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This Day in Baseball History
January 22nd

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22 Fact(s) Found
1913 The Giants agree to share the Polo Grounds with the Highlanders, who will become known as the Yankees. Previously, the American League club played their home games at Hilltop Park, located at 168th Street and Broadway, since 1903, when the franchise shifted from Baltimore to New York.
1953 Argyle R. Mackey warns alien players they will face deportation for not honoring existing U.S. professional contracts. The Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization cites the McCarran-Walter Act as the basis of his decision.
1965

"I've been asked the question many times over the years, all of us have, but I have to say right here and now: Willie was probably the best of us three...just look at the stats." - MICKEY MANTLE, Hall of Fame Yankee outfielder.

Willie Mays, Duke Snider, and Mickey Mantle make their last joint appearance when attending the BBWAA Dinner in New York. 'The Mick' answers who was the best of the legendary Big Apple trio of outfielders, telling the audience, "Willie was probably the best of us three...just look at the stats.

1969 After being traded by the Expos along with outfielder Jesus Alou to the Astros for first baseman/outfielder Rusty Staub, Donn Clendenon threatens to retire, refusing to report to his new team. The Montreal first baseman balks at going to Houston because of a personality conflict with the team's newly hired skipper, Harry Walker, who had managed him with the Pirates.
1976 Right-handers Robin Roberts (86.9%), best known for his work with the Phillies, and Bob Lemon (78.6%), who spent his entire career in an Indians uniform, are elected to the Hall of Fame. Roberts enjoyed six consecutive seasons with 20+ wins with Philadelphia, and Lemon compiled a 207-128 (.618) record and an ERA of 3.23 during his 15 years with the Tribe.
1979 Lindsey Nelson, selected by the expansion Mets as the team's lead announcer in 1962, reveals he will not return to the Mets broadcast booth this season, ending a 17-year partnership with Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy. The colorfully clad Hall of Fame announcer, who will eventually do play-by-play for the Giants, is replaced by Steve Albert, the younger brother of the well-known NBA Knicks and NHL Rangers' broadcaster Marv Albert.

1982 Free agent Reggie Jackson signs a four-year, nearly four-million dollar contract with the Angels, ending his five-year roller coaster ride with the Yankees. During his tenure in New York, the Bronx Bombers appeared four times in the postseason, winning back-to-back World Championships in 1977-78.
1988 Arbitrator T. Roberts declares seven presently contracted players no-risk free agents due to the collusion suit against Major League baseball. The players, who include Kirk Gibson, Carlton Fisk, and Joe Niekro, have until March 1 to make deals with other clubs, but of the seven no-risk free agents, only Gibson shifted teams, signing a three-year deal with the Dodgers worth a total of $4.5 million.

(Ed. Note: The other players declared no-risk free agents were Tom Brookens, Juan Beniquez, Butch Wynegar and Donnie Moore. - LP)

2001

Brian Giles, the first Pirate to bat .300, hit 30 homers, and drive in 100 runs in consecutive seasons, repeats as the Roberto Clemente Award winner. The local award, presented by the Pittsburgh chapter of the BBWAA, is given to the Buc player who best demonstrates a standard of excellence on the field, as exemplified by the team's late outfielder.

2001 Fifty-eight-year-old Tommie Agee, the 1966 American League Rookie of the Year, dies of cardiac arrest in Manhattan. The World Series standout made two memorable catches in center field at Shea Stadium (possibly saving five runs) and homered in the Mets' 5-0 victory over the Orioles in Game 3 of the 1969 Fall Classic.
2003 Free-agent and former Ranger catcher Ivan 'Pudge' Rodriguez (.314, 19, 60) signs a one-year deal worth $10 million to play in his hometown with the Marlins. The Miami resident, a ten-time Gold Glove catcher, replaces Charles Johnson, the team's former backstop traded to the Rockies in the off-season.
2003 The Red Sox sign David Ortiz, recently released by the Twins, to a one-year, $1.75 million contract. After six unremarkable seasons in Minnesota, the 27-year-old DH/first baseman will spend 14 years with Boston, garnering 10 All-Star selections, seven Silver Slugger Awards, and three World Championships and setting a franchise single-season record for home runs with 54 in 2006 en route to becoming a Hall of Famer.

(Ed. Note: In his 2022 Hall Fame induction speech, Big Papi credited his friend and teammate, Pedro Martinez, as the person who convinced the Red Sox to give him a chance. - LP)

2006 When the island's best players meet for an exhibition game, 16-year-old Dayan Viciedo becomes the youngest player in Cuban baseball history selected to an All-Star squad. The Villa Clara prospect, who will ink a four-year, $10 million contract with the Chicago White Sox in 2008, has played shortstop and third base and pitched in international youth competitions for various national teams.
2008 The Mets and outfielder Endy Chavez agree on a $3.85 million, two-year deal. The 29-year-old Venezuelan, who missed most of last season with a hamstring pull, will always be remembered in Mets lore for 'the catch' in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS against the Cardinals.

2009 Jayson Werth, avoiding salary arbitration, agrees to a $10 million, two-year deal with the Phillies. With the departure of free agent Pat Burrell to Tampa Bay, the outfielder becomes the only returning right-handed slugger to the World Champions' lefty-heavy lineup.
2010 A's prospect Grant Desme, selected in the second round of the 2007 MLB June Amateur Draft from California Polytechnic, is retiring from baseball to pursue his calling to be a Catholic priest. In 2009, the 23-year-old minor-league outfielder, recently named the Arizona Fall League's Most Valuable Player, hit .288, with 31 home runs and 89 RBIs, playing Single-A ball with the Kane County Cougars (MWL) and the Stockton Ports (CAL).

2010 The Mets, in need of a center fielder until the return of Carlos Beltran to the lineup in early May, deal 30-year-old right-handed reliever Brian Stokes (2-4, 3.97) to the Angels in exchange for the highly-paid but under-achieving Gary Matthews Jr. (.250, 4, 50). Los Angeles agrees to pay a significant portion of the slumping outfielder's $50 million five-year contract that 'Little Sarge' signed three seasons ago with the Halos.
2010 The Phillies and Shane Victorino (.292, 10, 62) agree on a $22 million, three-year deal. Last season, the 'Flyin' Hawaiian' won his second consecutive Gold Glove roaming center field for the NL champions.

2014 Twenty-five-year-old right-hander Masahiro Tanaka accepts the Yankees' seven-year contract offer for $155 million, the fifth-largest deal ever given to a pitcher. In addition to paying the most substantial sum ever awarded to a Japanese player, New York will also pay an additional $20 million to the Rakuten Golden Eagles, his former team, as part of the new posting agreement between Major League Baseball and teams in Japanese leagues.
2016 The Brewers announces Joe Adcock, who was one vote shy of being elected last year, will be added to the Miller Park Walk of Fame. The former first baseman, who played 10 of his 17 major-league seasons in Milwaukee with the Braves, appeared in 1,207 games with the franchise, including the inaugural County Stadium contest in 1953, when he recorded the first base hit and scored the first run in the history of the ballpark.
2017 Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura and 33-year-old former third baseman Andy Marte, who played for the Braves, Indians, and Diamondbacks, are killed in separate Dominican Republic car crashes. Kansas City will honor their 25-year-old right-hander, a Águilas Cabañas teammate of Marte, by wearing patches that read "ACE 30" on their uniforms during the upcoming season.


2019 The Baseball Writers' Association of America name Mariano Rivera on all 425 ballots, making the Yankee closer the first player unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame. The BBWAA also selects Mariner DH Edgar Martinez, Roy Halladay (Blue Jays, Phillies), and Mike Mussina (Orioles, Yankees), who will join the Veteran's Committee's selection of long-time reliever Lee Smith and outfielder/DH Harold Baines.
22 Fact(s) Found