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This Day in Baseball History
January 11th

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24 Fact(s) Found
1915 Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Colonel Tillinghast L. Huston buy the Yankees from Frank Farrell and Bill Devery for $460,000. After being dissuaded by the press, the brewery owner refrains from naming the team the Knickerbockers to promote his beer business.
1949 Although Milwaukee doesn't have a major league franchise, the site selection for the city's new County Stadium is the Story Stone Quarry, chosen over the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds because of its proximity to downtown. Construction will begin in October of next year to attract a big league team, which will happen in 1953 when the Braves leave Boston to play in Brew Town.
1960 The Phillies send fan-favorite Richie Ashburn, the National League's top hitter in 1958, to the Cubs in exchange for infielders Alvin Dark and Jim Woods, along with right-hander John Buzhardt. 'Whitey,' a future Hall of Famer, will play center field and hit .291 batting leadoff for Chicago this season.
1968 Ewing Kauffman becomes the owner of the new American League franchise in Kansas City, eventually known as the Royals. The pharmaceutical magnate, encouraged by his wife Muriel, becomes instrumental in bringing a quality major league baseball experience to the Heart of America after Charlie Finley's stormy departure to Oakland with the unpopular A's team.
1971 Twenty-seven-year-old Tiger pitcher John Hiller drives himself to the hospital after suffering a heart attack while relaxing at home. After missing the entire season this year, the Canadian native will make a remarkable comeback with the team in 1973, establishing a new American League record with 38 saves en route to becoming Detroit's all-time leader in saves with 125 before retiring at the end of the 1980 season.
1973 The designated hitter rule will be used on a trial basis for three years in the American League when their owners vote 8-4 in favor of its implementation. The concept permitting a team to select a player to bat in place of the pitcher will be put in place in some measure by most collegiate and professional circuits, with the National League and Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League being the notable exceptions.

(Ed Note: The owners that voted in favor of the DH were the eight of the 12 teams that lost money last season. - LP)

NYT American League to Let Pitcher Have a Pinch‐Hitter and Stay In

1973 At the owners' meeting in Chicago, Bowie Kuhn, in addition to introducing the designated hitter and pinch-runner concepts, shares with the press his idea of interleague play as a means for the American League to bridge the gap with its more popular NL rivals. If accepted, the commissioner's limited plan would only affect cities with multiple teams within one geographic area.
1973 After the American League approves the new rule with a vote of 8-4, and the National League vetoes the idea, all 24 owners support the Junior Circuit's three-year experiment to use a designated hitter. Although the DH was his idea, A's owner, Charlie Finley, votes against the concept because of the lack of the owners' enthusiasm for his other brainchild of implementing a designated runner.
1977 The Dodgers swap first baseman/outfielder Bill Buckner and shortstop Ivan DeJesus to the Cubs for Rick Monday in a trade that benefits both teams. In subsequent transactions with the Phillies and Red Sox, respectively, after their many productive seasons in Chicago, the team deals the players for Ryne Sandberg (1982) and Dennis Eckersley (1984), each a future Hall of Famer.
1983 Taking over for Clyde King, Billy Martin will make his third appearance as the Yankees manager. The third time will not be the charm when the fiery skipper is moved to the front office and replaced in the dugout by Yogi Berra before the 1985 season.
2000 The BBWAA elects former Red Sox and White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk and the 'Big Red Machine's first baseman Tony Perez to the Hall of Fame. 'Pudge' is selected in his second year of eligibility, and the Reds infielder from Cuba makes it on his ninth try.
2001 David Cone agrees to a one-year contract with the Red Sox. The former Cy Young Award winner could make between $4 million and $5 million with Boston, compared to the $500,000 guaranteed offer made by the Yankees, if he makes the roster and pitches regularly during the season.
2002 The Orioles, after a one-year experiment, plan to return Camden Yards to its original dimensions. The team, which hit only 58 homers at home, 44 less than in the previous season, said the fences are returning to their initial distances because the new configuration "adversely affected the viewing angle of the batter's eye."
2005 The Diamondbacks trade recently acquired catcher Dioner Navarro and hurlers William Juarez, Danny Muegge, and Beltran Perez to the Dodgers for 32-year-old outfielder Shawn Green (.266, 28, 86). To rebound from last season's 51-111 record, Arizona has also signed free-agent third baseman Troy Glaus and starting pitcher Russ Ortiz during the offseason.
2006 🇯🇵 The Devil Rays sign their first Japanese player when 31-year-old right-handed relief pitcher Shinji Mori agrees to a $1.4 million, two-year contract to play in Tampa Bay. The former Seibu Lion reliever was 44-44 with 50 saves and a 3.39 ERA, playing in 431 games during his tenure in Japan's Pacific League.
2008 Jacobs Field, the home of the Indians since 1994, will now be called Progressive Field. The Tribe signs a 16-year naming rights agreement with the Cleveland-based insurance company calling for an average annual payment of $3.6 million until 2023.
2008 The Reds hire Walt Jocketty as a special adviser to the chief executive Bob Castellini. The former Cardinals GM, who spent 13 seasons in the St. Louis front office, left after the Redbirds slumped to a third-place finish (78-84), one year removed from winning a World Championship.
2010 Mark McGwire, who broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record in 1998, apologizes for his decade-long on-and-off use of performance-enhancing substances that started before the 1990 season. The former St. Louis and Oakland slugger had been in a self-imposed exile since repeatedly telling a congressional committee in 2005, "I'm not here to talk about the past," a remark which seriously hurt his popularity and irrevocably damaged his reputation.

2010 Former pitching great Greg Maddux, who started his major league career with the Cubs in 1986, returns to the team as an assistant to general manager Jim Hendry. A sure first-ballot Hall of Famer, the 355-game winner's duties will include
  • Assisting the major league and minor league coaching staffs at spring training.
  • Evaluating talent.
  • Developing minor league players.
2010 With aspirations of being the Cubs manager someday, Ryne Sandberg agrees to be the skipper of the team's Triple-A Iowa farm club, replacing Bobby Dickerson, who left for a position with Baltimore. The 50-year-old Hall of Fame infielder has been managing in the Chicago farm system for the past three seasons, two with the Single-A Peoria Chiefs and one year with the Double-A Tennessee Smokies.
2010 Reds general manager Walt Jocketty announces the struggling organization has signed starting pitcher Aroldis Chapman to a $30.25 million, six-year contract. Cincinnati was the winning bidder for the services of the 21-year-old southpaw fireballer from Cuba, who defected from his country last July while playing in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
2013 Wearing a Cubs jersey and a backward blue baseball cap, Clark, the team's new mascot, makes his debut at Chicago's Advocate Illinois Masonic's Pediatric Developmental Center. Clark the Cub, named after the street located behind Wrigley Field's home plate, is being touted as the great-grandson of the franchise's first mascot, Joa, a live bear used as a good luck charm in 1916, nine years after the franchise officially adopted Cubs as the team's name.

2014 Upon hearing Alex Rodriguez's doping suspension appeal, Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz reduces baseball's highest-paid player's expulsion from 211 games to the 162 games scheduled in the 2014 regular season and any resulting postseason contests. The ruling, which keeps the suspension the longest in baseball history for using performance-enhancing substances, may mark the end of the 38-year-old Yankee third baseman's career.
2022 The Yankees announce that Rachel Balkovec will manage the Tampa Tarpons, the team's Low-A affiliate in the Florida State League, becoming the first full-time female manager in the history of affiliated baseball. In November 2019, the 34-year-old joined the organization as a minor league hitting coach after spending time with farm teams of the Astros and Cardinals as a strength and conditioning coordinator.
24 Fact(s) Found