Timeline of Baseball
Return to home
Baseball
Master
1791 A document
was released in 2004 from Pittsfield, Mass., that contained a 1791
bylaw to protect the windows of a new meeting house from baseball
players.
(SFC, 5/12/04, p.A2)
1819 Jun 26, Abner Doubleday
(d.1893), Civil War General, was born. He was incorrectly credited with
inventing American baseball.
(HN, 6/26/99)(WSJ, 7/19/01, p.A20)
1820 Apr 17, Alexander Cartwright,
sportsman, was born. He developed baseball.
(HN, 4/17/01)
1839 Jun 12, Baseball was said to
have been invented. According to legend Abner Doubleday chased cows out
of Elihu Phiney’s pasture and invented the game of baseball at
Cooperstown, New York, later home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
and the Cooperstown Bat Company. In 1939 on the 100th anniversary of
the day Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the sport, the National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Americans began playing baseball in the 1840s. It was derived from the
British game called rounders.
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.T-11)(AP, 6/12/97)(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R34)(WSJ, 7/19/01, p.A20)
1867 Mar 29, Cy Young, major
league baseball pitcher with the most wins (509 or 511 total) , was
born.
(HN, 3/29/02)
1869 Mar 15, Cincinnati Red
Stockings became the 1st pro baseball team.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1870 Baseball was brought to Japan
by American missionaries.
(http://tinyurl.com/6xjluk)(Econ, 3/29/08, p.83)
1871 Baseball's National
Association was formed and marks the beginning of the US major leagues.
(WSJ, 1/30/04, p.A1)
1874 Mar 2, Baseball batter's box
was officially adopted.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1876 Feb 2, The National League of
Professional Base Ball Clubs with eight teams (Boston, Chicago,
Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, St Louis) was
formed in New York.
(AP, 2/2/97)(HN, 2/2/99)(MC, 2/2/02)
1876 Feb 12, Al Spalding opened a
sporting good shop.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1876 Apr 1, The first official NL
baseball game took place. Boston beat Philadelphia 6-5.
(OTD)
1876 Apr 25, The Chicago Cubs beat
Louisville 4-0 (1st NL shutout) in the 1st NL game.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1877 Apr 12, The catcher's mask
was first used in a baseball game, by James Tyng of Harvard, in an
exhibition game against the Live Oaks of Lynn, Mass. In 1878 Frederick
Thayer, manager and 3rd baseman for the Harvard team, applied for and
received a patent for the mask. Thayer became a lawyer after graduating
and in 1886 successfully sued Spalding for patent infringement.
(AP, 4/12/07)(ON, 6/08, p.12)
1880 Jun 12, Baseball’s first
perfect game. The southpaw, left-handed Lee Richmond of the Worcester,
Massachusetts, Ruby Legs, pitched himself to perfection with a 1-0
shutout of the Cleveland Spiders in a National League game.
(MC, 6/12/02)
1883 May 23, The first baseball
game between one-armed and one-legged players was played.
(HN, 5/23/98)
1883 Jun 2, The first baseball
game under electric lights was played in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
(HN, 6/2/98)
1883 Jun 16, The New York
Gothams admitted both escorted and unescorted ladies to the baseball
park free in the 1st ladies’ day game against the Cleveland Spiders. NY
won, 5-2.
(HNQ, 12/21/01)(AP, 6/16/03)
1884 Pitcher Charles Radbourn, "Ol
Hoss," led his team, the Providence Grays, to baseball’s National
League pennant.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, BR p.11)
1884 Moses Fleetwood Walker, a
black man, played 42 games for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the
American Association.
(WSJ, 1/30/04, p.A1)
1884 Hillerich & Bradsby,
makers of the Louisville Slugger bats, was founded, in Louisville, Ky.
John A. Hillerich turned a bat, called the Falls City Slugger, for
Eclipse slugger Pete “The Old Gladiator” Browning.”
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T8)(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.D4)
1887 Jul 16, "Shoeless" Joe
Jackson, black sox player (Say it ain’t so, Joe), was born.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1887 Aug 21, Mighty (Dan) Casey
Struck-out in a game with the NY Giants.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1888 Jun 3, The poem Casey at the
Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was 1st published in the SF Examiner. The
poem was based on a game played in Stockton, Ca.
(SFC, 4/28/05, p.A1)(www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE23.html)
1890 Aug 6, Cy Young gained the
first of his 511 major league victories as he pitched the Cleveland
Spiders to a win over the Chicago Colts. However, the score is a matter
of dispute, with some sources saying 6-1, and others saying 8-1.
(AP, 8/6/07)
1890 Sep 1, The 1st baseball
tripleheader was between Boston and Pittsburgh.
(SC, 9/1/02)
1893 Jan 26, Abner Doubleday
(b.1819), credited with inventing baseball, died on his 74th birthday.
(MC, 1/26/02)
1893 Mar 24, George Sisler,
baseball player, was born.
(HN, 3/24/01)
1893 Nov 20, The struggling
Western League of Professional Baseball Clubs, meeting in Detroit,
Michigan, elected Byron Bancroft Johnson (29), a former ballplayer and
Cincinnati sportswriter, as president. He had been recommended by
Charles Comiskey, a potential investor in the league and manager of the
National League’s Cincinnati Reds.
(ON, 6/09, p.10)
1894 The Louisville Slugger
trademark was registered.
(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.D4)
1895 Feb 6, George Herman "Babe"
Ruth, baseball's most dominant player, was born in Baltimore. He played
with the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees and the Boston Braves and
was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season.
(USAT, 1/29/97, p.1D)(AP, 2/6/97)(HN, 2/6/99)
1896 Apr 27, Rogers Hornsby
(d.1963), among the greatest hitters in baseball history, was born in
Texas.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Hornsby)
1896 The Minneapolis Millers won
the Western League baseball pennant. All the stars of the team were
soon drafted by the National League and the following year it became
one of the worst teams in the Western League.
(ON, 6/09, p.10)
1897 Mar 4, Lefty O’Doul (d.1969),
baseball star, was born in SF in the old Butchertown neighborhood south
of Market. He played for the SF Seals, and spent 11 years in the major
leagues with the Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees and Giants before returning
to manage the Seals and the Pacific Coast League. He was the National
League batting champ in 1929 with the Phillies and again in 1932 with
the Brooklyn Dodgers.
(SFC, 3/5/96, p.C1)(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A9)
1899 Nov 4, John Montgomery Ward
delivered a manifesto on baseball that said in part: "There was a time
when the League stood for integrity and fair dealing…"
(SFEC, 10/3/99, BR p.4)
1899 Oct 11, Byron Bancroft
Johnson, president of baseball’s Western League, renamed it as the
American League.
(ON, 6/09, p.11)
1900 Charles Comiskey, manager of
the National League’s Cincinnati Reds, bought the Western League’s St.
Paul team and moved it to Chicago as the White Stockings.
(ON, 6/09, p.11)
1901 Jan 28, Byron Bancroft
Johnson announced that the American League would play the 1901 baseball
season as a major league and would not renew its membership in the
National Agreement. The new league would include Baltimore and
Washington, DC, recently abandoned by the National League. The league
would also invade 4 cities where National League teams existed: Boston,
Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. The 8 charter teams included: the
Baltimore Orioles, Boston Americans, Chicago White Stockings, Cleveland
Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Athletics, and
Washington Senators
(ON, 6/09,
p.11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_League)
1901 Apr 25, Erve Beck hit the 1st
home run in the American League.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1901 Apr 25, In last of 9th,
Detroit Tigers, trailing by 13-4, score 10 runs to win one of the
greatest comebacks in baseball (1st game in Detroit).
(SS, 4/25/02)
1902 Jul 2, John J. McGraw became
manager of NY Giants and stayed for 30 years.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1902 The Baltimore Orioles
baseball team was sold at the end of the season to former police chief
Bill Devery and casino operator Frank Farrell of New York, and moved to
NYC to play as the New York Highlanders.
(ON, 6/09, p.12)
1903 Jan, The American League and
the National League representatives met in Cincinnati and produced the
rough outlines of a deal in which each would maintain independence, but
coordinate schedules.
(ON, 6/09, p.12)
1903 May 17, James "Cool Papa"
Bell, baseball player, was born.
(HN, 5/17/01)
1903 Oct 1, The Pittsburgh Pirates
defeated the home team Boston Pilgrims (Red Sox), 7-3, in the first
World Series game. Boston, however, went on to win the series, five
games to three.
(AP, 10/1/03)
1903 Oct 13, Boston defeated
Pittsburgh in baseball’s first World Series. In 2003 Roger I. Abrams
authored “The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903;”
Louis P. Masur authored "Autumn Glory: Baseball's First World Series;"
and Bob Ryan authored "When Boston Won the World Series."
(WSJ, 7/8/96, p.A8)(HN, 10/13/98)(WSJ, 3/28/03,
p.W9)(SSFC, 6/8/03, p.M6)
1904 Mar 2, "Official Playing
Rules of Professional Base Ball Clubs" was adopted.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1904 May 5, Denton True Young (Cy
Young) of the Boston Red Sox pitched the American League's first
perfect game as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Philadelphia Athletics,
3-0.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A23)(AP, 5/5/04)
1905 Jun 29, Archibald Wright
“Moonlight” Graham (1876-1965) of the New York Giants played for two
innings in right field in his only professional baseball game on this
day and was promptly forgotten until 1989 when the movie “Field of
Dreams” was released. “Moonlight” never got to bat, instead he was left
on deck, a late substitute in a lopsided 11-1 win. Graham completed his
medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1908. He obtained his
license the following year and began practicing medicine in Chisholm,
Minnesota.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_Graham)
1905 Aug 30, Ty Cobb made his
major league batting debut, playing for the Detroit Tigers, hitting a
double in his first at-bat in a game against the NY Highlanders. The
Tigers won, 5-3.
(AP, 8/30/00)
1906 Apr 22, A new baseball rule
put the umpire in sole charge of all game balls.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1906 Jul 27, Leo Durocher,
baseball player and manager, was born.
(HN, 7/27/98)
1907 Dec 30, The Mills Commission
issued its final report, concluding that Abner Doubleday was the
inventor of the sport of baseball, a claim Doubleday himself had never
made. Few, if any, sports historians take this finding seriously.
(AP, 12/30/07)
1908 Feb 17, Walter Lanier “Red”
Barber, baseball announcer for the Cincinnati Reds, the Brooklyn
Dodgers and the New York Yankees, was born in Columbus, Miss.
(HN, 2/17/01)(AP, 2/17/08)
1908 Feb 27, Baseball’s sacrifice
fly was adopted. It was repealed in 1931 and reinstated in 1954.
(MC, 2/27/02)
1908 May 2, The original version
of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," with music by Albert Von
Tilzer and lyrics by Jack Norworth, was copyrighted by Von Tilzer's
York Music Co. It sealed the popularity of Cracker Jacks, a popcorn
candy.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AH, 10/01, p.34)(WSJ, 3/22/08, p.W16)
1908 Sep 23, One of baseball's
most famous blunders occurred in a game between the New York Giants and
the visiting Chicago Cubs. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the
ninth and two runners out, the Giants batted in what should have been
the winning run. However, Fred Merkle, who was on first base, began to
leave the field apparently without bothering to tag second; the Cubs
then claimed to have forced Merkle out. Merkle was eventually ruled
out, negating the winning run and leaving the game tied. The Cubs won a
rematch game on Oct. 8 and with it, the National League pennant;
Chicago then went on to win the World Series.
(AP, 9/23/08)
1908 Oct 10, The Chicago Cubs won
Game 1 of the World Series with a 10-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers
at Bennett Park.
(AP, 10/10/08)
1908 Oct 11, The Chicago Cubs took
a 2-0 lead in the World Series, defeating the visiting Detroit Tigers
6-1 at the West Side Grounds.
(AP, 10/11/08)
1908 Oct 12, The Detroit Tigers
beat the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in Game 3 of the World Series, played in
Chicago.
(AP, 10/12/08)
1908 Oct 13, The Chicago Cubs won
Game 4 of the World Series, defeating the Detroit Tigers 3-0 to take a
3-1 Series lead.
(AP, 10/13/08)
1908 Oct 14, The Chicago Cubs won
the World Series as they defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 5, 2-0, at
Bennett Park.
(AP, 10/14/08)
1909 Jun 16, Jim Thorpe made his
pro baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (ECL) with a 4-2 win. This
later caused him to forfeit his Olympic medals.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1909 Aug 4, Baseball umpire Tim
Hurst instigated a riot by spitting at A's 2nd baseman Eddie Collins,
who had questioned a call. This lead to Hurst's banishment.
(MC, 8/4/02)
1909 Aug 31, The A.J. Reach Co.
patented the cork-centered baseball.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1909 The America Tobacco Company
issued its T-206 baseball card collection, the first to be done in
color. New cards continued to be issued through 1911.
(AH, 6/03, p.50)
1910 Apr 14, President William
Howard Taft began a sports tradition by throwing out the first pitch on
baseball’s Opening Day. Taft threw to Washington Senator pitcher Walter
Johnson, who went on to hurl a shutout win, allowing the Philadelphia
Phillies just one hit and ending the day with a 3-0 victory for
Washington.
(HNQ, 8/9/02)
1911 Jan 16, Jay Hanna Dean, aka
“Dizzy Dean,” one of baseball's greatest pitchers, hall of fame, was
born.
(MC, 1/16/02)
1911 May 13, NY Giant Fred
Merkle was 1st to get 6 RBIs in an inning (1st).
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1911 Jul 4, Ty Cobb went 0 for 4
& ended a 40 game hit streak. White Sox Ed Walsh stopped Ty Cobb's
40-game hitting streak.
(Maggio, 98)
1911 The NY Highlanders (later
Yankees) signed Justin Fitzgerald (d.1952) from San Mateo, Ca., to a
$385 per year contract, the largest ever presented to an amateur player
from the West Coast.
(Ind, 4/17/00, 5A)
1912 May 15, Ty Cobb rushed a
heckler at a NY Highlander game and was suspended.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1912 Jul 4, Detroit Tiger George
Mullen no-hits St Louis Browns, 7-0.
(Maggio, 98)
1913 The New York Highlanders
American League baseball team officially adopted the “Yankees” name.
Newspapers have begun calling them the “Yanks” as early as 1904. Fans
had earlier called them “the Americans” due to their league affiliation.
(ON, 6/09, p.11)
1914 Feb 9, Bill "Rhymes with
Wreck" Veeck, baseball club owner, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1914 Apr 22, Babe Ruth's 1st
professional game as a pitcher was a 6-hit 6-0 win.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1914 Jul 10, The Boston Red Sox
purchased Babe Ruth (19) from the Baltimore Orioles for 30 pieces of
gold.
(Hem., 4/97, p.105)(MC, 7/10/02)
1914 Jul 11, Babe Ruth debuted in
the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox. He earned $2,900 in his
rookie season.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1914 Nov 25, Joe DiMaggio,
baseball star, was born in Martinez, Ca.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.F13)
1914-1915 The Cracker Jack prizes of baseball cards
of this time later became the most valued prizes. The shoeless Joe
Jackson card sold for $8,500 in 1998.
(SFC, 2/11/98, Z1 p.6)
1915 Mar 13, Dodgers manager
Wilbert Robinson tried to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane,
but the pilot substituted a grapefruit.
(MC, 3/13/02)
1915 May 6, Babe Ruth made his
pitching debut with the Red Sox hit his 1st HR, but lost to Yanks 4-3
in 15 innings.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1916 Sep 11, The “Star Spangled
Banner” was sung at the beginning of a baseball game for the first time
in Cooperstown, New York.
(HN, 9/11/00)
1917 Apr 11, Babe Ruth beat NY
Yanks, pitching to a 3-hit, 10-3 win for Red Sox.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1917 Jun 27, Hank Gowdy became the
1st baseball player to enter WW I military service.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1917 The Chicago White Sox won the
Baseball World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1918 Feb 12, Dominic DiMaggio,
baseball outfielder (Boston Red Sox), was born.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1918 May 14, Sunday baseball
became legal in Wash, DC.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1918 Aug 30, Ted Williams
(d.2002), Hall of Fame outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, the last man
to hit .400 in a season, was born.
(HN, 8/30/98)(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A1)
1918 Sep 11, The Boston Red sox
beat Chicago 4-2 to win the World Series in the 6th game.
(www.1918redsox.com/augsep.htm)
1919 Jan 31, Jackie
Robinson, first black major league baseball player, was born.
(HN, 1/31/99)
1920 Jan 3, The Red Sox sold Babe
Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000, twice the amount of any previous
player transaction. The deal also included a $300,000 loan secured by a
mortgage on Fenway Park, a contractual clause that made the Yankees
owners the Red Sox's landlords.
(http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00242487.html)
1919 Oct 1, In baseball’s World
Series the Chicago White Sox faced the Cincinnati Reds in a best of 9
games. The White Sox intentionally threw the series to satisfy gamblers
in what became known as the Black Sox Scandal. 8 players were banned
from baseball for life. In 1963 Eliot Asinof described the events in
his book “Eight men Out.” The 1988 baseball film "Eight Men Out" was
directed by John Sayles.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)(SFC, 7/14/96, DB p.33)(AH,
10/04, p.14)
1919 Oct 9, The Cincinnati Reds
won the World Series, defeating the Chicago White Sox 10-5 at Comiskey
Park. The victory turned hollow amid charges eight of the White Sox had
thrown the Series in what became known as the "Black Sox" scandal.
(AP, 10/9/08)
1920 Feb 13-14, Andrew Foster
formed the 1st black baseball league, the Negro National League, at a
meeting at the Colored YMCA, Kansas City, Mo.
(AH, 2/05, p.17)
1920 Mar 1, Harry Caray, baseball
announcer (Chicago Cubs), was born.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1920 May 2, 1st game of National
Negro Baseball League was played in Indianapolis.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1920 Aug 17, Ray Chapman died
after he was hit in the head by Yanks' pitcher Carl Mays.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1921 Feb 5, Yankees purchased 20
acres in Bronx for Yankee Stadium.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1921 Jul
18, The prosecution gave its opening remarks in the trial of the
Chicago Black Sox, accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.
(www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/blacksox/chronology.html)
1921 Aug 3, Baseball commissioner
Kenesaw Mountain Landis refused to reinstate the former Chicago White
Sox players implicated in the "Black Sox" scandal, despite their
acquittals on a technicality in a jury trial.
(AP, 8/3/01)(SC, 8/3/02)
1921 Oct 5, The World Series was
broadcast on radio for the first time. By series' end, the NY Giants
had beaten the NY Yankees five games to three in the best-of-nine
contest.
(AP, 10/5/06)
1922 May 5, Construction began on
Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1922 May 25, Babe Ruth was
suspended for 1 day and fined $200 for throwing dirt on an umpire.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1922 May 29, The US Supreme Court
ruled that organized baseball is a sport, not subject to antitrust laws.
(HN, 5/29/98)
1923 Apr 18, The first game was
played in Yankee Stadium. The Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1.
Babe Ruth hit a three-run homer as the Yankees beat the Red Sox 4-1.
The stadium was called the House that Ruth built.
(AP, 4/18/98)(WSJ, 10/12/99, p.A24)(HN, 4/18/01)
1925 May 12, Lawrence “Yogi”
Berra, baseball star, was born. He played as a catcher for the New York
Yankees and worked as a coach and manager for the Mets and Astros.
(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)(HN, 5/12/98)
1925 Jun 2, NY Yankee Lou Gehrig
began his 2,130 consecutive game streak.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1926 May 1, Satchel Paige made his
pitching debut in Negro Southern League.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1927 Mar 2, Babe Ruth signed a
3-year contract with the New York Yankees for a guarantee of $70,000 a
year, thus becoming baseball's highest paid player.
(HC, Internet, 2/3/98)
1927 Apr 15, Babe Ruth hit his 1st
of 60 HRs of season off A's Howard Ehmke.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1927 Jul 18, Ty Cobb hit safely
for the 4,000th time in his career.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1927 Oct 29, In Fresno, Ca., Babe
Ruth and Lou Gehrig led an exhibition baseball game as part of an
18-state tour to promote major league baseball.
(SFC, 1/17/03, p.D3)
1929 Feb 23, Elston Howard, Yankee
catcher (1st black NY Yankee/1963 AL MVP), was born.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1929 Apr 17, Baseball player Babe
Ruth and Claire Hodgeson, a former member of the Ziegfeld Follies, got
married.
(HN, 4/17/01)
1929 Aug 11, Babe Ruth hit his
500th major league home run against the Cleveland Indians.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1929 The Univ. of Mich. men’s
baseball team under Fielding H. Yost (1871-1946) won 11 of 13 games on
its first tour of Japan and brought back a Japanese suit of armor as an
award from Meiji Univ.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.24)
1929 Lefty O’Doul (d.1969),
baseball star, was the National League batting champ with the Phillies.
(SFC, 3/5/96, p.C1)(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A9)
1930
Apr 1, Leo Hartnett (Gabby Hartnett) of the Chicago Cubs broke
the altitude record for a catch by catching a baseball dropped from the
Goodyear blimp 800 feet over Los Angeles, CA. He caught the ball
cleanly, saying, "Eeeeooooww!". His injuries included a broken jaw.
(OTD)(SFC, 10/23/99, p.B7)(MC, 4/1/02)
1930 Apr 28, The first night
organized baseball game was played in Independence, Kansas.
(HN, 4/28/98)
1930 Jun 10, In the 1st night
baseball game on the Pacific Coast the Sacramento club beat Oakland 3
to 0 at Moering Field.
(SFC, 6/10/05, p.F4)
1930-1931 Babe Ruth's highest salary was $80,000
annually. He suffered a $5,000 pay cut in 1932 despite hitting .373,
leading the majors with a .700 slugging percentage, tying for the lead
in homers with 46 and knocking in 163 runs in 1931.
(ttp://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00242487.html)
1931 Feb 12, Japan’s first
television broadcast was a baseball game.
(HN, 2/12/97)
1931
Mar 18, Jackie Mitchell became the 2nd female in professional baseball
as she signed with the Chattanooga Lookouts, a Tennessee Class AA minor
league team. In 1898, Lizzie Arlington played one game, pitching for
Reading (PA) against Allentown.
(www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/mitchell.html)
1931 Mar 28, Byron Bancroft
Johnson (b.1864), founder of the American League Baseball organization,
died. In 1937 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(ON, 6/09, p.12)
1931
Apr 1, Jackie Mitchell became the first female in professional
baseball when she signed with the Chattanooga Baseball Club.
(OTD)
1931 May 6, Willie Mays, the 'Say
hey ' kid who played baseball for the New York Giants, was born. He
made a great outfield catch in the 1954 World Series.
(HN, 5/6/99)
1931 Aug 21, Babe Ruth hit his
600th HR as the Yanks beat Browns 11-7.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1932 Jan 26, William K. Wrigley,
owner (Wrigley Gum, Chicago Cubs), died.
(MC, 1/26/02)
1932 Oct 2, The NY Yankees won the
World Series against the Chicago Cubs in 4 games.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1932_World_Series)
1933 Jul 6, The first All-Star
baseball game was played, at Chicago's Comiskey Park; the American
League defeated the National League, 4-2.
(AP, 7/6/08)
1933 Jul 20, Nelson Doubleday,
publisher (Doubleday), owner (NY Mets), was born.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1934 Feb 5, Hank Aaron, American
hall of fame baseball player, all-time homerun leader (755), was born.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1934 Feb 22, George "Sparky"
Anderson, baseball manager (Reds, Tigers), was born in SD.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1934 Apr 5, Hank Aaron, baseball
great, was born.
(HN, 5/5/97)
1934 Apr 21, Moe Berg, Senators
catcher (and later US spy), played an AL record 117th consecutive,
errorless game.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1934 Sep 13, Judge Landis sold the
World Series broadcast rights to Ford for $100,000.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1934 Sep 24, Babe Ruth made his
farewell appearance as a regular player with the New York Yankees in a
game against the Boston Red Sox. The Sox won, 5-0.
(AP, 9/24/04)
1935 Feb 26, New York Yankees
released Babe Ruth. He signed with Boston Braves.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1935 May 24, The first
major-league baseball game played at night took place at Cincinnati's
Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1935 May 30, Babe Ruth (1895-1948)
in his final game went hitless for Braves against Phillies.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1936 Jan 29, The first members of
baseball's Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy
Mathewson & Walter Johnson were named in Cooperstown, N.Y.
(AP, 1/29/98)(MC, 1/29/02)
1936 May 3, Joe DiMaggio made his
major-league debut as NY Yankee and got 3 hits.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1936 Jul 23, Don Drysdale, pitcher
(LA Dodgers-Cy Young 1962), was born in Van Nuys, Calif.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1937 Jul 5, Joe DiMaggio hit his
1st grand slammer.
(MC, 7/5/02)
1937 Sep 2, Peter Ueberroth,
baseball commissioner, was born. He organized the 1984 LA Olympics.
(MC, 9/2/01)
1937 Ted Williams (1918-2002) of
San Diego signed a contract with the Red Sox.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A13)
1938
Apr 1, The Baseball Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown, New York.
(OTD)
1938 Apr 4, Bart Giamatti,
baseball commissioner, president of Yale, was born.
(HN, 4/4/01)
1938 Jun 18, Babe Ruth was signed
as a Dodger’s coach for the rest of the season.
(MC, 6/18/02)
1939 May 2, Baseball player Henry
Louis Gehrig, “the Iron Horse,” asked to be taken out of the NY Yankees
starting lineup in a game where the Yanks beat Tigers 22-2. He had
played 2,130 consecutive games. A few weeks later he was diagnosed with
amyotrophic lateral schlerosis, a fatal neuromuscular disease.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, Par. p.2)(SFEC, 3/30/97, BR.
p.10)(MC, 5/2/02)
1939 Jul 4, Baseball's "Iron
Horse," Lou Gehrig (1904-1941), said farewell to 61,808 fans honoring
him with a special day at New York City's Yankee Stadium. He was
suffering from A.L.S. (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a
neurodegenerative disorder that destroys the body's neuromuscular
system. Many now call it Lou Gehrig's disease. He did less than two
years later at the age of 37.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, Par. p.2)(AP, 7/4/97)(IB, 12/7/98)
1939 Jul 11, Yanks hosted the 7th
All Star Game. McCarthy started 6 Yanks, AL won 3-1.
(PGA, 12/9/98)
1939 Aug 26, The first televised
major league baseball games were shown on experimental station W2XBS, a
double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at
Ebbets Field. The Reds won first, 5-2; the Dodgers, second, 6-1.
(AP, 8/26/98)
1940 Apr 16, The 1st televised
baseball game on WGN-TV featured the White Sox vs. Cubs in exhibition.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1940 Apr 18, Ed Garvey, labor
leader for the Major League Baseball Players Association, was born.
(HN, 4/18/98)
1940 Jul 14, Due to beanball wars,
Spalding advertised batting helmet with earflaps.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1940s-1950s The All-American Girls Professional
Baseball League (AAGPBL) lasted from the late 40s to the early 50s.
(SFC, 7/24/03, p.A22)
1941 Apr 14, Pete Rose, Cincinnati
Reds, (most hits in majors), was born.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1941 May 15, Joe DiMaggio started
his 56-game hitting streak. Yanks lost 13-1.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1941 Jun 2, Baseball’s "Iron
Horse," Lou Gehrig, died in New York of a degenerative disease,
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 37. The best book on Gehrig is "Iron
Horse" by Ray Robinson. In 2005 Jonathan Eig authored “Luckiest Man:
The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.”
(AP, 6/2/97)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.79)
1941 Jun 25, Joe DiMaggio ran his
hitting streak to 45 straight games.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1941 Jul 17, The longest hitting
streak in baseball history ended when the Cleveland Indians pitchers
held New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper, hitless for the
first time in 57 games.
(HN, 7/17/98)(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A10)(CHA, 1/2001)
1941 Ted Williams (d.2002)
finished the season with a .406 batting average.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A1)
1942 Mar 1, Baseball decided that
players in military can't play when on furlough.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1942 Mar 18, Black players, Jackie
Robinson and Nate Moreland, requested a tryout with the Chicago White
Sox. They were allowed to work out.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1942 May 13, Pitcher Jim
Tobin belted 3 HRs in a game.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1942 May 18, New York ended night
baseball games for the rest of World War II.
(HN, 5/18/98)
1946 Apr 16, On opening day for
Baseball in Boston with the Braves vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers, the newly
painted seats had not yet dried when guests seated themselves. The
Braves management picked up the cleaning tab for all.
(SFEC, 4/6/97, Z1 p.5)
1946 Apr 18, Jackie Robinson
debuted as 2nd baseman for the Montreal Royals.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1946 Apr 20, 1st baseball game
telecast was in Chicago with the Cards vs. Cubs.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1946 Jun 21, Bill Veeck bought the
Cleveland Indians for $2.2 million.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1946 The Boston Red Sox lost the
World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1947 Apr 10, Brooklyn Dodgers
president Branch Rickey announced he had purchased the contract of
Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals. John Sengstacke, black
publisher of the Chicago Defender, was instrumental in persuading Mr.
Rickey in his decision. In spite of intense pressure and hostility,
Robinson's athletic abilities earned him the Rookie of the Year Award
in 1947.
(AP, 4/10/97)(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A1)(HN, 4/10/01)
1947 Apr 11, Jackie Robinson
played in an exhibition between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York
Yankees, the first Negro to play in Major league baseball. Jackie
Robinson became the first black to play major league baseball as he
took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie Robinson officially
broke baseball's color barrier when he put on Dodgers uniform No. 42 in
April 1947. When Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, talented
black athletes toiled in relative obscurity in the Negro leagues
despite the exciting caliber of their play. Brooklyn Dodgers' general
manager Branch Rickey first approached Jackie Robinson in August 1945
to participate in the "great experiment" of integrating the major
leagues.
(TMC, 1994, p.1947)(AP, 4/11/97)(HN, 4/10/98)(HNPD,
4/10/99)
1947 Apr 15, Jackie Robinson,
modern baseball's first black major-league player, broke the color
barrier and made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on
opening day. The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3.
(AP, 4/15/97)(HN, 4/15/98)
1947 Apr 17, Jackie Robinson
bunted for his first major league hit.
(HN, 4/17/98)
1947 Apr 27, It was "Babe Ruth
Day" at Yankee Stadium as baseball fans across the country honored the
ailing star.
(AP, 4/27/97)
1947 Jul 5, Larry Doby
signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black
player in the American League.
(AP, 7/5/97)
1947 Jul 8, The American League
defeated the National League, 2-1, in the All-Star game played at
Chicago's Wrigley Field.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1948 Apr 4, 84-year-old Connie
Mack challenged 78-year-old Clark Griffith to a race from home to 1st
base; it ended in a tie.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1948 Jul 1, Brooklyn's Roy
Campanella debuted as catcher.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1948 Jul 9, Satchel Paige (42)
debuted in majors pitching 2 scoreless inning for Cleveland.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1948 Aug 16, Famed home-run
slugger George Herman "Babe" Ruth died at age 53 in New York City. He
is credited with turning baseball from a game of speed and skill to one
of power. During a flamboyant major league career that began as a
pitcher with the Boston Red Sox in 1914 and ended with his retirement
from the Boston Braves in 1935, the Babe hit an astonishing total of
714 homers, a feat that was not surpassed until Henry Aaron of the
Atlanta Braves broke Ruth’s record in 1974. The fans loved the
warm-hearted Babe Ruth, who had a reputation as a hard drinker,
carouser and womanizer. In 1931, at the height of his career with the
Yankees, Ruth earned $80,000, which made him the highest-paid
ballplayer in history. At a special "Babe Ruth Day" just two months
before his death, the cancer-stricken Babe donned his uniform for the
last time and appeared before a cheering crowd at Yankee Stadium. In
2006 Leigh Montville authored “The Big Bam,” a biography of Babe Ruth.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A19)(AP, 8/16/97)(HNPD,
8/16/98)(WSJ, 5/9/06, p.D6)
1948 The Cleveland Indians won the
World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1949 Jan 28, NY Giants signed
their 1st black players, Monte Irvin & Ford Smith.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1949 Feb 7, Joe DiMaggio of the NY
Yankees became the 1st $100,000/year baseball player.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1949 Sep 23, Bill Veeck (d.1986),
Baseball owner of the Cleveland Indians, held funeral services to bury
1948 pheasants.
(MC, 9/23/01)(Internet)
1950 Jan 24, Jackie Robinson
signed highest contract ($35,000) in Dodger history.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/R/Robinson_Jackie.stm)
1951 Jan 22, Fidel Castro, as a
baseball pitcher, was ejected from a Winter League game after beaning a
batter.
(MC, 1/22/02)
1951 Feb 9, St. Louis Browns
signed baseball pitcher Satchel Paige (45).
(MC, 2/9/02)
1951 Mar 10, FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover declined the post of baseball commissioner.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1951 Apr 17, Mickey Mantle played
his 1st game as a NY Yankee and went 1 for 4.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1951 May 1, Mickey Mantle hit his
1st HR.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1951 May 24, Willie Mays began
playing for the New York Giants.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1951 May 25, New York Giant Willie
Mays went 0 for 5 in his 1st major league game.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1951 Oct 3, Bobby Thompson won the
pennant for the New York Giants by hitting a home run off of Ralph
Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the New York Polo Grounds before
20,000 empty seats. Outfielder Bobby Thomson hit a home run in the
bottom of the ninth inning, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-4 to win the
National League pennant. In 2001 the WSJ confirmed roomers that the
Giants had concealed an electric buzzer and a telescope to steal the
signals of the opposing catchers. In 2006 Joshua Prager authored ”The
Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the
Shot Heard Round the World.”
(HN, 10/3/00)(WSJ, 6/21/05, p.B1)(WSJ, 9/19/06, p.B1)
1951 Dec 5, "Shoeless" Joe
Jackson, of baseball's "Black Sox" scandal, died.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1951 Dec 11, Joe DiMaggio
announced his retirement from baseball.
(www.thebaseballpage.com/past/pp/dimaggiojoe/)
1951 The US Negro Leagues went out
of business as the major baseball leagues integrated.
(SFC, 2/21/06, p.B5)
1952 Apr 23, Hoyt Wilhelm hit a
home run in his 1st major league at bat, then went on to pitch more
than 1,000 games in the next 21 baseball seasons. He never hit another
homer.
(AARP, 1/05, p.69)
1952 May 13, Minor-league
pitcher Ron Necciai struck out 27 in 9-innings.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1952 Topps Chewing Gum Company
issued its first large set of baseball cards. They included team logos
and facsimile signatures and were later considered as the first true
set of the modern era. Topps had issued a smaller card in 1951, but it
flopped.
(AH, 6/03, p.52,54)
1952 Lorenzo Ponza (1918-2004)
developed the “power pitcher,” later considered the prototype of the
modern baseball pitching machine.
(SFC, 12/20/04, p.B4)
1953 Feb 17, Baseball star and
pilot Ted Williams was uninjured as his plane was shot down in Korea.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1953 Feb 20, US Court of Appeals
ruled that Organized Baseball is a sport & not a business,
affirming the 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1953 Apr 17, Mickey Mantle hit a
home run in Washington's Griffith Stadium off the Senator's Chuck
Stobbs that was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as
measuring 565 feet. The distance was later said to have been padded.
(WSJ, 7/9/03, p.A1)
1953 Nov 9, The Supreme Court
upheld a 1922 ruling that major league baseball did not come within the
scope of federal antitrust laws. President Clinton later signed a bill
overturning the labor relations aspect of the antitrust exemption.
(AP, 11/9/03)
1953 Dec 8, Damon Miller and his
SF Seals Corp. offered the public 10,000 shares of stock in the
baseball club at $10 a share.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.E13)
1954 Mar 1, Ted Williams fractures
collarbone in 1st game of spring training after flying 39 combat
missions without injury in Korean War.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1954 Apr 23, Hank Aaron of the
Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record 755 major-league home runs
against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Braves won, 7-5.
(AP, 4/23/97)
1954 May 13, Robin Roberts
gave up a HR then retired the next 27 men in a row.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1954 Jul 17, The 1st major league
baseball game was played where a majority of a team was black (Dodgers).
(MC, 7/17/02)
1954 Sep 29, The New York Giants
beat the Cleveland Indians in the 1st game of this year’s World Series.
NY went on to win 4 games in a row. Willie Mays made a spectacular
catch and throw in the 8th inning. In 1955 Arnold Hano authored “A Day
in the Bleachers,” a classic account of this game.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1954ws.shtml)(SSFC,
9/17/06, p.D1)
1954 Nov 4, Frank “Lefty” O’Doul
announced that he will return to the Bay Area from San Diego and manage
the Oakland Oaks for owner C.L. Laws in 1955.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.F7)
1955 Mar 7, Baseball Commissioner
Ford Frick said he favors legalization of spitter.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1955 May 5, The baseball musical
"Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway and ran for 1022 performances. It was
produced by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop. Ray Walston played the
devil in the play and the 1958 movie.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, DB p.41)(AP, 5/5/00)(SFC, 10/23/00,
p.F3)(MC, 5/5/02)
1955 May 13, Mickey Mantle
hit 3 consecutive HRs of at least 463'.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1955 Joe DiMaggio was elected to
the Baseball Hall of Fame. DiMaggio, often considered one of the
greatest center fielders to play the game, helped his team win ten
American League championships and nine World Series titles. After
paying in the minors in San Francisco, DiMaggio was acquired by the New
York Yankees where he played from 1936 until his retirement in 1951.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A10)(HNQ, 9/25/00)
1955 The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the
New York Yankees in the US baseball World Series.
(WSJ, 4/2/96, p.A-12)
1956 Oct 8, Don Larsen pitched the
only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees
beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.
(AP, 10/8/08)
1956 Oct 10, The New York Yankees
won the World Series, defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers, 9-0, in Game 7 at
Ebbets Field.
(AP, 10/10/06)
1956 Oct, The World Series was won
by the New York Yankees over the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-3.
(TOH, 1982, p.1956)
1956 Oct, The Brooklyn Dodgers
completed their last season in NYC. In 2003 Michael Shapiro authored
“The Last Good Season.” The team moved to LA after Robert Moses, head
of the Triborought Bridge and Tunnel District, blocked the efforts of
owner Walter O’Malley to build a new Brooklyn ballpark.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.D8)
1956 Jerry Sacharski (1016-2009),
summer baseball instructor, created a T-Ball league for kids in Albion,
Mich.
(WSJ, 3/7/09, p.A12)
1957 Feb 25, Supreme Court decided
6-3 that baseball is the only antitrust exempt pro sport.
(MC, 2/25/02)
1957 May 28, The National League
approved the move of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants baseball
teams to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
(AP, 5/28/97)
1957 Sep 29, The New York Giants
played their last game at the Polo Grounds, losing to the Pittsburgh
Pirates, 9-to-1. The Giants moved to San Francisco.
(AP, 9/29/97)
1957 Sep 29, The Brooklyn Dodgers
played their last game before moving to Los Angeles, losing to the
Phillies 2-1 in Philadelphia.
(AP, 9/29/07)
1957 Oct 8, The Brooklyn Baseball
Club announced it was accepting an offer to move the Dodgers from New
York to Los Angeles.
(AP, 10/8/07)
1957 Oct 10, The Milwaukee Braves
won the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees in Game 7, 5-0.
(AP, 10/10/07)
1958 Jan 28, Roy Campanella,
catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, was paralyzed in a car crash. In 1959
Topps Chewing Gum Company issued a baseball card in his honor featuring
Campanella in a wheelchair with the phrase “Symbol of Courage.”
(AH, 6/03, p.56)(http://tinyurl.com/ry7spx)
1958 Feb 7, Brooklyn Dodgers
officially became the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1958 Apr 15, The Giants baseball
team of Horace Stoneham, brought from New York to San Francisco, opened
at Seal Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants won 8-0.
(SFC, 10/8/97, p.A20)(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4,5)
1958 May 13, Stan Musial
made hit # 3000.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1958 Nov 21, Mel Ott (49),
Baseball Hall-of-Famer, died in New Orleans.
(AP, 11/21/08)
1959 Mar 3, The new home of the
San Francisco Giants baseball team was officially named, Candlestick
Park. The name was chosen in a contest to name the newly-built stadium.
Al Dermody (1910-2004), the contest winner didn't have to look far, as
the windswept and chilly confines of the National League's least
favorite stadium are located just a few hundred feet from Candlestick
Point, on San Francisco Bay. In 1995, the venerable name, Candlestick
Park was changed to 3COMM Park, after a relatively small area computer
software developer bid a half-million dollars for the rights to the
stadium name – beating out such giants as Apple Computer, IBM and
others.
(HC, Internet, 3/3/98)(SFC, 9/24/04, p.B6)
1960 Apr 19, Baseball uniforms
began displaying player's names on their backs.
(HN, 4/19/97)
1960 May 13, Phillies lost
their 3rd consecutive 1-0 game
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1960 Oct 13, The Pittsburgh
Pirates won the World Series at Forbes Field with a 9th inning homerun
by Bill Mazeroski. A Univ. of Pittsburgh academic building was later
built on the site.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
1961 Apr 26, Roger Maris of the
New York Yankees hit the first of a record 61 home runs in a single
season; the homer was off Detroit's Paul Foytack at Tiger Stadium.
(AP, 4/26/99)
1961 Apr 30, Willie Mays of the SF
Giants hit 4 home runs in a game with the Milwaukee Braves.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A18)
1961 Jun 11, Norm Cash became the
1st Detroit Tiger to hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1961 Jul 17, Ty Cobb (74),
baseball great (Detroit Tigers), died of cancer.
(MC, 7/17/02)
1961 Jul 24, Roger Maris hit 4
home runs in a doubleheader.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1962 Jan 23, Jackie Robinson
(1919-1972) became the first African-American elected to Baseball Hall
of Fame.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0732697/bio)
1962 Feb 4, Russian newspaper
Izvestia reported baseball is an old Russian game.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1962 Mar 10, The Phillies baseball
club left the Jack Tar Harrison Hotel due to its refusal to admit black
players, and moved to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater,
Florida.
(http://tinyurl.com/mdtvxu)
1962 Mar 23, William DeWitt bought
the Cincinnati Reds for $4,625,000.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1962 Apr 9, JFK threw out the 1st
ball at Washington's new DC Stadium.
(MC, 4/9/02)
1962 May 19, Stan Musial broke
Honus Wagner's NL baseball hit record with 3,431.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1962 Jul 3, Jackie Robinson became
the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball
Hall of Fame.
(HN, 7/3/98)
1962 Oct 3, The SF Giants beat the
LA Dodgers to win baseball's National League Pennant.
(SFC, 11/24/99, p.E9)
1962 Oct 12, Columbus Day storms
washed out the 1962 World Series game at Candlestick Park in SF.
(SFCM, 9/25/05, p.4)
1963 Jun 15, Juan Marichal (25),
pitcher for the SF Giants, dueled for 16 innings with Warren Spahn
(42), of the Milwaukee Braves in a 5-hour game at Candlestick. Willie
Mays hit the 428th pitch of the night over left field.
(SFC, 4/4/03, p.D3)
1963 Jul 8, Reports were made of
Charlie Finley's intention to move KC A's baseball team to Oakland.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1963 Sep 15, The Alou
brothers-Felipe, Matty, & Jesus-appeared in the San Francisco
outfield for 1 inning.
(http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=20238)
1964 Apr 23, Houston Colt 45s Ken
Johnson became the 1st major league pitcher to lose a 9 inning
no-hitter, Reds win 1-0.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1965 Apr 9, The newly built
Houston Astrodome featured its first baseball game, an exhibition
between the Astros and the New York Yankees. Mickey Mantle hit the 1st
indoor homerun, but the Astros won, 2-1 in 12 innings.
(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.B8)(AP, 4/9/09)
1965 May 4, Willie Mays hit his
512th HR and broke Mel Ott's 511 NL record.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1965 Sandy Koufax, baseball’s
Great Jewish Hope, pitched a perfect game. In 2002 Jane Leavy authored
“Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy.”
(WSJ, 10/22/02, p.A1)
1966 Apr 6, Emmett Ashford became
the first African-American major league umpire. The highly regarded
umpire was known for his dynamic and distinctive style of calling balls
and strikes.
(HN, 4/12/99)(HNQ,
4/15/00)(http://netscape.net/picassoaustin/homepage)
1966 Apr 8, The AFL chose 36 year
old Al Davis as commissioner.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1966 Jul 25, Yankee manager Casey
Stengel was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1967 May 13, NY Yankee
Mickey Mantle (b.1931) hit career HR #500 off Stu Miller.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/05141967.shtml)
1967 The Boston Red Sox lost the
World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1968 Apr 8, The Academy Awards and
Baseball's Opening Day were postponed because of the M.L. King
assassination.
(www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/The-Assassination-of-Martin-Luther-King-201065.html)
1968 Nov 12, Sammy Sosa, baseball
outfielder (Chicago Cubs), was born in the Dominican Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Sosa)
1969 Mar 1, Mickey Mantle of the
NY Yankees announced his retirement from baseball.
(HN,
3/1/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mantle)
1969 Apr 14, The first major
league baseball game in Canada was played in Montreal. The expansion
Montreal Expos hosted their first game north of the border, marking the
first time a regular season major league game is played outside of the
US. The Expos won their debut at Jarry Park, edging the St. Louis
Cardinals, 8-7.
(HN,
4/14/98)(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/1969_Expos)
1970 Aug 12, Curt Flood lost his
$41 million antitrust suit against baseball. On June 18, 1972, the US
Supreme Court upheld the lower court's rulings on Flood's case.
Baseball continued to be exempt from antitrust laws and its reserve
clause was upheld.
(www.scripophily.net/cuflasmi19.html)
1970 Oct 3, Baseball umpires
called their 1st strike. A one-day strike of the first game of the
championship playoffs, the first by umpires in major league history,
prompted the league presidents to recognize the Association and
negotiate a labor contract that set a minimum salary of $11,000 and
raised the average salary to $21,000.
(www.sdabu.com/history_main.htm)
1970 Jim Bouton (b.1939) published
his controversial "Ball Four."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Four)
1970 Robert Peterson (1906-2006)
authored “Only the Ball Was White,” the first history of baseball’s US
Negro Leagues.
(SFC, 2/21/06, p.B5)
1971 Feb 9, Satchel Paige became
the 1st negro-league player elected to baseball HOF.
(www.biographybase.com/biography/Paige_Satchel.html)
1971 Sep 20, The American League
Ok'd the Washington Senator move to Arlington, where they became the
Texas Rangers.
(WSJ, 4/7/99,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Washington_Senators_season)
1971 Sep 30, The Washington
Senators baseball team played their last game before leaving Washington
DC for Texas.
(WSJ, 4/7/99,
p.B1)(www.sportsecyclopedia.com/al/wastex/senators61.html)
1971 Veterans Stadium in
Philadelphia opened. Demolition felled it in 2004.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
1972 Apr 1, A US baseball strike
began and lasted to April 13.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Major_League_Baseball_strike)
1972 Apr 13, The
first US Major League baseball strike ended after 13 days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Major_League_Baseball_strike)
1972 May 11, The SF Giants traded
Willie Mays (b.1931) to the New York Mets.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1
p.5)(www.ultimatemets.com/profile.php?PlayerCode=0201)
1972 May 13, Milwaukee
Brewers beat Minn. Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings. The game had started the
evening of May 12.
(www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN197205120.shtml)
1972 Jun 19, The US Supreme Court
voted 5-3 to confirm lower court rulings in the Curt Flood case, which
upheld baseball's exemption from antitrust laws.
(http://supreme.justia.com/us/407/258/)
1972 Oct 22, The Oakland Athletics
beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 in a 7th game to win the World Series,
bringing home the first Bay Area’s baseball world championship.
It was the first of 3 in a row.
(SFEC, 3/1/98,
p.W39)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_World_Series)(SFC, 12/28/99,
p.A1)
1972 Oct 24, Jackie Robinson, 1st
black baseball player (Brooklyn Dodgers), died at 53 of complications
from diabetes. In 1983 Prof. Jules Tygiel (1949-2007) authored
"Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy." In 1997
Arnold Rampersad published the biography "Jackie Robinson."
(WSJ, 10/17/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 4/2/00, BR p.1)(SFC,
7/3/08, p.B5)
1973 Jan 3, The Columbia
Broadcasting System (CBS) got out of the baseball business this day by
selling the New York Yankees to a 12-man syndicate headed by George
Steinbrenner III for $10-12 million.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_New_York_Yankees_season)
1973 Mar 5, During spring training
in Florida, Yankee pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich
announced they had swapped wives.
(www.around-the-horn.com/?p=131)
1973 Apr 6, Yankee Ron Blomberg
(b.1948) became the 1st designated hitter. He walked.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Blomberg)
1974 Jan 16, NY Yankees Mickey
Mantle and Whitey Ford were elected to Hall of Fame.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mantle)
1974 Jan 25, Ray Kroc (1902-1984),
the head of McDonald's Corp., bought the SD Padres for $12 million and
prevented the team's planned move to Washington DC.
(www.addictsports.com/baseball/archive/index.php/t-28507.html)(SFC,
10/13/03, p.A19)
1974 Apr 4, Hank Aaron of the
Atlanta Braves tied Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th
round-tripper in Cincinnati.
(HN, 4/4/98)(AP, 4/4/99)
1974 Apr 8, Hank Aaron of the
Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los
Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth's record. The round-tripper was off
pitcher Al Downing.
(HN, 4/8/98)(AP, 4/8/07)
1974 Jun 4, Ten Cent Beer Night
was an ill-fated promotion held by the American League's Cleveland
Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal
Stadium.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Cent_Beer_Night)
1974 Jul 17, Jay Hanna "Dizzy"
Dean (b.1910), pitcher (St Louis Cards), died in Nevada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_Dean)
1974 Oct 3, Frank Robinson was
named major-league baseball's first black manager as he was placed in
charge of the Cleveland Indians.
(AP, 10/3/97)
1974 Gaylord Perry authored "Me
and the Spitter: An Autobiographical Confession." Perry admitted that
he threw illegal spitballs, yet was subsequently admitted to the
baseball Hall of Fame.
(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.E6)
1975 The Boston Red Sox lost the
World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1975 Frank Robinson joined the
Cleveland Indians as the 1st African American manager in major league
baseball.
(SFC, 4/11/03, p.E15)
1976 Jan 6, Ted Turner purchased
the Atlanta Braves for reported $12 million.
(www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/S-Z/Turner-Ted-1938.html)
1976 Mar 2, Bob Lurie (b.1929),
real estate magnate, led a group to acquire ownership of the San
Francisco Giants baseball club. Lurie closed the $8-million transaction
with Arizona cattleman Arthur "Bud" Herseth as his 50-50 partner.
(www.stadiumforrent.com/sfr/sfr-ch23a.html)
1976 Jul 20, Hank Aaron hit his
755th and final home run off the California Angels' Dick Drago at
Milwaukee County Stadium.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron)
1977 Sep 3, Japan's Sadaharu Oh
hit his 756th HR to surpass Hank Aaron's total.
(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Sadaharu_Oh)
1977 Dec 15, Charles Finley sold
his Oakland A’s baseball team to Marvin Davis for a reported $12.5
million. A lease with the Oakland Coliseum was still a problem.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.E8)
1978 Aug 1, Pete Rose of the
Cincinnati Reds, who had tied the National League record of hitting in
44 consecutive games, saw his streak end in a game against the Atlanta
Braves.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1979 Jan 23, Willie Mays, former
outfielder for the SF Giants, was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.
(SFC, 1/23/04, p.E2)
1979 Jul 12, "Disco Demolition
Night" at Comiskey Park, caused fans to go wild. It also caused the
White Sox to forfeit 2nd game of a doubleheader to Tigers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night)
1979 Oct 23, Billy Martin
(1928-1989), NY Yankee baseball manager, was involved in a barroom
altercation when he sucker punched Joseph Cooper, a Minnesota
marshmallow salesman. Cooper required 15 stitches. Martin was fired.
(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/October_23)
1979 The song "We Are Family" by
Sister Sledge became a hit. It was made the theme song for the 1979
Pittsburgh Pirates.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_Family_%28song%29)
1980 May 13, Ray Knight
(b.1952) of the Cincinnati Reds, following an 0-for-15 slump, hit 2
home runs in the 5th inning vs. NY Mets.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Knight)
1981 Jun 12, US major league
baseball players began a 49-day strike over the issue of free-agent
compensation. The season did not resume until August 10.
(AP, 6/12/01)
1981 Jul 31, A seven-week-old
Major League Baseball strike ended.
(AP, 7/31/99)
1982 Jun 8, Leroy Satchel Paige
(b.1906), US baseball pitcher, died.
(www.nlbpa.com/8june1982.html)
1982 Jul 1, Cal Ripken (b.1960),
drafted as a pitcher in 1981, began playing his shortstop position for
the Baltimore Orioles.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Cal_Ripken_Jr_1960)
1983 Feb 8, Baseball ordered
Mickey Mantle (1931-1995) to sever ties with Claridge Casino.
(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/February_8)
1983 Apr 27, Nolan Ryan became the
strikeout king (3,509), passing Walter Johnson.
(www.astrosdaily.com/history/sound/f.html)
1984 Mar 3, Peter Ueberroth
(b.1937) was elected baseball commissioner, effective Oct 1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ueberroth)
1984 Mar 20, Denny McLain, former
Detroit Tiger pitching star, was indicted on various charges of
racketeering.
(http://tinyurl.com/35zuwx)
1984 Apr 13, Pete Rose, playing
for the Montreal Expos, became the 1st NL baseball player to get 4,000
hits in a career, joining Ty Cobb to become only the second player to
enter the 4000 hit club.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4000_hit_club)
1984 Jul 4, The NY Yankee Phil
Niekro became the 9th pitcher to strikeout 3,000 batters.
(www.thebaseballpage.com/players/niekrph01.php)
1984 Jul 14, Al Schacht (91),
baseball player, died. He was known as the Clown prince of baseball.
The former Washington Senators pitcher turned top hat jester had
entertained the crowd before twenty-five World Series and eighteen
All-Star Games.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/yearly/yr1984a.shtml)
1985 Mar 18, Baseball commissioner
Peter Ueberroth reinstated Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle.
(http://tinyurl.com/y34t69)
1985 May 22, Baseball player Pete
Rose passed Hank Aaron as the National League run scoring leader with
2,108.
(HN, 5/22/98)
1985 Jul 11, Houston Astro's Nolan
Ryan became the first pitcher to strike out 4000 batters as he fanned
Danny Heep of the New York Mets.
(www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/hallfame/ryan.htm)
1985 Aug 4, A pair of milestones
were achieved in major league baseball as Tom Seaver of the Chicago
White Sox gained his 300th victory and Rod Carew of the California
Angels got his 3,000th hit.
(AP, 8/4/05)
1985 Sep 8, Pete Rose of the
Cincinnati Reds tied Ty Cobb's career record for hits with a single for
No. 4,191 during a game against the Cubs in Chicago.
(AP, 9/8/99)
1985 Sep 11, Pete Rose of the
Cincinnati Reds made his career hit 4,192 off Eric Show of San Diego
Padres, eclipsing Ty Cobb's record.
(AP, 9/11/05)
1985 Oct 27, Billy Martin was
fired by Yankees for the 4th time.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/M/Martin_Billy.stm)
1985 Dec 14, Roger Maris (51), HR
hitter (61 in 61, NY Yankees), died of cancer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Maris)
1987 Apr 6, Los Angeles Dodgers
executive Al Campanis said on ABC's "Nightline" that blacks "may not
have some of the necessities" to hold managerial jobs in major-league
baseball. Campanis ended up being fired over his remarks.
(AP, 4/6/07)
1987 Apr 8, Al Campanis, Dodger
executive for more than 40 years, was fired after saying on ABC's
"Nightline" that blacks may lack some of the "necessities" for becoming
baseball managers.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/1987APRIL.stm)(AP,
4/8/97)
1987 Jul 14, The National League
took 13 innings to defeat the American League, 2-0, in the 58th
All-Star Game in Oakland, Calif.
(AP, 7/14/97)
1987 Sep 14, Cal Ripken (b.1960),
baseball star for the Baltimore Orioles, ended his streak of 8,243
consecutive innings (908 games).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Ripken,_Jr.)
1987 Oct 17, The 1st indoor World
Series game took place at the Minnesota Metrodome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_World_Series)
1988 Feb 23, Chicago gave the Cubs
baseball team the right to install lights and play up to 18 night games.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1988 May 2, Cincinnati Reds
baseball manager Pete Rose was suspended for 30 days by National League
president A. Bartlett Giamatti, two days after Rose shoved an umpire
during a game won by the New York Mets, 6-5. Giamatti died a week
later. In 1998 his musings on baseball were published as “A Great and
Glorious Game,” ed. by Kenneth S. Robson.
(AP, 5/2/98)(SFEC, 7/5/98, BR p.9)
1988 Jul 12, The American League
beat the National League 2-1 in the All-Star game played in Cincinnati.
(AP, 7/12/98)
1988 Sep 8, A. Bartlett Giamatti,
the National League president, was named to succeed Peter Ueberroth as
baseball’s 7th commissioner.
(AP, 9/8/98)
1989 Mar 20, Baseball Commissioner
Peter Ueberroth confirmed that his office was investigating "serious
allegations" involving Cincinnati Reds Manager Pete Rose. Ueberroth's
successor, A. Bartlett Giamatti, later banned Rose from baseball for
betting on games.
(AP, 3/20/99)
1989 Apr 22, Nolan Ryan struck out
his 5,000th batter, Rickey Henderson.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1989 May 13, Minn. Twin
Kirby Puckett became the 35th to hit 4 doubles in a game.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1989 Jul 11, The American League
won the 60th All-Star Game, defeating the National League 5-3 in
Anaheim, Calif.
(AP, 7/11/99)
1989 Aug 24, Commissioner A.
Bartlett Giamatti banned Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose from major
league baseball for gambling.
(AP, 8/24/99)
1989 Aug 26, A team from Trumbull,
Conn., became the first American team since 1983 to win the Little
League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
(AP, 8/26/99)
1989 Sep 1, A. Bartlett Giamatti
(51), Baseball Commissioner, died of heart attack at his summer home in
Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
(AP, 9/1/99)
1989 Sep 13, Fay Vincent was named
commissioner of Major League Baseball, succeeding the late A. Bartlett
Giamatti.
(AP, 9/13/97)
1989 Oct 17, The 7.1 Loma Prieta
earthquake [Watsonville] hit the Bay Area minutes before the start of a
World Series game at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. 67 people died
and 3,000 were injured. It caused $7 billion worth of damage. The
Spreckel’s Temple of Music in Golden Gate Park was damaged and later
restored. 28,000 structures were damaged and several freeways ruined.
42 people died on the Cypress Freeway. At the train station in SF Dr.
Margaret McChesney commandeered a tour bus to take frightened
passengers home and navigated the driver safely through barricades of
cars and gangs of marauding youths on 3rd St. In 1999 new measuring
methods changed the magnitude to 6.9.
(SFC, 4/15/96,A-6)(SFC, 10/17/96, A15)(SFC, 7/23/97,
p.A13)(AP, 10/17/97)(AR,9/12/98)(HN, 10/17/98)(SFC, 10/7/99, p.A21)
1989 Oct 27, The third game of the
World Series, delayed by the Northern California earthquake, was played
at Candlestick Park. The Oakland A's defeated the SF Giants, 13-7.
(AP, 10/27/99)
1989 Oct 28, The Oakland A's won
the earthquake-interrupted World Series, completing a four-game sweep
of the San Francisco Giants.
(AP, 10/28/99)
1990 Apr 9, The baseball season
opened a week late because of a labor dispute.
(AP, 4/9/00)
1990 Apr 20, Pete Rose pleaded
guilty to two felony counts of filing false income tax returns.
(http://reds.enquirer.com/2004/01/06/red1timeline.html)
1990 Apr 21, Bob Engel, a National
League umpire was arrested in Bakersfield, Ca., for stealing baseball
cards.
(http://tinyurl.com/qfma3)
1990 Jun 27, Jose Canseco signed a
record $4,700,000 per year baseball contract with the Oakland A's.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1990 Jul 10, The American League
shut out the National League, 2-to-0, in the 61st All-Star game.
(AP, 7/10/00)
1990 Jul 19, Baseball’s
all-time hits leader Pete Rose was sentenced in Cincinnati to five
months in prison for tax evasion.
(AP, 7/19/00)
1990 Jul 25, Comedian Roseanne
Barr sparked controversy with an off-key rendition of the
"Star-Spangled Banner" during a double-header at Jack Murphy Stadium in
San Diego.
(AP, 7/25/00)
1990 Jul 30, George Steinbrenner
was forced by Commissioner Fay Vincent to resign as principal partner
of NY Yankees.
(http://tinyurl.com/bjbgt)
1990 Jul 31, Pitcher Nolan Ryan of
the Texas Rangers became the 20th major leaguer to win 300 games as he
led his team to victory over the Milwaukee Brewers 11-to-3.
(AP, 7/31/00)
1990 Aug 8, Pete Rose began a
5-month prison term at Marion (IL) Federal prison camp.
(MC, 8/8/02)
1990 Aug 14, Denver voted for a 1%
sales tax to pay for a baseball franchise.
(MC, 8/14/02)
1990 Aug 20, George Steinbrenner
stepped down as NY Yankee owner.
(http://tinyurl.com/bjbgt)
1990 Sep 2, Dave Stieb of the
Toronto Blue Jays hurled a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians,
winning 3-0.
(AP, 9/2/00)
1990 Sep 14, Ken Griffey, Sr. and
Jr, hit back-to-back HRs in the 1st inning.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/1990SEPTEMBER.stm)
1990 Dec 6, Shoeless Joe Jackson's
signature was sold for $23,100.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/J/Jackson_Joe.stm)
1990 George Will, political
columnist, authored "Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball." He told of
how the game was played through extended portraits of manager Tony La
Russa, pitcher Orel Hershiser, hitter Tony Gwynn and fielder Cal Ripken
Jr.
(WSJ, 5/21/03, p.D10)
1990 Joan Kroc (d.2003 at 75),
widow of Ray Kroc, sold the San Diego Padres to a group led by LA TV
producer Tom Werner.
(SFC, 10/13/03, p.A19)
1991 Jan 10, Baseball officially
banned Pete Rose from being elected to the Hall of Fame.
(http://tinyurl.com/czvp5)
1991 May 1, Nolan Ryan of the
Texas Rangers threw his seventh no-hitter at age 44, shutting out the
Toronto Blue Jays 3-to-0.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 May 1, Rickey Henderson of
the Oakland A’s set a major league record by stealing his 939th base
during a game against the New York Yankees.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 Jul 9, The American League
defeated the National League, 4-to-2, in the All-Star Game in Toronto.
(AP, 7/8/01)
1991 Jul 28, Dennis Martinez
pitched the 15th perfect game in major-league baseball history as the
Montreal Expos beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-to-0.
(AP, 7/28/01)
1991 Aug 12, The National Baseball
Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, began hosting a two-day reunion
of former Negro League players.
(AP, 8/12/01)
1991 Oct 7, Leo Durocher, baseball
coach and manager (Dodgers, Giants), died at 86.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9031586/Leo-Durocher)
1992 Mar 3, Charges were filed in
Florida against New York Mets Darryl Boston, Vince Coleman and Dwight
Gooden for rape. They were dropped in April.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1992 Apr 6, Oriole Park at Camden
Yards opened and Baltimore beat Cleveland 2-0.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1992 Jun 11, Baseball owners
approved the sale of Seattle Mariners to a Japanese group.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/S/Seattle_Mariners.stm)
1992 Jul 14, The American League
won the All-Star game, defeating the National League team 13-6 at Jack
Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
(AP, 7/14/97)
1992 Sep 3, Baseball owners voted
18-9-1 to ask commissioner Fay Vincent to resign.
(AP, 9/3/97)
1992 Sep 7, Baseball Commissioner
Fay Vincent resigned, four days after a no-confidence vote by club
owners.
(AP, 9/7/97)
1992 Sep 23, Bernice Gera, the 1st
female baseball umpire (1969 NY-Penn League) died at age 61.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/1992SEPTEMBER.stm)
1992 Oct 24, The Toronto Blue Jays
became the first non-U.S. team to win the World Series as they defeated
the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, in game six.
(AP, 10/24/97)
1992 Nov 10, Major League Baseball
rejected the $115 million deal for Tampa Bay to acquire the SF Giants
and Safeway pres. Peter Magowan led a local group to acquire the team
for $100 million.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.9)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.A14)
1993 Mar 1, George Steinbrenner
was reinstated as owner of New York Yankees.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1993 Mar 22, Cleveland Indians
pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews were killed when the boat they were
riding in slammed into a Florida pier; pitcher Bob Ojeda was seriously
injured.
(AP, 3/22/97)
1993 Jul 3, Hall of Fame pitcher
Don Drysdale died in Montreal, Canada, at age 56.
(AP, 7/3/98)
1993 Jul 13, The American League
defeated the National League in the All-Star Game, 9-3, in Baltimore.
(AP, 7/13/98)
1994 Jul 12, The National League
won the US baseball All-Star Game, defeating the American League 8-7.
(AP, 7/12/99)
1994 Jul 15, During a baseball
game between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox in
Chicago's Comiskey Park, umpire Dave Phillips ordered the bat of Albert
Belle of the Indians to be removed from the game for later examination
for illegal cork. The bat was then stolen by pitcher Jason Grimsley,
who crawled through air ducts to take it. The Indians won the game 3-2
and later returned the bat under umpire threats and Belle was given a
10-game suspension that was reduced to 7 games.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A3)
1994 Aug 12, In baseball's eighth
work stoppage since 1972, players went on strike rather than allowing
team owners to limit their salaries.
(AP, 8/12/99)
1994 Sep 14, On the 34th day of a
strike by players, Bud Selig, acting commissioner, announced the 1994
baseball season was over. All 28 baseball owners voted to cancel rest
of 1994 season.
(AP, 9/14/99)
1994 Sep 18, Ken Burn's "Baseball"
premiered on PBS.
(www.npr.org/programs/npc/2002/020918.kburns.html)
1995 Mar 31, Baseball players
agreed to end their 232-day strike after a judge granted a preliminary
injunction against club owners.
(AP, 3/31/00)
1995 Apr 2, Baseball owners
accepted the players' union offer to play without a contract, ending
the longest and costliest strike in the history of professional sports.
(AP, 4/2/98)
1995 Jul 20, Baseball
Hall-of-Famers Duke Snider and Willie McCovey pleaded guilty in New
York to tax evasion.
(AP, 7/20/00)
1995 Aug 13, Baseball Hall of
Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading
liver cancer at the age of 63.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1995 Sep 6, Baltimore Orioles
shortstop Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record by playing his 2,131st
consecutive game.
(AP, 9/6/00)
1996 Feb 19, Charlie O. Finley
(77), baseball showman died in Chicago.
(AP, 2/19/07)
1996 Apr 1, Baseball umpire John
McSherry died after collapsing during a season opener between the
Cincinnati Reds and Montreal Expos.
(AP, 4/1/97)
1996 Jul 9, The National League
won the All-Star game, defeating the American League 6-0 in
Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/9/97)
1996 Sep 6, Eddie Murray of the
Baltimore Orioles hit his 500th career home run during a game against
the Detroit Tigers, joining Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Willie Mays
as the only players with at least 3,000 hits and 500 homers.
(AP, 9/6/97)
1996 The Walt Disney Co. acquired
a controlling stake in the Los Angeles Angels baseball team.
(WSJ, 8/29/02, p.A1)
1997 Mar 5, Tommy Lasorda, Nellie
Fox and Willie Wells Sr. were elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.
(AP, 3/5/98)
1997 Apr 15, Jackie Robinson's
number 42 was retired 50 years after he became the first black player
in major league baseball.
(AP, 4/15/98)
1997 May 13, Baseball's Exec
Council suspended NY Yankee owner George Steinbrenner.
(http://tinyurl.com/bjbgt)
1997 A jury convicted Denny
McLain, former Detroit Tiger pitcher, and his business partner of
stealing $3 million from a pension fund.
(www.clickondetroit.com/sports/2586043/detail.html)
1998 Mar 3, Larry Doby (d.2003 at
79), the first black player in the American League (1947), was elected
to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 3/3/99)(WSJ, 6/20/03, p.A1)
1998 Mar 19, Completing baseball's
transformation from family ownership to corporate control, Rupert
Murdoch's Fox Group won approval to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers for a
record $350 million. News Corporation later sold the Dodgers to Boston
real estate developer Frank McCourt.
(AP, 3/19/08)
1998 May 17, New York Yankees
pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league
baseball history to throw a perfect game as he retired all 27 batters
he faced in a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
(AP, 5/17/99)
1998 Jul 7, The American League
defeated the National League 13-8 in baseball's All-Star Game, played
in Denver.
(AP, 7/7/08)
1998 Sep 1, Mark McGwire of the
St. Louis Cardinals hit his 56th and 57th home runs, breaking the
one-season record set by Hack Wilson in 1930.
(AP, 9/1/99)
1998 Sep 7, In baseball the St.
Louis Cardinal’s Mark McGwire hit his 61st home run at Busch Stadium in
St. Louis against the Chicago Cubs in the first inning. This tied the
1961 record held by Roger Maris.
(SFC, 9/8/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 8, Mark McGwire his 62nd
home run off Chicago Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel in St. Louis and broke
the 1961 record set by Roger Maris.
(SFC, 9/9/98, p.A1)(AP, 9/8/99)
1998 Sep 12, Sammy Sosa of the
Chicago Cubs became the fourth major league baseball player to hit 60
home runs in a single season.
(AP, 9/12/99)
1998 Sep 13 Sammy Sosa of the
Chicago Cubs hit his 61st and 62nd home runs of the season, passing
Roger Maris' record and pulling into a tie with St. Louis' Mark McGwire.
(AP, 9/13/99)
1998 Sep 18, Mark McGwire hit his
64th home run of the season, pulling out of a tie with Sammy Sosa.
(AP, 9/18/03)
1998 Sep 27, St. Louis Cardinal
Mark McGwire hit his 69th and 70th home runs in his last game of the
season against the Montreal Expos at Busch Stadium. The ball was later
sold at auction for $3.005 million to Todd McFarlane, creator of
"Spawn" comic books.
(SFC, 9/28/98, p.A1)(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A2)
1999 Mar 8, Joe DiMaggio, New York
Yankees baseball star known as the "Yankee Clipper," died at age 84 in
Hollywood, Florida. In 1975 Maury Allen authored “Where Have You Gone,
Joe DiMaggio.” In 1995 Joseph Durso authored the biography “DiMaggio:
The Last American Knight.” In 2000 Richard Ben Cramer authored “Joe
DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life.”
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/18/00, p.A24)
1999 May 3, In Baltimore the Cuban
baseball team beat the Baltimore Orioles 12-6. 7 members missed the
departure the next day and one coach, Rigoberto Betancourt Herrera, was
reported to have defected, as the others over slept. The 6 stragglers
departed May 5.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.A1,6)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A7)
1999 Jul 14, Major league umpires
voted to resign September second and not work the final month of the
season. The strategy collapsed, with baseball owners accepting the
resignations of 22 umpires.
(AP, 7/14/00)
1999 Jul 15, The Seattle Mariners
played their first game in their new home, Safeco Field, losing to the
San Diego Padres, 3-to-2.
(AP, 7/15/00)
1999 Jul 18, David Cone of the New
York Yankees pitched a perfect game against the Montreal Expos, leading
his team to a 6-to-0 victory.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1999 Jul 27, In an overwhelming
defeat for major league umpires, their threatened walkout collapsed
when all of the umpires withdrew their resignations; however, about
one-third of them ended up losing their jobs anyway.
(AP, 7/27/00)
1999 Aug 5, Mark McGwire became
the 16th member of the 500-home run club, hitting two homers— numbers
500 and 501 -- in the St. Louis Cardinals’ loss to San Diego.
(AP, 8/5/00)
1999 Aug 6, Tony Gwynn became the
22nd major leaguer to reach three-thousand hits.
(AP, 8/6/00)
1999 Aug 7, Wade Boggs became the
first player to homer for his three-thousandth hit.
(AP, 8/7/00)
1999 Aug 14, Pee Wee Reese,
Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop for the Dodgers, died at age 81 in
Kentucky.
(WSJ, 8/16/99, p.A1)(AP, 8/14/00)
1999 Sep 1, Twenty-two of
baseball’s 68 permanent umpires found themselves jobless, the fallout
from their union’s failed attempt to force an early start to
negotiations for a new labor contract.
(AP, 9/1/00)
1999 Sep 11, Eric Milton pitched a
no-hitter for the Minnesota Twins in their 7-to-0 win over the Anaheim
Angels.
(AP, 9/11/00)
2000 Jan 31, Atlanta Braves
pitcher John Rocker was suspended by baseball commissioner Bud Selig
for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in a Sports
Illustrated interview.
(AP, 1/31/01)
2000 Apr 15, Cal Ripken of the
Baltimore Orioles became the 24th player to reach three-thousand hits
when he lined a clean single to center off Twins reliever Hector
Carrasco. The Orioles won the game, 6-to-4.
(AP, 4/15/01)
2000 Apr 18, In his first game
back following a 12-game suspension for making disparaging remarks
about minorities, gays and immigrants, Atlanta’s John Rocker pitched a
scoreless ninth inning in a 4-to-3, 12-inning victory over Philadelphia.
(AP, 4/18/01)
2000 Jul 11, The American League
defeated the National League 6-to-3 in the All-Star Game.
(AP, 7/11/01)
2000 Oct 26, The New York Yankees
became the first team in more than a quarter century to win three
straight World Series championships, beating the New York Mets 4-to-2
in game five of their "Subway Series." The Yankees matched the Oakland
Athletics' three in a row from 1972-74, and won their fourth title in
five years.
(AP, 10/26/01)
2001 Jan 16, Dave Winfield and
Kirby Puckett were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on their first
try.
(AP, 1/16/02)
2001 Feb 18, Eddie Mathews (69),
baseball Hall of Famer, died at age.
(AP, 2/18/02)
2001 Mar 6, Bill Mazeroski was
elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with former Negro League
player Hilton Smith.
(AP, 3/5/02)
2001 Apr 4, Hideo Nomo became the
fourth pitcher in major league history to throw a no-hitter in both
leagues with Boston's 3-to-0 victory over Baltimore. Nomo, who threw a
no-hitter for Los Angeles in 1996, joined Cy Young, Jim Bunning and
Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers with no-hitters in both leagues.
(AP, 4/4/02)
2001 Apr 9, Baseball Hall-of-Famer
Willie Stargell died in Wilmington, N.C., at age 61.
(AP, 4/9/02)
2001 Apr 17, San Francisco Giants
slugger Barry Bonds became the 17th major leaguer ever to reach 500
career home runs.
(AP, 4/17/02)
2001 Jul 10, In Seattle the
American League beat the National League 4:1 in the annual All-Star
game at Safeco Field.
(SFC, 7/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 26, The Tokyo Kitasuna
beat Apopka, Fla., 2-1 to win the Little League championship in South
Williamsport, Pa.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2001 Sep 3, St. Louis Cardinals
pitcher Bud Smith became the 16th rookie in modern history to throw a
no-hitter, shutting down San Diego in a 4-0 win.
(AP, 9/3/02)
2001 Sep 6, In SF Barry Bonds
became the fifth player in baseball history to hit 60 home runs in a
season, connecting in the second inning of San Francisco's game against
Arizona.
(SFC, 9/7/01, p.A1)(AP, 9/6/02)
2001 Oct 7, In SF Barry Bonds hit
his 73rd home run in the final game of the season. Two men, Alex Popov
and Patrick Hayashi, fought over the ball and went to court. In 2002 a
judge ruled that the ball be sold and the cash split. In 2003 the ball
was auctioned off for $450,000.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.B1)(SFC, 12/19/02, p.A1)(SFC,
6/26/03, p.A1)
2001 Nov 6, Baseball owners voted
28-2 to eliminate two major league teams by the 2002 season.
(AP, 11/6/02)
2002 May 17, Joe Black (78), the
first black pitcher to win a World Series game, for the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1952, died in Scottsdale, Ariz.
(AP, 5/17/03)
2002 Jul 5, Ted Williams (83),
baseball Hall of Famer, died in Florida.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 9, To the boos of
disappointed fans, the All-Star game in Milwaukee finished in a 7-7 tie
after 11 innings when both teams ran out of pitchers.
(AP, 7/9/03)
2002 Aug 9, Barry Bonds of the SF
Giants hit his 600th homerun and joined the ranks of Henry Aaron (660),
Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (755).
(SFC, 8/10/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 10, Sammy Sosa hit three
3-run homers in Chicago's 15-1 rout of Colorado. Barry Bonds of the San
Francisco Giants broke Willie McCovey's 1969 record for intentional
walks in a season with his 46th of the year.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2002 Aug 16, Major League Baseball
players set a strike deadline of Aug. 30. The two sides finally reached
an agreement with just six hours to spare.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2002 Aug 30, Major League Baseball
players reached agreement with team owners on a four-year labor deal,
narrowly averting a strike that threatened to drive away the sport's
already embittered fans. It was the first time since 1970 that players
and owners had agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement without
a work stoppage.
(Reuters, 8/30/02)(AP, 8/30/03)
2002 Sep 19, Kansas City first
base coach Tom Gamboa was attacked without warning by two fans, a
father and son, who came out of the seats at Chicago's Comiskey Park.
The father, 34-year-old William Ligue Jr., and his 15-year-old son
later received probation.
(AP, 9/19/03)
2002 Oct 27, The Anaheim Angels
beat the SF Giants in the 7th game of the baseball World Series 4-1.
(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A1)
2003 Feb 17, Baltimore Orioles
pitcher Steve Bechler died of heatstroke at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
hospital, less than 24 hours after complaining of dizziness during a
spring training workout.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2003 Jun 18, Larry Doby (70),
baseball Hall-of-Famer who broke the American League's color barrier in
1947, died in Montclair, N.J.
(AP, 6/18/04)
2003 Jul 29, Boston's Bill Mueller
became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from
both sides of the plate in a game and connected for three homers in a
14-7 win at Texas.
(AP, 7/29/04)
2003 Aug 10, Atlanta Braves
shortstop Rafael Furcal turned the 12th unassisted triple play in major
league history against the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis beat Atlanta
3-2.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2003 Aug 24, Japan’s Musashi-Fuchu
routed East Boynton Beach, Fla., 10-1 to win the Little League World
Series.
(AP, 8/24/08)
2003 Oct 5, The Chicago Cubs won
their first postseason series since 1908 when they beat Atlanta 5-1 in
the decisive Game 5 of the National League playoffs.
(AP, 10/5/04)
2003 Oct 15, The Florida Marlins
defeated the Chicago Cubs 9-6 in game 7 for the National League pennant.
(WSJ, 10/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 25, The Florida Marlins
beat the NY Yankees 2-0 at Yankee Stadium and won Baseball's World
Series in 6 games.
(SSFC, 10/26/03, p.B1)
2003 Nov 7, The defending champion
US baseball team failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics, losing
to Mexico 2-1 in the quarterfinals of a qualifying tournament in Panama
City, Panama.
(AP, 11/7/08)
2003 Nov 11, Toronto's Roy
Halladay won the American League Cy Young Award.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2003 Nov 13, Baseball officials
said 5% of anonymous samples showed steroids present, triggering
mandatory tests next year.
(WSJ, 11/14/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 17, Texas Rangers
shortstop Alex Rodriguez won the American League Most Valuable Player
award.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2003 Nov 24, Warren Spahn (82),
the Hall of Fame pitcher who won more games than any other left-hander
in history, died in Broken Arrow, Ok.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2003 Dec 4, Barry Bonds, SF
homerun star, told a grand jury that he used a clear substance and a
cream supplied by BALCO, but that he never thought they were steroids.
The SF Chronicle obtained a transcript of his testimony in 2004.
(SFC, 12/3/04, p.A1)
2003 Michael Lewis authored
"Moneyball," the story of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane and
his use of sabermetrics (a numerical study of what makes a ballplayer
valuable) in building a championship-caliber team.
(WSJ, 7/1/03, p.D8)
2004 Mar 11, San Diego opened its
new 46,000 downtown Petco Park baseball stadium with the Aztec
Invitational, a 4-day series between the San Diego Univ. Aztecs and the
Univ. of Houston Cougars.
(Econ, 4/10/04, p.23)
2004 Mar 17, Major league Baseball
banned THG, a steroid at the center of a criminal probe involving a
SF-area lab.
(WSJ, 3/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 21, Veterans Stadium
(b.1971) in Philadelphia was demolished in 62 seconds following 2,800
explosions.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
2004 Apr 8, The San Diego Padres
hosted the SF giants at the new 46,000 downtown Petco Park baseball
stadium. It anchored a new 26-block re-development area.
(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.D2)
2004 May 18, Randy Johnson (40)
pitched a perfect game to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 2-0
victory over the Atlanta Braves.
(SFC, 5/19/04, p.D1)
2004 Sep 17, In SF Barry Bonds
became the first new member of baseball’s homerun 700 club in 31 years,
joining Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. Timothy Griffith (21), was stabbed to
death in a fight after the game. Rafael Antonio Cuevas (22) was
arrested Oct 1. On Oct 27 the homerun ball was auctioned for $804,129.
On Oct 10, 2008, Cuevas was sentenced 16 years to life for 2nd degree
murder and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.
(SFC, 9/18/04, p.A1)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.B4)(SFC,
10/28/04, p.B1)(SFC, 10/11/08, p.B2)
2004 Oct 20, Boston Red Sox fans
poured into the streets outside Fenway Park to celebrate their team's
victory over the New York Yankees. Victoria Snellgrove (21) died the
next day after a crowd control pellet hit her in the eye.
(AP, 10/21/04)(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.A1)(SFC, 10/23/04,
p.A2)
2004 Oct 21, The St. Louis
Cardinals won the National League pennant with a 7th game win over the
Houston Astros.
(SFC, 10/22/04, p.D1)
2004 Oct 27, The Boston Red Sox
won the World Series over the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in game 4. It was
Boston's sixth championship, but the first after 86 years of
frustration.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Dec 5, Senator McCain
demanded that baseball players and owners take action to tighten drug
testing and threatened legislation to that end.
(WSJ, 12/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Pete Rose authored his
autobiography titled "My Prison Without Bars," in which he acknowledged
betting on baseball games.
(SFC, 1/6/04, p.A1)
2005 Mar 17, US Congressional
hearings began on steroid use among baseball players.
(SFC, 3/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 14, Pres. Bush threw out
the 1st pitch at RFK Stadium as the Nationals brought baseball back to
the capital. Washington, DC, had last hosted a major-league game in
September, 1971.
(WSJ, 4/15/05, p.A1)
2005 May 5, Charlie Muse (87),
inventor of the baseball batting helmet, died in Florida.
(WSJ, 5/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 1, Rafael Palmeiro,
Baltimore Orioles star, was suspended for 10 days for use of steroids.
The action raised the possibility of a perjury probe.
(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 26, The Chicago White Sox
beat the Houston Astros 1-0 to win their first World Series title since
1917.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2005 Nov 15, US Major League
baseball owners and players agreed to tougher policy aimed at curbing
the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
(SFC, 11/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Howard Bryant authored
“Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major
League Baseball.”
(SSFC, 7/24/05, p.B1)
2006 Mar 6, Baseball Hall of Famer
Kirby Puckett died in Phoenix at age 45.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2006 May 20, Barry Bonds tied Babe
Ruth for second place on the career list with his 714th home run.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2006 Jul 11, The American League
edged the National League 3-2 in the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2006 Sep 23, Barry Bonds hit his
734th career home run in the Giants' 10-8 loss to the Brewers, breaking
Hank Aaron's NL record.
(AP, 9/23/07)
2006 Oct 7, The NY Yankees were
eliminated from the first round of the AL playoffs, losing to Detroit
8-3 in Game 4. It was the second straight year New York lost in the
opening round.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 27, In Missouri the St
Louis Cardinals won the World Series by beating the Detroit Tigers 4-2
in game 5, claiming their first MLB crown in 24 years.
(Reuters, 10/28/06)
2006 Nov 14, Brandon Webb of the
Arizona Diamondbacks won a wide-open race for the NL Cy Young Award.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2007 Mar 15, Bowie Kuhn (80),
former baseball commissioner died in Jacksonville, Fla.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2007 Apr 29, St. Louis Cardinals
relief pitcher Josh Hancock, 29, was killed in the crash of his sport
utility vehicle.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2007 Jul 29, Cal Ripken Jr. and
Tony Gwynn took their place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 7/29/08)
2007 Aug 4, Barry Bonds of the SF
Giants hit his 755th home run tying a 1976 record set by Hank Aaron.
The Giants lost to the San Diego Padres 3-2 in 12 innings.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron)(SSFC,
8/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 4, Alex Rodriguez became
at age 32 the youngest player in major league history to hit 500 home
runs with a first-inning homer in a 16-8 NY Yankee victory over Kansas
City.
(AP, 8/4/08)
2007 Aug 7, In SF Barry Bonds his
record breaking 756th homerun. He had just tied Hank Aaron’s record on
August 4. The Giants lost to the Washington Nationals 8-6. The ball was
later auctioned to fashion designer Marc Ecko for a record $752,467,
which included a 20% buyer’s premium.
(AP, 8/8/07)(SSFC, 9/16/07, p.B1)(SFC, 9/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 14, Phil Rizzuto (89),
the Hall of Fame shortstop during the Yankees' dynasty years and
beloved by a generation of fans for exclaiming "Holy cow!" as a
broadcaster, died.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Sep 1, Clay Buchholz
threw a no-hitter in his second major league start, just hours after
being called up by the Boston Red Sox. Buchholz struck out nine, walked
three and hit one batter to give the Red Sox a 10-0 victory over
Baltimore.
(AP, 9/1/08)
2007 Sep 19, Topps Co. CEO Arthur
Shorin said shareholders had approved a deal in which Michael Eisner’s
Tornante Co. investment firm and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC would
take the baseball card and candy company private for $9.75 per share.
(SFC, 9/20/07, p.C3)
2007 Sep 20, The SF Giants told
Barry Bonds, a 15-year baseball star with the Giants, that his career
with the Giants would end with the conclusion of the 2007 season. The
decision was made public the next day.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A8)(SSFC, 9/23/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 21, The Boston Red Sox
won the American League championship in Game 7 of their series with the
Cleveland Indians, 11-2.
(AP, 10/21/08)
2007 Oct 21,
Paul Byrd, pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, acknowledged that
he had used human growth hormone from August 2002 to January 2005 due
to a pituitary gland issue. An investigation was pending as Major
League Baseball and the Indians said they had not been aware of Byrd’s
use of the muscle building substance.
(SFC, 10/22/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 28,
In Denver the Boston Red Sox swept to their second World Series
title in four years with a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies in Game 4.
(AP, 10/29/07)
2007 Oct 29, Police in riot gear
cleared several large crowds gathered around Fenway Park in the early
morning after the Red Sox won their second World Series title in four
years.
(AP, 10/29/07)
2007 Nov 12, Ryan Braun won the NL
Rookie of the Year award in one of the closest votes, while Dustin
Pedroia ran away with the AL honor.
(AP, 11/12/08)
2007 Nov 13, CC Sabathia won the
AL Cy Young Award to become the first Cleveland pitcher in 35 years to
earn the honor.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 Nov 15, Barry Bonds, former
SF Giant, was indicted on 4 counts of perjury and one count of
obstruction of justice related to a December, 2003, grand jury
investigation on the BALCO steroid ring. A revamped indictment was
unsealed last May.
(SFC, 11/16/07, p.A1)(AP, 11/15/08)
2007 Dec 3, Former commissioner
Bowie Kuhn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; former Dodgers
owner Walter O'Malley, managers Dick Williams and Billy Southworth and
ex-Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss also were elected.
(AP, 12/3/08)
2007 Dec 7, Barry Bonds pleaded
not guilty in San Francisco to charges he'd lied to federal
investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2007 Dec 13, US Sen. George
Mitchell presented his report on steroid use among professional
baseball players. The 409-page report described wide-spread use and
recommended tough new measures for testing and investigations.
(SFC, 12/14/07, p.A1)
2008 Mar 25, America’s baseball
season opened in Japan as the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics
6-5.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.83)
2008 Jul 12, Bobby Murcer (62),
former Yankee baseball player and broadcaster, died from a malignant
brain tumor in Oklahoma City. The only person to play with Mantle and
Mattingly, the popular Murcer hit .277 with 252 home runs and 1,043
RBIs in 17 seasons with the Yankees, San Francisco and the Chicago
Cubs. He made the All-Star team in both leagues and won a Gold Glove.
(AP, 7/13/08)
2008 Aug 12, Dorothy Wiltse
Collins (b.1923), star pitcher in women’s professional baseball in the
1940s, died in Fort Wayne, Indiana from a stroke. Pitching for six
seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, created
in 1943 to provide home front entertainment while many major leaguers
were off to war, Collins dazzled opposing batters. The All-American
league went out of business after the 1954 season. She drew on her
contacts to provide the Baseball Hall of Fame with memorabilia from the
league, spurring creation of its Women in Baseball exhibit in 1988.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dottie_Wiltse_Collins)
2008 Sep 21, NYC police arrested
more than a dozen people for stealing pieces of Yankee Stadium during
the 85-year-old ballpark's final game.
(AP, 9/23/08)
2008 Sep 30, In the Dominican
Republic a Hummer truck registered to New York Mets pitcher Ambiorix
Burgos struck pedestrians Josefina Minaya Martinez (38) and Angely Fana
(29). They died later at a hospital. An arrest warrant for Burgos was
issued on Oct 3.
(AP, 10/4/08)
2008 Oct 29, The Philadelphia
Phillies won the baseball World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 with
the conclusion of Game 5, which had been stopped by rain 2 days earlier.
(SFC, 10/30/08, p.D1)
2008 Nov 11, Tim Lincecum, pitcher
for the SF Giants, was named winner of the Cy Young Award.
(SFC, 11/12/08, p.A1)
2009 Feb 9, Baseball player Alex
Rodriguez admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs with the Texas
Rangers from 2001 to 2003.
(WSJ, 2/10/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 9, In Fullerton, Ca., Los
Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart (22) was killed along with 2
others in a car accident with a suspected drunk driver.
(SFC, 4/10/09, p.C1)
2009 May 7, LA Dodger’s star Manny
Ramirez (36) was suspended by Major League Baseball for 50 games for
using HCG, a banned drug.
(SFC, 5/8/09, p.A1)
2009 Allen Barra authored “Yogi
Berra: Eternal Yankee.”
(WSJ, 3/19/09, p.A13)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Baseball
Return to home