<— MARCH 15     MARCH 17 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1854 William Aloysius (Blondie) Purcell
1857 Walt Kinzie
1859 Jerry Denny
1862 Leander Franklin (Dan) Abbott
1864 Harry Sage
1865 Grant Briggs
1865 Patsy Donovan
1871 Bill Bernhard
1874 Bill Duggleby
1881 Art Kruger
1888 Ralph Works
1896 Arlas Taylor
1899 Vic Keen
1902 D’Arcy Raymond (Jake) Flowers
1904 Charles Solomon (Buddy) Myer
1906 Lloyd Waner
1906 George Sias
1910 Bob Poser
1912 Hubert Edgar (Bud) Bates
1912 Ed Edelen
1913 Ken O’Dea
1914 Bud Barbee
1918 Vern Olsen
1919 Tom Gorman
1927 Clint Courtney
1930 Hobie Landrith
1932 Don Blasingame
1938 Cal Browning
1943 Rick Reichardt
1944 Rick Renick
1947 Tom Bradley
1953 Rich Puig
1953 Jay Franklin
1954 Dan Duran
1956 Juan Espino
1959 Charles Hudson
1965 Jose Mota
1967 Don Florence
1970 Curt Schmidt
1976 Abraham Nunez
1979 Hee-Seop Choi
1981 Curtis Granderson
1982 Brian Wilson
1983 Stephen Drew
1983 Brandon League
1983 Rusty Ryal

Yep – Rusty isn’t a nickname.

1984 Harvey Garcia
1986 Mickey Storey
1989 Michael Blazek
1989 Andrew Triggs
1991 Cory Spangenberg
1992 Remin Guduan
1993 Jacob Rhame
1994 Kyle Funkhouser
1995 Rowdy Tellez
1999 Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.

OBITUARIES:

1884 Art Croft

Dependable first baseman of the 1870s and early 1880s, playing in the National Association and National League. As good as he was in the field, he struggled at the plate. In 1878, with Indianapolis, he batted all of .158 in 60 games. Left baseball to join a dry goods firm in St. Louis, where he worked for a couple of years until he died of pneumonia.

“Death of Arthur Croft,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 17, 1884: 7.

1896 Kid Madden

Not even 29 years old, the Portland portsider with the boyish looks died of tuberculosis in his Maine hometown.

“Death of ‘Kid’ Madden,” Boston Globe, March 17, 1896: 4.

1899 Egyptian Healy

He was from Cairo, IL, hence the nickname.  He was also called Long John because he was 6′ 2″ and barely 155 pounds soaking wet.  An okay pitcher for a number of years, Healy left baseball to become a police officer and was well regarded in that role.  He died of the scourge of the period, tuberculosis.

“‘Long John’ Healy Dead,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 17, 1899: 10.

1910 Charlie Reipschlager
1924 Bill Harbridge

Harbridge was a catcher, outfielder (and some utility roles) over about a decade of professional play, starting with Hartford in the National Association and ending with Cincinnati’s Outlaw Reds in the Union Association.  In 1895 he was appointed to a position in a customs house where he worked until his death.

“Old Catcher Dies,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 6. 1924: 16.

1927 Jake Wells
1933 Jack Wieneke
1934 Adrian Lynch
1935 Oscar Streit
1939 Sam Dungan
1950 Nub Kleinke
1953 Oscar Jones
1954 George Grantham
1955 Red Booles
1958 Leon Cadore
1959 Ben Shaw
1962 Harry Feldman
1962 Sumpter Clarke
1962 George Orme
1963 Tom Walsh
1965 Ed Roetz
1969 Andy Rush
1969 Nestor Chavez
1969 William Bell
1971 Ralph Birkofer
1971 Joe Fautsch
1972 Pie Traynor
1974 Joe Kohlman
1974 Felton Snow
1978 Moe Franklin
1983 Eudie Napier
1987 Bob Kline
1988 Jigger Statz
1994 Eric Show

Accidental drug overdose while at a drug and alcohol treatment center.  He was still pitching professionally in 1992.

2000 Carlos Velazquez
2005 Dick Radatz
2007 Hubert Glenn
2008 Bob Purkey
2008 Armando Vaizquez
2010 Billy Hoeft
2011 Tom Dunbar
2020 Hank Workman

In 1948, he captained USC’s first collegiate baseball championship coached by Rod Dedeaux.  Signed by the Yankees, Workman got a shot at the end of the 1950 season, but he injured his shoulder and he left baseball soon after.  He went back to law school, got his degree, and worked in both the California Attorney General’s office and later in his own practice.  His grandfather was mayor of Los Angeles in the 1880s.

USC Trojans Baseball Site.

2022 Pete Ward
2022 Ralph Terry

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1961 New York approves a state bond issue to help pay for the construction of Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows (Queens).

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1902 Cleveland signs free agent pitcher Addie Joss.

1934 The White Sox purchase Frenchy Bordagaray from Sacramento.

1976 Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith were granted free agency.

2000 Three Team Trade! Texas sends Lee Stevens to Montreal, Montreal sends Brad Fullmer to Toronto, and Toronto sends David Segui to Texas.

2004 Cincinnati signs amateur free agent pitcher Johnny Cueto.