BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

Duke Snider posted 40+ Home Runs in 5 consecutive seasons (1953-1957)
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Harold Henry “Pee Wee” Reese
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MARCH 18 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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1874 Jimmy 'Nixey' Callahan pitcher, outfielder and manager (Chicago White Sox; first AL no-hitter 1902)

1918 Bob Broeg sportswriter (St. Louis Cardinals for St. Louis Post-Dispatch; National Sportscasters and Sportswriters HOF)

1926 Dick Littlefield Pitcher, Pirates, Cubs Orioles....


1965 Geronimo Berroa, outfielder (Dodgers, Oakland A's)


1976 Scott Podsednik out field

1976 Tomokazu Ohka Pitcher Expos, Rays

1977 Fernando Rodney Pitcher, Tigers, Rays,Nationals

1977 Terrmel Sledge MLB and NPB baseball outfileder, 2004-12 (Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Yokohama BayStars, Oklahoma Drillers


1982 Chad Cordero Pitcher, Titans, Angels......

1983 Andy Sonnanstine Pitcher, Cubs, Rays....

1991 J.T. Realmuto catcher, 2014-present, 3X All-Star (Florida Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies)

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This Day in Baseball History
March 18th​

1937 Ending his holdout, Lou Gehrig, who had initially asked for $50,000, agrees to sign with the Yankees for $36,000 and a $750 signing bonus. The new deal for the Bronx Bombers' first baseman, last season's American League MVP, makes him baseball's highest-paid player.

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1942 During spring training, Jackie Robinson and Nate Moreland work out with the White Sox in Pasadena, California. Manager Jimmie Dykes, who reluctantly granted their request for a walk-on tryout, dismisses the black players without making an offer for their services.

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1943 Spring training camps began opening in northern locations due to wartime travel restrictions. Some of the locales include Bear Mountain, NY (Dodgers), French Lick Springs, IN (Cubs and White Sox), Asbury Park, NJ (Yankees), Medford, MA (Red Sox), and Wallingford, CT (Braves).

 

1953 "Braves Win Last Game for Boston, Milwaukee Loses It." - BOSTON GLOBE, headline lamenting the city’s National League franchise move to Milwaukee. When the National League owners officially approve the Braves' move from Boston, the team is on the field, beating the Yankees in the fifth inning, 3–0. The club now representing Milwaukee, as of 2:33 PM, blows the lead, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Yankees in the Bradenton (FL) exhibition game.

1953 The Braves end their 77-year-old association with Boston, becoming the first major league club to move since Baltimore shifted to New York in 1903. After listening to Lou Perini's hour-long impassioned plea, the National League owners unanimously approved the franchise's change of venue to Milwaukee, where the club will stay for dozen seasons, setting attendance records before moving again in 1966 to Atlanta.

1957 Indian general manager Hank Greenberg turns down the Red Sox's million-dollar offer for pitcher Herb Score. The former slugger says the Tribe is building for the future and not into selling its premier players.

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1958 The Dodgers, playing their first season in LA, do not renew the contract of Emmett Kelly, the team's resident 'tramp' in Brooklyn. The veteran circus performer believes the size of the Coliseum, the club's new venue on the West Coast, is just "too big for one clown."

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1974 Country singer Charley Pride, best known for the songs I'm Just Me and Kiss An Angel Good Mornin', plays for the Texas Rangers in an exhibition game at the team's Pompano Beach training camp. The former Negro League right-hander grounds out and singles in two at-bats in the team's 14-2 loss to Jim Palmer and the Orioles.

Texas Rangers

In a Memphis Red Sox uniform

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1981 After being declared a free agent because the Red Sox mailed his contract one day past the contractual deadline, Carlton Fisk signs a $3.5 million deal with the White Sox. On Opening Day, the 33-year-old catcher will hit an eighth-inning three-run home run to tie the score, 3-3, which proves to be the difference in Chicago's eventual 5-3 victory over his old team at Fenway Park.

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1985 Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. Major League Baseball banned the two Hall of Famers from associating due to their employment with Atlantic City casinos.

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1990 The players and owners agree on a four-year contract after a 32-day lockout, the sport's seventh work stoppage and its second-longest since 1972. Although the season will start a week later, teams plan to play a complete schedule, including the 78 games canceled by the work stoppage.
The settlement includes raising the minimum major league salary from $68,000 to $100,000 and establishing a committee to study revenue sharing.

 

2000 Construction workers install a 15-foot-high and 56-foot-long replica of an 1862 steam locomotive ninety feet above the field onto the rails that run alongside the moveable roof at Enron Field, Houston's new downtown ballpark, partially located on the former home of the city's Union Station. The 60,000-pound train, with its cargo of oranges, makes a 40-second trip back and forth on its track every time an Astro player hits a home run.

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2000 After reacquiring Jesse Orosco from the Orioles in December, the Mets send the veteran left-hander to the Cardinals for utility player Joe McEwing. In 1978, the eventual four-decade hurler (1979-2003) was the player to be named later in the trade when New York dealt veteran southpaw Jerry Koosman to Minnesota.

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2005 After Mark McGwire, who had previously denied using steroids, refuses to answer the questions concerning his involvement during the congressional hearings, U.S. Representative William Lacy Clay (D-MO) wants to remove the slugger's name given to a stretch of highway in his state. The legislators officially renamed a five-mile segment, a distance approximately as long traveled by the 70 home runs, of Interstate-70 the Mark McGwire Highway as a tribute to 'Big Mac' hitting a record 70 home runs in 1998. In May 2010, the Missouri Legislature passed a bill to change the name of Mark McGwire Highway to the Mark Twain Highway.

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2008 The possibility of collusion by the major league owners against Barry Bonds, who has pleaded innocent to four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, will be examined by the Players Association. The San Francisco slugger, who hit .276 last year with 28 home runs, has not been offered a contract by any major league team.

2008 In an attempt to be part of a healing process on the campus where 32 students and staff became victims of a deadly shooting spree last April, the Yankees play the Hokies at Virginia Tech's English Field. George Steinbrenner, moved by coverage of the massacre, donated $1 million to a memorial fund and arranged for his team to participate in an exhibition game at the school.

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2009 The Cubs announce the team will retire its fifth number when 31 will be set aside on May 3rd in honor of Fergie Jenkins (1966-73, 1982-83) and Greg Maddux (1986-92, 2004-06). The hurlers will join Ron Santo (#10), Ernie Banks (#14), Ryne Sandberg (#23), and Billy Williams (#26) as honorees chosen by the Chicago club.

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2010 Free-swinging slugger Mark Reynolds (.260, 44, 102) and the Diamondbacks agree to a new three-year, $14.5 million contract. The deal covers the 26-year-old third baseman's first two arbitration years.


2011 The Mets make a symbolic but expensive roster move when they release their second baseman, Luis Castillo. The oft-injured embattled 35-year-old, best remembered by New York fans for the dropped popup in a 2009 Subway Series game at Yankee Stadium, is still owed the remaining $6 million on the four-year, $25 million contract he signed before the 2008 season.


2014 In a Cactus League game, all nine batters Jose Quintana faces reach base and eventually score in the White Sox's 16-6 loss to the A's at Camelback Ranch. The southpaw starter gives up seven hits, including a homer by Jed Lowrie and a triple by Sam Fuld, and issues two walks before exiting the game without retiring a batter.

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177,846

 

Urban Shocker

1950 Joe DiMaggio strokes a double vs. the Boston #RedSox in Florida
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Ted Williams pulverizes a grapefruit next to Boston #RedSox manager Joe Cronin
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Sandy Koufax
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MARCH 19 BASEBALL BIRTHDAYS
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1859 Edward J. McKeever baseball executive (co-owner Brooklyn Dodgers)


1927-1997 Richie Ashburn Hall of Fame infielder (6 × MLB All-Star; NL batting champion 1955, 58; Philadelphia Phillies) and sportscaster (Phillies TV 1963-71)


1962 Ivan Calderón outfielder (MLB All Star 1991; Chicago White Sox, Montreal Expos)


1974 John Coppinger, pitcher (Baltimore Orioles)


1979 Hee-Seop Choi Dodgers, Cubs, Marlins

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This Day in Baseball History
March 19th​

1951 In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Fred Hutchinson, the American League player representative, says the players should have a voice in selecting the new commissioner to replace A. B. Happy Chandler, who the owners recently ousted. The Tigers' right-hander suggests that the major leaguers, if not given input, would be inclined to hire and pay their own commissioner, with Chandler being their first choice.

Fred Hutchinson with Tigers general manager Charlie Gehringer

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1961 The Red Sox announce that Carl Yastrzemski will be the team’s left fielder this season, replacing Boston legend Ted Williams. The 21-year-old from Southampton (NY) spends 23 seasons with Boston, becoming a Hall of Famer like his predecessor.

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1961 The Yankees signal opposition to any plan enabling the new National League franchise to share their Bronx ballpark, with team owner Dan Topping citing his former GM George Weiss, now in a similar position with the expansion team, vehemently against the idea during his last two seasons with the club. William Shea, chairman of the Mayor's Baseball Committee, is not believing the Polo Grounds or Roosevelt Field in Jersey City as viable venues for the new team until the completion of the new stadium in Flushing Meadows.

1965 During spring training, Jack Quinlan, best known for doing play-by-play for the Cubs on WIND (1955-56) and WGN (1957–64), dies in an auto accident after leaving a golf outing. The popular 38-year-old broadcaster's partners included Lou Boudreau and Charlie Grimm.

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1970 During a spring training game against Oakland, Indians' first baseman Ken Harrelson fractures his leg and will not play until September, appearing in only 17 games. Next season, after losing his starting position to Chris Chambliss, the eventual AL Rookie of the Year, the 'Hawk' will retire in June to pursue a professional golf career.

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1989 The Yankees, hoping to replace the injured Dave Winfield, trade catcher Joel Skinner and minor leaguer Turner Ward to the Indians for outfielder Mel Hall, who will hit .273 during his four years with the Bronx Bombers. The future Hall of Fame outfielder will miss the entire season due to back surgery.

Winfield and Rggie on the bench

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2002 The Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) debuts as a regional cable TV channel. Like NESN of the Red Sox, the team-owned network will carry Bronx Bombers games and cover New Jersey Nets NBA contests.

 

2005 After avoiding salary arbitration by signing a one-year $10.5 million deal in the offseason, Lance Berkman agrees to a six-year, $85 million contract. The three-time All-Star outfielder will be an Astro until 2010, with the club holding the option for an additional year.

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2007 Texas announces their home stadium will now be called Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The subprime mortgage industry crisis caused Ameriquest to give up its naming rights last month after reaching a 30-year deal with the team in 2004, reportedly worth about $75 million.

2008 In a protest of their coaches not receiving the same $40,000 stipend negotiated by the players union, the Red Sox players boycott their exhibition game, scheduled to be televised nationally from the City of Palms Park, and tomorrow's flight to Japan for the season-opening game against the A's. The delayed game starts an hour later when MLB consents to pay the managers, coaches, and trainers $20,000 each from management's proceeds, with the difference to be paid by the team.

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