<— FEBRUARY 29     MARCH 2 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1853 Ed Somerville
1855 Paul Hines
1860 Tom Sullivan
1864 Henry Francis “Farmer” Vaughn
1864 Henry Yaik
1871 George Boone
1881 Al Shaw
1883 Charlie Pickett
1885 Cleon Earl “Lefty” Webb
1888 Howard Baker
1891 Roy Elsh
1897 Howie Jones
1899 Ernie Padgett
1904 Tenny Edwards
1905 Jim Beckman
1915 Nick Strincevich
1917 Rankin Johnson
1917 Ike Pearson
1918 Hank Wyse
1921 Howie Fox
1921 Frank Rosso
1923 Chico Renfroe
1924 Wilmer Harris
1924 Tim Thompson
1925 Jo Jo Deal
1925 Bob Usher
1928 Bert Hamric
1932 Dom Zanni
1940 Larry Brown
1944 Vern Fuller
1944 Ron Klimkowski
1945 Jim Panther
1952 Bob Davis
1953 Jeff Holly
1957 Johnny Ray
1962 Mark Gardner
1963 Rich Rodriguez
1963 Tony Castillo
1969 Doug Creek
1972 Jimmy Hurst
1972 Omar Daal
1976 Ramon Castro
1978 Kris Keller
1978 Ken Harvey
1979 Chris Barnwell
1980 Micah Hoffpauir
1983 Blake Hawksworth
1988 Trevor Cahill
1988 Jyeon-jong Yang
1990 Kyle Skipworth
1990 Jose Valdez
1991 Joe Mantiply
1991 Robert Suarez
1993 Jason Alexander
1993 Michael Conforto
1995 Adbert Alzolay
1999 Oswaldo Cabrera
1999 Casey Schmidt
2001 Wander Franco

One wonders if there will be any career left after his myriad of legal problems stemming from charges of – well, guns, sex with minors, trafficking, sexual abuse…

2002 Hurston Waldrep

OBITUARIES:

1881 Hugh Campbell
1919 Bill Fouser

Fouser, the right fielder in the first National League game in 1876 for the Philadelphia Athletics, was waiting for a train at Philadelphia’s Huntington Street Station when he had a massive heart attack. What isn’t clear is whether he was on the job or on the way to work as his obituary lists a number of railroad organizations…

“Man Dies at P. & R. Station,” Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia), March 1, 1919: 3.
Obit, Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia), March 3, 1919: 18.

1919 Hal McClure

McClure had just finished dinner when he walked to his Presbyterian church – but didn’t make it. A heart attack took the Bucknell alumnus to the next league. Gifted athletically and academically, his lone major league games (two with Boston in 1882) came months after having passed the bar.

He left behind a wife, the former Margaret Focht, and two children, as well as seats on a number of corporate boards – including a seat on the Bucknell University board. McClure arrived in and left this world from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

“Judge Harold M. McClure Dies Suddenly on Saturday,” Lewisburg Journal, March 3, 1919: 1.

1920 Harry Jordan

Jordan, a Pittsburgh area native and accountant for Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., died of pneumonia; his father having died of the same illness three weeks earlier.

Prior to that, Jordan made three starts over two seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning only that maiden voyage on September 25, 1894. He pitched in lower level leagues in Pennsylvania throughout the 1890s.

Harry James Jordan left behind a wife, the former Margaret Burke, and two sons (Lewis Carroll Jordan and Dr. Harry James Jordan, Jr.). In looking for a photo of Jordan, I couldn’t find one. I did, however, find one of the two sons when they appeared in a news story in 1912 (photo, left). The article noted that the younger son (Harry, Jr.) was playing tackle football when he broke his collar bone at just 6 years old.

One assumes some family member has to have a photo of the old ballplayer somewhere in an attic or family album…

“Harry J. Jordan,” Pittsburgh Post, March 3, 1920: 5.
Tackle Disastrous to Youthful Player,” Pittsburgh Post, November 26, 1912: 2.

1929 Ed Foster
1931 Leon Palmer

Palmer was a utility player in the Negro National league with Dayton in 1926 and Louisville in 1930. When not playing, the son of Joseph and Dora Baker was a porter at a stationary store. He contracted lobal pneumonia at just 24 years old and passed to the next league. At the time of his death, he was married to the former Etta Weathers and they had a daughter, Janet, who was still a toddler at the time of Leon’s passing. (KY Death Certificate, IN Marriage Certificates, 1930 US Census)

1937 Roy Vaughn
1937 Charles Fuller
1941 Ivey Wingo
1942 Bill Delaney
1948 Rebel Oakes
1954 Marv Gudat
1956 Ed Heusser
1956 Walt Miller
1961 Alex Malloy
1962 Hal Janvrin
1962 Horace Jenkins
1963 Irish Meusel
1965 Maurice Van Robays
1967 Claude Grier
1973 Ray Battle
1974 Larry Doyle
1976 Rube Foster
1980 Arndt Jorgens
1980 Johnny Watwood
1985 Roy Debnam
1985 George Banks
1988 Luis Marquez
1990 Creepy Crespi
1994 Joe Tipton
1997 Monty Kennedy
2005 Bob Mavis
2006 Ray Poole
2009 Gene Stone
2014 Les Layton
2015 Jeff McKnight
2015 Minnie Minoso
2023 Dan McGinn

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1954 It’s the first day of spring training and Ted Williams stumbles trying to make a shoe-string catch and breaks his collar bone. He’d miss about four weeks of the season.

1969 Mickey Mantle announces his retirement.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1944 Washington sent Tony Giuliani to the Browns for Rick Ferrell. Only, Giuliani didn’t want to go, so four weeks later, Washington sent along Gene Moore to complete the trade.

1965 Cincinnati signed amateur pitcher Steve Mingori, while St. Louis signed amateur Willie Montanez.

1993 Montreal signed amateur outfielder Vlad Guerrero.