<< Yesterday

This Day in Baseball History
January 12th

Tomorrow>>
14 Fact(s) Found
1920 The owners finally adopted Charles Ebbets' plan of selecting minor league players at the annual draft in the inverse order of the final standings. The Dodgers' owner, an advocate of this type of selection for many years, believes giving losing teams the initial picks will maintain a competitive balance.
1961 The Cubs name Charlie Grimm and Rube Walker to the team's college of coaches, which calls for a different coach to manage the team during each month of the season. The Cubs will finish with a 64-90 record, a slight improvement over the previous year; however, the team will post the worst mark (59-103) in franchise history next season, finishing in ninth place, six games behind the new Houston club in the expanded National League.
1972 Tigers' owner John Fetzer makes a surprise announcement that the team has signed a 40-year lease to build a multi-sport stadium west of Cobo Hall along the Detroit River. The $126 million proposal for the downtown 54,000-seat domed complex will never completed due to a lack of funding and the construction of the Silverdome in nearby Pontiac (MI).
1981 Gaylord Perry, eleven victories shy of 300 career wins, signs a one-year contract with Atlanta valued at $300,000. The 42-year-old future Hall of Famer will compile an 8-9 record while posting a 3.96 ERA for the fifth-place Braves.
1983 Orioles legend and perennial Gold Glover Brooks Robinson becomes the 14th player elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. The BBWAA also selects, in his third year of being on the ballot, right-hander Juan Marichal, the former ace of the Giants and the all-time winningest pitcher from Latin America with 243 victories.
1988 Willie Stargell (82.4%), who played his 21-year career with the Pirates, is the only person elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. Nine writers, protesting the reduction of standards needed for enshrinement, submit blank ballots, denying Jim Bunning (74.2%) entrance to Cooperstown because he receives less than the 75 percent required for induction due to all the votes, including those that do not name any players, tallied for the election.
1994 In his first year on the ballot, Steve Carlton, garnering 95.6% of the writers' votes, is the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA. 'Lefty,' a 24-year veteran best known for his 15 seasons with the Phillies, won 329 games and collected four National League Cy Young Awards (1972, 1977, 1980, 1982).

1999 An anonymous bidder purchases the historic 70th home run ball hit by Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire on his final swing on the season's final day. The $3.05 million price tag far surpasses the previous record for a baseball, topping last year's bid of $126,500 to obtain the ball Babe Ruth hit for the first home run at Yankee Stadium. (Ed. Note: In 2003, Todd McFarlane paid $450,000 plus fees at the Lelands.com Auction for Barry Bonds' record-breaking 73rd home run baseball.)

2005 At a Dodger Stadium news conference, general manager Paul DePodesta announces the team has signed right-hander Derek Lowe (14-12, 5.42) to a $36 million, four-year deal. The former Red Sox starter, who has the second-most wins during the past three seasons, is the first pitcher to win the deciding game in all three postseason series.
2005 Avoiding salary arbitration, Paul Lo Duca (.286, 13, 80) signs a three-year, $18 million deal to remain with the Marlins. The catcher was acquired by Florida, along with relief pitcher Guillermo Mota and outfielder Juan Encarnacion, in a trading deadline blockbuster swap that sent starter Brad Penny, first baseman Hee Seop Choi, and southpaw prospect Bill Murphy to the Dodgers.
2008 According to reports, the Brewers and free agent Mike Cameron (.242, 21, 78) have agreed on a $7 million, one-year deal contingent upon the outfielder passing a physical. The 34-year-old former Padres center fielder will miss the first 25 games of the season with the Brew Crew due to testing positive for a banned substance for the second time.
2009 Rickey Henderson, in his first year of eligibility, and Jim Rice, in his final year on the ballot, are elected to the Hall of Fame. Henderson, who will enter the Cooperstown shrine as a member of the A's, is the game's all-time stolen base leader, with Rice compiling a .298 lifetime batting average during his 16-year career with the Red Sox, considered a dominant player of his era.
2010 The Marlins and the major league players' union reach an understanding in which the team agrees to increase its payroll, an arrangement ending in 2012 with the debut of Florida's new ballpark. The small amount the club spends on paying its players violates the collective bargaining agreement's revenue-sharing provisions.
2012 The MLB owners vote to give Commissioner Bud Selig a two-year contract extension, a deal that will keep him in the post until the end of 2014. The owners appointed the 77-year-old executive as an interim in September 1992, and he became the game's ninth commissioner upon his election six years later.
14 Fact(s) Found