March 30
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 March 30.
[edit] Events
- 1944 - Branch Rickey suggests the pooling of surplus players if major league 4F players are drafted for military service. Nothing comes of the suggestion.
- 1948 - Murry Dickson of the St. Louis Cardinals becomes the first pitcher to throw a nine-inning no-hitter in spring training history. Prior to Dickson, two no-hitters had taken place in the spring, but both were shared by more than one pitcher.
- 1955 - The New York Yankees sell pitcher Ewell Blackwell to the Kansas City Athletics. Blackwell, who was injured in 1954, will pitch in only two games for the Athletics in 1955 before retiring.
- 1966 - Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers end their dual holdout. Both pitchers had stayed away from camp for 32 days, threatening retirement in an effort to acquire pay raises. Koufax signs for $120,000; Drysdale settles for $105,000.
- 1972 - Marvin Miller, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, completes his canvass of players on the strike issue. 663 vote in favor of a strike, ten vote against, and two players abstain.
- 1978 - The Boston Red Sox acquire pitcher Dennis Eckersley and catcher Fred Kendall from the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Rick Wise, catcher Bo Diaz and two lesser players. Eckersley will win 20 games in 1978.
- 1979 - MLB umpires meet in Chicago and vote 50-2 to reject new offers from the American and National leagues.
- 1988 - Commissioner Peter Ueberroth suspends Cincinnati Reds outfielder Eddie Milner for the season. Milner, who tested positive for use of cocaine, will return to action later in the season, appearing in 23 games for the Reds.
- 1992 - The Chicago Cubs make one of their best trades ever, acquiring outfielder Sammy Sosa and pitcher Ken Patterson from the Chicago White Sox for outfielder George Bell. While Bell's career will last only two more seasons, Sosa will become an All-Star and capture national attention by hitting 66 home runs in 1998. Later with the Cubs, in 2003, Sosa will hit his 500th career home run.
- 1993 - Peanuts character Charlie Brown hits a game-winning home run - his first round tripper in 43 years. Almost ten percent of the nearly 18,000 Peanuts strips created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz focused on baseball.
- 2000
- At Tokyo Dome, the New York Mets defeat the Chicago Cubs in 11 innings, 5 - 1, on Benny Agbayani's pinch-hit grand slam. Rey Ordóñez commits an error in the game, ending his major league record streak of 101 consecutive errorless games at shortstop. With a swipe of second base, Rickey Henderson joins Ted Williams as the only ML players to steal a base in four different decades.
- The Colorado Rockies sign American League stolen base champ Brian Hunter to a contract.
- 2001:
- Pitcher Dwight Gooden announces his retirement. A four-time All-Star and Cy Young Award winner, Gooden posted a 194-112 record with a 3.51 ERA and 2293 strikeouts over a 16-season career.
- New York Mets top prospect, Brian Cole, at age 22, is killed when the car he is driving home to Mississippi from spring training flips over. Cole, who stole 69 bases the previous year, was voted the organization's player of the year in 2000.
- 2006 - Jeff Kent of the Los Angeles Dodgers signs a contract extension for 2007 with an option for 2008, and Grady Sizemore signs a six-year, $23.45 million contract with the Cleveland Indians.
- 2008 - Nationals Park opens for action with the host Nationals beating the Braves, 3-2. Odalis Perez pitches a solid game and Jon Rauch gets the historic first win after blowing a save. Nick Johnson drives in a run with a double in his first at-bat in over 18 months. With two outs in the bottom of the 9th, Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk-off home run off Peter Moylan.
[edit] Births
- 1854 - Stanley Robison, manager (d. 1911)
- 1857 - Tom Burns, infielder, manager (d. 1902)
- 1858 - Dennis Casey, outfielder (d. 1909)
- 1860 - Frank Pearce, pitcher (d. 1926)
- 1864 - Frank Brill, pitcher (d. 1944)
- 1866 - George Van Haltren, outfielder, manager (d. 1945)
- 1874 - Ed Gremminger, infielder (d. 1942)
- 1878 - Nig Fuller, catcher (d. 1937)
- 1879 - Dutch Meier, outfielder (d. 1948)
- 1886 - Chief Johnson, pitcher (d. 1922)
- 1897 - Ed Sicking, infielder (d. 1978)
- 1899 - Hal Rhyne, infielder (d. 1971)
- 1904 - Ripper Collins, infielder; All-Star (d. 1970)
- 1908 - Toshiharu Inokawa, NPB catcher and manager (d. 1976)
- 1919 - Bud Sketchley, outfielder (d. 1979)
- 1920 - Irene Ruhnke, AAGPBL utility player (d. 1999)
- 1921 - Dick Fowler, pitcher (d. 1972)
- 1926 - Dick Koecher, pitcher
- 1934 - Jorge Fitch, minor league infielder
- 1938 - Dave Baldwin, pitcher
- 1942 - Conrad Cardinal, pitcher
- 1945 - Dick Woodson, pitcher
- 1949 - Terry Cox, pitcher
- 1950 - Grady Little, manager
- 1950 - Steve McFarland, minor league manager
- 1953 - Mike Miley, infielder (d. 1977)
- 1956 - Jack Lazorko, pitcher
- 1966 - Terry Bross, pitcher
- 1969 - Chris Gardner, pitcher
- 1969 - Roman Rodriguez, minor league catcher
- 1972 - Jay Alexander, college coach
- 1972 - Wilson Heredia, pitcher
- 1973 - Jason Dickson, pitcher; All-Star
- 1977 - Kevin Eberwein, minor league infielder
- 1977 - Jeriome Robertson, pitcher
- 1978 - Josh Bard, catcher
- 1979 - Mike Johnston, pitcher
- 1980 - Caleb Brock, minor league catcher
- 1982 - Leslie Anderson, Cuban leagues infielder-outfielder
- 1983 - Davis Romero, pitcher
- 1984 - Jose Arredondo, pitcher
- 1984 - Patrick Carlson, French national team pitcher
- 1984 - Carlos Martinez, minor league pitcher
- 1985 - Carlos Arrieche, minor league infielder
- 1985 - Dan Runzler, pitcher
- 1987 - Sue Douthwright, Womens Baseball World Cup infielder
- 1987 - Shairon Martis, pitcher
- 1987 - Mike Broadway, minor league pitcher
[edit] Deaths
- 1888 - Frank Bahret, outfielder (b. 1858)
- 1895 - Henry Easterday, infielder (b. 1864)
- 1908 - Charlie Sweasy, infielder, manager (b. 1847)
- 1921 - Frank Bancroft, manager (b. 1846)
- 1929 - Phil Redding, pitcher (b. 1889)
- 1936 - John Kull, pitcher (b. 1882)
- 1938 - Dasher Troy, infielder (b. 1856)
- 1940 - Roy Crabb, pitcher (b. 1890)
- 1940 - George McQuillan, pitcher (b. 1885)
- 1943 - Tex McDonald, outfielder (b. 1891)
- 1948 - Charlie Krause, infielder (b. 1873)
- 1949 - Bill Bernhard, pitcher (b. 1871)
- 1952 - John Gallagher, infielder (b. 1892)
- 1952 - Deacon Phillippe, pitcher (b. 1872)
- 1953 - Alva Bradley, owner (b. 1884)
- 1953 - Mickey Shader, scout (b. 1891)
- 1960 - Joe Connolly, outfielder (b. 1894)
- 1962 - Charlie French, infielder (b. 1883)
- 1962 - Mutt Williams, pitcher (b. 1892)
- 1967 - Ivan Howard, infielder (b. 1882)
- 1968 - Bernie Hungling, catcher (b. 1896)
- 1972 - Davy Jones, outfielder (b. 1880)
- 1977 - Barney Olsen, outfielder (b. 1919)
- 1978 - Billy Cox, infielder (b. 1919)
- 1983 - Joe Cicero, outfielder (b. 1910)
- 1983 - Ike Danning, catcher (b. 1905)
- 1983 - Jack Roche, catcher (b. 1890)
- 1988 - Jesús Díaz, minor league outfielder (b. 1925)
- 1991 - Sid Schacht, pitcher (b. 1918)
- 1997 - Bill Smith, pitcher (b. 1934)
- 2009 - Herman Franks, catcher, manager (b. 1914)
