston returns to the Padres, the team that traded him last July in a four-player deal with the A's. The Friars send third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff and prospect Eric Sogard to Oakland in exchange for their former outfielder and Aaron Cunningham.

2011 Joey Votto and the Reds agree to a three-year contract extension worth $38 million. The 27-year-old first baseman, last season's National League's Most Valuable Player, had a career year, batting .324 and hitting 37 home runs, driving in 113 runs.

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2013 The Mariners acquire Michael Morse from the Nationals in a three-way trade that sends catcher John Jaso to the A's, who deal minor league pitchers A.J. Cole and Blake Treinen, and a player to be named later to Washington. The 30-year-old outfielder/first baseman, obtained to provide additional punch to Seattle's middle-of-the-order, spent the first four years of his big league career playing for the Northwest team.

2014 Expanded instant replay, a concept previously agreed to by the Players Association and World Umpires Association, is unanimously approved at the quarterly Owners Meetings. Each manager will begin a game with one challenge, with the crew chief initiating reviews when necessary from the Replay Command Center at MLB Advanced Media headquarters in New York, starting at the top of the seventh inning.

2017 The World Champion Cubs are welcomed at the White House by President Barack Obama, a noted White Sox patron who is offered a midnight pardon by Chicago GM Theo Epstein for his partisanship with the South Side team. In addition to receiving No. 44 jerseys from his fellow No. 44, Anthony Rizzo, the Commander in Chief is given a lifetime pass to any Cubs game, a gift Michelle, the First Lady, will probably appreciate more than her husband.

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2020 The Giants announce Alyssa Nakken, who joined the club as an intern in baseball operations in 2014, will become baseball's first female coach on a major league staff. The former Sacramento State softball standout will be in uniform as an assistant under recently hired manager Gabe Kapler.

2020 The Mets and recently-hired skipper Carlos Beltrán announced they have "agreed to mutually part ways," due to his role in the Astros' cheating scheme of using electronics to steal signs. The move follows the dismissal of Red Sox manager Alex Cora, Houston's bench coach in 2017, when Beltrán, the only player mentioned by name in the Commissioner's nine-page report, played for the team.

2020 George Springer and the Astros come to terms on a one-year, $21 million incentive-laden contract that amounts to an increase of a little less than nine million dollars the 30-year-old All-Star outfielder made last year. The 2017 World Series MVP from New Britain (CT) set career highs last season, hitting 39 home runs with 96 RBI while batting .292 for the American League champions.

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“Old Days”Chicago Cubs manager Leo Durocher watches his old pupil Willie Mays take BP before a 1966 game vs the Giants in San Francisco.
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Baseball legends Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Casey Stengel, Mickey Mantle & Whitey Ford pose before Old Timers’ Day at Shea Stadium! (August 1974)
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Hank Aaron slides back into 3rd during exhibition game at Miami Stadium, 3/7/54, Dodgers Don Hoak at 3B. MVP of Sally League in 1953 (.362/22/125), Aaron was slated for AAA Toledo for '54 until Bobby Thomson broke his ankle on 3/13, opening a spot for Hank to begin his HOF career
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Baseball Birthdays January 17

1889 Louis Santop HOF catcher (5 x NgL East All-Star; Hilldale Athletic Club), born in Tyler, Texas (d. 1942)


1931 Don Zimmer infielder (2 × All-Star, Chicago Cubs; World Series 1955, 59 LA Dodgers) and manager (NL Manager of the Year 1989 Chicago Cubs), born in Cincinnati, Ohio, (d. 2014)


1944 Denny Doyle second baseman, 1970-77 (Philadelphia Phillies, RedSox), born in Glasgow, Kentucky (d. 2022)

1952 Darrell Porter, catcher St Louis (MLB All Star 1974, 78-80; World Series MVP 1982), born in Joplin, Missouri (d. 2002)


1953 Mark Littell pitcher, 1973-82 (Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals), writer, and inventor, born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri (d. 2022)

1960 Chili Davis outfielder (MLB All-Star 1984, 86, 94; World Series 1991 Minnesota Twins; 1998, 99 NY Yankees), born in Kingston, Jamaica


1964 Jeff Tabaka pitcher (San Diego Padres), born in Barberton, Ohio

1971 Tyler Houston catcher (Atlanta Braves), born in Long Beach, California

1974 Guillermo Mercedes, infielder (Texas Rangers), born in La Romana, Dominican Republic
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This Day in Baseball History
January 17th​

1888 Kansas City is admitted to the American Association to replace the Mets, who folded operations after the season. The Brooklyn Dodgers, interested in obtaining the services of several unemployed Metropolitans players, purchase the former New York AA team.
KC Brooklyn

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1915 According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the American League franchise will now be known as the Indians, replacing the nickname Naps - a change necessitated due to player-manager Napolean Lajoie's departure to the Philadelphia A's. After team owner Charles W. Somers asked the city's baseball writers for feedback from their readers, the scribes selected the new moniker to honor former Cleveland Spider player Louis Sockalexis, the first Native American to play in the major leagues.

Lajoie Louis Sockalexis

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1916 The Giants buy Benny Kauff, the Federal League's best player, from the Brooklyn Tip-Tops for $35,000. The 26-year-old center fielder's first three seasons with New York are solid, but the trash-talking fly chaser will never live up to his reputation as the 'Ty Cobb of the Feds.'

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1922 An appellate court denies Benny Kauff's appeal for reinstatement as a major league player. Due to the acquittal of the auto theft charges brought against him, the former Giant outfielder believed Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis should have reversed the decision to banish him from the game.

 

1970 Willie Mays is named the Player of the Decade for the sixties by the Sporting News. During the ten years, the 'Say Hey Kid' averaged 100 RBIs and 35 home runs per season while batting .300 for the Giants.

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1970 The Yankees draft Fred Lynn in the third round of the January phase free-agent draft, but the El Monte High School senior chooses to attend USC on a football scholarship. The 17-year-old Californian, who will join the Trojan's baseball squad in his freshman year, becomes the first player in MLB history to win the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season for the 1975 Red Sox.

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1979 After resigning as the Rangers' general manager nine days ago, Danny O'Brien Sr. signs a contract to become the Mariners' president and CEO, a position he will hold for five years. Dan O'Brien Jr., his son, will also become a major league general manager, replacing the Reds' Jim Bowden in 2003.

 

1983 Bob Horner and the Braves come to terms on a $6 million, four-year deal, with an additional $400,000 in bonuses if he keeps his playing weight under control during the season. The agreement calls for the Atlanta third baseman to be weighed every Friday during home stands, and if the scale doesn't exceed 215 pounds, he will receive a $7,692.31 incentive per weigh-in.

GlennDale Apollos Braves

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1986 The Mets obtain second baseman Tim Teufel along with minor league prospect Pat Crosby from the Twins for outfielder Billy Beane and southpaw hurlers Bill Latham and Joe Klink. The 27-year-old infielder, who will spend six seasons with New York, plays a pivotal role, platooning with Wally Backman in the team's world championship this season.

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1986 The Braves and Chief Noc-A-Homa, the team mascot who has become a huge fan favorite in Atlanta with spirited dances when the home team hits a homer, agree to end their 17-year association. Levi Walker, the third person to play the role for the franchise, is reportedly dissatisfied with his pay of $60 a game, and club officials were unhappy with the Georgia native's failure to attend seven scheduled appearances last year.

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1994 Anaheim Stadium, farther from the Northridge Earthquake's epicenter than most of LA's area's sporting venues, becomes the only one to incur significant damage when the landmark "Big A" sign collapses into the stadium, severely damaging the scoreboard and giant replay screen. The home of Angels and NFL's Rams sustains $3.4 million in damages, an amount not covered because of the city's $6.25 million insurance deductible on the structure.

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2002 Commissioner Bud Selig indicates the Washington, D.C. area is a 'prime candidate' to get a team if a franchise relocates in the near future. The District had lost two major league teams when the original franchise shifted to Minnesota in 1961, becoming the Twins, and its replacement, the expansion Senators, moved to Texas a decade later as the Rangers.

2002 Avoiding arbitration, Darin Erstad (.258, 9, 63) and the Angels agree to a one-year contract worth $6.25 million. The first baseman/outfielder, who can be a free agent after the season, turned down a long-term deal from Anaheim last spring, estimated to be worth $50 million.


2002 Jermaine Dye agrees to a three-year extension worth $32 million to stay with the A's. Oakland is counting on the injured outfielder, who shattered his left tibia, fouling a ball off his leg just below the knee in Game 4 of the ALDS, to fill the void created by Jason Giambi's departure to New York.


2003 Avoiding arbitration, the Reds give Danny Graves (7-3, 3.19, 32 saves) a three-year deal. The team plans to add their former closer to the starting rotation this year after the 29-year-old right-hander posted a 1-0 record with a 1.89 ERA in his four appearances as a starter at the end of last season.


2003 Tony Riviera, the newly formed Canadian Baseball League chairman, nominates Pete Rose, the former first baseman/outfielder who collected his 4,000th career hit with the 1984 Montreal Expos for induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. 'Charlie Hustle' will fail to get elected, falling short of garnering the necessary 75 percent vote from the selection committee.

2003 Torii Hunter (.289, 29, 94) agrees to a surprising four-year, $32 million deal to stay with the Twins. Although the 27-year-old Gold Glove outfielder played a pivotal role for the AL West division winners, he didn't believe the small-market team would offer him a multi-year contract.

 

2005 With the Astros offering $13.5 million, Roger Clemens asks for $22 million in salary arbitration. The amount, which would make the 'Rocket' the richest paid hurler in big league history, surpasses the previous record amount submitted for arbitration of $18.5 million by Yankee Derek Jeter in 2001.


2005 Former major leaguer Raymond Lee Cunningham celebrates his 100th birthday. The oldest living player, who made his debut with the Cardinals in 1931, played 14 games over two seasons, hitting .154 in 26 plate appearances.

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2006 At the 41st annual Red Smith Sports Award Banquet, Gaylord Perry receives the 2006 "Nice Guy" Award. The 67-year-old Hall of Famer, infamous for throwing a spitball, joins Kirby Puckett, Lou Brock, and Brooks Robinson as a recipient of this award.

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2006 After delaying his decision to play in the World Baseball Classic, Alex Rodriguez announces he will be a member of the United States team. The Yankee All-Star third baseman had considered playing for the Dominican Republic, his parent's homeland.

2008 The Blue Jays ink Scott Downs (4-2, 2.17) to a $10 million, three-year deal. The southpaw tied for the American League lead in relief appearances last season with 81, half of his team's games.

 

2012 The Tigers announce that Victor Martinez (.330, 12, 103) will most likely miss next season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while working out last week. The anticipated absence of the 33-year-old DH, a four-time All-Star, will lead Detroit to sign free-agent Prince Fielder to a nine-year mega-deal worth $214 million.

2012 Left-handed starter Cole Hamels (14-9, 2.79) and the Phillies come to terms on a $15 million, one-year contract. The southpaw's deal surpasses the highest previous amount offered to an arbitration-eligible player of $12.4 million that the Cubs paid Carlos Zambrano in 2007.

2012 Calling them the "greatest comeback team in the history of baseball," President Barack Obama welcomes the World Champion Cardinals to the White House. Albert Pujols, now an Angel after signing an extremely lucrative free-agent deal last month, and manager Tony La Russa, who retired at the end of the season, are noticeably absent from the East Room ceremony.

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2012 Avoiding arbitration, the Red Sox and Jacoby Ellsbury come to terms on a one-year, $8.05 million non-guaranteed deal. The 28-year-old outfielder, the American League Comeback Player of the Year, finished second in AL Most Valuable Player balloting behind Tiger right-hander Justin Verlander, hit .321, belting 32 home runs, and driving in 105 runs for the last-place team.

2014 The Tigers come to terms with Max Scherzer on a one-year contract for $15,525,000, avoiding arbitration with the 29-year-old right-hander, who will be eligible for free agency after next season. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner posted a 21-3 record last season, along with a 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts, before earning two victories in the ALDS against Oakland for the AL Central Division champs.

2020 The Rockies announce the team plans to retire the jersey #33, honoring former outfielder Larry Walker, who spent parts of ten seasons with Colorado, hitting .334 along with 258 round-trippers for the club. The BBWAA will elect the 1997 National League MVP, a season he compiled a .366 batting average and slugged 49 home runs, to the Hall of Fame in a few days after the Canadian ballplayer appears on the ballot for the tenth and final time.

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