February 9
From BR Bullpen
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| Stats of players who died on this day | |
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| Today in Baseball History | |
Events, births and deaths that occurred on February 9.
[edit] Events
- 1883 - The New York Grammar School League is formed. Only "regular attendees" will be permitted to play in the 14-team league.
- 1884 - The grounds of the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds are flooded under 20 feet of water from the Ohio River. It will cost $3,000 to rebuild the fallen pavilions and fences and restore the field.
- 1886 - The Kansas City Cowboys are admitted to the National League on a one-year trial basis.
- 1887 - The Kansas City Cowboys go out of business with the sale of its players to the league for $6,000. The clubs spot in the league has already been taken by Pittsburgh.
- 1889 - All-America beats Chicago 10 - 6 in the shadow of the Pyramids outside Cairo, and Cap Anson feels compelled to apologize to the Sphinx for his team's poor play.
- 1895 - New York Giants owner Andrew Freedman institutes reserved grandstand seats to attract businessmen.
- 1901 - Giants and Pirates outfielder Tom O'Brien, 28, dies in Phoenix, AZ. A popular player with the Giants, O'Brien played for Pirates in 1900, then accompanied the Giants and Dodgers last fall on a trip to Cuba for a series of exhibition games. On the boat trip over, he was told that if he drank enough sea water he'd be sick, but would then be cured of any sea sickness. Both O'Brien and Kid Gleason became violently ill following the prescription, but O'Brien was so affected that all his internal organs were damaged, and he never recovered.
- 1914 - The world tourists arrive in Rome where they stage a demonstration of the game. After a private audience with the Pope, they travel to Paris. They will be rained out in Paris and end the tour in England on February 26th before King George V.
- 1914 - Veteran umpire Hank O'Day, who managed the 1912 Reds, signs to skipper the Cubs.
- 1916 - The NL celebrates its 40th anniversary with a Waldorf-Astoria banquet. The NL's first president, Morgan G. Bulkeley, is present. The chief speaker is former president William H. Taft.
- 1916 - The National League votes down a proposal by the Giants, Braves, and Cubs to increase club player limit from 21 to 22. (The Reds want a decrease to 20.)
- 1920 - The Joint Rules Committee bans all foreign substances or other alterations to the ball by pitchers, including saliva, resin, talcum powder, paraffin, and the shine and emery ball. A pitcher caught cheating will be suspended for 10 days. The American League allows each club to name just two pitchers who will be allowed to use the pitch for one more season. The National League allows each club to name all its spitball pitchers. No pitchers other than those designated will be permitted to use it, and none at all after 1920. Other rules changes: the adoption of writer Fred Lieb's proposal that a game-winning home run with men on base be counted as a home run even if its run is not needed to win the game. Also, the intentional walk is banned, and everything that happens in a protested game will go in the records.
- 1920 - The Cards announce the first trade of the meetings. They acquire 1B Jack Fournier from the Los Angeles Angels for four players, all acquired earlier. LA gets 1B Art Griggs, C Grover Hartley, P Claude Thomas, and INF Ike McAuley.
- 1922 - Judge Landis cracks down on phony player deals. He fines the Cards and Tigers $150 each, and three minor league clubs a total of $1,400 for violating waiver rules. In March, he will assess the Giants $1,764 for the improper transfer of a player.
- 1924 - Washington owner Clark Griffith names 2B Bucky Harris, last year's team captain as the new Nationals' manager. Harris had annoyed Griffith by playing pro basketball over the winter, in violation of his contract, but the owner still tabbed him the job. Harris, 28, team captain, was at spring training when he received the offer by letter.
- 1927 - The Giants send versatile George Kelly, along with cash, to the Reds for truculent holdout OF Edd Roush. The Giants sent Roush to the Reds in 1916.
- 1933 - Brooklyn Dodgers pitching ace Dazzy Vance is traded to the Cardinals with infielder Gordon Slade for Ownie Carroll and Jake Flowers.
- 1943 - The National League is looking for a buyer for the Phillies, whose owner, Gerry Nugent, has fallen in arrears on rent and bank loans. The league pays $10 a share for 4,685 out of 5,000 outstanding shares in club.
- 1946 - Pirate southpaw Preacher Roe suffers a brain concussion in an altercation with a referee in an Arkansas basketball game.
- 1949 - A federal appeals court orders the $300,000 suit against baseball by Mexican League jumper Danny Gardella back to a lower court for trial.
- 1950 - The Chicago White Sox purchase C Phil Masi from the Pirates. He will finish his career with three strong years in Chicago.
- 1951 - The St. Louis Browns sign Satchel Paige, 45. He had been out of ML baseball since last pitching for the Cleveland Indians in 1949.
- 1959 - Frank D. Lawrence, owner of the Portsmouth, VA, club, files a $250,000 suit against Commissioner Ford Frick and ML baseball for breach of contract, alleging that broadcasts of ML games effectively forced him out of business.
- 1961 - Willie Mays signs for $85,000, currently the biggest contract in ML baseball.
- 1971 - Former Negro Leagues P Satchel Paige is nominated for the Hall of Fame. On June 10th the Hall's new Special Committee on the Negro Leagues will formally select Paige for induction.
- 1972 - California Angels IF Chico Ruiz, age 33, is killed in an auto crash in San Diego.
- 1976 - Oscar Charleston is selected for the Hall of Fame by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues.
- 1980 - The late Yankee catcher Thurman Munson is inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame of Kent State University.
- 1981 - At the age of thirty-seven, Joe Morgan inks a one-year deal with the San Francisco Giants
- 1982 - The Reds trade Paul Moskau to the Baltimore Orioles for Wayne Krenchicki.
- 1984 - The Los Angeles Dodgers waive 2-time National League All-Star Dusty Baker, who had vetoed a trade to Oakland during the winter meetings.
- 1988 - The A's sign a one year deal with free agent Don Baylor.
- 1994 - The Philadelphia Phillies trade P Terry Mulholland and a player to be named later to the New York Yankees in exchange for P Bobby Munoz, 2B Kevin Jordan and minor league P Ryan Karp.
- 1994 - The Ted Williams Retrospective Museum and Library opens in Hernando, Florida.
- 1995 - Darryl Strawberry pleads guilty to income tax evasion and will spend three months in prison, in addition to paying back taxes, interest, and penalties.
- 2000 - The Reds send four players - pitcher Brett Tomko, outfielder Mike Cameron and two minor leaguers to the Mariners and agree to a contract extension to obtain Seattle's superstar Ken Griffey Jr. Junior's nine-year $116.5 million contract is the richest package history, but in the current market is considered quite a bargain.
- 2001 - After 13 months of negotiations, Derek Jeter and the Yankees finalize a $189 million, 10-year contract. The deal makes the all-star shortstop second only to Alex Rodriguez ($252 million/10 years) as highest paid player in the history of the sport.
- 2005 - The Cubs trade reliever Kyle Farnsworth (4-5, 4.73) and a player to be named to the Tigers in exchange for pitcher Roberto Novoa (1-1, 5.09) and minor leaguers Scott Moore and Bo Flowers. Farnsworth's inconsistency out of the bullpen last season last season made him very unpopular with the Wrigley Field fans.
- 2006 - Angels free-agent Bengie Molina (.295, 15, 69) and the Toronto Blue Jays come to terms on a $5 million, one-year deal with a $7.5 million mutual option for 2007 with a $500,000 buyout clause. Along with starter A.J. Burnett and closer B.J. Ryan, third baseman Troy Glaus and first baseman Lyle Overbay, the 31-year-old Gold Glove catcher becomes the latest blue chip to join Toronto during the off season.
- 2006 - Deliberating for a little more than four hours, a jury rules the Angels did not breach a contract with the city of Anaheim when the ball club changed its name. Thirteen months ago the team known as the Anaheim Angels became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim prompting the city where it plays to file a law suit claiming the change in name amounted to at least $100 million in lost revenue.
- 2008 - Mark Kelly, a former Philadelphia Phillies farmhand, throws a one-hit shutout of the New South Wales Patriots in game two of the Claxton Shield finals to give the Western Australia Heelers the title. Kelly allows only a Gavin Fingleson single in shutting down a lineup which includes former California League batting champion Brendan Kingman. Mitch Graham's solo homer off of Pitcher of the Year Tim Cox is the only run of the contest. Kelly is named MVP of the 2008 Shield.
[edit] Births
- 1852 - Lyman Drake, outfielder (d. 1932)
- 1861 - Ed Springer, pitcher (d. 1926)
- 1863 - Charley Bassett, infielder (d. 1942)
- 1864 - Harry Pulliam, NL president (d. 1909)
- 1867 - Sumner Bowman, pitcher (d. 1954)
- 1870 - Hi Ladd, outfielder (d. 1948)
- 1887 - Heinie Zimmerman, infielder (d. 1969)
- 1895 - Wally Hood, outfielder (d. 1965)
- 1897 - Adrian Lynch, pitcher (d. 1934)
- 1898 - Chink Taylor, outfielder (d. 1980)
- 1899 - Specs Toporcer, infielder (d. 1989)
- 1902 - Don Hankins, pitcher (d. 1963)
- 1902 - Julie Wera, infielder (d. 1975)
- 1903 - Roy Mahaffey, pitcher (d. 1969)
- 1908 - Buzz Boyle, outfielder (d. 1978)
- 1912 - Dutch Dietz, pitcher (d. 1972)
- 1913 - Tony Robello, infielder (d. 1994)
- 1914 - Bill Veeck Hall of Famer (d. 1986)
- 1915 - Harvey Green, pitcher (d. 1970)
- 1916 - Tex Hughson, pitcher; All-Star (d. 1993)
- 1916 - Freddy Schmidt, pitcher
- 1917 - Moon Mullen, infielder
- 1918 - Jodie Phipps, minor league pitcher and manager (d. 1999)
- 1925 - Vic Wertz, outfielder; All-Star (d. 1983)
- 1928 - Erv Palica, pitcher (d. 1982)
- 1932 - Tatsuro Hirooka, NPB infielder and manager; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1934 - Ted Wills, pitcher
- 1937 - Clete Boyer, infielder (d. 2007)
- 1942 - Hal Gilson, pitcher
- 1944 - Jim Campanis, catcher
- 1944 - Randy Schwartz, infielder
- 1945 - Jim Nash, pitcher
- 1949 - John Andrews, pitcher
- 1949 - John Young, infielder
- 1951 - Eddie Solomon, pitcher (d. 1986)
- 1955 - John Urrea, pitcher
- 1956 - Mookie Wilson, outfielder
- 1957 - Pat Underwood, pitcher
- 1958 - Pete O'Brien, infielder
- 1961 - John Kruk, infielder; All-Star
- 1961 - Mitch Seoane, minor league infielder and manager
- 1964 - Ed Whited, infielder
- 1965 - Doug Linton, pitcher
- 1967 - Todd Pratt, catcher
- 1968 - Robert Eenhoorn, infielder
- 1968 - Brad Holman, pitcher
- 1969 - Alberto Hernández, Cuban National League catcher
- 1970 - John Burke, pitcher
- 1970 - Hugh Walker, minor league outfielder
- 1971 - Ken Felder, minor league outfielder
- 1973 - Yoshitomo Tani, NPB outfielder
- 1975 - Mark Farris, minor league infielder
- 1976 - Vladimir Guerrero, outfielder; All-Star
- 1977 - Napoleon Calzado, outfielder
- 1977 - Yufeng Zhang, Chinese national team infielder
- 1979 - Akinori Iwamura, infielder
- 1979 - Mike Tonis, catcher
- 1980 - Jae-woo Lee, KBO pitcher
- 1984 - Dioner Navarro, catcher; All-Star
- 1985 - Jae-won Oh, KBO infielder
- 1986 - Josh Judy, minor league player
[edit] Deaths
- 1913 - Joe Stewart, pitcher (b. 1879)
- 1914 - Buster Brown, pitcher (b. 1881)
- 1915 - Red Waller, pitcher (b. 1883)
- 1916 - John Bickerton, manager (b. 1848)
- 1936 - Trick McSorley, infielder (b. 1852)
- 1938 - Charlie Daniels, pitcher (b. 1861)
- 1941 - Eddie Boyle, catcher (b. 1874)
- 1958 - Cowboy Jones, pitcher (b. 1874)
- 1962 - Bernie Duffy, pitcher (b. 1893)
- 1963 - Ray Starr, pitcher; All-Star (b. 1906)
- 1967 - Billy Burke, pitcher (b. 1889)
- 1968 - Lou Bruce, outfielder (b. 1877)
- 1972 - Chico Ruiz, infielder (b. 1938)
- 1976 - Ziggy Hasbrook, infielder (b. 1893)
- 1977 - Roy Hansen, pitcher (b. 1898)
- 1977 - Ollie Klee, outfielder (b. 1900)
- 1983 - Jackie Hayes, infielder (b. 1906)
- 1987 - Larry French, pitcher; All-Star (b. 1907)
- 1993 - Pete Quesada, owner (b. 1904)
- 1994 - Ray Lamanno, catcher; All-Star (b. 1919)
- 1994 - Joe Mowry, outfielder (b. 1908)
- 1994 - Sam Parrilla, outfielder (b. 1943)
- 1998 - Bill Froats, pitcher (b. 1930)
- 2003 - Billy Parker, infielder (b. 1942)
- 2006 - Motoshi Fujita, NPB pitcher and manager; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (b. 1931)
- 2007 - Hank Bauer, outfielder, manager; All-Star (b. 1922)
