<— APRIL 07     APRIL 09 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1850 John Peters
1856 George Radbourn
1857 Bill Crowley
1859 Lady Baldwin
1860 Charlie Ingraham

Ingraham’s lone major league game was a July 4th outing in Cincinnati for Baltimore of the American Association in 1883. Having just arrived from his minor league home of Youngstown, OH, he played in the morning game of the doubleheader and batted lead off, getting a hit in four at bats. Behind the plate, however, he made one error and allowed six passed balls, which coupled with some poor infield play killed any chances for Baltimore to win. Cincinnati took that game easily, 14 – 2.

“Half and Half,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 5, 1883: 5.

1864 Pete Daniels
1866 Henry Lynch
1870 John Stafford
1873 Pete Cassidy
1874 Bert Myers
1875 Reddy Grey

Romer Carl Grey was the brother (and frequent travel partner) of one Zane Grey, the more famous writer. That said, this Grey also published books on fishing (among other topics). He’s here, though, because he was the better baseball player of the brothers (Pirates, one game in 1903).

The Grays were born in Zanesville, Ohio; the Zane for whom that city was named was an ancestor of the brothers. They were both born Gray, however, but when a run of bad luck cost their father his savings, he moved his family to a different city and changed the spelling of the last name. Romer Grey died of heart dilation, leaving behind a wife (the former Rebecca Smith). He’s resting at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California now.

An excellent bio of Grey (and the relationship between the two brothers) can be found here.

1877 Frank Foutz
1878 Clarence (Pop) Foster
1881 Bert Daly
1883 Shag Shaughnessy
1887 Hap Myers
1887 Bill Jones
1890 Frank Blattner
1895 Eddie Bacon
1897 Dick Attreau
1897 Dick Jackson
1899 Ted Kleinhans
1899 Lerton Pinto
1901 Carr Smith
1902 Carl Husta
1903 Frank Mulroney
1908 Buck Fausett
1910 Charlie English
1914 Andy Karl
1915 Kirby Higbe
1918 Bob Mavis
1920 Dick Adams
1921 Dee Sanders
1927 Charlie Maxwell
1933 Lloyd Merritt
1934 Turk Farrell
1935 Dick Luebke
1938 Tom Butters
1942 Jose Herrera
1943 John Hiller
1946 Catfish Hunter
1949 Mac Scarce
1954 Gary Carter
1956 Roger Holt
1966 Alex Sanchez
1967 Rich Batchelor
1969 Pete Walker
1969 Kirk Dressendorfer
1970 Francisco Matos
1973 Alex Gonzalez
1974 Eddie Priest
1975 Jeremy Fikac
1975 Timo Perez
1979 Dane Sardinha
1979 Jeremy Guthrie
1981 Brian Burres
1981 Matt Ford
1982 Kason Gabbard
1983 Eric Patterson
1983 Chris Iannetta
1983 Bobby Wilson
1984 Diory Hernandez
1985 Juan Abreu
1985 Matt Antonelli
1986 Carlos Santana
1986 Felix Hernandez
1986 Eddie Kunz
1987 Yonder Alonso
1987 Jeremy Hellickson
1989 Lendy Castillo
1992 Jeff McNeil
1992 Artie Lewicki
1994 Zach Elfin
1996 Jake Latz
1999 Jo Adell

OBITUARIES:

1916 Bill Moran

The one time Chicago Colt (1895) and St. Louis Brown (1892) catcher had a brief career stymied because he hit .147 in his two chances.  He returned home to Joliet where he managed the Joliet Standards semi-pro team.

1924 Jimmy Macullar
1940 Bill Abstein
1940 Dave Murphy
1942 Pat Bohen
1951 Whitey Guese
1952 Willie Ludolph
1955 Alfred Saylor
1961 Fred Brickell
1964 Mickey O’Neil
1964 George Moriarty
1964 Jim Umbricht
1968 Bob Pepper
1969 Win Noyes
1970 Lee Handley
1972 Gus Fisher
1975 Jim Peterson
1978 Ford Frick
1982 Alonzo Boone
1984 William Dyke
1985 Joe Sullivan
1988 Herman Roth
1989 Andy Karl
1990 Bill Kelly
1997 Bob Cain
1997 Homer Peel
2003 Jesse Warren
2005 Al Gettel
2005 Eddie Miksis
2008 Hersh Lyons
2012 Al Veigel
2022 Carl Boles

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT!

1974 Henry Aaron nails an Al Downing pitch and drives it over the fence (and into the waiting glove of reliever Tom House, who was in the bullpen) – the 715th homer of Aaron’s career, passing Babe Ruth.

Odd trivia note, the Dodgers made six errors in the field that day.

1989 Jim Abbott makes his major league debut – and loses to Seattle and Mark Langston…

1994 Braves converted reliever Kent Mercker tosses a no-hitter, beating the Dodgers, 6 – 0.  It was his only complete game shutout, and threw just one other complete game.

2001 Aramis Ramirez crushes three homers for the Pirates in a 9 – 3 win over the Astros.

2014 Ryan Braun clobbers three homers for the Brewers in a 10 – 4 win over the Phillies.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1932 Washington signs catcher/spy Moe Berg.

1948 Boston purchases pitcher Johnny Sain from Nashville of the Southern Association.

1960 The Cubs send Ron Perranoski, Johnny Goryl, Lee Handley, and $25,000 to the Dodgers for Don Zimmer.

1963 Detroit claimed Denny McLain from the White Sox in a first year waiver claim.

1969 Montreal sent Jack Billingham, Skip Guinn and $10,000 to Houston to complete the trade that sent Donn Clendenon and Jesus Alou to Houston for Rusty Staub.  Clendenon had refused to report.

1970 The Cardinals sent Willie Montanez and Jim Browning (in August) to Philadelphia to complete the Curt Flood deal as Flood refused to report to the Phillies.

Many of you are familiar with the Curt Flood part of the trade – but few remember some of the other players in the deal:

From Philadelphia to St. Louis:

Jerry Johnson, Dick Allen, Cookie Rojas

From St. Louis to Philadelphia:

Tim McCarver, Byron Browne, Joe Hoerner, Curt Flood – and later Willie Montanez and then Jim Browning.