<— DEC 09     DEC 11 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1852 Frank Bliss

Bliss’s major league baseball life lasted two games in June, 1878 with the Milwaukee Grays of the National League.  For more, you’ll have to give this a read.

1854 Dick Phelan
1862 Bob Black
1866 Frank Shugart
1866 John Sowders
1868 Neil Stynes
1879 Charlie Shields
1880 Robert Albert (Pat) Newnam
1882 Edmund Joseph (Cotton) Minahan
1883 Jim Stephens
1883 Art Griggs
1883 George Henry (Jerry) Upp
1887 Jim Baskette
1888 Ed Kelly
1888 Stan Gray
1889 Grover Baichley
1889 Jimmy Johnston
1889 Troy Puckett
1892 Bob Scott
1894 James Christopher (Ike) Caveney
1896 Herrick Smith (Spoke) Emery
1897 Arthur Joseph (Jocko) Conlon
1897 Tim Griesenbeck
1898 Cliff Carter
1899 Verdo Elmore
1899 Herman Charles (Jake) Hehl
1900 Roy Carlyle
1902 Ray Sheppard
1906 Francis Joseph (Bots) Nekola
1908 Earl Cook
1909 Floyd Giebell
1910 Mint Jones
1910 John Pretzel Pezzullo
1917 Andy Tomasic
1922 Gordie Mueller
1926 Leo Cristante
1928 Jim Carter
1931 Rudy Hernandez
1931 Bob Roselli
1932 Ed Donnelly
1936 Jack Feller
1936 Howard Rodney (Doc) Edwards
1939 Bob Priddy
1940 Weldon Bowlin
1943 Dalton Jones
1944 Steve Renko

I was familiar with Renko the pitcher as a kid – he’d been on the Expos and made a visit to the Cubs and Red Sox – and then I went to college at the University of Kansas. Renko had played basketball and football there, too – he was a QB on a bowl team and had played with Gale Sayers. His son (Steve, Jr.) was a pitcher at KU when I got there and on days the son would pitch (and sometimes when he wasn’t) Mr. Renko would sit off to the side of the bleacher seats behind home plate – usually by himself. He never really said anything you’d hear; though I remember seeing him chuckle when fans from Mizzou or K-State would heckle his kid some.

That said, he was a nice man. Generally us college broadcast kids would leave him alone, but if we saw him we’d all say hello while climbing the stairs to the broadcast booth and he’d occasionally chew the fat with us. In retrospect, we probably should have tried to chat him up more often. Anyway – when his son graduated, we’d never see him around Hoglund-Maupin Stadium (as it was known then) and it made scanning the stands during games a little less fun.

1946 Bobby Fenwick
1947 Ted Martinez
1956 Darrell Woodard
1960 Paul Assenmacher
1960 Jeff Bettendorf
1963 Rick Wrona
1963 Luis Polonia
1963 Doug Henry
1963 Gil Reyes
1966 Norberto Martin
1966 Mel Rojas
1969 Pat Ahearne
1969 Jon Zuber
1975 Joe Mays
1977 Dan Wheeler
1981 Victor Diaz
1983 Brandon Jones
1984 Gregorio Petit
1986 Pedro Florimon
1986 Matt Clark
1990 Wil Myers
1990 Austin Wynns
1992 Carlos Rodon
1992 Dillon Thomas
1993 Christin Stewart
1994 Nester Cortes, Jr.
1994 Sheldon Neuse
1995 Tyler Cropley
1996 Emmanuel De Jesus
1996 Adrian Martinez
1999 Mason Black
2001 Coby Mayo

OBITUARIES:

1908 Wild Bill Widner

Diabetes took Widner, a Cincinnati area native, at just 41.  From what I have read, Wild Bill packed a lot of life in those 41 years, though.

“Wild Bill Widner,” Cincinnati Enquirer, December 11, 1908: 4.

1918 Lester Dole

Dole had completed nearly 40 years as an athletic instructor at St. Paul’s School in Concord when he passed.  Apparently, he had ties to Yale (he grew up and played baseball in New Haven); many of his students were outfitted with sporting goods from his father’s store and the best of these athletes – especially rowers – found their way to Yale.

“Lester C. Dole,” Norwich Bulletin, December 12, 1918: 1.

“Yale Oarsmen To Be Called Out Next Week,” Hartford Courant, December 30, 1918: 12.

1919 Tom Colcolough

Colcolough was working as a welder when felled by a massive heart attack.

1931 Tex Covington

According to his Texas Death Certificate, the doctor (who didn’t see him immediately before he died) suggested William Wilkes Covington died of a heart attack at his home in Denison, Texas. The former Tiger pitcher (1911-1912) had been managing a team in McAllen during the 1931 season, but was at his farm when he passed to the next league.

“Albers Whips McAllen Team Sans Trouble,” McAllen Daily Press, April 29, 1931: 2.

1937 Joe Battin

Battin had a fifteen year career and at one time may have had the highest salary in baseball at $700 a month. (For reference, Juan Soto’s new contract will pay Soto $700 every seven minutes.) His claim to fame, however, may have been finding a young Connie Mack and suggesting that Washington give the beanpole catcher a tryout.

“Akronite Who Gave Mack His Start Dies,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 11, 1937: 4C.

1943 Jules Thomas

One of the things that fascinates me about Negro League baseball is that a bunch of the guys who played in the various leagues available to persons of color would take their winters and head to large hotels in Florida where they could get a job AND play baseball. The one picture of Thomas you see (on FindAGrave and his Baseball-Reference profile) shows Thomas as a member of the Breakers, which is a very posh and famous hotel in West Palm Beach, FL. Thomas must have been an interesting man. When he registered for the draft for World War I, his listed employment wasn’t that of a baseball player, but as a theatrical performer.

1946 Walter Johnson

It was a brain tumor that forced the Big Train to stop at his final station.

1946 Walter Moser

While looking for Moser’s obituary, I found a cool reprinted newspaper photo of the 1908 Lancaster Red Roses baseball team which featured Moser and Snake Deal. [Daily Intelligencer (Lancaster, PA), May 1, 1946: 17.] Deal is at the top left; Moser is on the bottom row, fourth from the right.

Walter Frederick Moser’s post-baseball career was spent with the Gulf Refining Company of Philadelphia, where he superintendent of motor vehicles. He married Arlene Wardell and adopted her three children, all of whom were left behind when Moser passed to the next league. According to his PA Death Certificate, Moser suffered from emphysema when he died of a massive heart attack.

“Walter F. Moser,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 12, 1946: 17.

1953 Harry Armbruster
1957 Hal Kleine
1958 Cozy Dolan
1959 Joe Harris
1961 Bert Maxwell
1963 Carl Fischer
1966 Emanuel Sampson
1969 Jack Tobin
1969 Mike Cunningham
1970 Marshall Renfroe

The Giants pitcher (briefly, in 1959) was in his stalled pickup truck in Pensacola on November 23, 1970 when a large fuel truck lost control and struck his vehicle just before ricocheting through a guard rail and falling into the bay.  Eddie Brown saw what happened and tried to save Renfroe, who was on fire when he walked out of his truck.  Brown got the fire out, but Renfroe would not survive, passing away on December 10.

Barker, Eddie. Pensacola News Journal, December 11, 1970: 1D.

1970 Johnny Mostil
1973 Joe Riggert
1976 Danny Thompson

Thompson fought leukemia for nearly four years before it got him…  Near the end he had an operation on his spleen, but complications from that surgery contributed to the shortstop’s death.

Richman, Milton. “Thompson always gave best he could,” Kenosha News, December 13, 1976: 29.

1976 Luis Tiant, Sr.
1976 Vic Keen
1980 Rosy Ryan
1981 Bob Joyce
1981 Freddy Leach
1982 Charlie Wheatley
1987 Whitey Moore
1987 Ollie West
1991 Ed Murphy
1992 Babe Phelps
2000 Riley Stewart
2000 Willard Nixon
2002 Mike Kosman
2002 Earl Henry
2002 Homer Spragins
2003 Don Wheeler
2008 Sal Yvars
2013 Pete Naton
2013 Don Lund

The former Dodger and Tiger (and Michigan alum) was a former first round pick of the Chicago Bears, too – but chose baseball over football.  He signed his Dodgers MLB contract on the same day as Jackie Robinson.  Lund died of natural causes…

Allen, Jeremy. “Michigan, Detroit Tigers legend Don Lund dies in Ann Arbor home at age 90,” Mlive.com (https://www.mlive.com/business/ann-arbor/2013/12/michigan_detroit_tigers_legend.html), accessed December 10, 2020.

1920 Billy DeMars
2024 Rocky Colavito

He died at home in Bernville, Pennsylvania at 91.

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1918 John Heydler is named president of the National League, again. He had briefly served after Harry Pulliam died in 1909.

1919 The National League bans the spitball, though it allows for a grandfather clause. This would be adopted by the American League the next year.

1972 The American League votes to adopt the Designated Hitter on a three year trial.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1897 Washington sends Gene DeMontreville, Dan McGann, and Doc McJames to the Orioles for Doc Amole, Jack Doyle, and Heinie Reitz.

1923 Philadelphia spends $20,000 wisely, purchasing Max Bishop from Baltimore.

1935 Detroit purchases Al Simmons from the White Sox for $75,000 – and Boston sends two players and $150,000 to the Athletics for Jimmie Foxx and Johnny Marcum.

1969 Minnesota sends Dean Chance, Bob Miller, Graig Nettles and Ted Uhlander to the Indians for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams.

1971 New York sends Nolan Ryan, Leroy Stanton, Frank Estrada and Don Rose to the Angels for Jim Fregosi.

1973 Baltimore signs amateur free agent pitcher Dennis Martinez.

1975 Philadelphia sends Dick Ruthven, Alan Bannister, and Roy Thomas to the White Sox for Jim Kaat and Mike Buskey.

1976 Pittsburgh sends Richie Zisk and Silvio Martinez to the White Sox for Terry Forster and Rich Gossage.

1980 California sends Carney Lansford, Mark Clear and Rick Miller to the Red Sox for Rick Burleson and Butch Hobson.

1981 San Diego sends Ozzie Smith and Steve Mura to the Cardinals for Sixto Lezcano and Garry Templeton (and each later swapped a player in February to complete the deal).

1984 Montreal sent Gary Carter to the Mets for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans.

1985 St. Louis sends Joaquin Andujar to the Athletics for Tim Conroy and Mike Heath.

Also, the White Sox drafted Bobby Bonilla in the Rule 5 Draft.