Arrivals:

1891 – Bill “Rebel” McTigue
1899 – Buzz Arlett

In 1984, the Society for American Baseball Research voted Arlett the greatest minor league ballplayer ever.  Lessee…  He was signed by the Oakland Oaks as a teen pitcher when the team was in spring training and had run out of pitchers during a spring training event – Arlett was only there because his brother was on the Oaks.  He was a very successful pitcher on a not very successful team, but a devastating arm injury forced him to try his luck as an outfielder.  The arm injury also required that he learn to bat left-handed – so he taught himself to do that, too.  He was a mighty hitter, but not much of an outfielder, and for any number of reasons he couldn’t get signed to a major league contract.  That being said, the Pacific Coast League was a really, really good league and paid major league dollars for talent.

After waiting for his shot for more than a dozen years, he finally got a contract as a 32-year-old outfielder with the 1931 Phillies, got hurt, and even though he had hit .313 with some power, was released.  Arlett signed with the Baltimore Orioles and remained a potent hitter there until his career ended in the late 1930s.  His stats remind you of Chipper Jones…

1906 – Gus Suhr
1910 – Stanley “Frenchy” Bordagaray
1922 – Virgil Stallcup
1950 – Bart Johnson
1962 – Darren Daulton
1977 – A.J. Burnett

Departures:

1917 – Rynie Wolters

Reinder Wolters was a pitcher on the NY Mutuals during the first season of the National Association in 1871.  As a pitcher, he led the league in complete games and innings, winning 16 of 32 decisions.  He could hit, too.  Wolters also led the league in RBIs (though they didn’t really count them back then) with 44 thanks to a .370 batting average.  He wasn’t as good in 1872 for Cleveland, and by opening day of 1873, he was pitching his last major league professional game.

1943 – Bid McPhee
1986 – Chico Hernandez – a backup catcher for the Cubs during World War II who died on his 70^th birthday.
1991 – Luke Appling, the HOF shortstop
2004 – Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner

Transactions:

1920 – The Yankees, having completed the trade before Christmas, announce the purchase of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox for the remarkable sum of $125,000.

1925 – Odd trade…  The Browns send three players, cash, and an option on another minor leaguer to the St. Paul Saints for catching prospect Leo Dixon.  It didn’t work out.

1946 – Detroit trades slugging first baseman Rudy York to Boston for infielder Eddie King.  York had one good year with the Sox, but was traded to the White Sox after a slow start the next year and out of baseball in two seasons.  Eddie King was a Freddie Patek type shortstop except he drew walks at a pace that Eddie Yost would appreciate (a walk every six plate appearances in his career).  King hit well enough in 1946, but Detroit didn’t like the .211 batting average in 1947 (even though he drew 100+ walks and scored 96 runs), and by 1950 was done.

2008 – Oakland trades Nick Swisher to the White Sox for Ryan Sweeney, Gio Gonzalez, and Fautino de los Santos.