BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

2010 A's prospect Grant Desme, selected in the second round of the 2007 MLB June Amateur Draft from California Polytechnic, is retiring from baseball to pursue his calling to be a Catholic priest. In 2009, the 23-year-old minor-league outfielder, recently named the Arizona Fall League's Most Valuable Player, hit .288, with 31 home runs and 89 RBIs, playing Single-A ball with the Kane County Cougars (MWL) and the Stockton Ports (CAL).

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2010 The Mets, in need of a center fielder until the return of Carlos Beltran to the lineup in early May, deal 30-year-old right-handed reliever Brian Stokes (2-4, 3.97) to the Angels in exchange for the highly-paid but under-achieving Gary Matthews Jr. (.250, 4, 50). Los Angeles agrees to pay a significant portion of the slumping outfielder's $50 million five-year contract that 'Little Sarge' signed three seasons ago with the Halos.

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2010 The Phillies and Shane Victorino (.292, 10, 62) agree on a $22 million, three-year deal. Last season, the 'Flyin' Hawaiian' won his second consecutive Gold Glove roaming center field for the NL champions.

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2014 Twenty-five-year-old right-hander Masahiro Tanaka accepts the Yankees' seven-year contract offer for $155 million, the fifth-largest deal ever given to a pitcher. In addition to paying the most substantial sum ever awarded to a Japanese player, New York will also pay an additional $20 million to the Rakuten Golden Eagles, his former team, as part of the new posting agreement between Major League Baseball and teams in Japanese leagues.

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2016 The Brewers announces Joe Adcock, who was one vote shy of being elected last year, will be added to the Miller Park Walk of Fame. The former first baseman, who played 10 of his 17 major-league seasons in Milwaukee with the Braves, appeared in 1,207 games with the franchise, including the inaugural County Stadium contest in

1953, when he recorded the first base hit and scored the first run in the history of the ballpark.


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2017 Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura and 33-year-old former third baseman Andy Marte, who played for the Braves, Indians, and Diamondbacks, are killed in separate Dominican Republic car crashes. Kansas City will honor their 25-year-old right-hander, a Águilas Cabañas teammate of Marte, by wearing patches that read "ACE 30" on their uniforms during the upcoming season.

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2019 The Baseball Writers' Association of America name Mariano Rivera on all 425 ballots, making the Yankee closer the first player unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame. The BBWAA also selects Mariner DH Edgar Martinez, Roy Halladay (Blue Jays, Phillies), and Mike Mussina (Orioles, Yankees), who will join the Veteran's Committee's selection of long-time reliever Lee Smith and outfielder/DH Harold Baines.

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1982: Free agent superstar Reggie Jackson leaves the New York #Yankees and signs a 4-year contract with the California #Angels worth close to $1 million per season!
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In 1960: The Chicago #WhiteSox introduce the first major league baseball jersey with the players' name on the back - a great idea from Bill Veeck! (Curiously, the team shows a Luis Aparicio jersey with the wrong number, he wore #11)
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In 1929: The New York #Yankees announce that they will put numbers on the backs of their jerseys for the first time during the upcoming season! Reflecting the team's typical batting order, Babe Ruth will be given his now iconic No. 3!
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Warren Spahn served his country for 3 years, and then won 20+ games.....13x American hero and baseball badass

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Ted Williams goes on The Conan O’Brien show and gives his pledge to have Shoeless Joe Jackson inducted into the HOF
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“All Sports in Season - Baseball Forever” (Baseball Magazine - January 1912) A cool assortment of classic sports uniforms!
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Baseball Birthdays January 23
1928 Chico Carrasquel born in Caracas, Venezuela (d. 2005)


1970 Alan Embree pitcher (Cleveland Indians), born in The Dalles, Oregon


1970 Mark Wohlers pitcher (Atlanta Braves), born in Holyoke, Massachusetts

1970 Sherman Obando outfielder (cubs Montreal Expos), born in Bocas del Toro Province, Panama


1972 Tanya Harding softball pitcher (Olympic bronze 1996), born in Brisbane, Queensland

1974 Yosvani Pérez player, born in Rodas, Cuba

1979 Juan Rincón player, born in Maracaibo, Venezuela

1982 Wily Mo Peña player, born in Laguna Salada, Dominican Republic


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This Day in Baseball History
January 23rd​

1958 The Red Sox trade outfielder Albie Pearson and first baseman Norm Zauchin to the Senators for shortstop Pete Runnels. En route to capturing the American League's batting crown in 1960 and 1962, Boston's newest infielder will compile a .320 batting during his five years with the team.

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1962 The BBWAA elects Dodger infielder Jackie Robinson (77.5%) and Indians right-hander Bob Feller (93.8%) to the Baseball Hall of Fame, marking the first time in MLB history that the writers select two players in their first year on the ballot. The Veterans Committee previously chose center fielder Edd Roush, a lifetime .323 hitter during his 18 years as a major leaguer, and manager Bill McKechnie, who compiled a record of 1896-1723 (.524) in his 25-year tenure with five teams, to also be inducted into the Cooperstown shrine this summer.

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1967 The Cardinals named their former standout Stan Musial, four years removed from the playing field, as the team's general manager, replacing Bob Howsam, who resigned to take a similar post with Cincinnati. Although his tenure will last only ten months, 'The Man,' who turned down the position shortly after he retired in 1963, will become the first GM to win a world championship in his first season on the job.

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1968 Outfielder Joe Medwick, who captured the National League triple crown in 1937, is selected by the BBWAA to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. 'Ducky,' best known for his years with the Cardinals as a member of the Gashouse Gang, ended his 17-year career with a .324 batting average.

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1973 The Hall of Fame Special Veterans Committee select nineteenth-century players Mickey Welch and Mike Kelly for enshrinement in Cooperstown. 'Smiling Mickey,' who posted a 307-210 (.594) during his 13 years in the National League, and 'King Kelly,' baseball's first matinee idol, will be joined Billy Evans, nicknamed 'The Boy Umpire,' who, at age 22, became the youngest arbitrator in major league history.

Mickey Welch and Mike Kelly

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1975 By the slimmest of margins, Ralph Kiner is elected into the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA, receiving 273 votes on the 362 ballots cast by the writers, just enough to reach the 75% needed to be selected. During his brief ten-year major league career, the former Pirates slugger led the National League in home runs for seven consecutive seasons, starting with his rookie campaign in 1946.

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1979 In his first year of eligibility, Willie Mays is selected by the BBWAA as a member of the Hall of Fame, receiving 409 of the 432 (94.7%) ballots cast. The center fielder, a five-tool player known mostly for his 21-year tenure with the Giants, is the only player elected by the writers for induction this summer, but 23 scribesinexplicably leave the 'Say-Hey Kid' off their ballots.

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1981 The Red Sox, due to a front office mistake, are forced to trade Fred Lynn, along with Steve Renko, to the Angels, for Jim Dorsey, Joe Rudi, and Frank Tanana. Boston had failed to mail their outfielder a new contract by the deadline, allowing the former Rookie of the Year to become a free agent.

Fred Lynn

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2002 The Rangers avoid salary arbitration with 29-year-old Jeff Zimmerman, who saved 28 games for the team last season after replacing an injured Tim Crabtree when their closer agrees to a $10 million, three-year contract. Unfortunately, the right-hander will never throw another pitch in a major league game, suffering an injury in spring training that leads to three major surgeries on his elbow, including a pair of Tommy John surgeries.

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2006 In a surprising move, the Reds fire Dan O'Brien with spring training scheduled to begin in a few weeks. Cincinnati's new owner Bob Castellini makes it clear the team's former GM's performance is not the reason for dismissal but that he wanted to place his 'own' person in the position.

2008 The Indians, avoiding salary arbitration, sign Rafael Betancourt (5-1, 1.47) to a $5.4 million, two-year deal. The 32-year-old right-handed reliever was used primarily last season as an eighth-inning set-up man for Cleveland's closer, Joe Borowski.

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2008 Kevin Towers, the longest-tenured active major league general manager, gets a two-year contract extension from the Padres, which goes through the 2010 season. Although the club would not reveal financial details, the deal reportedly makes the 46-year-old one of the top five or six highest-paid G.M.s in the game.

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2008 Troy Tulowitzki (.291, 24, 99 ) and the Rockies agree on a six-year, $31 million deal, including a club option for 2014. The National League champs' second baseman was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year award, narrowly outpointed (128-126) for the BBWAA honor by Milwaukee's Ryan Braun.

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2008 To add experience for an unseasoned rotation, the Marlins sign 33-year-old southpaw Mark Hendrickson (4-8, 5.21) to a one-year, $1.5 million deal, which includes an additional $500,000 in performance bonuses. The 6-foot-9 former NBA player pitched for the Blue Jays, Devil Rays, and the Dodgers.

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2010 Major League Baseball announces the Dodgers, who in 1993 became the first big league club to play in Taiwan, will return to the island in March to play a pair of exhibition games against a Chinese Professional Baseball League team. During their first trip, L.A. played a squad of Chinese All-Stars.

2010 Arbitration-eligible Hunter Pence (.282, 25, 72) signs a $3.5 million, one-year deal with the Astros. The 26-year-old All-Star outfielder with the rifle arm earned only $464,000 last year, his third season with Houston.

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1962: Jackie Robinson & his wife Rachel pose at their home in Stamford, Connecticut after receiving the good news that Jackie had been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame!
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Ryne Sandberg
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“I don’t use the strike zone much. I’m looking for something to hammer. I don’t have time to argue whether the pitch was two inches either way. Besides, that sumbuck in blue back there has more problems than I do.” Dick Allen
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The first home run in #Phillies postseason history came off the bat of first baseman Fred Luderus (pic) in Game 5 of the 1915 World Series. His one-out solo blast in bottom 4th at Baker Bowl off Rube Foster put the club up 3-2 in a game they would lose 5-3 to give BOS the title.
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