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This Day in Baseball History
December 1st

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22 Fact(s) Found
1953 The Senators trade Jackie Jensen to the Red Sox for 18-game-winner Maury McDermott and outfielder Tom Umphlett. The Californian 'Golden Boy' will win the American League Most Valuable Player award playing for Boston in 1958, but his promising career ends a few years later due to his fear of flying.
1954 The Yankees and Orioles complete the largest trade in major league history when 17 players, including Don Larsen, Gene Woodling, and Bob Turley, change teams. The first phase of the transaction began on November 18 and will conclude today after the major league draft.
1955 Virgil Trucks returns to the Tigers in a trade for White Sox's third baseman, Bubba Phillips. The 38-year-old right-handed 'Fire's fastball has lost its blaze, and the right-hander will post a 6-5 record in his one-year return engagement with Detroit.
1956 Reds outfielder Frank Robinson, who was not on the team's roster in spring training, is unanimously elected by the BBWAA as the National League Rookie of the Year. The 21-year-old freshman, the circuit's starting All-Star left fielder, hit 38 home runs, tying Wally Berger's 1930 record for the most trippers by a first-year player.
1956 Future Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio is selected as the American League Rookie of the Year, beating out Indian right fielder Rocky Colavito and Oriole outfielder/first baseman Tito Francona. The 22-year-old White Sox shortstop led the American League with 21 stolen bases.
1961 The writers select Red Sox freshman hurler Don Schwall as the American League Rookie of the Year. The 25-year-old right-hander, who managed to get on the All-Star team despite making his big league debut on May 21, compiled a 15-7 record for a sixth-place team that finished ten games under .500.
1964 The Colt .45s become officially known as the Astros, an appropriate name given the team's proximity to Houston's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The three-year-old expansion franchise changed the club's name due to a dispute with the firearm company.

1965 The Pirates trade catcher Ozzie Virgil and pitcher Joe Gibbon to the Giants for outfielder Matty Alou. The 26-year-old Dominican flycatcher, who hit a meager .231 with San Francisco last year, will capture the National League batting crown next season with a .342 average.
1965 The A's get Joe Rudi, lost as a first-year waiver pick to the Indians in May, back from the Tribe, trading Jim Landis and Jim Rittwage to Cleveland for the return of the 19-year-old highly-touted prospect, along with backup catcher Phil Roof. The future Gold Glove left fielder will play a key role in world championship teams in Oakland during the early '70s.
1966 The Dodgers trade a stunned and heartbroken Maury Wills to the Pirates for Bob Bailey and Gene Michael. The base-stealing shortstop, the NL's 1962 MVP, will return in 1969 when the expansion Expos deal him to LA for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich.
1970 The White Sox trade Luis Aparicio to the Red Sox in exchange for infielders Mike Andrews and Luis Alvarado. Boston's acquisition of the future Hall of Fame shortstop shifts All-Star Rico Petrocelli, with his consent, from short to third base.
1970 The Orioles acquire Pat Dobson and Tom Dukes from the Padres for Fred Beene (who returned to San Diego in May), Enzo Hernandez, Tom Phoebus, and Al Severinsen. The right-hander joins Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, and Mike Cuellar in Baltimore's "Four Leaf Clover" pitching staff, the first rotation in more than 50 years to have four 20-game winners.
1971 The Cubs announce Ernie Banks will serve as a coach next season, ending the infielder's 19-year Hall of Fame career. 'Mr. Cub', the team's first black player, won back-to-back MVP awards in 1958-59, and in 1999 was named to Major League Baseball's All-Century Team.
1983

"You're sitting behind home and first. We'll be between first and third." - LOU WHITAKER, telling Magnum and double-play partner Alan Trammell where they'll be sitting at tomorrow's Tigers game.

Playing themselves, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker make a cameo appearance on the hit show Magnum PI. After the private detective, portrayed by Tom Sellack, complains at a bar about missing the homestand's last game, the team's double-play tandem, whom he doesn't recognize, gives him a business card, which are tickets for the sold-out game.

1987 Former Indian outfielder Brett Butler signs a two-year, $1.8 million free-agent deal with the Giants. The 31-year-old leadoff hitter, who will play a vital role when San Francisco captures the NL pennant in 1989, replaces Chili Davis, who signed with the Angels, as the team's centerfielder.
1989 Mark Langston comes to terms with the Angels on a five-year contract worth $16 million, making the left-handed pitcher the latest highest-paid player in baseball history. The 29-year-old free agent, who had a combined 16-14 record with the Mariners and Expos last season, rejected Montreal's three-year, $9 million offer last summer that would have made him the first major leaguer to have averaged $3 million a season.
1998 The Mets sign 31-year-old Gold Glove third baseman Robin Ventura (.263, 21, 91) to a four-year, 32 million dollar free-agent deal. The former White Sox infielder joins two-time Gold Glove shortstop Rey Ordonez, second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo, and first baseman John Olerud to make up one of the best fielding infields in history, according to Sports Illustrated.

1998 Due to the acquisition of All-Star backstop Mike Piazza, the Mets deal fan favorite Todd Hundley, along with right-hander Arnold Gooch, to the Dodgers for outfielder Roger Cedeno and catcher Charles Johnson. New York then sends Johnson to Baltimore to obtain closer Armando Benitez.
1998 Orioles' first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, bypassing his agent and making the deal himself, signs a $45 million, five-year contract with the Rangers. The 33-year-old All-Star corner infielder, who turned down a more substantial offer from Baltimore, returns to Texas, the team he left five seasons ago to join the Birds.
2000 Turk Wendell, who wears uniform number 99, agrees to a three-year deal worth $9,999,999.99 with the Mets. The New York reliever had asked that his pact include an option year in which he would play for free, but that plan was unworkable because baseball's collective bargaining agreement sets a $200,000 minimum salary.

2011 The Red Sox introduce Bobby Valentine as the team's new manager at a news conference covered by approximately 100 members of the media, many from the New York papers and broadcast outlets. Boston announces the 61-year-old skipper, who hasn't managed since being fired by the Mets in 2002, agreed to a two-year deal, having options for 2014 and 2015.

(Ed. Note: Valentine's tenure in Boston will be brief, being dismissed a day after the regular season ends when the team finishes last with a 69-93 record, their worst campaign since 1965. - LP)

2021 Max Scherzer and the Mets agree on a three-year, $130 million contract, making the right-hander's $43.3 million annual average the most in major league history. The 37-year-old joins Jacob deGrom at the top of the rotation, giving the team a formidable one-two punch, with the two hurlers copping five Cy Young Awards between them, including four of the last six in the National League.
22 Fact(s) Found