February 23
From BR Bullpen
| Stats of players who were born this day | |
| Stats of players who died on this day | |
| Standings on this day | |
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| Today in Baseball History | |
Events, births and deaths that occurred on February 23.
[edit] Events
- 1888 - James "Pud" Galvin signs with Pittsburgh for $3,000, including $1,000 in advance. The club offered him $3,500 with no advance money, but Galvin needs the $1,000 to tide him over the winter.
- 1918 - Barney Dreyfuss of the Rules Committee launches a campaign to ban the spitter. He will succeed next year.
- 1921 - The Pittsburgh Pirates obtain veteran SS Rabbit Maranville from Boston. They give up OF Billy Southworth, OF Fred Nicholson, IF Walter Barbare, and $15,000.
- 1934 - Replacing skipper Max Carey, Brooklyn coach Casey Stengel signs a two-year deal to manage the Dodgers.
- 1940 - The A's waive Lynn Nelson to Detroit. Nelson was the A's top winner last year with 10 victories, but he'll go 1 - 1 with Detroit before bowing out.
- 1954 - The Cards purchase Vic Raschi from the Yankees for $85,000.
- 1960 - Demolition of Ebbets Field begins. Lucy Monroe sings the National Anthem, and Roy Campanella is given an urn of dirt from behind home plate.
- 1964 - The San Francisco Giants acquire P Masanori Murakami, 3B Tatsuhico Tanaka, and C Hiroshi Takahashi on a player development deal with the Nankai Hawks, who owned rights to all three -- they are the first Japanese natives ever to play for American teams. All three are assigned to the Magic Valley Cowboys (Pioneer League).
- 1964 - Charlie Finley gives in to American League pressure and signs a 4-year lease with the municipal government to keep the A's in Kansas City. Finley wanted two years. His exasperated AL colleagues voted 9-1 that KC's offer was reasonable.
- 1974 - The California Angels send veteran Vada Pinson to Kansas City for minor leaguer Barry Raziano and cash. Pinson will call it quits at the end of the 1975 season, having rung up 2,757 hits, the most ever for a player not in the Hall of Fame.
- 1976 - ML owners announce that spring training will not open until a new labor contract is agreed upon.
- 1979 - The Philadelphia Phillies trade five players to the Chicago Cubs for 2B Manny Trillo, OF Greg Gross, and C Dave Rader. Chicago gets Barry Foote, Jerry Martin, Ted Sizemore, and two minor leaguers, Henry Mack and Derek Botelho.
- 1986 - Although he loses his arbitration case, Boston Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs receives the largest amount ($1.35 million) ever awarded by this process.
- 1987 - After three days of spring training, Billy Gardner replaces Dick Howser as Kansas City Royals manager. The frail-looking skipper had tried to comeback from brain tumor surgery..
- 1988 - A committee of Chicago aldermen vote 7-2 to allow the Cubs to install lights and play up to 18 night games a year at Wrigley Field. The Cubs had feared losing the 1990 All-Star Game, as well as future playoff and World Series games, if lights were not installed.
- 1990 - Despite the owners dropping their arbitration and minimum salary proposals, spring training camps remain close.
- 1995 - Former National League MVP Kevin Mitchell signs with the Daiei Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League.
- 1996 - The Rules Committee announces that the strike zone will be larger, dropping it from the top of the knees to the hollow below the knees. The change comes out of a series of recommendations to help speed up play.
- 1998 - A series of killer tornadoes sweeps through Florida, narrowly missing the Houston Astros clubhouse, and the homes of several players, in Kissimmee. A campground behind Osceola County Stadium, the Astros training base, is destroyed, and seven people are killed by one of the twisters.
- 2000 - The San Diego Padres obtain OF Al Martin from the Pirates for OF John Vander Wal, and pitchers Jim Sak and Geraldo Padua. San Diego also signs pitcher Matt Clement to a four-year agreement.
- 2000 - Cubs manager Don Baylor names four captains - first baseman Mark Grace, right fielder Sammy Sosa, pitcher Kevin Tapani and reliever Rick Aguilera. The quartet will be the Cubs first captains since the 1960s and early 1970s when Ron Santo held the position.
- 2001 - In what is believed to be a first of its kind test, umpire Mike Everitt meets with the Milwaukee Brewers to test out baseball's new strike zone.
- 2006 - Complaining about the lack support from local baseball officials, Roberto Kelly resigns as manager of Panama's team in the World Baseball Classic. The Giants spring training instructor believes some players were held back from participating in the WBC so they would play in the Panamanian championships.
[edit] Births
- 1865 - Barney Dreyfuss, owner (d. 1932)
- 1868 - Lew Camp, infielder (d. 1948)
- 1874 - Billy Lauder, infielder (d. 1933)
- 1877 - Rudy Hulswitt, infielder (d. 1950)
- 1877 - Grant Thatcher, pitcher (d. 1936)
- 1887 - Lou Lowdermilk, pitcher (d. 1975)
- 1888 - Paul Cobb, minor league outfielder (d. 1964)
- 1890 - John Black, infielder (d. 1962)
- 1890 - Lee Gooch, outfielder (d. 1966)
- 1893 - Jim O'Neill, infielder (d. 1976)
- 1894 - Jose Rodriguez, infielder (d. 1953)
- 1895 - Gus Sandberg, catcher (d. 1930)
- 1903 - Roy Johnson, outfielder (d. 1973)
- 1905 - Les Barnhart, pitcher (d. 1971)
- 1908 - Bob Boken, infielder (d. 1988)
- 1908 - Raymond Brown, Negro League pitcher (d. 1965)
- 1914 - Lynn Myers, infielder (d. 2000)
- 1914 - Art Reichle, college coach (d. 2000)
- 1914 - Mike Tresh, catcher; All-Star (d. 1966)
- 1916 - Eddie Kearse, catcher (d. 1968)
- 1917 - Cyril Pfeifer, minor league player and manager (d. 1988)
- 1917 - Bob Latshaw, minor league infielder and manager (d. 2001)
- 1918 - Jim Carlin, outfielder (d. 2003)
- 1918 - Hillis Layne, infielder
- 1924 - Phil Haugstad, pitcher (d. 1998)
- 1929 - Elston Howard, catcher; All-Star (d. 1980)
- 1932 - Jim Bolger, outfielder
- 1941 - Ron Hunt, infielder; All-Star
- 1941 - Gordy Lund, infielder
- 1944 - Don Shaw, pitcher
- 1946 - Ken Boswell, infielder
- 1951 - Larry Foster, minor league outfielder
- 1953 - Fred Kuhaulua, pitcher
- 1957 - Jim Anderson, infielder
- 1958 - Juan Agosto, pitcher
- 1958 - John Shelby, outfielder
- 1959 - Eddie Vargas, infielder
- 1960 - Bob Nilsson, Australian national team pitcher
- 1961 - John Morris, outfielder
- 1961 - Mike Smith, pitcher
- 1962 - Chris Cannizzaro Jr., minor league infielder
- 1963 - Bobby Bonilla, infielder; All-Star
- 1969 - Frank Charles, catcher
- 1972 - Rondell White, outfielder; All-Star
- 1973 - Jason Boyd, pitcher
- 1975 - Dave Maurer, pitcher
- 1976 - Scott Elarton, pitcher
- 1978 - Luke Prokopec, pitcher
- 1979 - Chris Aguila, outfielder
- 1983 - Edgar Gonzalez, pitcher
- 1984 - Sergio Pedroza, minor league outfielder
[edit] Deaths
- 1900 - Nate Berkenstock, outfielder (b. 1831)
- 1914 - Nat Jewett, catcher (b. 1842)
- 1922 - Pickles Dillhoefer, catcher (b. 1894)
- 1922 - C.I. Taylor, Negro League infielder and manager (b. 1875)
- 1926 - Hi Church, outfielder (b. 1863)
- 1928 - Jack Ridgway, pitcher (b. 1889)
- 1947 - George Brickley, outfielder (b. 1894)
- 1955 - Bill Tozer, pitcher (b. 1882)
- 1956 - Pete Loos, pitcher (b. 1878)
- 1961 - Davey Crockett, infielder (b. 1875)
- 1968 - Hank Schreiber, infielder (b. 1891)
- 1969 - Bubbles Hargrave, catcher (b. 1892)
- 1969 - Bill Swift, pitcher (b. 1908)
- 1978 - Vic Harris, Negro League outfielder and manager (b. 1905)
- 1981 - Myrl Brown, pitcher (b. 1894)
- 1988 - Pete Donohue, pitcher (b. 1900)
- 1993 - Joe Hutcheson, outfielder (b. 1905)
- 1996 - Gordon Goldsberry, infielder (b. 1927)
- 1998 - Ray Stoviak, outfielder (b. 1915)
- 1999 - Muscle Shoals, minor league star (b. 1916)
