<— SEP 22     SEP 24 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1847 John Day
1872 Grant (Home Run) Johnson

Johnson never played in a modern Negro League, per se, but his reputation as a wonderful player and tremendous hitter has been documented to a pretty good extent in recent years.

1874 Lee DeMontreville
1874 Frank McManus
1880 Charles F.(Heinie) Wagner
1880 Cecil Fleming (Cy) Neighbors
1886 Bob Higgins
1886 Joe Kelly
1887 Harold Winthrop (Doc) Martin
1889 Walter (Biff) Schaller
1895 Johnny Mokan
1897 Walt Irwin
1898 George Murray
1898 Horace Milton (Hod) Lisenbee
1900 Walter Cleveland (Lefty) Stewart
1906 Joe Spruill
1909 Al Mahon
1913 Pete Sivess
1914 Mack Stewart
1917 Leovigildo Xiques
1919 Cecil Cole
1920 Marino Pieretti
1922 Lino Donoso
1923 Larry Kimbrough
1924 Dino Restelli
1942 William Frederick (Woody) Woodward
1942 Jim Rooker
1943 Winston Llenas
1943 Marcelino Lopez
1943 Oscar Zamora
1952 Jim Morrison
1952 Dennis Lamp
1952 Pat Scanlon
1953 Brian Asselstine
1957 Tony Fossas
1959 Jim Winn
1963 Terry McGriff
1966 Pete Harnisch
1968 Rod Bolton
1969 Jeff Cirillo
1971 Willie Greene
1972 Hernando Petrocelli (Pep) Harris
1974 Eric Knott
1975 Dave Elder
1977 Brent Abernathy
1980 Mike Gosling
1983 Miguel Gonzalez
1984 Matt Kemp
1985 Joba Chamberlain
1986 Chris Volstad
1987 Gonzalez Germen
1987 Xavier Scruggs
1988 Jedd Gyorko
1989 Trevor May
1996 Easton Lucas

OBITUARIES:

1896 John Crowley

The former Phillies catcher who got his shot in 1884 died of tuberculosis in Lawrence, Massachusetts – where he was also born – just 34 years old.

“John A. Crowley Dead,” Boston Globe, September 23, 1896: 1.

1901 Doc McJames

Twice he won 20 games for Brooklyn, but McJames was a medical school grad and his father left him a practice in Charleston, SC when he died.  So, McJames retired in 1900.  Ned Hanlon convinced McJames to come back for the 1901 season – but he wasn’t in full pitching shape and he never found his form.  So, Hanlon released him.  A couple of weeks before he died, he was in a horrible accident, he broke a leg and had other injuries when he was thrown from his carriage, but nobody thought the good doctor would die.  Dr. James McJames wasn’t going to be that lucky.

“Dr. Jimmy McJames Dies Suddenly in a Charleston Hospital,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 24, 1901: 15.

1907 Charlie Buffinton

Buffinton suffered from gall stones for long periods of his life.  He was scheduled for surgery, but on the day before he was to have that surgery he felt great and wasn’t sure he wanted to go through with it.  Sure enough, he had his worst gall stone attack – and coupled with other artery and heart value issues – it triggered enough internal stress to cause a heart attack which killed him.

MA Death Records
“Sudden Summons,” Daily Globe (Fall River, MA), September 23, 1907: 5.

1915 Brickyard Kennedy
1916 Monk Cline
1920 Doc Curley
1922 Butch Rementer
1922 Henry Jones
1924 Dan McFarlan

In 1913 McFarlan was playing for a team in Butte, MT when he was struck in the head by a pitch.  The pitch didn’t kill him, but it did leave him paralyzed on the left side of his body – an invalid for the rest of his days.  Eleven years later, people believe that his condition contributed to his death in Louisville.

“Ex-Big League Hurler Dies at Hospital Here,” Louisville Courier-Journal, September 24, 1924: 1.

1932 Oliver Brown
1941 Tom Morrissey
1942 Tom Thomas
1948 Rich Durning
1951 Dale Gear
1954 John Wilson
1955 McKinley Brewer
1955 Gary Fortune
1958 Bill Mundy
1960 Paul Hinson
1961 Ted Jourdan
1962 Tom Sullivan
1962 Ted Stockard
1964 Cy Barger
1965 Fred Hobgood
1967 Mose Offutt
1973 Jesse Fowler
1982 Lefty Mills
1989 Vail Jewell
2000 Aurelio Rodriguez
2000 Joe Taylor
2010 Bob Shaw
2011 Danny Litwhiler
2012 Roberto Rodriguez
2023 Danny Morris

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1908 Fred Merkle doesn’t touch second base on what should have been Al Bridwell’s game winning single to center, and is forced out while fans take over the field. The game ends in a tie that has to be replayed when the Cubs and Giants finish the season in a tie. And it costs the Giants the pennant – and results in a play and nickname that is forever linked to Merkle.

1978 Lyman Bostock is shot by the estranged husband of a young woman who is also in the back seat of the car while driving in Gary, Indiana. Leonard Smith was trying to kill his wife, Barbara, and hit Bostock in the head instead.  Bostock died at the hospital the next day.

1988 With a pair of stolen bases against the Brewers, Oakland’s Jose Canseco creates the 40/40 club.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1908 The White Sox purchase catcher Ossee Schreckongost from Philadelphia.

1953 St. Louis purchases Memo Luna from San Diego of the PCL for $75,000.

1986 Texas signs free agent amateur pitcher Wilson Alvarez.