<— FEBRUARY 14     FEBRUARY 16 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1862 Joe Weber
1865 Bill Fagan
1866 Billy Hamilton
1867 Charlie Reilly
1869 Charlie Irwin

1876 Carlton Molesworth

I can’t be the only person who sees this name and immediately wonders if it’s a Dickens character or perhaps the butler in some John Cleese skit.

“Molesworth… Please bring me my coat.”

This photo (above and left) of Molesworth I found in the Frederick (MD) Daily News didn’t help. Here’s another one from a KC newspaper that I found that is much more management-like (below and right). Looks like he could be a little stern but with high expectations.

All kidding aside, Molesworth was a longtime and successful minor league manager whose playing career was very short (one season with Washington as a pitcher, but after an injury many years in the minors as an outfielder), but his life in professional baseball lasted more than five decades. For many years he was a scout for the Pirates (on a handshake agreement, no less) and brought them Pie Traynor, Charlie Grimm and many other prospects. The 1927 Pirates pennant owes much to the scouting skills of Molesworth. No doubt, the writers loved him and he was well respected throughout the sport.

1886 Ed Kusel
1888 Frank Betcher
1892 Al Braithwood
1895 Jimmy Ring
1897 Art Johnson
1897 Chuck Wolfe
1898 Bobby LaMotte
1900 George Earnshaw
1902 Oscar Estrada
1905 Hal Lee
1906 Bob Cremins
1909 Wilson Daniel “Dee” Miles
1914 Earl Bumpus
1918 Clarence Isreal
1919 Robert Sterling “Ducky” Detweiler
1926 Charles “Bubba” Harris
1927 Clarence Walter “Buddy” Hicks
1932 Richard Allen “Footer” Johnson
1938 Chuck Estrada
1942 Bill Henry
1943 Joe Moeller
1943 Don Arlich
1945 Ross Moschitto
1948 Ron Cey
1950 Larry Yount

Robin’s brother. Came into a game in relief and injured his arm during warmups. He never actually threw an official pitch, but he is credited with an appearance.

1950 Rick Auerbach
1951 Tommy Cruz
1956 Ray Cosey
1959 Joe Hesketh
1961 Mark Davidson
1962 Rolando Roomes
1963 Barry Jones
1966 Melido Perez
1968 Luis Mercedes
1969 Brian Williams
1971 Terry Jones
1974 Ugueth Urbina
1975 Rafael Medina
1977 Alex Gonzalez
1979 Luis Ugueto
1980 Don Kelly
1983 Russell Martin
1984 Nate Schierholtz
1984 Mitchell Boggs
1985 Russ Mitchell
1986 Fautino De Los Santos
1986 Johnny Cueto
1987 Rob Scahill
1989 Mark Canha
1990 Michael Roth
1994 Tzu-Wei Lin
1997 Meibrys Viloria
1999 Jose Lopez
1999 Esteury Ruiz
2000 Elvis Luciano
2002 Kyle Teel

OBITUARIES:

1903 Phil Reccius

Reccius was a very successful pitcher until he was on the receiving end of a line drive right off his forehead.  Reccius made the play, but fell unconscious afterward.  His pitching ability left him soon after and for the remaining nine years of his life, he fell further and further into mental illness until he became violent.  Declared insane, he was placed in the Central Kentucky Lunatic Asylum in Lakeland, KY until death called him.

“Phil Reccius’ Injury Fatal,” Louisville Courier-Journal, February 16, 1903: 7.

1903 Ward (Al) Dwight

Dwight had a heart attack at the bar of the Hotel Cactus in Portland, Oregon.

1910 Bug Holliday

Holliday, famous for his on-field antics and entertaining mannerisms, had a leg amputated – and his body went downhill from there.

I’ll leave you all with two baseball cards at the Museum of Modern Art that make me smile in that the same image is used for two different cards.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/403140
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/404494

1922 Pete Childs

According to his PA death certificate, Childs died at 50 of cirrhosis of the liver.

1925 Duke Farrell

The Duke of Marlboro had a stomach ailment, leading to surgery in January 1925. He never rallied from there.

“Charles A. Farrell Claimed by Death,” Boston Globe, February 16, 1925″: 6.

1931 Billy Kinloch

Peter Morris wrote Kinloch’s SABR bio and it’s got one amazing story about his only game in the major leagues with St. Louis in 1895. Kinloch played third base, played a pretty good game and got a hit off Adonis Terry. That said, playing third base in the majors was WAY harder than in the minors and he knew he didn’t really belong. So, he told the Browns that he was done and he should be released back to the Denver semi-pro team on which he was playing before joining the Browns. Then, he stopped playing third base and moved to the outfield…

Kinloch was Walter Kinloch when signed… He wasn’t around long enough to fix it in the papers. But, he got around. Born in Rhode Island, played as far west as Denver and in the deep south, and finished his life in New York where he was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside.

1936 Bill Grahame
1940 Chick Fulmer
1940 Ray Morgan
1942 George Ziegler
1943 John Deering
1945 Steve Behel
1946 George Starnagle
1949 Tommy Raub
1954 John Callahan
1954 John Gillespie
1955 Tom Tennant
1955 Lynn Nelson
1959 Bruce Caldwell
1959 Lefty Houtz
1961 Joe Bean
1963 Bump Hadley
1963 Harlin Pool
1964 Fred Trautman
1972 Pep Goodwin
1977 Diomedes Olivo
1978 Claude Hayslett
1981 Cotton Pippen
1991 Julio Gonzalez
1994 Ray Blemker
1994 Doc Bracken
2000 Bob Ramazzotti
2002 Mike Darr
2007 Terry Enyart
2007 Buddy Hancken
2011 Joe Frazier
2016 Virgil Jester
2016 Dave Adlesh
2018 Tom Brewer
2024 Larry Demery
2024 Tom Qualters

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1946 Philadelphia hires Edith Haughton as the first female major league scout.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1893 The Giants purchase pitcher, shortstop, and lawyer John Ward from Brooklyn for $6,000.

1916 The Yankees purchase Frank (Home Run) Baker from Philadelphia for $37,500.

1980 Texas sends Willie Montanez to San Diego for Gaylord Perry, Tucker Ashford, and minor leaguer Joe Carroll.