March 17

Events, births and deaths that occurred on March 17.

[edit] Events

• 1871 - The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players is founded, setting the stage for the future National League in 1876. The entry fee for a National Association franchise is set at $10.
• 1884 - The Union Association admits the Boston Reds club organized by George Wright, bringing the number of teams to eight. The UA also decides to stick with the seven-ball walk rule, and the schedule is expanded to 112 games, with the percentage system adopted for determining the champion team. The regular season opens with three games. Baltimore Monumentals pitcher Bill Sweeney throws a five-hit, 7 - 3 victory over the Washington Nationals. It is the first of what will be a season-high 40 victories for Sweeney, 12 more than his closest rival, Hugh Daily.
• 1886 - The Sporting News, the weekly that will become "The Baseball Paper of the World," publishes its first issue.
• 1911 - Plumbers at work on the drain pipes at Washington's Griffith Stadium start a fire that burns down the grandstand. Since the water has been shut off, firemen can do nothing. Stands will be rebuilt to play the home opener on schedule.
• 1919 - The Boston Red Sox, minus holdouts Carl Mays and Babe Ruth, sail from New York aboard the USS Arapahoe. The trip to spring training is stormy and most of the players will be seasick. Ruth will sign on the 21st in New York and leave that night for Florida. Mays, unsigned, will join Ruth and the Sox in Tampa.
• 1921:
  • The New York Yankees, training in Shreveport, Louisiana, journey to Lake Charles to play a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, based in Orange, Texas. The game is proclaimed "Ruth-Hornsby Day," but Hornsby hits only a single while Ruth lofts a home run over the short right field fence. The Yankees win, 14 - 5.
  • Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Gene Paulette, ordered to appear before Commissioner Landis regarding alleged gambling, decides to retire from Organized Baseball instead. He signs with a Massillon, Ohio semipro team.
• 1927 - In a battle of Irish managers on St. Patrick's Day, the St. Louis Cardinals of Bob O'Farrell beat the New York Giants of John McGraw, 3 - 0, in a Grapefruit League contest. Cardinals manager O'Farrell also clouts a home run.
• 1936 - Much-heralded rookie Joe DiMaggio makes his debut with the New York Yankees, collecting four hits including a triple. The day is marred when the St. Louis Cardinals win, 8 - 7.
• 1940 - An inter-league exhibition All-Star Game is played in Florida for the benefit of Finland, which has been attacked by the Soviet Union. Over $20,000 is raised, but the Finlanders give up their battle within a few days of the benefit.
• 1946 - In Daytona Beach, the Brooklyn Dodgers take the field against their minor-league farm team, the Montreal Royals. With Jackie Robinson in the lineup for Montreal, the game marks the first appearance of an integrated team in Organized Baseball in this century. A crowd of 3,100 attends the game at City Island Park, which will be renamed "Jackie Robinson Stadium" in 1990.
• 1953:
  • Bill Veeck says that he will accept an offer of $2.475 million for his 80 percent of the St. Louis Browns stock. Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro seeks a syndicate to buy Veeck out. The group will eventually purchase 206,250 shares at $12 per share.
  • Milwaukee County Stadium will be available to the Boston Braves at a very reasonable rental rate.
• 1965 - Jackie Robinson is signed as a member of the ABC-TV major league baseball broadcast team, becoming the first black broadcaster to receive a network position. ABC provides the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts on a regional basis.
• 1966 - Pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale play hardball when negotiating with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The duo signs movie contracts showing they are serious about retiring from baseball if their salary demands are not met.
• 1969 - The St. Louis Cardinals trade former National League MVP Orlando Cepeda to the Atlanta Braves for catcher/first baseman Joe Torre. The trade will benefit both teams; Cepeda will help the Braves make the playoffs this year and Torre will win the MVP Award in 1971.
• 1972 - In Caracas, Venezuela, the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates play the first of a three-game series.
• 1976 - Commissioner Bowie Kuhn orders teams to open spring training camps as soon as possible. All teams will comply within 48 hours.
• 1977 - U.S. Federal Judge Frank McGarr rules in favor of Bowie Kuhn, saying that the baseball commissioner acted within his authority in voiding the 1976 player sales engineered by Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley.
• 1978 - For a St. Patrick's Day exhibition game, the Cincinnati Reds wear special green uniforms, rather than their traditional red, starting an annual ritual. The good luck works and the Reds beat the New York Yankees, 9 - 2. The St. Louis Cardinals, among other teams, will be next to follow suit. Although the Reds will never use the uniforms in regular season play, the green colors will become a spring training tradition for the team.
• 1984 - Ferguson Jenkins announces his retirement. The 1971 National League Cy Young Award winner, Jenkins posted a record of 284-226 with 3192 strikeouts and a 3.34 ERA in 4500 innings pitched in a 19-season major career. He will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1991.
• 1988 - Recently-acquired slugger Jack Clark tears a calf tendon while hitting a home run for the New York Yankees in an exhibition game. The oft-injured Clark signed a free agent contract during the winter. He will miss the start of the season, but will return to hit 27 home runs with 93 RBI.
• 1990 - The first game in the history of the Chinese Professional Baseball League is played. The President Lions top the Brother Elephants, 4 - 3. Fu-Ming Tu gets the win and Yung-Tai Sung the first hit. Enrique Burgos notches the first save.
• 1992 - Pitcher Hal Newhouser and umpire Bill McGowan are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
• 1999 - The Toronto Blue Jays fire manager Tim Johnson and replace him with Jim Fregosi. Johnson had been under fire since admitting he had lied when he said he had seen combat duty in the Vietnam War.
• 2001 - Third baseman Joe Randa agrees to a two-year contract extension with the Kansas City Royals. Randa batted .304 with 106 RBI for the Royals in 155 games last season.
• 2005 - During more than 11 hours of hearings by the Committee on Government Reform concerning major league players' use of steroids, Mark McGwire refuses to talk about the past and does not deny taking performance enhancing drugs. Other players testifying include Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and former big leaguer Jose Canseco, whose recent book, Juiced, prompted the congressional hearing. Palmeiro will be found guilty of steroid usage later this year.
• 2006:
  • The government of South Korea decides to exempt national baseball team members competing at the World Baseball Classic from mandatory military service as a reward for advancing to the tournament's semifinals. In a sour note, pitcher Myung Hwan Park tests positive for a banned substance and is thrown out of the Classic.
  • Washington Nationals reliever Luis Ayala, who faced only one batter in his final appearance in the WBC, will have reconstructive surgery on his right elbow and is expected to miss the entire season.
  • Toronto Blue Jays starter Roy Halladay signs a three-year, $40 million contract extension that will keep him with the club through the 2010 season.
• 2009:
  • Team USA eliminates the Puerto Rican national team from the 2009 World Baseball Classic while locking up a spot in the semifinals. They trail 5 - 3 entering the bottom of the 9th, but J.C. Romero allows 3 of 4 batters to reach. Fernando Cabrera then walks Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded and gives up a 2-run single to David Wright to end the game.
  • South Korea also advances to the semifinals, topping defending champion Japan, 4 - 1. They score three in the 1st against Yu Darvish to put it away. Jung Bong, Suk-min Yoon, Kwang-hyun Kim and Chang-yong Lim combine to hold Japan to one run.
• 2010:
  • Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington admits that he tested positive for cocaine last summer and apologizes. He submits his resignation, but top management rejects it.
  • Two troubled outfielders are in trouble again. Seattle's off-season acquisition, Milton Bradley, is ejected from an exhibition game for protesting a strikeout call from umpire Dan Bellino, while the Nationals' Elijah Dukes, who has seen his career derailed by legal and behaviorial problems, is released because of poor hitting. He had been expected to be Washington's starting right fielder this year.
• 2011 - Injured Philles All-Star 2B Chase Utley is absent from spring training today, visiting a specialist to look at his injured right knee, which has kept him off the playing field since the beginning of camp. As the knee is apparently not healing, surgery is becoming more likely, and no one in the Phillies' front office dares to set a timetable for Utley's return to the line-up. He will only play his first game on May 23rd.
• 2012 - Padres OF Carlos Quentin receives MRI results on his ailing knee and the news is not good, as he faces immediate surgery. While he will miss the start of the season, having surgery now should ensure that he will be healthy for the bulk of the year, once he has worked himself back into playing shape.
• 2013 - Puerto Rico defeats two-time champions Japan, 3 - 1, in the first semi-final of the 2013 World Baseball Classic to earn a spot in the finals for the first time. Alex Rios hits a two-run homer off Atsushi Nohmi in the 7th for the key blow. Mario Santiago gets his team off to a good start by shutting out the Japanese into the 5th inning, then five relievers combine to finish the job. Mike Aviles drives in the first run against Kenta Maeda in the 1st and is on board for Rios's shot. Takashi Toritani triples and scores for Japan in the 8th, but it's not enough as Fernando Cabrera picks up the save by retiring Kaz Matsui for the game's last out.

[edit] Births

• 1857 - Larry Murphy, outfielder (d. 1911)
• 1860 - Fred Pfeffer, infielder, manager (d. 1932)
• 1863 - Art Hagan, pitcher (d. 1936)
• 1867 - Ernie Beam, pitcher (d. 1918)
• 1869 - George Hogriever, outfielder (d. 1961)
• 1876 - Daff Gammons, outfielder (d. 1963)
• 1881 - Jim Fairbank, pitcher (d. 1955)
• 1883 - Oscar Stanage, catcher (d. 1964)
• 1885 - Paddy Mayes, outfielder (d. 1962)
• 1885 - Ducky Pearce, catcher (d. 1933)
• 1888 - Ed Klepfer, pitcher (d. 1950)
• 1892 - Hardin Herndon, minor league player and manager (d. 1958)
• 1894 - Ralph Shafer, pinch runner (d. 1950)
• 1895 - Lyman Lamb, infielder (d. 1955)
• 1897 - Joe Fitzgerald, coach (d. 1967)
• 1897 - Harry Riconda, infielder (d. 1958)
• 1899 - Charley Root, pitcher (d. 1970)
• 1906 - Hy Vandenberg, pitcher (d. 1994)
• 1912 - Whitey Ock, catcher (d. 1975)
• 1914 - Sammy Baugh, minor league infielder (d. 2008)
• 1917 - Hank Sauer, outfielder; All-Star (d. 2001)
• 1919 - Del Ballinger, minor league catcher and manager
• 1919 - Pete Reiser, outfielder; All-Star (d. 1981)
• 1923 - Pat Seerey, outfielder (d. 1986)
• 1926 - Jaynne Bittner, AAGPBL pitcher
• 1938 - Jimmie Hall, outfielder; All-Star
• 1941 - Vic Voltaggio, umpire
• 1944 - Cito Gaston, outfielder, manager; All-Star
• 1951 - Kurt Russell, minor league infielder
• 1951 - Richard Young, minor league pitcher
• 1952 - Jerry Tabb, infielder
• 1956 - Rick Lisi, outfielder
• 1956 - Tim Lollar, pitcher
• 1956 - Rod Scurry, pitcher (d. 1992)
• 1958 - Frank Wren, general manager
• 1959 - Danny Ainge, infielder
• 1959 - Pat Casey, college coach
• 1961 - Hector Rincones, scout
• 1962 - Lance Hudson, minor league infielder
• 1963 - Jason Maas, minor league outfielder
• 1965 - Mike Hinkle, minor league pitcher
• 1965 - John Smiley, pitcher; All-Star
• 1967 - Takeshi Nakamura, NPB catcher
• 1968 - Pat Gomez, pitcher
• 1968 - Dan Masteller, infielder
• 1968 - Dave Proctor, minor league pitcher
• 1968 - Orlando Stewart, Hoofdklasse pitcher
• 1969 - Scott Brow, pitcher
• 1970 - Marc Marini, minor league outfielder
• 1971 - Bill Mueller, infielder
• 1972 - Pedro Pablo Belmonte, minor league pitcher
• 1972 - Adam Burton, minor league infielder
• 1973 - Raul Chavez, catcher
• 1973 - Vance Wilson, catcher
• 1976 - Scott Downs, pitcher
• 1977 - Robb Quinlan, infielder
• 1979 - Yong-joon Cho, KBO pitcher
• 1979 - Lester Ramirez, Guatemalan national team infielder
• 1981 - Shohei Tateyama, NPB pitcher
• 1982 - A.J. Murray, pitcher
• 1982 - Brian Snyder, minor league infielder
• 1983 - Chris Falls, Bundesliga infielder
• 1984 - Eun-beom Song, KBO pitcher
• 1985 - Kenny Berkenbosch, minor league pitcher
• 1985 - Taylor Mattingly, minor league infielder
• 1985 - Kenny Rodríguez, minor league pitcher
• 1985 - Cesar Valdez, pitcher
• 1986 - Chris Davis, infielder
• 1986 - Kensuke Uchimura, NPB infielder
• 1988 - Matteo D'Angelo, Serie A1 pitcher
• 1988 - Wendell Fairley, minor league outfielder
• 1989 - Juan Lagares, outfielder
• 1990 - Jean Segura, infielder
• 1992 - Orlando Castro, minor league pitcher

[edit] Deaths

• 1872 - Elmer White, outfielder (b. 1849)
• 1923 - Ed Hogan, outfielder (b. 1862)
• 1924 - Bill Harbidge, outfielder (b. 1855)
• 1931 - Tom Gunning, catcher (b. 1862)
• 1936 - Grant Thatcher, pitcher (b. 1877)
• 1937 - Billy Murray, manager (b. 1864)
• 1939 - Bill Burke, pitcher (b. 1865)
• 1944 - Rube Kroh, pitcher (b. 1886)
• 1948 - Ike Butler, pitcher (b. 1873)
• 1958 - Bob Blewett, pitcher (b. 1877)
• 1959 - Howard Ehmke, pitcher (b. 1894)
• 1960 - Bob Thorpe, pitcher (b. 1935)
• 1962 - Billy Purtell, infielder (b. 1886)
• 1965 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, college coach (b. 1862)
• 1969 - Jim Mains, pitcher (b. 1922)
• 1980 - Bob Hooper, pitcher (b. 1922)
• 1981 - Paul Dean, pitcher (b. 1912)
• 1981 - Joe Giebel, catcher (b. 1891)
• 1985 - Ike Pearson, pitcher (b. 1917)
• 1993 - Joe Abreu, infielder (b. 1913)
• 1995 - Jimmy Uchrinscko, pitcher (b. 1900)
• 1998 - Milo Candini, pitcher (b. 1917)
• 2002 - Lefty Bertrand, pitcher (b. 1909)
• 2007 - Des Hamilton, scout (b. ~1954)
• 2009 - Whitey Lockman, infielder, manager; All-Star (b. 1926)
• 2010 - Van Fletcher, pitcher (b. 1924)