March 15

Events, births and deaths that occurred on March 15.

[edit] Events

• 1885 - A lower court in New York, NY decides that playing baseball on Sunday is a crime. This decision will be overturned, but it will be appealed.
• 1901 - Star third baseman Jimmy Collins jumps from the National League to the American League. The 28-year-old Collins leaves the Boston Beaneaters to sign a guaranteed $4,000 contract with the Boston Americans.
• 1917 - The Boston Red Sox lose to the Brooklyn Robins, 7 - 2, in the "Hot Springs World Series." Both teams are training in Arkansas and will barnstorm north together.
• 1925 - Chicago Cubs shortstop Rabbit Maranville breaks his leg sliding into third base in an exhibition game in Los Angeles, CA. At 33, the injury threatens to end his career, but Maranville will be back in the lineup by May 24th.
• 1941 - In Monterrey, Nuevo León, 6000 fans watch the St. Louis Browns top the Boston Braves, 6 - 3. Chet Laabs, fighting to win the right fielder spot, hits a 400-foot home run in the 7th inning.
• 1944:
  • Due to World War II travel restrictions, the Boston Red Sox open training camp at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
  • In Maryland, the Washington Senators start spring training with six knuckleballers likely to make the staff: Alex Carrasquel, Mickey Haefner, Dutch Leonard, Bill Lefebvre, Johnny Niggeling and Roger Wolff. Solid catcher Rick Ferrell will have to corral the flutterballs. Finally, Haefner, Leonard, Niggeling and Wolff will join Early Wynn in the starting rotation. The rest go to the bullpen.
• 1945:
  • With World War II travel restrictions still in effect, the Brooklyn Dodgers open spring training at Bear Mountain, New York, with 15 players in camp. Seven teams - the St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox - are training in Indiana, the most of any state. The Boston Red Sox are at Tufts College while the Boston Braves are prepping at the Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut.
  • Bert Shepard, a one-legged pitcher, begins a successful tryout with the Washington Senators. Shepard's leg was amputated after a World War II flying mission. Shepard will pitch in only one game for the Senators, but his stint will be impressive. On August 4th, he will pitch five and one-third innings of one-run ball against the Boston Red Sox. Also a symbol of wartime baseball, outfielder Pete Gray of the St. Louis Browns, will field and bat with only one arm.
• 1960 - The New Orleans Pelicans cease operation as a member of the Southern Association, and the Little Rock Travelers replace them.
• 1971 - Bernice Gera, a 39-year-old New York, NY housewife, files a lawsuit against organized baseball, claiming violation of her civil rights. Mrs. Gera had completed an umpire school and signed a contract to work in the New York-Penn League, only to see the deal be voided six days later with no explanation. Gera will eventually umpire one game before quitting.
• 1974 - In Yuma, Arizona, San Francisco Giants twenty-four game-winning pitcher Ron Bryant is hurt in a pool accident, and his record will drop to 3-15 this season.
• 1975 - The Los Angeles Dodgers sign future Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal. A former San Francisco Giants All-Star, Marichal will make only two appearances with the Dodgers before retiring for good.
• 1977 - In a ten-player megatrade, the Pittsburgh Pirates send Tony Armas, Doug Bair, Dave Giusti, Rick Langford, Doc Medich, and Mitchell Page to the Oakland Athletics, in exchange for Phil Garner, Tommy Helms, and Chris Batton.
• 1978 - The Oakland Athletics trade star pitcher Vida Blue to the San Francisco Giants for seven players and nearly $400,000 in cash. In exchange for Blue, Oakland acquires catcher Gary Alexander, infielder Mario Guerrero, outfielder Gary Thomasson, and pitchers Dave Heaverlo, Phil Huffman, John Henry Johnson and Alan Wirth. Blue will win 18 games for the Giants this season.
• 1983 - Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich is found to have a torn rotator cuff in his pitching shoulder that will sideline him for almost the entire 1983 season.
• 1991 - The Kansas City Royals release Bo Jackson, who injured his hip playing football for the Los Angeles Raiders. In April, Jackson will sign a contract with the Chicago White Sox.
• 2000 - In spring training action, Boston Red Sox star Pedro Martinez and five relievers combine on a perfect game beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 5 - 0.
• 2006:
  • Two games are played today in Round Two of the inaugural World Baseball Classic. In Pool One, at Angel Stadium, Chan Ho Park and four relievers combine to pitch a six-hitter, Jong Beom Lee hits a two-run double in the 8th inning, and South Korea beats Japan, 2 - 1, to clinch a spot in the semifinals. The United States, who would have been eliminated with a low-scoring win by Japan, can wrap up the other semifinal berth tomorrow with Roger Clemens on the mound, by beating Mexico. South Korea went 3-0 in Round 2; the United States is 1-1, Japan finishes 1-2, and Mexico is 0-2. The US beat Mexico, 2 - 0, in the first round. South Korea (6-0) still is the only undefeated team in the Classic.
  • At Hiram Bithorn Stadium, Cuba earns a berth in the semifinals after defeating Puerto Rico, 4 - 3. After getting pounded 12 - 2 by Puerto Rico in the first round, Cuba won two of its last three games to advance. Puerto Rico, which won its first four games of the WBC, is eliminated.
• 2008:
  • Alexei Bell hits his 29th home run of the Cuban Serie Nacional season, going deep against Ubisney Bermúdez in the 2nd inning. The Santiago de Cuba outfielder breaks Joan Carlos Pedroso's five-year-old homer record. Bell also drives in his 100th run of the season, the first player ever to do that in the 46 years of the Serie Nacional.
  • Georgia Southern University sets a NCAA record with 14 home runs in a 26 - 8 win over Columbia University. Alabama (1996) and Cal State Northridge (1999) had shared the NCAA Division I record of 13 while Wooster in Division III had also hit 13, back in 1986.
• 2009:
  • Daisuke Matsuzaka tosses six scoreless innings against the Cuban national team and Hisashi Iwakuma, Takahiro Mahara and Kyuji Fujikawa complete the shutout as Japan wins, 6 - 0, in the 2009 World Baseball Classic matchup of the 2006 finalists. Aroldis Chapman hits 100 mph on the radar gun but has trouble hitting the strike zone without being hit by Japanese bats and is knocked out in the 3rd inning.
  • South Korea tops Mexico, 8 - 2, behind Bum-ho Lee, who goes 3 for 4, with a home run, Tae-kyun Kim, who is 2 for 3, with 2 runs, 3 RBI, and a homer, and a bullpen that shuts down Mexico after starter Hyun-jin Ryu leaves early.
  • Team USA eliminates the Dutch national team with a 9 - 3 romp as middle infielders Jimmy Rollins and Brian Roberts combine for 5 hits, 2 walks, 2 triples, 4 runs and 5 RBI. The Netherlands had previously upset the Dominican national team twice and almost beaten Puerto Rico, which had routed the USA in their matchup.
• 2010:
  • It's a short outing for the Mariners' prize winter acquisition, Cliff Lee, in his second start of the Cactus League season. He is ejected in the bottom of the 3rd inning by umpire Brian Knight for throwing at the Diamondbacks' Chris Snyder. He gets the rest of his scheduled work in by throwing on a back field in the spring training complex. He will receive a five-game suspension, to be served at the beginning of the regular season, for his actions.
  • For the second time this spring, the Rangers' Josh Hamilton has to leave work early because of injury. This time, he's hit on the left arm by a pitch from the Giants' Madison Bumgarner in the 3rd inning of an exhibition game. His bosses are concerned, since he missed half of 2009 with various ailments.
  • A wild rumor sweeps across the Grapefruit League, carried by ESPN: the Cardinals and Phillies are talking about swapping their marquee sluggers, Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard, before they become free agents at the end of 2011. Both teams dismiss the rumor as groundless and nothing will come of it.
  • The Major League Baseball Players Association circulates an expanded list of "dangerous contaminated supplements", which now contains 104 products. These nutritional supplements are legal but potentially contaminated, and could cause false positives under Major League Baseball's policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
• 2011:
  • The Pacific League announces it is postponing its season opener following the major earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan four days ago; the Rakuten Golden Eagles play in one of the areas most affected. The Central League plans to go ahead with its regular schedule, with its teams being further away from the worst zone. A number of US players are also leaving Japan because of fears of a potential radiation leak at the disabled Fuskushima nuclear power plant.
  • Commissioner Bud Selig forms a 12-person committee to study the origins of baseball, with newly-appointed official historian John Thorn as its chair. The issue has been rekindled with the publication this week of Thorn's book, Baseball in the Garden of Eden, which casts doubt on the role of Alexander Cartwright in laying down the fundamental principles of the game. Ironically, Cartwright was promoted as the "real" founder of the game to counteract the unfounded legend that Abner Doubleday had laid down the first baseball diamond in Cooperstown, NY in 1839. Thorn argues that the game is in fact much older than once thought, with traces found in 18th century records.
• 2012 - Oft-injured P Chien-Ming Wang, slated to be the Nationals' fifth starter, has to leave a Grapefruit League game after landing awkwardly when he fields a slow grounder off the bat of the Yankees' Russell Martin in the 3rd inning. Wang crumples to the ground after touching first base and has to be assisted to leave the field.
• 2013 - Puerto Rico eliminates Team USA from the 2013 World Baseball Classic with a 4 - 3 win. The Puerto Ricans take an early 4 - 0 lead behind a great start by Nelson Figueroa, who gives up no runs on 2 hits in 6 innings, but the USA claws back, with one run in the 7th and 2 in the 8th. J.C. Romero retires Eric Hosmer with the the bases loaded to end the 8th, then sets down the Americans in order in the 9th to end the game.

[edit] Births

• 1856 - Sandy McDermott, infielder (d. 1922)
• 1860 - Arlie Latham, infielder, manager (d. 1952)
• 1861 - Bill Wise, pitcher (d. 1940)
• 1868 - Roscoe Coughlin, pitcher (d. 1951)
• 1870 - Doc Casey, infielder (d. 1936)
• 1872 - Mike Flynn, catcher (d. 1941)
• 1873 - Ralph Miller, pitcher, oldest living player (d. 1973)
• 1876 - Bill Hallman, outfielder (d. 1950)
• 1879 - George Disch, pitcher (d. 1950)
• 1885 - Rube Peters, pitcher (d. 1965)
• 1888 - Fred Lieb, writer (d. 1980)
• 1889 - Charlie Mullen, infielder (d. 1963)
• 1890 - Fred Mollenkamp, infielder (d. 1948)
• 1896 - Ryuji Suzuki, NPB executive; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (d. 1986)
• 1898 - Rosy Ryan, pitcher (d. 1980)
• 1899 - Hal Kime, pitcher (d. 1939)
• 1900 - Tom Dunn, umpire (d. 1976)
• 1902 - Fred Bennett, outfielder (d. 1957)
• 1904 - Henry Dotterer, scout (d. 1990)
• 1907 - Lou Fette, pitcher; All-Star (d. 1981)
• 1909 - Tom Swayze, minor league pitcher, college coach (d. 2003)
• 1910 - Jimmie Crutchfield, Negro League outfielder (d. 1993)
• 1915 - Don Lang, infielder (d. 2010)
• 1917 - Charlie Bowles, pitcher (d. 2003)
• 1919 - Ray Noble, catcher (d. 1998)
• 1919 - Whitey Wietelmann, infielder (d. 2002)
• 1922 - Shuichi Hirose, NPB pitcher (d. WWII)
• 1923 - Akio Kanemitsu, NPB player
• 1927 - Annastasia Batikis, AAGPBL outfielder
• 1927 - Junzo Sekine, NPB pitcher and manager; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1928 - Nellie King, pitcher (d. 2010)
• 1929 - Len Johnston, minor league player and manager
• 1931 - Bill Wollenburg, minor league pitcher (d. 2009)
• 1933 - Dick Scott, pitcher
• 1938 - Bob Locker, pitcher
• 1938 - Joe Sparks, coach; minor league manager
• 1944 - Wayne Granger, pitcher
• 1944 - Dave Watkins, catcher
• 1945 - Masashi Takenouchi, NPB infielder-outfielder
• 1946 - Bobby Bonds, outfielder; All-Star (d. 2003)
• 1948 - Paul Sanagorski, college coach
• 1949 - Jim Kern, pitcher; All-Star
• 1950 - Jim Mansilla, Serie A1 manager
• 1952 - Steve Stroughter, designated hitter
• 1955 - Mickey Hatcher, outfielder
• 1957 - Alfredo Martinez, pitcher
• 1959 - Harold Baines, designated hitter; All-Star
• 1960 - Mike Pagliarulo, infielder
• 1967 - Bobby Rose, infielder
• 1968 - Kim Batiste, infielder
• 1969 - John O'Brien, minor league infielder and manager
• 1969 - Motorboat Jones, minor league player
• 1973 - Andrea Evangelisti, Serie A1 infielder
• 1974 - Robert Fick, infielder; All-Star
• 1974 - Wilmer Montoya, minor league pitcher
• 1975 - Vladimir Nunez, pitcher
• 1975 - Dan Perkins, pitcher
• 1976 - Joel Stephens, minor league outfielder (d. 1998)
• 1977 - Adrian Burnside, minor league pitcher
• 1978 - Josue Matos, minor league pitcher
• 1979 - Ntema Ndungidi, minor league outfielder
• 1979 - Kevin Youkilis, infielder; All-Star
• 1980 - Freddie Bynum, infielder
• 1981 - Jared Theodorakos, minor league pitcher
• 1982 - Steven Jackson, pitcher
• 1982 - Juan Carlos Oviedo, pitcher
• 1982 - Ondřej Petřík, Extraliga infielder
• 1982 - Jorge Vázquez, minor league infielder
• 1984 - Nick Veltkamp, Hoofdklasse pitcher
• 1985 - Jon Jay, outfielder
• 1985 - Luis Lebron, minor league pitcher
• 1985 - Ryne Reynoso, minor league pitcher
• 1985 - Jake Stevens, minor league pitcher
• 1988 - Eldo Thomas, Nicaraguan national team pitcher
• 1989 - Ryan Dent, minor league infielder
• 1990 - Nick Ahmed, minor league infielder
• 1991 - Federico Castagnini, Italian Baseball League infielder
• 1991 - Stefan Rajacic, Croatian national team infielder
• 1991 - Richie Shaffer, minor league infielder
• 1991 - Max Stassi, minor league catcher
• 1993 - Michael Fulmer, minor league pitcher

[edit] Deaths

• 1905 - Pete Meegan, pitcher (b. 1862)
• 1909 - Howard Wall, infielder (b. 1854)
• 1917 - John Munce, outfielder (b. 1857)
• 1923 - Goat Anderson, outfielder (b. 1880)
• 1923 - Pete Wood, pitcher (b. 1867)
• 1930 - George Townsend, catcher (b. 1867)
• 1933 - Otis Stocksdale, pitcher (b. 1871)
• 1939 - Cal Broughton, catcher (b. 1860)
• 1949 - Bill Cissell, infielder (b. 1904)
• 1959 - Richard Muckerman, owner (b. 1897)
• 1966 - Chappie Geygan, infielder (b. 1903)
• 1966 - Abe Saperstein, Negro League executive (b. 1903)
• 1968 - Allie Watt, infielder (b. 1899)
• 1982 - Eddie Mulligan, infielder (b. 1894)
• 1984 - Buckshot May, pitcher (b. 1899)
• 1986 - Bill Patton, catcher (b. 1912)
• 1990 - Ed Dunn, scout (b. 1919)
• 1993 - Pat Cooper, pitcher/infielder (b. 1917)
• 1993 - Paul Easterling, outfielder (b. 1905)
• 2001 - Fern Battaglia, AAGPBL infielder (b. 1931)
• 2004 - Vedie Himsl, manager (b. 1917)
• 2007 - Bowie Kuhn, executive; Hall of Fame (b. 1926)
• 2008 - Rene Valdez, pitcher (b. 1929)
• 2009 - Elmer Weingartner, infielder (b. 1918)
• 2010 - Ken Holcombe, pitcher (b. 1918)
• 2011 - Marty Marion, infielder, manager; All-Star (b. 1917)
• 2011 - Fred Sanford, pitcher (b. 1919)
• 2012 - Dave Philley, outfielder (b. 1920)