December 16
From BR Bullpen
| Stats of players who were born this day | |
| Stats of players who died on this day | |
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| Today in Baseball History | |
Events, births and deaths that occurred on December 16.
[edit] Events
- 1889 - The PL is formally organized with Colonel E.A. McAlpin of New York as president. The league will not allow player transfers without the player's consent, excess profits will be split between the capitalists and the players, and prize money will be awarded to the teams in the order of their finish.
- 1905 - The Cubs trade OF Jack McCarthy and Billy Maloney, 3B Doc Casey, and pitcher Buttons Briggs to Brooklyn for Jimmy Sheckard, who will take over LF for the National League champions of the next three years.
- 1922 - The Eastern Colored League (chartered as the Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Baseball Clubs) is formally organized. The league will complete five seasons before folding in midsummer of 1928.
- 1926 - Judge Landis is given a new 7-year term as commissioner with a raise to $65,000.
- 1938 - The Braves trade catcher Ray Mueller to the Pirates for Al Todt and Johnny Dickshot.
- 1940 - The White Sox ship P Jack Knott to the A's for INF Dario Lodigiani.
- 1953 - In a ten-player trade, the Yankees send 1B Vic Power, infielders Jimmy Finigan and Don Bollweg, OF Bill Renna, C Jim Robertson, and P John Gray to the A's. Philadelphia packs veteran 1B Eddie Robinson, Loren Babe, P Harry Byrd, and outfielders Tom Hamilton and Carmen Mauro to New York. Byrd, who won 26 games in two years for the A's, will never match his wins in New York. The stylish Power, the American Association batting leader in 1953, will win seven Gold Gloves and make the All-Star team four times.
- 1957 - The Reds land their 5th pitcher of the month when they acquire Harvey Haddix from the Phillies for OF Wally Post. A week ago they swapped pitchers with the Pirates, picking up veteran Bob Purkey for Don Gross.
- 1975 - Bill Veeck gets back into baseball by heading a group which buys 80% of the White Sox from John Allyn.
- 1976 - Court proceedings in Charlie Finley's $10 million damage suit against Commissioner Kuhn begin in Chicago. At issue is Kuhn's voiding of Finley's attempted player sales in June. The proceedings will take 15 days, and the decision will take three months.
- 1976 - The Reds swap popular 1B Tony Perez and P Will McEnaney to the Expos for pitchers Woodie Fryman and Dale Murray.
- 1976 - Reds' first baseman Tony Perez and pitcher Will McEnaney are traded to the Expos for pitchers Woody Fryman and Dale Murray.
- 1982 - Tom Seaver's trade back to the New York from the Reds is completed when 'Tom Terrific' comes to contract terms with the Mets. Cincinnati obtains pitcher Charlie Puleo and two minor leaguers in exchange for the 'Franchise'.
- 1982 - Tom Seaver agrees to a new contract with the Mets, completing a trade that sends him back to New York from Cincinnati. The Reds receive pitcher Charlie Puleo and minor leaguers Lloyd McClendon and Jason Felice for the 3-time Cy Young Award winner, who was 5-13 with a 5.50 ERA in 1982. Seaver will surprise the Reds by winning 47 more games before hanging it up in 1986.
- 1983 - Replacing Billy Martin (91-71, third place), Yogi Berra is hired for the second time to manage the Yankees.
- 1983 - George Steinbrenner fires Billy Martin as manager of the Yankees for the 3rd time, replacing him with Yogi Berra and giving Martin a front-office job.
- 1991 - The Marlins sign their first player ever-16 year old Clemente Nunez.
- 1992 - Dusty Baker, 44, is selected replace Roger Craig in the dugout as manager of the Giants. During his ten-year tenure, the former hitting coach will compile a 840-715(.540) record and will be named the National League Manager of the Year three times.
- 1992 - The Giants name Dusty Baker as manager to replace Roger Craig.
- 1992 - The Marlins sign free agent C Benito Santiago to a 2-year contract. Santiago, who went 272 games with the Padres without a passed ball, will have 11 this year trying to catch Charlie Hough.
- 1996 - The Tigers trade 2B Mark Lewis to the Giants for 1B Jesse Ibarra.
- 1996 - The Rangers sign free agent P John Wetteland to a 4-year contract worth $23 million. Wetteland had 43 saves for the Yankees this year.
- 1998 - The Athletics sign free agent C Mike Macfarlane.
- 1999 - The Brewers sign free agent IF Jose Hernandez to a 3-year contract.
- 1999 - The Cardinals sign free agent C Mike Matheny to a contract.
- 1999 - The Indians sign free agent P Chuck Finley to a 3-year contract.
- 2001 - Giant southpaw Shawn Estes (9-8, 4.02) is traded to the Mets for outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo (.267, 10, 56) and utility man Desi Relaford (.302, 8, 36).
- 2001 - The Red Sox acquire P Dustin Hermanson from the Cardinals in exchange for three minor leaguers"”OF Rick Asadoorian and 1Bs Luis Garcia and Dustin Brisson.
- 2001 - The busy Mets make another deal, obtaining P Shawn Estes from the Giants in exchange for OF Tsuyoshi Shinjo and now expendable infielder Desi Relaford. They also sign free agent P Pedro Astacio, suffering from a torn labrum, to a one year contract worth $5 million.
- 2002 - After being invited to the Dominican Republic by President Hipolito Mejia, Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh meets one his favorite players, island resident Sammy Sosa. The Dominican outfielder, who is one homer shy of the coveted 500, will have to hit several hundred more to reach the mark of 868 set by the 62-year old during his 22 seasons playing for the Yomiuri Giants.
- 2002 - After declining the $4.6 million two-year December 7 contract offer by the Yankees, which he only had 15 minutes to consider, Mike Stanton (7-1, 3.00, 6 saves) still decides to stay in town by, agreeing to a $9 million, three-year, no trade contract with the cross-town rival Mets. The All-Star reliever wasn't offered salary arbitration by the Bronx Bombers after he failed to respond to their ultimatum.
- 2002 - The Orioles sign free agent SS Deivi Cruz to a contract.
- 2002 - The Padres sign free agent IF Mark Loretta to a contract.
- 2002 - The Ortizes move. The Twins released 1B David Ortiz yesterday and today the Giants trade P Russ Ortiz to the Braves for P Damian Moss and minor league P Manuel Mateo.
- 2002 - The Mets agree to terms on a 3-year contract with free agent P Mike Stanton.
- 2002 - The Cardinals sign free agent C Joe Girardi to a contract.
- 2002 - The Braves obtain P Ray King from the Brewers in exchange for IF Wes Helms and P John Foster.
- 2003 - Miguel Tejada agrees to a six-year $72 million contract with the Orioles making it the largest deal in the history of the franchise. The shortstop batted .287 with 27 home runs while driving in 106 runs last season for the western division champions Oakland A's.
[edit] Births
- 1856 - Pete Hotaling, outfielder (d. 1928)
- 1876 - Fred Crolius, outfielder (d. 1960)
- 1876 - Sammy Strang, infielder (d. 1932)
- 1879 - Jack Barnett, outfielder (d. 1923)
- 1884 - Charlie Girard, pitcher (d. 1936)
- 1886 - Bill Otey, pitcher (d. 1931)
- 1891 - Fred Tyler, catcher (d. 1945)
- 1892 - Scrappy Moore, infielder (d. 1964)
- 1897 - Fred Wigington, pitcher (d. 1980)
- 1898 - Dee Cousineau, catcher (d. 1951)
- 1898 - Frank Shellenback, pitcher (d. 1969)
- 1900 - Tony Kaufmann, pitcher (d. 1982)
- 1901 - Hugh McMullen, catcher (d. 1986)
- 1904 - Joe Berry, pitcher (d. 1958)
- 1908 - Emil Mailho, outfielder (d. 2007)
- 1917 - Jim Pruett, catcher (d. 2003)
- 1928 - Doug Hansen, pinch runner (d. 1999)
- 1931 - Neil Chrisley, outfielder
- 1934 - Jim Bailey, pitcher
- 1936 - Duane Richards, pitcher
- 1941 - Adolfo Phillips, outfielder
- 1948 - Terry Bongiovanni, minor league pitcher
- 1951 - Mike Flanagan, pitcher; All-Star
- 1952 - Tommy Bianco, infielder
- 1956 - Rick Sofield, outfielder
- 1957 - Tom Gorman, pitcher
- 1958 - Rondin Johnson, infielder
- 1958 - Ted Wilborn, outfielder
- 1959 - Paul Noce, infielder
- 1963 - Chris Jelic, outfielder
- 1964 - Billy Ripken, infielder
- 1965 - Randy Hennis, pitcher
- 1965 - Chris Jones, outfielder
- 1969 - Jason Wood, infielder
- 1971 - Jeff Granger, pitcher
- 1972 - Charles Gipson, outfielder
- 1976 - Matt Kinney, pitcher
- 1980 - Josh Hall, pitcher
- 1982 - Ivan Ochoa, infielder
- 1983 - Kevin Dixon, minor league player
- 1986 - Alcides Escobar, infielder
[edit] Deaths
- 1899 - Fred Waterman, infielder (b. 1845)
- 1902 - Frank Buttery, outfielder (b. 1851)
- 1915 - John Hofford, pitcher (b. 1863)
- 1920 - Dick Bayless, outfielder (b. 1883)
- 1924 - Pat Dealy, catcher (b. 1861)
- 1937 - Frank Boyd, catcher (b. 1868)
- 1937 - Charlie Reilly, infielder (b. 1867)
- 1940 - Billy Hamilton, outfielder; Hall of Famer (b. 1866)
- 1941 - Bill Garfield, pitcher (b. 1867)
- 1949 - Jack Himes, outfielder (b. 1878)
- 1959 - Lee Dashner, pitcher (b. 1887)
- 1970 - Jim Winford, pitcher (b. 1909)
- 1971 - Ferdie Schupp, pitcher (b. 1891)
- 1984 - Debs Garms, outfielder (b. 1907)
- 1986 - Jake Caulfield, infielder (b. 1917)
- 1988 - Joe Hatten, pitcher (b. 1916)
- 1988 - Bob Kahle, pinch hitter (b. 1915)
- 1990 - Wally Flager, infielder (b. 1921)
- 1998 - Johnny Gorsica, pitcher (b. 1915)
- 2000 - John Perkovich, pitcher (b. 1924)
- 2004 - Ted Abernathy, pitcher (b. 1933)
- 2004 - Bobby Mattick, infielder, manager (b. 1915)
- 2006 - Cevil Travis, infielder; All-Star (b. 1913)
