BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1859 Ed Andrews
Outfielder with Philadelphia in the 1880s – college educated, his baseball career was reasonably successful, but his post-baseball career was more so. He would become a real estate developer in Palm Beach, FL, and wrote local articles about the yachting business.
1861 Ed Kennedy
Weak hitting outfielder for New York in the 1880s.
1864 Ted Scheffler
1875 Charlie Emig
Only pitched in one game for Louisville in 1896 (an ugly loss to Washington), but he lived to be 100 years old – the last living man who played in the 19th century.
1876 Big Bill Dinneen
Turn of the century pitcher, and a four-time 20 game winner for Boston. Later, moved to St. Louis where he helped the Browns in their 1908 pennant run. He aged quickly after that, though… Finished with 180 career wins.
1877 Wid Conroy
1889 Tom Phillips
1894 Jim Sullivan
1899 Tony Welzer
1907 Sugar Cain
1907 John “Lefty” Goodell
1921 Bobby Hogue
1922 Gene Crumling
1931 Fred Besana
1936 Jimmie Schaffer
1937 Roger “Noonie” Marquis
1938 Ron Hansen
Good glove, power hitting shortstop with the Orioles and White Sox in the 1960s… Hanson hit 20 homers twice, but his batting average – assembled during a period where pitchers ruled the relationship – rarely cleared .250. Hanson once turned an unassisted triple play.
One half of the answer to a rare trivia question – he was once traded from Chicago to Washington and then back in the same season for infielder Tim Cullen in 1968. The Baltimore Orioles sent Hanson to the White Sox in 1962 for Luis Aparicio. A bad back led to his eventual release.
1938 Don Prince
1940 Ron Campbell
1951 Rennie Stennett
Pirates second baseman of the 1970s, once had seven hits in a game against the Cubs in 1975. Didn’t last long after that though – he broke his leg sliding in to second base in 1977. After the 1979 pennant win, the Giants signed him as a free agent, getting $3 million over five years, but the Giants cut him after two seasons. Just 31, his career ended quietly…
1953 Kim Allen
A prospect in the Seattle chain, once set a PCL record for stolen bases. Very short MLB career.
1960 Jim Scranton
1965 Cris Carpenter
The other Cris Carpenter – had a fair career as a pitcher for a few teams in the 1990s and 2000s.
1967 Greg Smith
1970 Ryan Karp
1971 Andres Berumen
1975 Domingo Guzman
1976 Ross Gload
A fine utility hitter and pinch hitter of the last decade.
1976 Ryan Drese
1977 Winston Abreu
1978 Brandon Backe
1981 Jorge de la Rosa
Fine pitcher with the Colorado Rockies.
1985 Lastings Millege
One assumes that Millege is no longer a prospect at this stage, but for a few years he was at or near the top of many prospect lists. He could hit some, he could run, but he didn’t take many pitches, and he didn’t seem to play the outfield as well as his physical tools might have suggested.
1985 Ian Stewart
Had a couple of years with Colorado as a power hitting third baseman, but it was a mirage. Heading to the Cubs, he struggled to find the Mendoza line.
1986 Steve Clevenger
1987 Jung Ho Kang
1991 Seth Mejias-Brean
1998 Jose Garcia
OBITUARIES:
1902 Dave Eggler
Played in the National Association and National League – left baseball to work for American Express as a porter at the Central train depot in Buffalo when tragedy struck.
“Instead of going around the train, Eggler did what he had done perhaps a thousand times before, and what trainmen and those employed about great railroad stations do every day, made a quick dash under one of the cars.
“Suddenly the train started up. Several trainhands, who had seen Eggler disappear under the train, heard a scream from him which was stiffled in its incipiency. The train pulled ahead, disclosing Eggler’s body lying on the tracks. His head was severed from his body and life was extinct.”
“David Eggler’s Head Cut Off,” The Buffalo Commercial, April 5, 1902: 12.
1911 Frank Hankinson
1917 Frank McLaughlin
1929 Tom Crooke
Crooke played in eleven games over the 1909 and 1910 season for Washington, but spent a good chunk of time in the minors and a long time as an umpire. He was riding a bus with the Cornell baseball team when, on the way to a game the bus crashed near Quantico, Virginia. The players survived, but a day later Crooke died of his injuries.
“Tom Crooke, Umpire, Dies After Bus Crash,” Wilmington Morning News, April 6, 1929: 14.
1930 Jack McGeachey
1930 Frederick Fass
1932 Harry Koons
1939 Fred Curtis
1946 Wally Rehg
1951 Roy Moore
1952 Ray Jacobs
1953 Connie Walsh
1953 Tex Erwin
1953 Herb Gorman
Gorman was an outfielder and first baseman with the Cardinals in 1952 – for maybe a week. A year later, he had a heart attack during the sixth inning during a game between San Diego and Hollywood in the Pacific Coast League and died on the way to the hospital.
You can read a more complete biography here.
1056 Tommy Taylor
1957 Art Bader
1959 Frank Bruggy
1962 Vince Shupe
1964 Bob Clemens
1965 Mike Pasquella
1966 Sam Dodge
1973 Tex Jeanes
1974 Fred Snodgrass
Catcher, first baseman, and center fielder (I know – odd combination) for the Giants in the early years of the last century. Snodgrass is best remembered for dropping a flyball in the tenth inning of the last game of the 1912 World Series that allowed the tying run to reach base – few remember that after dropping the ball, Snodgrass made a fantastic running catch to rob the second batter of a hit and nearly doubled off the runner. Tris Speaker batted with two on and hit a pop foul that neither Merkle, Matty, or the catcher wanted to catch giving Speaker another chance to bat, Sure enough, he lined a single to score the tying run. One batter later, the Red Sox were champions.
Snodgrass was interviewed in The Glory of Their Times, which provides some of the details listed here…
1984 Chet Kehn
1988 Tom Earley
1993 Joe Coscarart
1994 Bobby Hofman
1997 Bill Holland
2002 Paul Erickson
2008 Walt Masterson
2011 Larry Shepard
YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!
1993 The Florida Marlins top Los Angeles, 6 – 3, with former Dodger Charlie Hough getting the win – the first game in Marlins history.
The Colorado Rockies were not so lucky, losing 3 – 0 to Doc Gooden and the New York Mets.
2005 The Washington Nationals begin life as a ML franchise – but lose to the Phillies, 8 – 4.
2012 The Blue Jays score three in the ninth off of Cleveland’s Chris Perez to throw an opening day game into extra innings – 16 innings in total, an opening day record. J.P. Arencibia homered in the 16th for the winning score.
TRANSACTION WIRE:
1966 Baltimore releases Don Larsen.
1972 Rusty Staub heads to the New York Mets, as the Mets send Ken Singleton, Tim Foli, and Mike Jorgensen to the Expos.
1975 The Pittsburgh Pirates get Bill Robinson from the Philles for pitcher Wayne Simpson.
1976 The Cubs trade shortstop Don Kessinger to St. Louis for pitcher Mike Garman and a player to be named later (Bobby Hrapmann).
1977 The Chicago White Sox trade Bucky Dent to the New York Yankees for outfielder Oscar Gamble, pitcher LaMarr Hoyt, and Bob Polisky and cash…
