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This Day In Baseball History

This Day in Baseball History - February 27th
 
1912 - The Yankees announce they will begin wearing pinstripes on their uniforms. It will take a few seasons (April 22, 1915) before the vertical lines become a reality.
 
1948 - Pirates legendary third baseman Pie Traynor and left-hander Herb Pennock are elected by the BBWAA to the Hall of Fame. The Pittsburgh infielder spent his entire 17-year career in the Steel City compiling a .320 lifetime batting average, and the 'Knight Of Kennett Square' posted a .590 win-loss percentage during his 22 seasons in the majors, including a 162-90 stint for the Yankees from 1923-1933.
 
1989 - John Olerud, a Blue Jay selection in the draft, undergoes brain surgery for the removal of an aneurysm. The Washington State University left-handed first baseman had collapsed on January 11 after a workout.
 
2003 - The new Veterans Hall of Fame selection committee, made up of mostly Hall of Famers, fail to select any of the 41 players, executives and umpires being considered. Gil Hodges is 11 votes shy of 75 percent needed for induction receiving 50 votes of 81 votes cast (61.7%).
 
2006 - In spring training intra-squad action, Koby Clemens goes deep off a 43-year old non-roster pitcher, who was given special permission to train with the Astros. In his next at-bat, the 19-year old minor leaguer gets brushed back with an inside fastball by the 300-game winner, his dad, Roger.
 
2006 - Effa Manley is among the 17 significant historical figures from the Negro Leagues to be selected by a special committee for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The former Newark Eagles executive, known as the Boss, will become the first woman to be enshrined in Cooperstown.
 
2008 - The White Sox wear Northern Illinois University baseball caps in their spring training opening game to honor the victims of a shooting rampage on the school's campus earlier this month. After the contest, the players autograph the hats which will be auctioned off at NIU to benefit a scholarship fund set up in memory of the five students who were killed in the attack.
 
This Day in Baseball History - February 28th
 
1903 - Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss and James Potter lead a syndicate to buy the Phillies from John Rogers and A. J. Reach for $170,000. It will be another seven years before owning more than one team is prohibited.
 
1966 - Refusing to report to spring training, Dodger pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale begin their joint holdout asking for a $1 million, three-year contract, to be divided equally between them. The deal, equivalent to an annual salary of $167,000 for each hurler, will make them the best paid players in baseball, easily surpassing Willie Mays's $125,000 yearly paycheck with the Giants.
 
1985 - Rick Reuschel signs as a free-agent with the Pirates and spends the first two months in the minors. After being called up in May, 'Big Daddy' wins 14 games and the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
 
1986 - Joaquin Andujar, Dale Berra, Enos Cabell, Keith Hernandez, Jeffrey Leonard, Dave Parker, and Lonnie Smith, known as the 'Cocaine Seven' are severely disciplined by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth for their “prolonged pattern of drug use’ and the distribution of drugs to others in the sport. The players are suspended for a full season, but will be allowed to play when they agree to donate ten percent of their base salaries to drug-related community service in the the city in which they played, submitt to random drug testing, and do 100 hours of community service.
 
1989 - Red Schoendienst, who spent 19 years in the major leagues and managed the Cardinals to a world championship in 1967, and, Al Barlick, a 29-year veteran umpire, best known for his booming voice, are elected to the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee. The pair will be inducted along with Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski, who were selected by BBWWA last month.
 
1990 - After meeting for more than five hours and taking three ballots, veterans committee, for the second time in three years, does not select a player for induction to the Hall of Fame. Phil Rizzuto, Nellie Fox, Richie Ashburn, Leo Durocher, Joe Gordon, Tony Lazzeri, Cecil Travis, Carl Mays, Vic Willis, Hal Newhouser, and umpire Bill McGowan were the finalists who each did not receive the 11 votes required for election from the 14 members present at the annual meeting.
 
2000 - Yankee outfielder/DH Darryl Strawberry is suspended for one year after testing positive for cocaine last month. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig does not make any provision for an early return from the suspension based on good behavior.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 1st
 
1903 - The rules committee sets the height of the pitcher mound (box) to a maximum of fifteen inches.
 
1909 - The Pirates begin construction of a new stadium near Schenley Park near the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. The state-of-the-art stadium was named Forbes Field in honor of a pre-Revolutionary British general.
 
1949 - In an effort to get a rental increase from their Sportsman's Park's tenants, the Browns move to evict the Cardinals. The Redbirds accuse the owners of breaking the lease, and as the season approaches it is uncertain where the National League team will play its home games.
 
1954 - On the first day of spring training, Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams breaks his collarbone. The Boston superstar will miss the first four weeks of the season.
 
1961 - Six weeks after leaving the Oval Office, former President Dwight Eisenhower jokes with the Angel players prior to an intra-squad game. Ike will sit in the dugout with the newly established expansion team during its five-inning scrimmage.
 
1967 - Commissioner General William Eckert approves the BBWAA's plan to select a Cy Young Award recipient from both the National League and American League. The honor, which was initiated in 1956, had been given to just one pitcher in the major leagues each season, a position strongly supported by former commissioner Ford Frick.
 
1969 - Citing "I can't hit when I need to", Mickey Mantle announces his retirement thus ending his fabled Hall of Fame career. The oft-injured Yankee slugger ranks third, behind Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, on the All-time home run list with 536 round-trippers, and finishes his 18-year stay in the majors with a .298 batting average.
 
1987 - Charlie Kerfeld and the Astros finally agree on a one-year deal worth $110,037.37 and 37 boxes of orange Jello. The Houston reliever, who wears number 37, insisted he earn more than teammate right-hander Jim DeShaies' $110,000 salary and wanted the gelatin for future pranks.
 
1993 - Two and half years after accepting a life-long ban from being involved in the day-to-day operation with the team, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner is reinstated. 'The Boss' had been exiled from baseball by commissioner Fay Vincent in 1990 for hiring Howie Spira, a known gambler, to snoop into the life of star outfielder, Dave Winfield.
 
2012 - After spending 15 seasons with Boston, Jason Varitek, ninth on the all-time list with 1,546 games played in a Red Sox uniform, announces his retirement, leaving only Carl Yastrzemski (23), Ted Williams (19), and Jim Rice (16) with longer tenures with the team without playing for another franchise. The venerable catcher, who served as the BoSox captain for past seven seasons, is the only major leaguer to have played in the Little League World Series, the College World Series, the World Series, the Olympics, and the World Baseball Classic.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 2nd
 
1927 - Babe Ruth becomes the highest paid player in major league history when the Yankees announce the Bambino will earn $70,000 per season for the next three years. The historic deal is struck when the 'Sultan of Swat', who had asked for $100,000, meets Colonel Jacob Ruppert, the club's owner at the Ruppert Brewery in the Yorkville section of Manhattan.
 
1966 - Commissioner William Eckert, citing a rule that prohibits clubs from signing players during their collegiate season, voids the Braves' contract with USC standout Tom Seaver, who had signed with Atlanta for a $50,000 bonus a week earlier. The Mets will be awarded the future Hall of Famer signing rights in a lottery that includes the Phillies and Indians, who also were willing to match the Braves' terms.
 
1989 - At a photo session, Mets' outfielder Darryl Strawberry throws a punch at Keith Hernandez, the team's first baseman. The scuffle started over comments about salaries and results with the Straw walking out of camp.
 
2005 - In a Capitol Rotunda ceremony, with legislators from both the House and Senate and baseball commissioner Bud Selig in attendance, President George W. Bush awards the nation’s highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, posthumously to Jackie Robinson's widow. Rachel, the widow of the courageous ball player, accepts the award for her late husband who died in 1972.
 
2005 - With hundreds of Red Sox Nation citizens in attendance on the south lawn, President George W. Bush praises the team spirit and winning style of the 2004 World Champions during a White House ceremony. Fall Classic hero and Bush supporter Curt Schilling gives the former owner of the Texas Rangers a white baseball jersey emblazoned with the forty-third Chief Executive’s name and the number 43.
 
2007 - In Atlanta, five Bluffton University baseball players and the driver and his wife are killed in a chartered bus accident at Interstate 75 and Northside Drive. The players, Zach Arend, David Betts, Scott Harmon, Cody Holp, and Tyler Williams, were en route to Sarasota, Florida, to play a twin bill with Eastern Mennonite University before heading to participate in the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers.
 
2012 - In the first change to the MLB playoff structure since the 1995 season, when wild-card teams were first introduced, a new one-game, wild-card round will be added in each league between the teams with the best records who are not division winners. The new postseason system, which would have allowed the Red Sox and the Braves to avoid their historic collaspes last season, increases the reward of a winning a division title, but opens the door of the possibility of a third-place team winning the World Series.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 3rd
 
1953 - Citing territorial privilege due to the location of their minor league club, Lou Perini blocks the Browns' attempt to move to Milwaukee from St. Louis. Fifteen days later, the Braves' owner will move his own major league club from Boston to that midwestern city.
 
1959 - The winning entry in the Giants’ Name-the-Park contest is Candlestick Park, reflecting the shape of the rocks found in the area known as Candlestick Point. The ballpark, initially called Bay View Stadium, will be the first stadium to be built entirely of reinforced concrete.
 
1967 - The White Sox are given permission to use a partial designated hitter in spring training. With the home club's permission, each team will be allowed to use a designated pinch-hitter twice in the same game.
 
1969 - The Washington Post reports the Global League has failed to reach an agreement with any television network. The lack of a TV deal appears to have derailed the reality of the proposed third major league coming into existence.
 
1984 - Peter Ueberroth is elected baseball's sixth commissioner, replacing Bowie Kuhn as the major league's top executive. The former L.A. Olympic president will take office on October 1 and will receive compensation of $450,000, an amount that is nearly double his predecessor's salary.
 
1988 - Upset by a practical joke played by teammate Jesse Orosco, Dodger slugger Kirk Gibson walks out of camp for a day. The southpaw reliever had put eyeblack on Gibson's cap.
 
2006 - In the opening game of the inaugural World Baseball Classic, South Korean hurlers Jae-Weong Seo and Chan Ho Park combine to blank Taiwan, 2-0. The first game of the 16-nation tournament is played before a disappointing crowd of only 5,193 fans at Tokyo Dome.
 
2008 - Noah Lowry throws 24 pitches before a batter takes a swing in the Giants' 6-4 loss to Texas. The 28-year old right-hander, who goes through the order once without an official at-bat being recorded, a combination of walks and sacrifice flies, issues nine bases-on-balls to the first 12 Rangers he faces.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 4th
 
1912 - With the shanties torn down and the garbage pits filled in the Pigtown section in Brooklyn, Charles Ebbets breaks ground for his team’s new ballpark. The Dodgers new home will be named for its owner after a reporter at the ceremony suggested the idea to Charley.
 
1913 - The Yankees become the first team to train outside of the United States when they start spring training in Bermuda. The team's island ballpark in Hamilton is a converted cricket field, and most of their competition is provided by the Skeeters, a local team from New Jersey.
 
1948 - Stan Musial ends his hold out signing a contract for $31,000 with the Cardinals.
 
1976 - Due to the intervention of San Francisco mayor George Moscone, the Giants will stay in the City by the Bay. In a last minute deal, the Stoneham family sells the team to Bob Lurie and Bud Herseth for $8 million instead of the Labbat's Brewery which had planned to move the Giants to Canada.
 
1984 - The Special Veterans Committee selects two outstanding defensive players, Pee Wee Reese (.269 - 16 seasons with Dodgers) and Rick Ferrell (.281 - 18 seasons w/Browns, Red Sox and Senators) to be members of Baseball's Hall of Fame.
 
2004 - Commissioner Bud Selig announces major league baseball will celebrate "Jackie Robinson Day" in every ballpark on April 15, the anniversary of the debut of the first black player in the major leagues. Jackie's number (42) was retired for all time in a ceremony at Shea Stadium in April of 1997 to mark the 50th anniversary of Robinson's achievement.
 
2012 - A swarm of bees, that moved down the right field line and settle near the Giants' dugout behind first base causes two sections of fans to be evacuated and results in a 41-minute delay of the Giants' split squad game against the Diamondbacks. The Salt River Fields grounds crew uses a combination of lemonade and cotton candy obtained from the concession stand to lure the buzzing insects away from fans and players.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 5th
 
1922 - Babe Ruth signs a three-year contract with the Yankees for $52,000 per season, the unheard sum of $1,000 a week. In November, Yankees owner Colonel Jacob Ruppert has the "Bambino' agree to a contract addendum which limits the slugger's outrageous off-field behavior, including the excessive consumption of alcohol and late-night carousing.
 
1936 - The Cardinals, without the holdout Dean brothers, lose to the Cuban All-Stars in Cuba. Luis Tiant Sr., the dad of a future major league pitcher, is the starting pitcher for the home team.
 
1958 - Trying to beat a 12:30 am curfew Duke Snider, Johnny Podres and Don Zimmer suffer minor injuries in an auto mishap in Vero Beach. With prior crashes involving Roy Campanella and Jim Gilliam, the car accident is the third involving the Dodgers within the last two months.
 
1962 - Gene Freese suffers a severely fractured ankle in the team's first intrasquad game that will keep him out of action until mid-August. The Reds' third baseman, who played an important role in Cincinnati's National League championship last season, will never regain the form he displayed during the pennant drive.
 
1966 - Marvin Miller, assistant to the President of United Steelworkers, is elected as the first full-time executive director of the Major League Players' Association by the player representatives. The skilled negotiator, who will lead the MLBPA from 1966 to 1982, transforms the union into one of the strongest ones in country.
 
1973 - Yankee teammates Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich announce they have traded families including their wives, children and even the dogs. The swap, that began last Fall, will work well for Peterson, who will become married to his best friend's former wife with whom he will have four children, than it does for Kekich, whose relationship with Marilyn Peterson is short-lived. :wtf:
 
1982 - Needing just three wins to reach 300 career victories, 43-year old Gaylord Perry signs a one-year free-agent contract with Seattle. The 'Ancient Mariner' will reach the milestone in May when he goes the distance to beat New York at the Kingdome, 7-3.
 
2002 - Joining Phil Cavarretta (1954 Cubs) and Alvin Dark (1978 Padres), Red Sox skipper Joe Kerrigan becomes the third manager to be fired during spring training. The team's former pitching coach, who guided the club to a 17-26 record after taking over for Jimy Williams last August, had signed a multi-year contract to be Boston's field boss with then-GM Dan Duquette, but was not favored by the new ownership that took control last month.
 
2003 - Although not agreeing to ban ephedra, a memo is sent to all major leaguers by the players' union strongly recommending players "be extremely reluctant to use any products" containing the substance. The diet supplement, which is available without a prescription, has been linked to the spring training death of Orioles' pitcher, Steve Belcher.
 
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 6th
 
1923 - The Cardinals announce players will wear numbers on their uniforms. The digits will correspond to the player's place in the batting order.
 
1945 - In some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, Harry O'Neill is killed in the battle for Iwo Jima. In 1939, the fallen Marine played one game in the major leagues appearing with the A's as a catcher.
 
1971 - Joe Cronin, the AL president, gives into A's owner Charlie Finley's request to allow three balls, rather than four, to constitute a base on balls during an exhibition game against the Brewers. The experiment, designed to add offense and speed up the game, proves to be tedious for both teams when 19 walks are issued as well as six homers being drilled during the 13-9 spring training victory for Oakland.
 
1973 - In a spring training game against the Pirates, Larry Hisle becomes the first designated hitter in major league history. The contention that the new American League rule will add more offense to the game is proven when the Twins' DH hits two homers and drives in seven runs.
 
1987 - Free agent Andre Dawson signs a blank contract to join the Cubs. The former player for the Expos will win the National League MVP making him a bargain at $500,000, the amount Chicago decided to pay the All-Star outfielder.
 
2001 - The 1960 World Series hero, former Pirate second baseman Bill Mazeroski, is elected by the Veterans' Committee into the Hall of Fame along with Hilton Smith, a pitching standout with the Kansas City Monarchs.
 
2005 - Making her debut with John Sterling on WCBS-AM (880), the radio flagship of the Yankees, Suzyn Waldman becomes the first woman in big league history to be a full-time color commentator. The former radio-talk host on WFAN, the first all-sports radio station in the country, was also the first female to broadcast on a nationally baseball telecast as well as the first to provide local TV (Yankees) major league play-by-play.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 7th
 
1924 - At the age of 48, Reds' manager Pat Moran dies of Bright's disease at spring training.
 
1941 - Believed to be the first time that players don protective headgear, Pee Wee Reese and Ducky Medwick wear plastic inserts inside their caps during a spring exhibition game. The Dodger teammates had both missed weeks of playing time after being beaned by a pitch during 1940 season.
 
1955 - Commissioner Ford Frick announces he favors the legalization of the spitter.
 
1956 - Still seeking workman's compensation coverage, the players accept the owners' position on the World Series television deal and the proposed minimum salary structure.
 
1979 - The Special Veterans Committee selects former center fielder Hack Wilson, who compiled a .307 batting average playing mostly for the Giants and the Cubs during his 12-year major league career, for the Hall of Fame. The committee also chooses former National League president Warren Giles, who spent 18 years in the post, for induction in Cooperstown this summer.
 
1995 - The Veterans Committee selects former players Richie Ashburn‚ Vic Willis‚ and Leon Day, and past president of the National League, William Hulbert, for induction to the Hall of Fame. Day, a Negro League right hander, who played in Baltimore with the Black Sox and the Elite Giants and with the Brooklyn and Newark Eagles, will be dead of a heart attack in less than a week after hearing the good news.
 
2006 - In their World Baseball Classic debut, Team USA blanks Mexico, 2-0. Home runs by Derrek Lee and Chipper Jones along with Jake Peavy and bevy of relievers combining to throw a four-hitter prove to be the difference as the United States defeats their neighbors from south of the border.
 
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 8th
 
1930 - Babe Ruth inks a two-year deal for $160,000 with the Yankees, keeping him the highest paid player of all time. The team's general manager Ed Barrow predicts at the time that, “No one will ever be paid more.”
 
1946 - The first spring training game ever to be played in Arizona takes place at Tucson’s Hi Corbett Field. The Indians, behind the pitching of Bob Lemon, beat the Giants, 3-1, in the inaugural Cactus League contest.
 
1947 - In Havana's new stadium delCerro, the Yankees beat the Dodgers, 1-0 on Snuffy Stirnweiss's tenth inning single which is the Bronx Bombers' only hit.
 
1966 - Prior to an intrasquad contest in St. Petersburg in a pregame ceremony, the Mets announce former manager Casey Stengel had been elected to the Hall of Fame. The 75-year old benefited from a new rule by the Baseball Writers Committee on Veterans that makes any manager, umpire or executive past the age of 65 eligible to be elected to the Hall of Fame six months after retiring, bypassing the traditional five-year wait rule for players.
 
2001 - In a press release, the Orioles announce Albert Belle, "has been found to be totally disabled and unable to perform as a Major League baseball player," due to a degenerative right hip. The Orioles will place the 34-year old outfielder on the 60-day disabled list thus beginning the process which conforms to the procedure set forth by Major League Baseball in the case of a totally disabling and permanent injury to a player.
 
2006 - A Canadian team made up mostly of minor leaguers stuns the baseball world by beating a highly-favored Team USA in the first round of the WBC, 8-6. Thanks to center fielder Adam Stern, who hits an inside-the-park homer, collects four RBIs and makes a pair of sensational catches, and 21-year old southpaw Adam Loewen, who gives up three hits and keeps the American all-stars scoreless for 3 2-3 innings, the Canadians post their biggest victory in its national history of baseball.
 
2008 - The Cape Cod Times reports MLB has threatened to withhold their annual grant from the Cape Cod League if the six teams in the 10-team circuit sharing nicknames with big league, such as the Chatham Athletics, do not purchase all future uniforms and souvenir merchandise from licensed vendors, a more expensive option. The deadline has been extended until March 21, to give league officials more time to resolve the issue.
 
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 9th
 
1897 - The Cleveland Spiders sign Penobscot Indian Louis Sockalexis. Although the former Holy Cross star plays only three seasons due to alcoholism, the fans admire his outstanding skills and refer to the team as the 'Indians'- in 1915 the name will become official.
 
1963 - Songwriters Ruth Roberts and Bill Katz introduced the official Met theme song, Meet the Mets, to the public. The tune will be modernized in 1984 adding Long Island, New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens, Uptown and Down, to the team's East side, West side geographical realm.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTLmDuhV3AQ
 
1979 - Fearing legal consequences, Bowie Kuhn gives access to female reporters to enter major league locker rooms. The commissioner's unpopular ruling puts the players in an awkward position in their once all-male domain.
 
1995 - With a vote of 28-0, the major league owners admit two new teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The teams will be assigned leagues in January of 1997.
 
2005 - Current and former big league players as well as baseball executives are issued subpoenas to appear on March 17 by the House Committee on Government Reform. The eleven ‘invitees’ to the congressional hearing on steroid use include Sandy Alderson, Jose Canseco, Donald Fehr, Jason Giambi, Rob Manfred, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas, and Kevin Towers.
 
2006 - At Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan a "Down with Fidel" sign, seen by millions of television viewers -- including those watching the WBC contest in Cuba, creates an international incident. A Cuban official attending the game confronts the male sign-holder, but Puerto Rican police quickly intercede, taking Angel Iglesias to a nearby police station where the vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports is reminded that Puerto Ricans enjoy the right to freedom of speech.
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2010 - Amidst much hoopla, Stephen Strasburg throws two scoreless innings against Detroit in his much anticipated first exhibition start for the Nationals this spring. The former San Diego State right-hander, the recipient of the Golden Spikes award as best amateur baseball player in the nation, was selected as the number one overall pick in last year’s draft, signing a record $15.1 million, four-year deal with Washington.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 10th
 
1941 - The Dodgers announce their players will begin to wear helmets when batting. The use of the safety headgear will not become mandatory in the National League until 1954 and the AL will follow suit four years later.
 
1951 - J. Edgar Hoover, longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, declines the post of baseball commissioner. President Calvin Coolidge appointed him in 1924 and the nation's top cop remained in the FBI until his death in 1972.
 
1963 - In an exhibition game against the White Sox, rookie Pete Rose goes 2-for-2 in his first appearance as a Red.
 
1993 - Sherry Davis becomes the first woman major league public address announcer when she is hired by the Giants to work at Candlestick Park.
 
1995 - Former Chicago Bull superstar Michael Jordan, citing labor unrest as the reason, announces that he is leaving the White Sox organization to return to the Chicago Bulls. In his only season in professional baseball, the future NBA Hall of Famer batted .202, hit three home runs, drove in 51 runs, stole 30 bases, and made 11 errors playing the outfield for the Double-A Birmingham Barons last season.
 
2004 - When asked by Senator John McCain to renegotiate the major league baseball's contract in regard to the use of controlled substances, Donald Fehr refuses to comply. Although the union boss condemns the use of steroids, he believes the players oppose random drug testing as a violation of privacy, an argument countered by the Arizona republican as unacceptable and he promised congressional action if the status quo remains in place.
 
2005 - Singling off Brad Thompson in a Cardinal intrasquad game, former pitching prospect Rick Ankiel goes 1-for-2 in his debut as a position player. Historic wildness and injuries ended the 25 year-old's once very promising career on the mound.
 
2006 - Shairon Martis throws the first-ever no-hitter in WBC history as the Netherlands rout Panama, 10-0. The 19-year-old Dutch hurler threw exactly 65 pitches, which is the Classic's pitch limit, to accomplish the historic deed in a game that was called after seven innings because of the mercy rule, a 10 run lead after seven innings.
 
2009 - At Puerto Rico’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium, the Netherlands WBC team, made up of mostly unknown players, upsets a heavily-favored Dominican Republic club for the second time in four days to advance to the next round of the World Baseball Classic. The Dominicans, considered to be an odds-on favorite, with a roster filled with major league All-Stars including David Ortiz (Red Sox), Hanley Ramirez (Marlins), and Miguel Tejada (Astros), are eliminated in the first round of the 16-team tournament.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 11th
 
1901 - Baltimore manager John McGraw signs Tokohoma, a Cherokee Indian. Tokohoma turns out to be really a black second baseman named Charlie Grant.
 
1933 - During an exhibition game in L.A., a significant earthquake sends the Cubs and Giants scurrying to second base until the tremors stop.
 
1953 - The Dodgers defeat the A's, 4-2, in the first game played in Holman Stadium, their Grapefruit League ballpark at the team's spring training complex in Vero Beach, better known as Dodgertown. Fifty-five years later Carl Erskine, the game's starting pitcher, will return to play the national anthem on his harmonica as an 81-year old at the club's last game at the storied facility.
 
1961 - At Palm Springs, former president Dwight Eisenhower is a no-show at the Angels' first-ever exhibition game, an 8-3 victory over the Cubs. Ike had been scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, but decided to go fishing instead.
 
1988 - Citing health issues, California Angels manager Gene Mauch takes a leave of absence and is replaced by Cookie Rojas. The Halos' skipper will officially announce his retirement in two weeks leaving the game with a managerial record of 1,902 wins and 2,037 losses during his 26-year tenure in the dugout with the Phillies, Expos, Twins and California.
 
2002 - The Red Sox replace Joe Kerrigan, who was fired last week, with Grady Little, who will manage the team for two years compiling a 188-136 (.580) record and making one appearance in the postseason as the AL wild card. The once-popular skipper's contract will not be renewed for 2004 after he becomes the target of fans' angst as result of not pulling out starter Pedro Martinez with a three-run lead in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the ALDS, a contest Boston will eventually lose in the eleventh on Aaron Boone's walk-off home run.
 
2004 - The first contest played at Petco Park, the Padres' new home, establishes the record for the best attended game in college baseball history when 40,106 fans watch Tony Gwynn's San Diego State Aztecs beat the University of Hawaii, 4-0. The previous mark of 27,673 was established in 2002 when state rivals LSU and Tulane met in the Superdome in New Orleans.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 12th
 
1903 - The New York Highlander franchise (to be renamed Yankees in 1913) is approved as a member of the American League.
 
1971 - The Cubs' catcher Randy Hundley suffers a badly sprained knee and will play only nine games this season. In 1968, the venerable backstop caught 160 games for Chicago.
 
1980 - National League outfielder Chuck Klein, who compiled a .320 batting average during his 17-year career, and former Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey are elected into the Hall of Fame. Yawkey is the first person to be selected who was not first a player, manager or general manager.
 
1982 - Ballantine Books publishes the first of seven annual Bill James Abstracts, bringing the author into the national spotlight for his statistical insight into the game. The sabermetrician, whose first self-published efforts were written while working the night shift as a security guard at the Stokely-Van Camp's pork and beans cannery, introduces baseball fans to new ways of measuring a player's ability using stats such as such Runs Created.
 
1991 - Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer's attempted comeback at the age of 45 comes to an end when the newly elected Hall of Famer tears a hamstring during spring training.
 
2006 - Over 15,000 Twins fans attend a memorial service at the Metrodome to pay their final respects to Kirby Puckett, who died unexpectedly, at the age of 45, after suffering a stroke last week. During the heart-felt ceremony, former teammates and fellow Hall of Famer Cal Ripken lighten the mood by sharing humorous anecdotes about the beloved Minnesota outfielder with the crowd.
 

 
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This Day in Baseball History - March 13th
 
1915 - Dodger manager Wilbert Robinson, thinking he is going to catch a baseball dropped from a plane, is surprised and splattered when the sphere turns out to be a grapefruit.
 
1944 - It's True, Cy Young's middle name is not Tucumseh, as generally accepted, but the middle initial T really stands for True.
 
1953 - Braves' owner Lou Perini announces he will seek permission from the National League to move his franchise from Boston to Milwaukee. The day will become known as 'Black Friday' in Beantown.
 
1954 - During an exhibition game against the Yankees, recently acquired Brave Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle in three places and will be sidelined until July 14. The '51 National League playoff hero is replaced in the Braves' lineup by a promising prospect named Hank Aaron.
 
1960 - Much to the chargrin of other owners and most of his players, Bill Veeck's White Sox become the first team to put the players' names back of the jersey, unveiling the new look on their road uniforms in an exhibition game against Cincinnati in Tampa. After the rest of the league's clubs protest the the Chicago owner's innovation, the commissioner's office will rule that in addition of displaying traditional numbers each team will have the option to use monikered uniforms.
 
1986 - In a Royal pre-season game, Hal McRae (age 39) and his son Brian (age 18) play together against the Phillies. Kansas City manager Dick Howser refers to the event as the 'Big Mac Attack'.
 
2008 -  Joining the ranks of Garth Brooks and Tom Selleck as celebrities who have appeared in a spring exhibition game, Billy Crystal strikes out in the first inning as the Yankees' leadoff batter. The comedian, who signed a one-day contract with the Bronx Bombers, wears the number sixty in honor of his 60th birthday which is tomorrow.
 
2011 -  Jackie Robinson's former apartment in Montreal is remembered with the placement of a plaque by the U.S. government as a tribute to the Canadian city for their exemplary treatment of the future Hall of Fame infielder. The season before he broke the color barrier, the Dodger farmhand led the hometown Royals to the 1946 International League championship with a .349 batting average and earned the circuit's Most Valuable Player for his outstanding performance with the team.
 
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This Day in Baseball History - March 14th
 
1953 - Joseph Darst vows to fight losing the hometown Browns to Baltimore. The St. Louis mayor's efforts will be not be enough to prevent the franchise shifting cities when the team shareholders drop their suit against Bill Veeck and approve the move to the east coast after learning the club will be bankrupt if it stays put.
 
1954 - Hank Aaron, filling in for Bobby Thomson who broke his ankle yesterday, starts his first game wearing a Braves uniform. The 20 year-old from Mobile, Alabama makes such an impression when he collects three hits, including a home run, in the spring training game against Boston that the club offers him a major league contract.
 
1993 - The Reds announce the St. Bernard owned by Reds president Marge Schott is being prohibited access to the Riverfront Stadium field for the season. The edict to ban Schottzie 02 comes from the MLB's Executive Council, who have received numerous complaints from the players about dogs running on the field.
 
2006 - Avoiding a trial scheduled to begin on opening day, Major League Baseball settles a lawsuit with an Atlanta-based company that claimed it owned the trademark rights to the name Washington Nationals. Bygone Sports LLC was sued by MLB who asked the court to declare that the trademark for the name Nationals does not belong to the company because its sole purpose in filing the September 2002 trademark application was to capitalize on the renaming of the team that was recently shifted from Montreal to Washington.
 
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This Day in Baseball History - March 15th
 
1960 - The Southern Association announces the New Orleans Pelicans, for the first time since 1901, will not be part of the Double-A circuit. The franchise, a major league affiliate of the Yankees in 1958, will be replaced by the Little Rock Travelers.
 
1971 - Bernie Gera, a thirty-nine year old New York housewife, files a civil right suit against MLB after her contract to umpire in the New York-Penn League is voided after six days without an explanation.
 
1975 - The Dodgers sign their once arch-nemesis Juan Marichal as a free agent. After two-regular season outings, that includes a loss to Cincinnati, the former San Francisco superstar and future Hall of Famer will retire in mid-April.
 
1977 - In a nine-player spring training swap with Pittsburgh, the A's send Phil Garner, Chris Batton and Tommy Helms to the Pirates for Tony Armas, Mitchell Page and four pitchers, including Doc Medich and Dave Giusti. Pittsburgh's acquisition infielder Phil Garner, the key player in the deal, will move a very disappointed Bill Robinson back into a utility role after he worked all winter to get ready to be the team's everyday third baseman.
 
2000 - In spring training action, six Red Sox pitchers combine on a perfect game beating the Blue Jays in Fort Meyers, 5-0. Boston starter Pedro Martinez pitched the first three innings, Fernando De La Cruz tossed the next two frames, with Dan Smith, Rheal Cormier, Rich Garces, and Rod Beck all going one inning apiece.
 
2008 - In front of 12,224 fans, a near sellout at the new Olympic venue in Beijing, the Dodgers and the Padres played to a 3-3 tie in the first major league game ever to take place in mainland China. In the seventh inning, the crowd hears “Take Me Out to the Ballgame", but not knowing the lyrics just listen without singing.
 
2012 - The website Baseball-Reference.com choses to leave a blank space next to 2011 on its National League MVP list instead of identifying Ryan Braun as the award's winner. The Brewers outfielder, who received a 50-game suspension scheduled to the start of the 2012 season, became the first player to successfully challenge the results of a drug test when an arbitration panel overturned the suspension due to the improper handling of the specimen taken last Fall.
 
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 16th
 
1907 - After watching Ty Cobb quarrel with a black grounds keeper and with teammate Charlie Schmidt, Tiger manager Hugh Jennings tries to deal him to the Indians for outfielder Elmer Flick. The Tribe's manager Napoleon Lajoie turns down the deal for the 'Georgia Peach'.
 
1908 - Pirates legend Honus Wagner announces the upcoming season will be his his last as a major league player. The 34-year old Pittsburgh shortstop will lead the National League in in batting average, hits, total bases, doubles, triples, RBIs, and stolen bases during his final campaign.
 
1932 - Babe Ruth signs a deal for $75,000 and a percentage of the exhibition gate. Legend has it the Bambino signed a blank contract with the amount filled in later by Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert.
 
1953 - In an effort to oust him from the league, the AL owners reject Bill Veeck's request to move the St. Louis Browns to Baltimore.
 
1961 - The state of New York approves a bond issue for the construction of a 55,000-seat stadium on the site of the 1939-40 World's Fair in the Queens Flushing Meadow area. The ballpark will be named Shea Stadium to honor William Shea, a lawyer who was instrumental in bringing the National League back to New York.
 
1994 - Former Padres pitcher Eric Show dies of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 37.
 
2006 - At Angel Stadium in front of 38,284 enthusiastic fans, Oliver Perez and seven relievers combined to lead Mexico to a stunning defeat of Roger Clemens and the United States, 2-1. The second round loss eliminates Team USA from the inaugural World Baseball Classic.
 
2010 - Former L.A. outfielder Willie Davis, the team leader in hits, extra-base hits, and runs, is fondly remembered by his family and friends, including many teammates, in a memorial service held at Dodger Stadium. The 69-year old, known as 3 Dog, was found dead in his home last week.
 
2010 - The Red Sox announce 19-year-old prospect Ryan Westmoreland has undergone a five-hour surgical procedure to remove a cavernous malformation in his brain. The highly touted minor league outfielder was diagnosed at Mass General after leaving minor league camp earlier this month.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 17th
 
1965 - Jackie Robinson becomes the first black to be a member of a national network broadcasting team when he signs on to announce games with ABC.
 
1966 - Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale play hardball when negotiating with the Dodgers. The duo sign movie contracts showing they are serious about retiring from baseball if their salary demands are not met.
 
1969 - The Braves trade Joe Torre, a spring training holdout publicly feuding with team GM Paul Richards, to the Cardinals for 1967 National League MVP Orlando Cepeda. The all-star catcher/infielder will play six years in St. Louis, compiling a .308 batting average for the Redbirds that includes a major league-leading .363 in his 1971 MVP season.
 
1977 - In a decision seen as one of the most influential and precedent-setting cases in the history of American jurisprudence in regards to professional sports, a federal court rules in favor of Bowie Kuhn's decision to void the 1976 sale of A's players by Charlie O. Finley. The Oakland owner sued the commissioner for illegal restraint of trade when his deals to send Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox for $2 million and Vida Blue to the Yankees for $1.5 million were invalidated “in the best interests of baseball.”
 
1986 - During a Cactus League contest, Carney Lansford is credited with an unusual two-run inside-the-park homer in the A's 5-3 victory over the Indians in Phoenix. The Oakland infielder is able to circle the bases in the fourth inning when Cleveland flychaser Mel Hall gets his shirt stuck on the outfield fence and is unable to untangle himself to pick up the ball, that is just barely out of his reach, while his teammate, shortstop Julio Franco, closest to the play, is so incapacitated with laughter he is unable to help.
 
2005 - During 11+ hours of the Committee on Government Reform hearing concerning major league player use of steroids, Mark McGwire refuses to talk about the past and does not deny taking performance enhancing drugs. Other players testifying included Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and former big leaguer Jose Canseco, whose recent book prompted the congressional hearing.
 
2010 - In a rare spring training ruling, major league baseball suspends a player as a result of an incident that occurs in an exhibition game. Cliff Lee, the Mariners' much-hyped acquisition, is fined and suspended for the first five games of the regular season after throwing a pitch over the head of Chris Snyder in a Catcus League contest against Arizona.
 
This Day in Baseball History - March 18th
 
1937 - Ending his holdout, Lou Gehrig, who had originally asked for $50,000, agrees to sign with the Yankees for $36,000 and a $750 signing bonus. The new deal for Bronx Bombers' first baseman, last season's American League MVP, makes him baseball’s highest paid player.
 
1942 - During spring training, Jackie Robinson and Nate Moreland work out with the White Sox in Pasadena, California. Manager Jimmie Dykes, who reluctantly granted their request for a walk-on tryout, dismisses the black players without making an offer for their services.
 
1943 - Due to wartime travel restrictions, spring training camps begin opening in northern locations. Some of the locales include Bear Mountain, NY (Dodgers), French Lick Springs, IN (Cubs and White Sox), Ashbury Park, NJ (Yankees), Medford, MA (Red Sox) and Wallingford, CT (Braves).
 
1953 - The Braves end the 77-year old association with Boston and become the first major league club to move since 1903 when Baltimore moved to New York. The franchise will spend a dozen years in the mid-western city, setting attendance records and appearing in two World Series, before moving to Atlanta, lured by the promise of a brand new state of the art stadium in an area they would be the only big league club.
 
1957 - Indian general manager Hank Greenberg turns down the Red Sox million-dollar offer for pitcher Herb Score. The former slugger says the Tribe is building for the future and not into selling its premier players.
 
1958 - Emmett Kelly, the Dodgers' resident 'tramp' in Brooklyn, announces his contract has not been renewed to join the team when they begin playing in L.A. this season. The veteran circus performer believes the size of the Coliseum, the club's new home on the West Coast, is just "too big for one clown".
 
1985 - Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. The two Hall of Famers had been banned from associating with major league baseball due to their employment with Atlantic City casinos.
 
2005 - After Mark McGwire, who had previously denied the use of steroids, refuses to answer the questions concerning his involvement during the congressional hearings, U.S. Representative William Lacy Clay (D-MO) wants to remove the slugger’s name given to a stretch of highway in his state. The legislators officially renamed a five-mile segment of Interstate-70 the Mark McGwire Highway as a tribute to 'Big Mac’ hitting a record 70 home runs in 1998.
 
2008 - The possibility of collusion by major league owners against Barry Bonds, who has pleaded innocent to four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, will be examined by the Players Association. The San Francisco slugger, who hit .276 last year with 28 home runs, has not been offered a contract by any major league team.
 
2008 - In an attempt be part of a healing process on the campus where 32 students and staff became victims of a deadly shooting spree last April, the Yankees play the Hokies at Virginia Tech's English Field. George Steinbrenner, moved by coverage of the massacre last spring, donated $1 million to a memorial fund and made arrangements for his team to participate in an exhibition game at the school.
 
2009 - The Cubs announce the team will retire its fifth number when 31 will be set aside on May 3 in honor off both Fergie Jenkins (1966-73,1982-83) and Greg Maddux (1986-92, 2004-06). The hurlers will join other Cubbies which include Ron Santo (#10), Ernie Banks (#14), Ryne Sandberg (#23), and Billy Williams (#26) to receive such recognition.
 
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