| << Yesterday | This Day in Baseball History |
Tomorrow>> |
30 Fact(s) Found
| 1919 | Former major league right-hander Clark Griffith, who owns 19% of the Senators, becomes a club owner when he joins forces with Philadelphia grain broker William Richardson, who purchased 40% of the franchise. The two quickly agree, allowing Griffith to vote for Richardson's shares, assuring his election as the team president. |
| 1948 |
The White Sox acquire left-hander Billy Pierce and $10,000 from the Tigers for All-Star catcher Aaron Robinson. The 21-year-old southpaw will win 186 games with two 20-win seasons and four one-hitters during his 13-year tenure with the Windy City club, while the All-Star backstop will play less than three seasons in the Motor City.
(Ed. Note: This is Frank Lane's first deal as the team's new general manager, but not his last. The baseball executive, who will become known as Trader Lane, makes over 400 trades over his 20-year career, including 241 with the White Sox.- LP) |
| 1950 | Amidst much public protest, the Indians fire their popular player-manager Lou Boudreau, who had spent 12 years with the Tribe, including the last nine as the team's skipper. Indianapolis minor league manager Al Lopez replaces the surprised Harvey (IL) native, who compiled a modest .529 winning percentage (728-649). |
| 1950 | Seventeen months after nearly being mortally wounded by an obsessed fan's rifle shot to the chest, Eddie Waitkus is named the Comeback Player of the Year by the Associated Press. The Phillies' infielder hit .284 this season and remains one of the best fielding first basemen in the league. |
| 1961 |
In addition to purchasing 100,000 tickets to the new National League's team games, the Rheingold Brewery agrees to pay six million dollars for the radio and television rights to 126 Mets games per year for five years. The largest deal of its kind is approximately double the cost of the franchise and all its first-season players.
 |
| 1964 |
The Braves sign a twenty-five-year lease to play in the newly constructed Atlanta Stadium and will continue to play there until the team moves next door to Turner Field in 1997. The ballpark, officially known as Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975, will affectionately be called the 'Launching Pad,' reflecting the ease with which players hit home runs due to its location at 1,000 feet above sea level on the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
|
| 1965 | The BBWAA select Giants outfielder Willie Mays as the National League's Most Valuable Player over Dodger southpaw Sandy Koufax, the winner of 26 games with an ERA of 2.04, while striking out 382 batters to establish a modern major-league mark. The 34-year-old San Francisco slugger batted .312, led the circuit with 52 home runs, and collected 112 RBI for his second-place club. |
| 1975 | The Royals release Harmon Killebrew, ending his 22-year Hall of Fame career. The 39-year-old slugger, best known for his 21 seasons with the Twins, hit 573 home runs, leading the league on six occasions and good for fifth place on the all-time list. |
| 1978 |
"Sparky Lyle went from Cy Young to Sayonara." - GRAIG NETTLES, commenting on the trade that sent Yankee teammate Sparky Lyle to the Rangers. In a trade involving ten players, the Yankees swap southpaw Sparky Lyle, the 1977 Cy Young Award recipient, and $400,000 to the Rangers for 19-year-old Dave Righetti. Their teenage lefty, who will toss a July 4th no-hitter in 1983, spends 11 seasons with the Bronx Bombers, compiling a 74-61 (.548) record and saving 224 games for the team. |
| 1987 |
In the closest voting in the history of the National League Cy Young Award, Phillies' closer Steve Bedrosian narrowly edges Cubs right-hander Rick Sutcliffe by two points (57-55) to cop the prestigious pitching prize. 'Bedrock' is the third reliever in the National League, joining Mike Marshall (Dodgers, 1974) and Bruce Sutter (Cubs, 1979) in accomplishing the feat.
  BaseballReference |
| 1988 | Dodgers' hurler Orel Hershiser (23-8, 2.26) becomes the ninth pitcher in National League history to win the Cy Young Award unanimously when receiving twenty-four first-place votes from the sportswriters. The 29-year-old right-hander, known as the 'Bulldog' to his teammates, becomes the only player to win the Cy Young Award, the NLCS MVP Award, and the World Series MVP Award in the same season. |
| 1992 | In a secret ballot requiring ten votes for approval, the National League club owners vote, 9-4, against allowing San Francisco owner Bob Lurie to sell the Giants for $115 million to a group from the Tampa Bay Area, which deals the region its seventh setback in seven attempts to attract a major league club. An affirmative vote would have resulted in the franchise playing at the Florida Suncoast Dome in St. Petersburg starting next season. |
| 2003 | Dontrelle Willis (14-6, 3.30), the only player in either league to be listed on every ballot, wins the National League Rookie of the Year award. The 21-year-old Marlins starter is named first on 17 of the 32 ballots cast by the writers, with Brewer outfielder Scott Podsednik (8) and Diamondback right-hander Brandon Webb (7) receiving the other first-place votes. |
| 2004 |
The Red Sox induct Bill Carrigan, skipper of the 1915-16 World Series champion teams, infielders Billy Goodman (1947-57) and Pete Runnels (1958-62), southpaw Bruce Hurst (1980-88), Pawtucket Red Sox owner Ben Mondor, and former GM Haywood Sullivan into the team's Hall of Fame. Also enshrined for their contributions are Cooperstown Hall of Famers Wade Boggs (1982-92), Jimmy Collins (1901-07), and right-hander Dennis Eckersley (1978-84).
|
| 2004 | After piloting the third-place Rangers (89-73) to an 18-game improvement from the previous season, Buck Showalter wins his second American League Manager of the Year Award. The former Yankee manager also copped the honor in 1994, guiding the Bronx Bombers to a first-place finish in the strike-shorten season with a 70-43 (.619) record. |
| 2004 | The BBWAA selects 63-year-old Bobby Cox as the National League Manager of the Year. Although the team lost Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield, Javy Lopez, and Vinny Castilla to free agency, the Braves (96-66) still captured their 13th straight and unexpected division flag, finishing ten games in front of the Phillies before bowing to the Astros in the NLDS. |
| 2005 | The Baseball Writers' Association of America elects Chris Carpenter (21-5, 2.83)as the National League's Cy Young Award winner. The Cardinal right-hander, sidelined with injuries during the past two seasons, outpoints Marlins southpaw Dontrelle Willis (22-10, 2.63), becoming the first Redbird to cop the honor since the selection of Bob Gibson in 1970. |
| 2006 | In the offseason's first big move, the Tigers trade three talented pitching prospects, Humberto Sanchez, Kevin Whelan, and Anthony Claggett, to the Yankees for Gary Sheffield. The deal, which includes a two-year, $28 million contract extension through 2009, reunites the outfield slugger with his 1997 World Series champion Marlins general manager (Dave Dombrowski) and field manager (Jim Leyland). |
| 2008 | Evan Longoria (.272, 27, 85), the unanimous choice of the BBWAA with all 28 first-place votes, wins the American League Rookie of the Year award. The Rays' 23-year-old slugging third baseman becomes the first player in the franchise's 11-year history to win a major postseason award. |
| 2008 | Cubs' freshman Geovany Soto (.285, 23, 86), garnering 31 of 32 first-place votes, wins the National League Rookie of the Year award. The 25-year-old catcher becomes the first backstop selected since Mike Piazza won the freshman honor while playing for the Dodgers in 1993. |
| 2010 | The A's acquire David DeJesus from the Royals for right-hander Vin Mazzaro and minor league southpaw prospect Justin Marks. The 30-year-old corner outfielder missed the season's last two months due to surgery on his right thumb. |
| 2010 | For the first time since the glory days of the 'Big Red Machine,' Cincinnati lands more than one Gold Glove winner, with third baseman Scott Rolen, second baseman Brandon Phillips, and pitcher Bronson Arroyo all recognized for their fielding prowess. Starting in 1974, for four consecutive seasons, the managers and coaches routinely selected catcher Johnny Bench, second baseman Joe Morgan, shortstop Dave Concepcion, and center fielder Cesar Geronimo as the top defensive players in their positions. |
| 2010 |
At the age of 75, legendary Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus, best known for trademark calls of "My Oh My" and "It will fly away," dies at his home after suffering a heart attack. The 2008 Ford C. Frick Award recipient and Seattle's only representative in the National Baseball Hall of Fame called all but 101 of the 5,385 games for 34 seasons that the team has played, including the first pitch in franchise history thrown by Diego Segui in 1977.
|
| 2012 | The Nationals announce that Davey Johnson will return as the team's manager for one more season. The 69-year-old skipper, who led Washington to their first NL East title with a franchise-high 98 victories, will become a consultant for the club in 2014. |
| 2012 |
 R.A. Dickey receives the 21st annual Rotary Club of Denver's Branch Rickey Award, an honor given to just one of the 30 nominees selected from each major league team for their humanitarian service off the field. Before the start of the season, the Mets' 38-year-old knuckleballer climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, helping to raise more than $100,000 to support the Bombay Teen organization in their effort to rescue young women from forced prostitution in India.
|
| 2014 | Jose Abreu (.317, 36, 107), receiving all 30 first-place votes cast by the BBWAA, is unanimously named the American League Rookie of the Year. The 27-year-old first baseman joins Ozzie Guillen (1985), Ron Kittle (1983), Tommie Agee (1966), Gary Peters (1963), and Luis Aparicio (1956) as the sixth White Sox player to win the prestigious freshman award since its inception in 1947. |
| 2020 | Baseball Writers' Association of America select Kevin Cash as the AL's Manager of the Year after he guided the Rays to a first-place finish in the East, compiling the circuit's best record (40-20) in the COVID-shortened season. The 42-year-old skipper, in his sixth season in Tampa, led the franchise to its second World Series appearance, knocking off the Yankees and Astros out of the playoffs before losing the Fall Classic in six games to the Dodgers. |
| 2020 | The Baseball Writers' Association of America unanimously selects Mariners' center fielder Kyle Lewis as the American League's Rookie of the Year. The 25-year-old, Seattle's first-round pick in 2016, led the team in batting average (.262), on-base percentage (.364), and homers (11) in the covid-shorten sixty-game season. |
| 2020 | The writers, casting 14 of 30 first-place votes, select Brewers right-handed reliever Devin Williams as the National League's Rookie of the Year, with infielders Alec Bohm of the Phillies and the Padres' Jake Cronenworth tied for second place for the freshman honor. The 26-year-old Missourian, the second-round draft pick by Milwaukee in 2013, posted a 0.33 ERA, allowed four runs (one earned), and gave up eight hits while striking out 53 of the 100 batters he faced in 27 innings he pitched. |
| 2020 | The writers select Don Mattingly as the National League's Manager of the Year after he guides Miami to their first playoff appearance since the team won the World Series in 2003. Joining Jack McKeon (2003) and Joe Girardi (2006), the 59-year-old veteran skipper becomes the third Marlins skipper to receive the honor and the fifth person to win both an MVP award (1985) and named Manager of the Year |
30 Fact(s) Found