BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1873 Joe Dolan
1874 Con Lucid
1874 John Peter (Honus) Wagner
Greatest shortstop ever. Grew up in the Iron and Ore world, played ball in Paterson where he was scooped up by Louisville. Originally a centerfielder, moved to third, and then short. Could hit, hit for power, run, field, throw… Used to play football games against teammates in spring training until too many would come back bruised.
1875 Monte Beville
1877 Champ Osteen
Champ was short for Champlin, his middle name. He was born James Champlin Osteen…
1881 Bill Lindsay
1882 Arthur Lawrence (Bugs) Raymond
Fabulous pitcher – heck of a spitball, but a notorious drinker…
1892 Wilbur Cooper
Fine pitcher, one could argue he is good enough to be in the Hall of Fame – just wasn’t as famous as the guys who pitched for the Yankees.
1895 Bill Bagwell
1899 Clark Alonzon (Pinky) Pittenger
1905 “Line Drive” Lynn Nelson
1907 “Suitcase” Bob Seeds
1907 Earl Grace
1909 Clarence Herbert (Steamboat) Struss
1910 Fred Sington
1911 Johnny Oulliber
1911 Gerard (Nig) Lipscomb
1919 Del Wilber
1928 John Melvin (Bubba) Phillips
1945 Gary Moore
1951 Frank “Moose” Ortenzio
1953 Mike Sember
1953 Frank Riccelli
1954 Dave Edwards
1956 Eddie Murray
I miss the guy – a winner, professional hitter, nicknamed “Steady” for a good reason. Showed up to play and expected to win.
1959 Bryan Kelly
1960 Nick Esasky
Up and down career marked by issues with his health, but not his talent.
1963 Matias Carrillo
1966 Rod Brewer
1966 Rene Arocha
1973 Richard Keith (Stubby) Clapp
1974 Mike Lowell
When you live in South Florida, you learn to like the guys who play for the Fish with skill and Mike Lowell is one of the really, really good ones. Consistent, durable, dependable – and then one year his bat inexplicably left him. That made him expendable, so the Fish sent him to Boston for a couple of young guys who, for a short period of time, were awesome (Hanley Ramirez, Anibel Sanchez). Lowell found his bat – had a year that was equally over the norm as his last year in Florida was under it – and was great until his back told him to head to the broadcast booth.
1976 Randy Keisler
1977 Bronson Arroyo
He’s a wiry, long haired version of Livan Hernandez.
1978 Dewayne Wise
Saved a perfect game as a ninth inning defensive replacement for the White Sox – became (at least temporarily) Mark Buehrle’s best friend…
1978 Steve Torrealba
1979 Dennis Tankersley
1979 Brian Esposito
1981 Paul McAnulty
1981 Rob Bowen
1982 Gustavo Molina
1982 Nick Blackburn
1982 J.D. Durbin
1988 Chris Parmelee
1990 Eury De La Rosa
1990 Jason Coats
1991 Yefri Perez
1993 Robert Stephenson
1995 Chance Sisco
OBITUARIES:
1881 Maurice “Mollie” Moore
From what I gather, Maurice Moore was born in late 1851, arriving in New York from Ireland with his mother and father (James, a laborer, and Catherine) in late 1852. He had an older sister and a younger brother, James, who was born in the US. Anyway, when not working as a clerk, he played on New York City clubs, eventually landing on the Brooklyn Atlantics for a little while (21 games in 1875; batted .221 with a few doubles and a few strike outs). After that, he married an Ann Donathy in 1879.
She married a rowdy one. Known as “Mollie” in the Bowery, Moore was in a Bowery pub when he insulted a woman who responded to his insults with a shoe. When a fight broke out, bartender Robert Robinson thought the best way to deal with it was shooting the participants. Moore took a bullet in the ribs, and the shooter spent time in jail for exercising his second amendment rights the wrong way. That was the second time he was brawling when a fusillade of bullets ended the fighting. The first time was at the famous Bowery bar known as “The Bastille of the Bowery” owned by Owney Geoghegan, the former bare-knuckle boxer champion. Only this time, nobody was injured – stunning given that sixteen shots were fired. Moore’s bar problems never left him apparently, but he wouldn’t be rowdy for long. A Buffalo newspaper noted that the former Keystone club member and Brooklyn Atlantic utility player had died recently… If only it said why.
1860, 1870 US Censuses,
NY Ship Manifests
“A Scene of Rioting,” New York Herald, November 27, 1876: 10.
“Pistols and Beer,” New York Herald, April 15, 1878: 10.
“Summary of Law Cases,” New York Herald, May 11, 1878: 9.
“Sporting Notes,” Buffalo Commercial, March 25, 1881: 3.
1915 Adonis Terry
1915 Marc Hall
1926 “Gettysburg” Eddie Plank
1927 Charlie Bennett
1935 Joe Moffett
1947 “Pebbly” Jack Glasscock
1949 Ted Scheffler
1953 Lenny Metz
1957 Bugs Reisigl
1960 Uke Clanton
1962 Max Bishop
Infielder with the As known for his 100+ walk seasons…
1964 Henry Baldwin
1967 Jake Propst
1976 Carey Selph
1977 Sal Madrid
1989 Sparky Adams
Inventor of All-Star Baseball.
1990 Tony Conigliaro
Career derailed by a fastball in 1967. Pneumonia and kidney disease took him from us.
1991 Joe Munson
1994 Jim McKnight
1995 Woody Williams
1999 Johnnie Wittig
2012 Terry Mathews
2012 Jay Ward
2019 John Romano
YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!
1966 Atlanta signs Tom Seaver, but Commissioner William Eckart rules that Atlanta signed the college player too early, which allows Tom Seaver to go to the highest bidder willing to match Atlanta’s offer. The Mets won the billing, and later a World Series.
TRANSACTION WIRE:
1917 Boston sells Smoky Joe Wood to Cleveland for $15,000. At this point, Wood was damaged goods, but he could hit – so the Indians made him an outfielder. In 1922, his last year in the majors, he batted .297 with 8 homers and 92 RBI for the Indians.
1940 The Dodgers send Art Parks to the Red Sox to complete the deal that sent $35,000 and five players to Boston for Pee Wee Reese.
1948 The Yankees send Bill Wight, Fred Bradley, and Aaron Robinson to the White Sox for Eddie Lopat.
1976 Texas sends former fastballer Bill Hands to the Mets for George Stone. Nobody benefits.
1987 Detroit signs free agent Darrell Evans (again).
2001 Dodgers trade Devon White (and later Ruddy Lugo) to Milwaukee for Marquis Grissom.
2008 Boston signs free agent Bartolo Colon…
2014 Nelson Cruz signs a free agent deal with Baltimore.
2015 The Tigers sign Joba Chamberlain. Hey, he was famous for 15 minutes…
Mighty Casey Baseball 