<— JANUARY 10     JANUARY 12 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1859 George Pinkney

Pinkney was the original iron man, appearing in 578 consecutive games as a third baseman for Brooklyn between 1885 and 1889. Pinkney followed Brooklyn from the American Association to the National League, spending seven of his ten major league seasons there.

“George Pinkney Dies,” Brooklyn Daily Times, November 11, 1926: 3.

1863 Sim Bullas

Simeon Edward Bullas was a Clevelander who played thirteen games with Toledo in the American Association in 1884 – one of the years when there were three major leagues operating at the same time.  That Toledo team is famous for having both Fleetwood and Welday Walker, the last African American major leaguers prior to Jackie Robinson, on their team.

1867 Bill Niles

Niles got his shot with Pittsburgh in 1895, playing in 11 games (10 of them at 3B). He didn’t hit much, though – 8 hits, all singles. That said, William E. Niles had a long career in baseball, spending 14 years in the minors at various levels. One year stands out – he batted .338 with Kansas City in the Western League in 1894 – a team surrounded by more famous folks (Joe McGinnity, George Stallings, Ollie Beard and others). However, Niles was never that good a hitter. On that team, he was fifth behind Billy Klusman, who hit 31 homers and batted .418 and Beard who also hit .418.

Niles would settle in Springfield, Ohio landing a job with French and Hecht, a maker of metal wheels.

“William Niles Dies,” Springfield Daily News, July 3, 1936: 2.

1868 Charles Frederick (Silver) King
1876 Elmer Flick
1877 Ed Murphy
1879 John Reid (Harry) McIntire
1884 Art Watson
1888 Clarence Ashley (Skipper) Roberts
1890 Mickey Keliher
1890 Max Carey
1895 John Leo (Paddy) Driscoll
1898 Gene Lansing
1899 Alvin Floyd (General) Crowder
1900 Edward Timothy (Lefty) Taber
1901 George McNamara
1906 Lawrence Terrell
1910 Lynwood Thomas (Schoolboy) Rowe
1911 Roy Hughes
1915 Albert Ernest (Dutch) Mele
1918 Al Gardella
1918 Ernie Andres
1919 Lou Rochelli
1921 Al Kvasnak
1922 Neil Berry
1923 Frank Fanovich
1928 Carl Powis
1928 Loren Babe
1929 Don Mossi
1937 Jack Curtis
1940 Hank Fischer
1942 Danny Napoleon
1944 Frank Baker
1944 Jim McAndrew
1948 Glenn Redmon
1948 Rick Henninger
1955 Dan Norman
1959 Lloyd McClendon
1962 Donn Pall
1967 Nikco Riesgo
1968 Ben Rivera
1969 Manny Acta
1971 Alex Delgado
1971 Rey Ordonez
1972 Jermaine Allensworth
1974 Warren Morris
1974 Cody McKay
1978 Greg Aquino
1989 Rico Noel
1990 Danny Salazar
1992 Stevie Wilkerson
1995 J. P. Crawford
1995 Nick Solak
1995 Stephen Nogosek
2002 Elly De La Cruz

OBITUARIES:

1912 Lefty Marr

Marr died alone in his hotel room in New Britain, Connecticut and the medical examiner didn’t note foul play but also didn’t suggest how he died (at least not right away). When Marr died, some articles noted that Marr was involved in a collision in a minor league game in Atlanta that resulted in the death of Lewis (or Louis) Henke, which I believe is the first time a player in a professional league game had died from an onfield event since the start of organized leagues. (At least the first since Jim Creighton in 1862.)

On August 14, 1885 Nashville was playing Atlanta. Henke was charging to first after hitting a ball toward third; Marr was covering the bag. The third baseman made a late decision to throw to first thinking that the runner on third was going to score anyway. Marr dropped the throw and leaned down to pick it up when Henke ran into Marr – Marr’s head and shoulder going into Henke’s side – and the two fell hard to the ground. Marr came to quicker, but Henke was in serious pain. He was taken to his hotel and by late evening doctors realized that the impact ruptured Henke’s liver. He died the next morning from internal injuries. From what it appears, the two men were friends when each lived in Cincinnati.

“Lefty Marr Found Dead,” Hartford Courant, January 12, 1912: 10.
“Killed at First,” Cincinnati Enquirer, January 13, 1912: 8.
“Poor Henke,” Atlanta Constitution, August 16, 1885: 9.

1914 Walt Goldsby

Suicide – gunshot to the forehead in Dallas, Tex.

1922 Miah Murray
1929 Mike Golden
1936 Turkey Gross
1945 Harry McNeal
1951 Bill Wagner
1953 Doc Moskiman
1954 Sumner Bowman
1965 Wally Pipp
1968 George Hunter
1969 Ollie Fuhrman
1973 Doc Hamann
1973 Rivington Bisland

Bisland died of plastocytoma having moved to Salzburg, Austria.

1992 Orville Jorgens
1993 Frank Quinn
1994 Joe Sprinz
1994 Lucas Turk
1997 Stu Martin
1998 Joe Becker

St. Louis native, baseball lifer – after catching for the Indians (briefly – two seasons) and touring the minors (and serving with the Navy during World War II) he became a pitching coach in the minors and then the majors from 1955 to 1970 with the Dodgers, Cardinals and Cubs.  Worked with Koufax, Drysdale, Gibson, and Jenkins.  Not a bad list…  He died after a long illness at his home in St. Louis at 89. – “Joseph E. Becker,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 13, 1998: B5.

1999 Jim Dyck

Brain cancer took the baseball nomad of the two decades following World War II.

“Cancer claims Jim Dyck, 76,” Mansfield News-Journal, January 12, 1999: 10.

2000 Bob Lemon

Lemon died in a Long Beach, California convalescent home at 79.

“Hall of Famer, former Sox manager Bob Lemon dies,” Daily Herald, January 13, 2000: Section 2, Page 3.

2013 Fred Talbot

The pitcher of the late 1960s passed away at 71 after a long illness.

“Obituary,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 18, 2013: 8C.

2014 Jophery Brown

Brown pitched at Grambling and was added to the school’s Hall of Fame six months after he died of complications while being treated for cancer.  The ballplayer turned Hollywood stuntman was just shy of 69.

Keise, Kevin. “Former Grambling resident dies,” The Gramblinite, January 30, 2014.

2016 Monte Irvin

The son of a sharecropper turned Hall of Fame outfielder died at 96.

2023 Bob Harrison

Harrison spent a decade (split by Korean War service) playing baseball – but only two appearances as a pitcher for the Orioles in 1955 and 1956. On the other hand, he spent more than 40 years with his wife and most of his adult years as a successful insurance representative before he passed away at 92.

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1915 Colonel Jacob Rupert and Colonel Tillinghast Huston purchase the New York Yankees from Frank Farrell and Bill Devery for a basement price of $460,000.

1968 Ewing Kauffman becomes the owner of the franchise that would eventually become the Kansas City Royals.

1971 If only to help him drive… John Hiller takes himself to the hospital as he’s having a heart attack. Hiller missed the season, came back in 1972, and in 1973 the Tiger pitcher set a record with 38 saves.

1973 Bowie Kuhn describes concepts such as the DH and interleague play to help the AL catch up to the more popular NL. His original play for interleague play was to put teams in same cities against each other.

Anyway – the AL votes to use the DH on a three year experimental basis. The NL declines. The only no vote in the AL? Charlie Finley. It was HIS idea!!! He’s mad nobody likes the designated runner.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1913 Cleveland really wanted Nick Cullop – they sent five players and $5,000 for him AND added extra money to help New Orleans purchase a few pitchers.

1960 The Phillies sent Richie Ashburn to the Cubs for Al Dark, John Buzhardt, and Jim Woods.

1968 St. Louis sent Alex Johnson to the Reds for Dick Simpson.

1977 Chicago sends Rick Monday and Mike Garman to the Dodgers for Bill Buckner, Ivan de Jesus, and Jeff Albert.

As a kid, I initially pronounced the new Cubs shortstop as Ivan Dee Jesus – without the Spanish pronunciation (I didn’t know better) until I heard it pronounced correctly by Jack Brickhouse.

In the 1977 secondary draft, the Yankees used a first round pick to take Willie McGee.

1979 Toronto signs free agent hitter Rico Carty.

1983 Boston drafted Ellis Burks in the first round of the secondary draft.

2003 Florida sent Nate Robertson (who later came back), Gary Knotts, and Rob Henkel to the Tigers for Mark Redman and Jerrod Fuell. Redman was the lone veteran starter on the Marlins World Series staff.

2005 Arizona sent Randy Johnson to the Yankees for Javier Vazquez, Dioner Navarro, Brad Halsey and cash.

2010 Cincinnati signs amateur free agent (and Cuban refugee) Aroldis Chapman.