<— JANUARY 04     JANUARY 06 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1855 George Newell
1861 John McGlone

1864 Bob Caruthers

Only the best pitcher of the American Association… Caruthers went 168-62 in his five years as a regular, including a pair of 40 win campaigns. The first was with pennant winning St. Louis and the second, in 1889 was with the pennant winning Brooklyn club. Moving to the NL, he’d have a couple more good years with Brooklyn before his arm went dead. Caruthers is NOT in the Hall of Fame, despite a 218-99 career mark – probably because of some bias against the American Association – but SABR members voted him the most overlooked player from the 19th Century once…

1865 Ban Johnson

Former sportswriter turned boss of the American League – probably had more control over any league than any other league president (ever), which made it harder for him to accept a commissioner than just about anyone…

1870 Bill Dahlen
1875 Izzy Hoffman
1878 William Matthews
1879 Zaza Harvey
1880 Newt Hunter
1880 Dutch Jordan
1880 Jim Byrnes
1885 Art Fletcher
1888 Jesse Barber
1888 Rube Foster

This isn’t the much more famous pitcher and owner in the days before the original Negro Leagues (and, to be fair, really the father of Negro League baseball).  This Rube Foster was George Foster, a pitcher for the Red Sox in the days leading to Babe Ruth’s arrival.  Foster was a pretty good pitcher for Boston, helped win a couple of pennants, and then hung around in the minors for a long time.  Born in Oklahoma Territory, spent a good chunk of his life in Kansas…

1890 Benny Kauff
1892 Chuck Wortman
1896 Johnie Watson
1897 Art Delaney
1898 Riggs Stephenson
1899 Bill Hunnefield
1899 Bob Kinsella
1901 Luke Sewell
1904 Roy Debnam
1908 Regis Leheny
1909 Wyatt Turner
1911 Ted Petoskey
1914 Jack Salveson
1914 Joe Grace
1918 Jack Kramer
1923 John Ritchey
1924 Fred Marsh
1928 Bob Oldis
1935 Earl Battey
1936 Daryl Robertson
1936 Bud Bloomfield
1942 Wally Wolf
1944 Tom Kelley
1944 Charlie Vinson
1947 Sandy Vance
1948 Bill Laxton
1948 Charlie Hough
1951 Bob Reece
1953 Jim Gantner
1954 John Littlefield
1957 Bob Dernier
1958 Ron Kittle
1959 Milt Thompson
1961 John Russell
1961 Henry Cotto
1961 Roger Samuels
1962 Danny Jackson
1963 Jeff Fassero
1963 John Davis
1965 Juan Nieves
1966 Steve Shifflett
1967 Chris Nabholz
1971 Jason Bates
1973 Ramon Tatis
1973 Fred Rath
1974 Damon Minor
1974 Ryan Minor

The twins played together at the University of Oklahoma – I was fortunate enough to call games for KLWN and KJHK when they were playing in Lawrence, KS.

1974 Mark Redman
1976 Kevin Witt
1977 Eric Junge
1979 Ruben Quevedo
1981 Andy Cavazos
1982 Nori Aoki
1986 J. P. Arencibia
1989 Eduardo Escobar
1990 Jose Iglesias
1990 C. J. Cron
1990 Danny Ortiz
1992 A. J. Cole
1993 John Nogowski
2001 Vaughn Grissom

OBITUARIES:

1936 Will Sawyer
1937 Ben Beville
1940 Charlie Kelly
1945 Bill Hobbs
1949 Ralph Edwards
1953 Pete Lapan
1953 Mike Cantwell
1954 Rabbit Maranville
1960 Clay Van Alstyne
1961 Fred Luderus
1962 Frank Snyder
1962 Dick Lundy
1963 Rogers Hornsby
1965 Frank Manush
1965 Claude Johnson
1968 Julius Osley
1969 Larry Pratt
1969 Tiny Osborne
1975 Don Wilson
1976 Ed Sperber
1976 Gene Elliott
1978 Snipe Conley

James Patrick Michael Conley got his nickname from a snipe hunt when he joined the Baltimores of the Federal League. He learned the spitball there, which served him well in the Texas League. And then he made a comeback and was allowed to legally throw the spitball (he was grandfathered in) – making him the last professional pitcher to legally toss a wet one. He died of natural causes.

1979 George Washburn
1982 Neal Baker
1987 Dale Mitchell
1990 Bobby Balcena
1991 Tommy Dukes
1994 Jack Brittin
1995 Art Demery
1996 Elmer Singleton
1997 Emil Roy
2001 Phelbert Lawson
2004 Tug McGraw
2006 Rod Dedeaux
2008 Walter Jones
2014 Jerry Coleman
2016 Jay Ritchie
2021 Don Leppert
2023 Carl Duser
2023 Nate Colbert

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1934 Fire destroys the left and centerfield grandstand and bleachers at Fenway Park – but the Sox were able to get the areas rebuilt in time for opening day.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

The end of the line for two players – Herb Pennock (1934) and Travis Jackson (1937) – two longtime New York stars were released.

1946 New York purchases Walker Cooper from the Cardinals for $175,000.

1946 Seattle agrees to send Earl Torgeson to the Boston Braves for two future players (Tony York, Bill Ramsey).

1983 In the trade that rhymes, Cincinnati sends Mike Vail to San Francisco for Rich Gale.

1984 The Yankees sign free agent pitcher Phil Niekro and the Cubs signed infielder/pinch hitter Richie Hebner.

1994 New York sends Vince Coleman to the Royals to reacquire Kevin McReynolds.

2001 New York signs amateur free agent Robinson Cano.

2001 Texas signs free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre.

2016 Cleveland signs free agent hitter Mike Napoli.