<— FEBRUARY 24     FEBRUARY 26 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1854 Ed Cogswell
1862 Charlie Kelly
1863 Hezekiah Allen
1867 Howard Earl
1883 Jack Hannifin
1884 Bob Bescher
1889 Dave Morey
1889 Elmer Rieger
1893 Phil Slattery
1897 Bob Vines
1899 Bobby Anderson
1899 Stan Rees
1900 Joe Burns
1900 Duke (Silent John) Gillespie
1905 Eddie Dwight
1905 Ormsby Roy
1908 Al “Boots” Hollingsworth
1911 Roy Weir
1915 Roy “Stormy” Weatherly
1918 George Diehl
1919 Monte Irvin

Recently left us, but for a very long time was as influential a person as there was in baseball.

1921 Andy Pafko
1924 Jack “Lucky” Lohrke
1931 Jim Dunn
1934 Johnny Schaive
1939 Denny Lemaster
1940 Danny Cater
1940 Ron Santo

That for a decade, he was a GREAT third baseman cannot be denied. That he loved Chicago and especially being a Cub cannot be denied. That, for whatever reason, the baseball writers didn’t seem to elect a lot of third basement to the Hall of Fame cannot be denied.

But the Cubs had Williams, and Jenkins, and Banks (who was older, I get it) and Santo, and a few guys who could help out and NEVER won the division; never won a pennant… That is what kept Santo out of the Hall of Fame. You can’t have four Hall of Fame talents on a team at the same time and NOT win something.

(I did a report on this – need to write it up and share… Teams with the most Hall of Famers and their lack of success.)

1941 Dave Vineyard
1944 Stump Merrill

Never played, only managed… Spent forever in the minors, too.

1947 Ken Szotkiewicz
1951 Cesar Cedeno

Thought to be the next Willie Mays, but it wasn’t to be. I still think he was awesome. Power killed by playing in Houston, fast as lighting, and later might have been the best late season pick up when he hit, like, .600 for the Cardinals down the stretch in 1987.

1954 Bob Brenly

I liked him as a catcher and manager but don’t understand how there are thousands of former Cubs players – some with excellent deliveries and the ability to form interesting sentences and yet this guy (and now Joe Magrane) got a color commentary gig with WGN.

1956 Kevin Hickey
1956 Ed Lynch

Marginal middle reliever type, later a front office guy with the Cubs.

1959 Ken Dayley

Cards swingman of the 1980s.

1961 Dana Kiecker
1963 Larry Arndt
1963 Paul O’Neill

Effective hitter and outfielder for the Reds and Yankees. I once saw him walking a mall in Kansas City one day when the Yankees were in town. He was intimidating looking.

1963 Joel McKeon
1964 Rich Rowland
1968 David Hulse
1969 Les Norman
1969 Huck Flener
1974 Shannon Stewart
1979 Josh Labandeira
1983 Jay Marshall
1985 Xavier Paul
1986 Erik Cordier
1987 Henry Rodriguez
1987 Andrew Werner
1987 Phil Irwin
1988 Nate Adcock
1988 Conor Mullee
1990 Felix Pena
1992 Jorge Soler
1993 Erick Castillo
1993 Erick Fedde
1996 Aaron Fletcher
1999 Rafael Marchan

OBITUARIES:

1898 Tom Power
1899 Shorty Wetzel

Wetzel wasn’t a major leaguer.  Rather, Corporal Wetzel was an infielder in a number of minor leagues in the east until Bright’s disease took him at 32.  Wetzel was a fine and popular player, but not much of a hitter. However, he was once confused for a George Wetzell, whose death date wasn’t locked down until recently.  (He died in 1902.)  That confusion, however, is what got him in a database that I used to help build these lists – and I don’t feel like removing him.

1916 Art Allison
1926 Otto Hess
1934 John McGraw

I know in New York and to most who have a basic knowledge of baseball history John McGraw is generally beloved as one of the early greats of the game. I would like to present an opposite view.

He needs to be removed from the Hall of Fame, and his plaque melted and turned into something more beneficial to mankind. Like a big ashtray.

1937 George Darby
1944 Bill Knowlton
1951 Joe Williams
1955 Ike Kamp
1956 Jack Lewis
1962 Tink Turner
1962 Max Bishop
1963 Bill Hughes
1969 Russ Wrightstone
1981 Frank McCrea
1986 George Susce
1997 Cal Abrams
1998 Joe Gallagher
1999 Earl Huckleberry
2000 Culley Rikard
2001 Bitsy Mott
2005 Don LeJohn
2008 Roy Wise
2012 Dave Cheadle
2020 George Yankowski
2022 Al Autry
2023 Dave Nicholson

The former Oriole and White Sox outfielder died at 84.

2024 Jose Deleon

Deleon died of cancer at 63.

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1933 Using his inheritance, Tom Yawkey purchases the Boston Red Sox from Robert Quinn. Yawkey’s price? $1.2 million…

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1916 Cleveland sells Chick Gandil (Crook!) to the White Sox for $3500.

1941 The Yankees sold Babe Dahlgren to the Boston Braves.

1967 Atlanta sends Sandy Alomar to Houston to complete the trade that sent Eddie Matthews and Arnold Umbach to the Astros for Dave “Swish” Nicholson and Bob Bruce.

1972 The Phillies send Rick Wise to St. Louis for Steve Carlton.

1975 Cleveland sends Dave Duncan and Alvin McGrew to Baltimore for Boog Powell and Don Hood. Also Cleveland traded Milt Wilcox to the Cubs for Dave LaRoche (and Brock Davis). I remember being disappointed that LaRoche was dealt, but barely remember Wilcox with the Cubs. That’s because he was awful that year.

1979 San Diego signed free agent pitcher Al Fitzmorris. That didn’t workout… Al never got to the mound.

1981 Boston signed free agent pitcher Mark Fidrych. He was done, but what the hey.

1988 Jose Cruz signed a free agent contract with the Yankees.