February 14
From BR Bullpen
| Stats of players who were born this day | |
| Stats of players who died on this day | |
| Standings on this day | |
| Permanent link to Today's Entry | |
| Sources | |
| Baseball Library Chronology | |
| Today in Baseball History | |
Events, births and deaths that occurred on February 14.
[edit] Events
- 1887:
- The Chicago White Stockings National League club sells King Kelly to the Boston Beaneaters for the unheard-of sum of $10,000. Kelly, who is often credited with popularizing the hit and run, will win election to the Hall of Fame in 1945.
- The National Colored Base Ball League, the first attempt at a professional Negro League, is organized at a meeting in Baltimore. Eight clubs are represented: Lord Baltimores (Baltimore), Resolutes (Boston), Browns (Cincinnati), Falls City (Louisville), Gorhams (New York), Pythians (Philadelphia), Keystones (Pittsburgh) and Capital City Club (Washington, D.C.). Two weeks later the league will fail from lack of attendance.
- 1911:
- The New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies come up with an idea for a new style of uniform - white flannels with thin vertical stripes - , an innovation that predates the famed New York Yankees pinstripes by four years.
- A cork-centered ball is introduced, and the number of .300 hitters will jump from eight in 1910 to 27 in 1911 in the American League. The earned run average will go from from 2.53 to 3.34.
- 1917 - Dave Fultz, president of the Players Fraternity, calls off a strike set to begin within the week. One of demands of the union was to abolish the ten-day clause, in which a team ceases to pay an injured player after he has been out of action for ten days. Organized Baseball officially severs relations with the union, leaving the players without representation.
- 1928 - The MLB Advisory Council agrees to allot $50,000 to develop a national championship program for amateur players. The program will be run by the American Legion.
- 1934 - The Cleveland Indians sign former Washington Senators 19-year outfielder Sam Rice to a contract for the upcoming season. He will bat .293 in 335 at-bats for the Indians, but will fall 13 hits shy of the 3,000 mark before retiring. Rice will win election to the Hall of Fame in 1963.
- 1941 - The entire Brooklyn Dodgers squad leave New York to train in Havana, Cuba, for most of the spring. Babe Phelps, a reluctant traveler and still unsigned, will leave the team in Miami, rather than take a boat, and return to Maryland.
- 1945 - Bob Quinn gives up his post as general manager of the Boston Braves, allowing his son, John, to take over. The elder Quinn, a veteran of baseball employment since 1900, had served the Braves as president and general manager off and on since 1924.
- 1948 - Right handed pitcher Mordecai Brown dies in Terre Haute, Indiana, at the age of 71. Despite losing part of two fingers on his right hand in a childhoods farm accident, Brown won 239 games during a 14-year Hall of Fame career.
- 1952 - The St. Louis Browns pick up 1B Dick Kryhoski and P's Gene Bearden and Bob Cain from the Detroit Tigers. Detroit receive C Matt Batts, OF Cliff Mapes, P Dick Littlefield, and 1B Ben Taylor.
- 1957 - Some 10 years after Jackie Robinson broke up the major league color barrier, the Georgia Senate unanimously approves a bill prohibiting blacks from playing baseball with white players, except at religious gatherings. The bill was put forth by Senator Leon Butts. At the time, Georgia does not have a major league team, but does have several minor league teams.
- 1959 - The Baltimore Orioles purchase veteran 1B Whitey Lockman from the San Francisco Giants, then trade him to the Cincinnati Reds in June for 1B Walt Dropo.
- 1976 - The Atlanta Braves send Valentine's Day cards to their season-ticket holders and the media. The Braves finished in fifth place in 1975, 401â „2 games behind the Cincinnati Reds. Atlanta will finish the 1976 season in last place, 32 games behind Cincinnati, but they are first in rhyming. Their card reads: Rose is a Red Morgan's one, too. They finished first, Like we wanted to. But last year's behind us; We're happy to say. Now we're tied for first, Happy Valentine's Day.
- 1996 - Kevin McClatchy and his group of investors purchase the Pirates from the Pittsburgh Associates.
- 2001:
- The Ford C. Frick Award, named in memory of the former baseball commissioner who also was a broadcaster, will be given to the Florida Marlins radio announcer Felo Ramirez during Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this summer. Ramirez, who began his 56-year career broadcasting games in Cuba, had been in the Miami broadcast booth since the team's inaugural season in 1993.
- According to the Detroit Free Press, MLB is informing umpires to remove pitchers from the game, without warning, who deliberately throw a beanball at a batter's head. The crackdown, according to officials, is a clarification and reinforcement of an existing rule.
- 2002:
- The Detroit Tigers sign Dmitri Young, who hit .302 with 21 home runs for Cincinnati in 2001, to a four-year contract. Detroit traded outfielder Juan Encarnación and minor leaguer Luis Pineda in December to acquire the 1B/OF.
- After a 30 - 0 vote, Major League Baseball formed a Delaware partnership (Expos Baseball, LP) to buy the Montreal Expos for US$120,000,000 with the intent of eliminating the franchise along with the Minnesota Twins.
- 2003 - After much speculation, the Chunichi Dragons return Kevin Millar to the Marlins for an undisclosed amount of money for relinquishing its rights. After reconsidering an offer from the Boston Red Sox, Millar had a change of heart and didn't want to play for the Japanese Central League team.
- 2005 - The Minnesota Twins signed Johan Santana, who was eligible for arbitration, to a four-year deal. Last season, the 25-year-old left handed became the first Venezuelan pitcher to win the Cy Young Award.
- 2006:
- According an attorney, City officials plan to ask a judge to order the Angels to drop Los Angeles from its name despite last week's jury ruling that the team did not breach a contract by calling itself the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
- Adam Dunn avoided arbitration by signing a two-year, $18 million contract with the Cincinnati Reds.
- Orel Hershiser is rejoining ESPN and will be a studio analyst for the network this season.
[edit] Births
- 1852 - Al Nichols, infielder (d. 1936)
- 1855 - Joe Gerhardt, infielder, manager (d. 1922)
- 1855 - Lou Sylvester, outfielder (d. 1936)
- 1858 - Arthur Irwin, infielder, manager (d. 1921)
- 1860 - Jim Tray, catcher (d. 1905)
- 1864 - Charlie Getzein, pitcher (d. 1932)
- 1867 - Morgan Murphy, catcher (d. 1938)
- 1869 - Ace Stewart, infielder (d. 1912)
- 1870 - Candy LaChance, infielder (d. 1932)
- 1870 - Bob Quinn, general manager (d. 1954)
- 1873 - Harry Jordan, pitcher (d. 1920)
- 1878 - Bill Kay, outfielder (d. 1945)
- 1879 - Tim Jordan, infielder (d. 1949)
- 1880 - Claude Berry, catcher (d. 1974)
- 1881 - Harry Eells, pitcher (d. 1940)
- 1884 - Jack Lewis, infielder (d. 1956)
- 1885 - Abe Kruger, pitcher (d. 1962)
- 1886 - Bill McCarthy, catcher (d. 1928)
- 1890 - Mike Hechinger, catcher (d. 1967)
- 1891 - Ed Schorr, pitcher (d. 1969)
- 1897 - Earl Smith, catcher (d. 1963)
- 1901 - Frank Duncan, Negro League catcher and manager (d. 1973)
- 1903 - Uel Eubanks, pitcher (d. 1954)
- 1908 - Oscar Judd, pitcher; All-Star (d. 1995)
- 1910 - Alex Sabo, catcher (d. 2001)
- 1911 - Bill Marshall, infielder (d. 1977)
- 1913 - Mel Allen, announcer (d. 1996)
- 1915 - Red Barrett, pitcher; All-Star (d. 1990)
- 1917 - Augie Bergamo, outfielder (d. 1974)
- 1918 - Benny Zientara, infielder (d. 1985)
- 1925 - Buddy Lively, pitcher
- 1926 - Claudio Solano, minor league outfielder; Salon de la Fama
- 1931 - Joe Caffie, outfielder
- 1933 - Tom Borland, pitcher
- 1940 - Len Gabrielson, outfielder
- 1943 - Darrell Osteen, pitcher
- 1945 - Bob Terlecki, pitcher
- 1949 - Larry Fritz, pinch hitter
- 1951 - Larry Milbourne, infielder
- 1952 - Will McEnaney, pitcher
- 1956 - Dave Dravecky, pitcher; All-Star
- 1957 - Jaime Cocanower, pitcher
- 1959 - Frank Anderson, college coach
- 1959 - Alejandro Sanchez, outfielder
- 1962 - Bruce Crabbe, minor league manager
- 1963 - John Marzano, catcher (d. 2008)
- 1964 - Keith Brown, pitcher
- 1964 - Bill McGuire, catcher
- 1968 - Scott Scudder, pitcher
- 1969 - Paul Meade, minor league infielder
- 1970 - Takashi Saitoh, pitcher; All-Star
- 1970 - Kelly Stinnett, catcher
- 1972 - Justin Mashore, minor league player
- 1973 - Daniel Garibay, pitcher
- 1973 - Kenny Henderson, minor league pitcher
- 1975 - Damaso Marte, pitcher
- 1977 - Chao-Hang Cheng, CPBL infielder
- 1977 - Andy Yount, minor league player
- 1981 - Brad Halsey, pitcher
- 1983 - Callix Crabbe, infielder
- 1984 - Jacob Marceaux, minor league pitcher
- 1985 - Tyler Clippard, pitcher
[edit] Deaths
- 1875 - Charlie Hodes, catcher/outfielder (b. 1848)
- 1906 - Yale Murphy, infielder (b. 1869)
- 1916 - Pat Carroll, catcher
- 1920 - Andy Sullivan, infielder (b. 1884)
- 1921 - Jumbo Davis, infielder (b. 1861)
- 1926 - Gil Whitehouse, outfielder (b. 1893)
- 1930 - Pete Kilduff, infielder (b. 1893)
- 1945 - Ervin Curtis, outfielder (b. 1861)
- 1948 - Mordecai Brown, pitcher, manager; Hall of Famer (b. 1876)
- 1951 - Harry Thompson, pitcher (b. 1889)
- 1956 - Bill Bishop, pitcher (b. 1900)
- 1959 - Eddie Higgins, pitcher (b. 1888)
- 1966 - Jack Coffey, infielder (b. 1887)
- 1966 - Bill Stumpf, infielder (b. 1892)
- 1967 - Jimmy Johnston, infielder (b. 1889)
- 1968 - Bill Lelivelt, pitcher (b. 1884)
- 1970 - Walt Laskowski, scout (b. 1913)
- 1973 - Paul Johnson, outfielder (b. 1896)
- 1976 - Eusebio Gonzalez, infielder (b. 1892)
- 1984 - Loren Babe, infielder (b. 1928)
- 2008 - Hal Erickson, pitcher (b. 1919)
