<— JULY 07     JULY 09 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1855 Lester Dole

Connecticut native who appeared in one MLB game in 1875 for New Haven – he had two hits in four trips.  I see where he was playing amateur ball as late as 1885.  According to his obit, he was the athletic instructor for the prestigious St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH for forty years – he likely had a role in the earliest hockey games played in the US – and would have been an instructor to some of America’s most influential individuals and families.

1859 Hank O’Day

Hall of Fame umpire… But had a much longer baseball life.

1867 Ed Pabst
1868 Harry Gilbert
1870 Ira Davis
1872 Frank Sexton
1874 Jay Parker
1874 Johnny Siegle
1875 Herbert Theodore (Buttons) Briggs
1882 Oscar Westerberg
1883 Howard Elbert (Ducky) Holmes
1885 Joe Crisp
1887 George Hunter
1887 Bill Hunter
1887 Jim Bluejacket
1889 John Martina
1890 Harold Bell (Rowdy) Elliott
1890 Wally Mayer
1890 Ivey Wingo
1890 Clarence Dickson (Lefty) Russell
1891 Clyde Barfoot
1893 Bill Brown
1893 Dan Woodman
1896 Roy Crumpler
1901 Gomer Russell (Tex) Wilson
1903 Clint Brown
1912 Francis James (Salty) Parker
1912 Lefty Turner
1914 George Fallon
1917 Allen Reed
1919 Charlie Gilbert
1926 Gene Patton
1929 John Powers
1929 Hector Lopez
1930 Eddie Phillips
1930 Glen Gorbous
1931 Zach Monroe
1933 Al Spangler
1938 Bill Spanswick
1939 Ed Keegan
1940 Darrell G. (Bucky) Brandon
1941 Ken Sanders
1941 Gary Kroll
1943 George Culver
1945 Jim Ollom
1948 Lerrin LaGrow
1951 Alan Ashby
1956 Terry Puhl
1960 Mike Ramsey
1964 Ken Patterson
1964 Bob Kipper
1965 Jerome Walton
1965 Chuck Malone
1968 Garland Kiser
1969 Ernie Young
1969 Bobby Ayala
1969 Rosario Rodriguez
1974 Danny Ardoin
1975 David Moraga
1977 Craig House
1982 Renyel Pinto
1983 John Bowker
1984 Kevin Russo
1986 Jaime Garcia
1987 Josh Harrison
1987 Christian Friedrich
1987 Mason Tobin
1992 Mike Gerber
1993 Caleb Frare
1994 Stephen Gonsalves
1994 Patrick Weigel
1995 Sam Long
1996 Kyle Nelson
1997 Tommy Romero
1999 Reid Detmers

OBITUARIES:

1887 Frank McIntyre
1895 Steve King

Didn’t find much about his death in the papers or logs – per his FindaGrave.com reference, he died of heart disease at about 51 years old and is buried near his parents.  In fact, just a few months before King passed, his father celebrated his 103rd birthday on his way to 106.

“Personal News,” Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, May 26, 1895: 5.

1924 Eddie Holtz

It looks like Edward Holtz played under the name Eddie Holt – at last per his death story in the St. Louis Argus.  Holt was just nine days shy of his 25th birthday when he died after a long bout of pneumonia.  To his credit, the young (and not very tall) infielder improved his batting average each year he played in the top level Negro Leagues, batting .175 with the St. Louis Giants in 1920 and climbing to .364 in the early part of 1924 with the St. Louis Stars.  Holt must have been a magnificent fielder, given that he was able to hold his job despite struggling at the plate for two years.

Holt was one of a number of Negro League players who spent his winters working in South Florida hotels and playing in baseball games there to entertain the patrons of those hotels.  Holt worked at the old Royal Poinciana Hotel…

“Palm Beach Baseball Season Opens January 25,” St. Louis Argus, January 25, 1924: 12.
“Eddie Holt, St. Louis Stars Regular Shortstop, Dies at his Home,” St. Louis Argus, July 11, 1924: 7.

1929 Joe Kappel
1941 Lucky Wright
1941 Jack Wadsworth
1954 Wiley Taylor
1958 Bill McAfee
1960 Joe Krakauskas
1963 Roy Sanders
1966 George Branigan
1968 Nap Shea
1969 Red Rolfe
1969 Bill Carrigan
1970 Jimmy Grant
1980 Wenty Ford
1981 Bill Hallahan
1981 Bradford Bennett
1984 Ralph Coles
1986 Skeeter Webb
1986 Johnny Cooney
1988 Frank Ellerbe
1993 Eddie Dixon
1996 Jim Busby
1996 Jim Baumer
2010 Clint Hartung
2013 Dick Gray
2014 John Hoover
2014 Tom Veryzer
2016 Turk Lown
2016 Hal Hudson
2019 Paul Schramka

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1912 The Cubs take out the Giants, 7 – 2, ending the 19 game winning streak of pitcher Rube Marquard.

1941 Ted Williams takes Claude Passeau deep with two outs in the ninth to win the All Star Game for the American League – the first time the all star game ended with a game winning hit.

1994 Boston’s John Valentin snares a Marc Newfield liner, steps on second to get the second out, then tags Kevin Mitchell for baseball’s tenth unassisted triple play.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1960 Cincinnati signs amateur free agent hitter Pete Rose.

1972 Detroit signs free agent pitcher John Hiller.

1999 Florida sends reliever Matt Mantai to the Diamondbacks for Brad Penny, Vladimir Nunez and (later) Abraham Nunez.

2008 Oakland sends Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Cubs for Josh Donaldson, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, and Sean Gallagher.