<— MAY 13     MAY 15 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1853 Horace Phillips

Horace never played in the majors, but he did manage several teams. There were a lot of changes going on with the game in the 1870s and 1880s, new leagues formed – both major and minor – and players regularly jumped from team to team when opportunities presented themselves.  Phillips had a reputation for encouraging players to jump teams. At some point, the stress of being a manager (both on field and business management) as well as trying to get involved in theatrical promotions took its toll on him and before he turned 37 years old, he lost his marbles.

1856 James Lehan

Infielder with Washington in the Union Association.  Batted .333, but in just 12 at bats.

1858 Bill Tierney

Boston native, played semi-professionally there then a few seasons in the minors.  Got in one game for Cincinnati in the American Association in 1882 and one more game with Baltimore in the Union Association.

Tierney’s brief stay in Cincinnati was because he could only play first base. Cincinnati needed someone with more flexibility (Wheeler could pitch, play first, and right field), so they signed Harry Wheeler and sent Tierney back to Boston.

“Baseball.”, Cincinnati Enquirer, 06 May 1882, Page 5.

1872 John Wood

Appeared in one game for the Browns, faced four batters and got nobody out.  As you can figure out, he allowed a run and, as such, has an infinite ERA.

1878 J. L. Wilkinson

One of the founders of the modern Negro Leagues in 1920, also a long time owner of the Kansas City Monarchs.  And a Hall of Famer.   His SABR bio was written by Charles F.. Faber.

1881 Ed Walsh

Spitballer, among the most durable pitchers in baseball for about six or seven years.  But the end came quickly – his shoulder went and he couldn’t do what he had done from 1906 to 1912.  Died of cancer.

Stuart Schimler wrote his bio for SABR.

1884 Tony Smith

Must have been a heck of a fielder considering he played a 100 games once but in his three MLB seasons never hit above .187.  Shortstop with the 1907 Senators (where his average peaked at .187) and two years a few years later with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms.

1890 Alex Pompez

One time owner of the New York Cuban Giants (he signed Minnie Minoso among others), later a scout for the Giants when he saw that the Negro Leagues would fail in the wake of integration (he scouted Cepeda, Oliva among others), Pompez was a Cuban-American and the only Key West born person in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1892 Bruce Hartford

Forever minor leaguer from about 1910 to 1929, an athletic shortstop who played more than 2200 games in the minors.

1899 Earle Combs
1901 Drew Rader
1903 Doc Land
1913 Johnny Babich
1913 Howie Gorman
1914 Jim Shilling
1914 Chink Zachary
1916 Red Hayworth
1917 Bob Thurman
1918 Wimpy Quinn

The Cubs tried to take this first baseman and make a pitcher out of him, which likely killed any chance of his staying in the majors.  That and World War II.

1925 Les Moss
1936 Dick Howser
1942 Tony Perez
1944 Jim Driscoll
1947 Dick Tidrow
1948 Dave LaRoche
1954 Dennis Martinez
1955 Hosken Powell
1957 Fran Mullins
1959 Brian Greer
1963 Pat Borders
1963 Shawn Barton
1965 Joey Cora
1965 Isidro Marquez
1968 Mark Dalesandro
1970 Larry Sutton
1971 Takashi Kashiwada
1973 Brad Rigby
1973 Anthony Shumaker
1974 Jim Crowell
1976 Brian Lawrence
1977 Roy Halladay
1982 Kevin Melillo
1984 Luke Gregerson
1986 Efren Navarro

A legit baseball nomad – drafted in the 50th round by the Angels out of UNLV in 2007, Navarro looked like a hitter in his early days in the minors.  He got a few shots (Angels from 2013 to 2015, Tigers in 2016, and the Cubs in 2018) but never was able to stick because if you can’t hit for power, you have to hit about .290 with a lot of walks to be productive (he was more .230 with not enough walks).  Anyway – he’s not quitting – when not in some team’s system, he’s played in Mexico and now Japan (as of 2019).

1986 Jackson Williams

Tulsa native who went to the University of Oklahoma from which he was drafted by the Giants in the first round in 2007.  A quality backstop, but never much of a hitter in the minors – he kept getting opportunities and eventually got a shot with the Rockies and Giants.  Williams didn’t hit a ton, as you might expect, but he did launch a homer while with Colorado in 2014 (and raced around the bases, nearly catching the guys on base in front of him).  It looks like his career ended after 2018 but I half expect to see him coaching some day.

1989 Christian Colon

Colon was a first round draft pick of the Royals in 2010 out of Cal State-Fullerton and appeared to be a useful infielder.  Had two nice cups of coffee in 2014 and 2015, earning a regular gig in 2016 – and then stopped hitting.  He’s since become a bit of a nomad – Miami, then the Mets, Braves, and Reds systems as insurance in AAA.  Still going as he hits 30, but the Puerto Rican native may be running out of chances.

1993 Kyle Freeland
1993 Roman Quinn
1994 Tony Gonsolin

An interesting collection of Hall of Famers (Walsh, Combs, Perez, Wilkinson, Pompez, and Halliday) and otherwise famous players (Moss, Howser, Tidrow, LaRoche, Martinez, and Cora).

OBITUARIES:

1900 Billy Taylor
1908 John O’Connell
1913 Dennis Coughlin
1921 John Farrell
1931 Doc Newton
1934 Lou Criger
1940 Harry Gaspar
1943 Bob Allen
1944 Billy Hart
1949 Mike Kahoe
1952 Red Dooin
1952 Bert Cunningham
1958 Billy Clingman
1964 Dave Altizer
1965 Lee Quillin
1966 Tom Connolly
1967 Vic Saier
1984 Elmer Riddle
1985 Bill Morley
1985 Harry Byrd
1986 Joe Sparma
1986 Frank O’Rourke
1986 Tom Turner
1987 Luke Sewell
1997 Eddie Delker
1998 Bill Sodd
2003 Dave DeBusschere
2004 Bill Hoffman
2004 Rip Coleman
2006 Jim Lemon
2008 Floyd Wooldridge
2009 George Williams
2016 Ron Henry
2018 Frank Quilici
2020 Bob Watson

Criger was Cy Young’s catcher for many, many years. He also is one of four teammates of Rube Waddell to die on this date. Criger was on the Browns with Rube at the end of the road (1909), while Cunningham and Clingman were with Rube in 1897 with the Colonels. Daredevil Dave Altizer played with Rube in 1912 with the Minneapolis Millers.

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!

1920 Walter Johnson gets a win in relief – his 300th of his career – beating the Tigers.

1927 Chicago’s Guy Bush goes the distance to beat the Boston Braves, 7 – 2, in 18 innings. His mound opponent – Charlie Robertson (of perfect game fame) – was finally pulled when the Cubs routed Robertson in the 18th.

1967 Dooley Womack actually WAS there – Mickey Mantle hits his 500th career homer off Baltimore’s Stu Miller, a Mother’s Day gift for his wife. Womack pitched the last 3.1 innings to earn the win in relief.

1968 55 years to the day that Walter Johnson’s record 55.2 inning scoreless streak comes to an end, Don Drysdale shuts out the Cubs to begin his 58.1 inning scoreless streak.

1977 Kansas City’s Jim Colburn blanks the Texas Rangers, 6 – 0, throwing a no-hitter. Toby Harrah was hit by a pitch in the fifth and Jim Sundberg was walked in the sixth – though he was eliminated by a double play. I believe it was the first Royals no hitter in Royals stadium…

1996 Dwight Gooden throws a no hitter as the Yankees top Seattle, 2 – 0. Gooden was wild enough to be effective – he walked six batters and only fanned five – and he threw two wild pitches. How many pitches did Gooden throw??? 130??? Derek Jeter batted eighth in that game…

2000 Eric Young steals five bases in a 16-15 loss to the Expos. Twice he stole second and third base in the same inning… Young, who shares the record of six stolen bases in a game, is the only Cub with five thefts in a game.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1969 Chicago sends Sandy Alomar and Bob Priddy to California for Bobby Knoop.

1998 Florida sends Manuel Barrios, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, and Gary Sheffield to Los Angeles for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile. Piazza didn’t stay in Florida for two weeks…

2005 Philadelphia trades Marlon Byrd to the Nationals for Endy Chavez.