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This Day in Baseball History
December 15th

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32 Fact(s) Found
1896 In front of the Princeton baseball team and a large crowd of undergraduates, the first pitching machine, created by the university's professor Charles E. Hinton, is demonstrated in the school's gymnasium. The mathematics instructor's invention, which resembles a rifle shooting the ball at varying speeds toward the batter, leads to his dismissal after the gunpowder-powered device injures several baseball players.


The Baltimore Sun, December 16, 1896
1900 The Giants trade Amos Rusie, a veteran pitcher who hasn't played since 1898 but won 20+ games each season during his eight years with the team, to the Reds for Christy Mathewson. 'Matty,' a future Hall of Famer, will post a 373-188 record and becomes a legend during his 17-year tenure in New York.
1910 During a five-hour session at the Hotel Breslin in New York, National League president Tom Lynch informs the owners that umpires will be required to take a 'severe' eye test before the start of the season. As a result of the decree, any arbitrator with defective eyesight will no longer work.
1912 The Cubs trade Joe Tinker with Harry Chapman and Grover Lowdermilk to the Reds for Red Corriden, Bert Humphries, Pete Knisely, Mike Mitchell, and Art Phelan. The former Chicago shortstop, immortalized in 1910 by Franklin Pierce Adams' baseball poem "Tinker to Evers to Chance," will serve as the player-manager for Cincinnati next season.
1920 Brooklyn trades Rube Marquard to the Reds for Dutch Ruether. The Robin's southpaw fell in displeasure with the team after being arrested in a Cleveland hotel lobby before Game 4 for scalping World Series tickets worth $52.80 for $400 to a city police detective.
1948 The Dodgers trade the much-heralded but injury-prone Pete Reiser to the Braves for outfielder Myron McCormick. 'Pistol Pete' will play only 137 games during his two years in Boston.
1959 Frank Lane replaces Hank Greenberg as the Indians' general manager. 'Trader Lane,' who has made 60 separate deals since December 2, 1957, lives up to his well-deserved nickname when, just before Opening Day, he sends the Tribe's very popular Rocky Colavito to Detroit for batting AL champ Harvey Kuenn.
1960 After negotiations with Gene Conley failed to convince the right-hander to quit the NBA, the Phillies send the Celtics forward to the Red Sox. The 6-foot-8-inch hurler called the move the "biggest trade in baseball" when exchanged for Frank Sullivan, known as the Boston Skyscraper due to his 6-foot-6-inch stature.
1960 The lowly Reds obtain two players in separate deals, who will play critical roles in the club's National League pennant next season, sending shortstop Roy McMillan to the Braves for Juan Pizarro and Joey Jay, a 21-game winner for his new team. Cincinnati will package Pizarro and Cal McLish to obtain Gene Freese, the White Sox's third baseman, who will hit 26 home runs and drive in 87 runs for the NL champs.
1967 The Mets obtain Tommie Agee, the 1966 Rookie of the Year, and utility infielder Al Weis from the White Sox in exchange for Buddy Booker, Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, and Billy Wynne. New York's newest additions will play a pivotal role in the team's 1969 World Championship season.
1974 Arbitrator Peter Seitz rules in favor of Catfish Hunter in the dispute between the Cy Young winner and the A's owner, Charlie Finley. The decision makes the right-hander a desirable unrestricted free agent, ushering in a new era in the owners' relationship with their players.
1980 Dave Winfield (.276, 20, 87) becomes the highest-paid professional athlete when he agrees to a ten-year free-agent deal with the Yankees worth a record $16 million. Reggie Jackson (.300, 41, 111), who heartily endorsed the signing when asked his opinion by owner George Steinbrenner, will not be offered an extended contract when he becomes a 34-year-old free agent at the end of the season because of his age.
1981 The Yankees and Ron Guidry agree to a four-year, $3.6 million deal keeping the free agent in New York. During the length of the contract, 'Gator' will average nearly 17 wins a season.
1995 The Ted Williams Tunnel, the third in the city to travel under Boston Harbor, opens with the 77-year-old Splendid Splinter leading the way across the $1.9 billion, 8,500-foot-long roadway. The TWT, at first open for only authorized commercial traffic and later non-commercial traffic on weekends and holidays, will be available to all traffic at all times in 2003, with the substantial completion of the I-90 portion of the Big Dig completed.
2000 In their third free agent signing in the last eight days, the Red Sox come to terms with pitcher Hideo Nomo. The 32-year-old right-hander, who will lead the league in strikeouts (220) and walks (96) in his only season with Boston, agrees to a one-year deal worth 4.5 million dollars.
2001 The Mariners acquire 32-year-old two-time All-Star third baseman Jeff Cirillo (.312, 17, 83) from the Rockies in exchange for reliever Jose Paniagua and minor leaguers Dennis Stark and Brian Fuentes.
2002 With the threat of losing their heavy-hitting second baseman, Jeff Kent, the Giants sign former All-Star free agent Edgardo Alfonzo (.308, 16, 56) to a four-year deal. The 29-year-old infielder named the Mets' All-time second baseman in August was not tendered arbitration after turning down several contract proposals from the team.
2004 After an injury-shortened season with the Diamondbacks, Richie Sexson (.233, 9, 23) agrees to a $50 million, four-year deal with the Mariners. The 29-year-old free-agent first baseman will reunite with Seattle's new manager, Mike Hargrove, his former skipper in Cleveland from 1997 to 2000.
2004 After offering a four-year deal worth approximately $53 million, the Mets announce the club has come to terms with Pedro Martinez (16-9, 3.90 ERA). The former Red Sox ace, who posted a 117-37 record in seven seasons with Boston, criticizes his former team for not being more aggressive in retaining his services.
2004 MLB suspends all sales of the team's merchandise and tickets after the District of Columbia Council voted to require private financing for at least half of the Nationals' new ballpark's construction costs. The decision may make any item with the National League's latest logo quite a collector's item.
2006
2006 The late Buck O'Neil, who passed away in October, is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously by President George W. Bush for his "excellence and determination both on and off the baseball field." Accepting the country's highest civilian honor on behalf of the Negro league baseball legend is his 91-year-old brother, Warren.

2007 Joining his close friend Takashi Saito, right-hander Hiroki Kuroda agrees to a three-year, $35.2 million free-agent deal to pitch for the Dodgers. The 33-year-old native of Osaka compiled a 103-89 record, posting a 3.69 ERA in the Japanese Central League during the past 11 seasons playing with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.
2008 In possibly the richest contract ever offered to an older player, 46-year-old Jamie Moyer (16-7, 3.71) signs a $13 million, two-year deal to stay with the World Champion Phillies. In his last outing, the southpaw pitched six strong innings against Tampa Bay in Game 3 of the World Series.
2008 The Tigers improve their infield defense, signing Adam Everett to a one-year contract reportedly worth $1 million to replace the recently departed Edgar Renteria, who signed a free-agent deal with the Giants. The light-hitting infielder, formerly with Minnesota, is one of the better defensive shortstops in baseball and will improve upon the 16 errors made at that position last season.
2009 Adam Lind wins the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. The Blue Jays outfielder batted .299, slugged 21 homers, and collected 74 RBIs while appearing as a DH in 95 games for Toronto.
2009 Bud Selig establishes a committee composed of managers and longtime executives to explore "on-field matters," which the baseball commissioner will chair. The 15-member panel includes four owner representatives - Paul Beeston (Blue Jays), Dave Montgomery (Phillies), Chuck Armstrong (Mariners), and Bill DeWitt (Cardinals), three current managers - Tony La Russa (Cardinals), Jim Leyland (Rockies), and Joe Torre (Dodgers) along with Mike Scioscia (Angels), Orioles president for baseball operations Andy MacPhail, Indians GM Mark Shapiro, Braves president John Schuerholz, former Twins GM Terry Ryan, political columnist George Will, and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson.
2011 The Twins' signing of former Oakland left fielder Josh Willingham (.246, 29, 98) to a three-year deal worth $21 million makes it unlikely the team will try to ink their free-agent outfielders. Minnesota plans to fill the vacancies of the probable departure of Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel with fleet flycatchers Denard Span and Ben Revere.
2014 The Cubs and Jon Lester have terms on a $155 million contract to keep the 30-year-old southpaw in Chicago for six years. The deal, which includes a record $30 million signing bonus, makes the former Red Sox and A's ace the second-highest-paid pitcher in baseball history, behind only Clayton Kershaw, who inked a $30.7 million pact with the Dodgers.
2015 Major League Baseball's goodwill tour to Cuba, the first official MLB visit since 1999, opens with a news conference at Havana's Hotel Nacional. Players participating in the four days of children's clinics and charitable events include White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu and Dodger outfielder Yasiel Puig, both defectors from the island nation to the United States to play baseball.

2016 The Giants make the final payment on AT&T Park, 17 years after playing their first game in the new ballpark in the China Basin. The team's $357 million home, originally known as Pacific Bell Park when the gates opened in 2000, was built by HOK Sport.
2019 At FunCity Turf in Burlington (IA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) takes batting practice after meeting with representatives from three Iowa-based teams: the Quad City River Bandits, the Clinton LumberKings and the town's local club, the Bees. The 78-year-old Democratic presidential candidate vehemently opposes Major League Baseball's plan to eliminate 42 minor league teams nationwide after 2020, including the Vermont Lake Monsters, the Single-A affiliate of the A's in his hometown of Burlington (VT).
32 Fact(s) Found