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This Day in Baseball History
March 2nd

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13 Fact(s) Found
1927 Babe Ruth becomes the highest-paid player in major league history when the Yankees announce he will earn $70,000 per season for the next three years. The 'Sultan of Swat,' who had asked for $100,000, meets Colonel Jacob Ruppert at the owner's brewery in the Yorkville section of Manhattan to finalize the historic deal.
1966 Commissioner William Eckert, citing a rule prohibiting clubs from signing players during their collegiate season, voids the Braves' contract with USC standout Tom Seaver, who had signed with Atlanta for a $50,000 bonus a week earlier. The Mets will be awarded the future Hall of Famer's signing rights in a lottery that includes the Phillies and Indians, who also were willing to match the Braves' terms.
1989

"When he punched Keith Hernandez in spring training last season, it was the only time that Darryl Strawberry hit the cutoff man." - STEVE WULF, Sports Illustrated journalist.

At a photo session, Mets' outfielder Darryl Strawberry throws a punch at Keith Hernandez, the team's no-nonsense All-Star first baseman. The spring training scuffle started over comments about salaries, resulting in Straw walking out of camp.

1992 The highest-paid player tag now belongs to Ryne Sandberg, when the All-Star infielder signs a four-year contract extension worth 7.1 million dollars per season. The future Hall of Famer will unexpectedly retire during the season in 1994, walking away from nearly $15.8 million from the record deal he inked today.
1995

"Cleveland got the better of the deals. They didn't get anybody." - DAVEY JOHNSON, Reds' manager.

The Indians send Mike Curtis, Barbaro Garbey, Lee Granger, and Dave Gray to the Reds for "future considerations." The transaction, which helps Cincinnati add much-needed players to their roster, marks the first trade of replacement players during a baseball strike.

2001 Rusty Greer, now the Rangers' new leadoff hitter due to the A-Rod deal, signs a $21.8 million, three-year contract extension with Texas. The .307 career-hitting outfielder could make $36 million with incentives and options.
2005 Wearing their regular-season home uniforms instead of the traditional batting-practice spring training jerseys, the Nationals, in their first game ever, beat the Mets in the exhibition opener at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida, 5-3. The Expos' first and last games were against the Mets before leaving Montreal for their new home in Washington, D.C.
2005 In a Capitol Rotunda ceremony, with legislators from the House and Senate and baseball commissioner Bud Selig in attendance, President George W. Bush awards the nation's highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, posthumously to Jackie Robinson's widow. Rachel, the widow of the courageous ballplayer, accepts the award for her late husband, who died in 1972.

2005 With hundreds of Red Sox Nation citizens in attendance on the south lawn, President George W. Bush praises the team spirit and winning style of the 2004 World Champions during a White House ceremony. Fall Classic hero and Bush supporter Curt Schilling gives the former owner of the Texas Rangers a white baseball jersey emblazoned with the forty-third Chief Executive's name and the number 43.

2007 Michael Young signs an $80 million, five-year contract extension offered by the Rangers. The deal, which keeps the three-time All-Star shortstop with Texas through the 2013 season, is the second-largest in franchise history, eclipsed only by the $252 million, 10-year deal Alex Rodriguez free-agent signing in December 2000.
2007 A chartered bus accident at Interstate 75 and Northside Drive in Atlanta kills five Bluffton University baseball players, the driver, and his wife. The players, Zach Arend, David Betts, Scott Harmon, Cody Holp, and Tyler Williams, were en route to Sarasota, Florida, to play a twin bill with Eastern Mennonite University before participating in the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers.
2012 In the first change to the MLB playoff structure since the introduction of wild-card teams in 1995, a new one-game, a wild-card game between the teams with the best records in each league, which are not division winners, will become the initial round of the postseason. The new postseason system, which would have allowed the Red Sox and the Braves to avoid their historical collapses last season, increases the reward of winning a division title but opens the door to the possibility of a third-place team winning the World Series.

2018 Playing in his first baseball game since 2011, when he was in the Colorado Rockies organization, Seahawks' NFL quarterback Russell Wilson, pinch-hitting for right fielder Aaron Judge, strikes out on a 2-2 fastball thrown by Braves' southpaw Max Fried. The Super Bowl-winning QB's (Seahawks, 2014) appearance in the bottom of the fifth inning is a surprise as the Yankees had announced he would not play in a spring training game.
13 Fact(s) Found