BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1858 Nick Scharf
1858 George Bignell
1860 Frank Butler
1863 Charlie Parsons
1865 Herman Pitz
1868 Tony Madigan
1873 Harry Davis
1878 Larry Hoffman
1881 Larry McLean
1882 Simon Nicholls
1887 Bert Brenner
1887 Ad Brennan
1894 Bill Haeffner
1894 Wilbur Fisher
1894 Carl Stimson
1897 Hank Hulvey
1897 Pat Murray
1897 Ed Sherling
1903 Hod Kibbie
1904 Marty Karow
1910 Wes Livengood
1914 Andy Gilbert
1914 Ben Huffman
1916 Johnny Hopp
1917 Leo Wells
1918 Al Lyons
1920 Eddie Kazak
1925 Windy McCall
1928 Billy Harrell
1940 Joe Torre
1944 Rudy May
1954 Harry Spilman
1956 Butch Edge
1956 Razor Shines
1957 Chris Smith
1963 Mike Greenwell
1968 Rolando Arrojo
1973 Antone Williamson
1975 Torii Hunter
1977 Glenn Williams
1978 Ben Sheets
1982 Josh Banks
1984 Allen Craig
1985 Ramiro Pena
1987 Conor Gillaspie
1988 Brett Nicholas
1989 Derek Dietrich
1991 Eugenio Suarez
1992 Dinelson Lamet
1993 Robert Gsellman
1994 Ryan Helsley
1996 Jaime Barria
OBITUARIES:
1908 John Brown
1915 Larry McKeon
“From fame, in the days when baseball was emerging into the great popularity it now holds, to death in a mission ward of the city hospital, an object of charity, was the path trod by Lawrence (Larry) McKeon, once the “king” of pitchers in the old-time National League.”
“Former Ball Pitcher Dies in Mission Ward,” Indianapolis News, July 19, 1915: 4.
Born in 1866 in New York City, he latched on to pitch with Indianapolis when it was an independent minor league team in 1883 – which means he was still a teen when he became the ace of the Indianapolis club that had been invited to join the American Association. Going 18 – 41 in 1884 with a tail chasing team (the rest of the pitchers won but nine games), McKeon appeared in 61 of the team’s 110 games – completing 59 of 60 starts. The American Association contracted back to eight teams in 1885 – in time McKeon landed in Cincinnati where he had a 20 – 12 season. By 1890, his career was over – a wasted arm from overuse and a wasted body thanks to a serious drinking problem. He’d spend much of the 1890s getting arrested while on benders. By 1899 he was in a poor house. His body disintegrated for the next two decades – alcoholism and tuberculosis finishing the job.
1917 Sparrow Morton
1919 Jim Hart
1928 Ed Killian
1932 Howard Freigau
1935 Tom Ryder
1937 Fred Jacklitsch
1945 Frank Butler
1946 James Lehan
1948 Chick Hartley
1950 Art LaVigne
1951 Joe Klugmann
1956 Hank Perry
1960 Terry Turner
1961 Hod Eller
1962 Carl Holling
1966 Roy Moran
1975 Ted Wingfield
1982 Andy Anderson
1982 Pete Layden
1989 Donnie Moore
1993 Ted Sadowski
1999 Woody Davis
2001 Barry Shetrone
2002 Del Wilber
2007 Orlando McFarlane
2017 John Rheinecker
YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!
1927 Ty Cobb doubles for his 4,000th hit. By now, 40, he was semi-regular for the Athletics…
1948 Pat Seerey homers in the 11th inning, his fourth of the game, to give the White Sox a 12 – 11 win over the Athletics. Athletic pitchers gave up 24 hits and still nearly won…
1970 Willie Mays tallies his 3,000th hit against the Expos.
1988 Seattle’s Gene Walter only pitches 2.1 innings, but commits four balks. You may remember that the balk rule was modified some that year – seven times a pitcher has allowed four balks, but four of them came in 1988. Walter’s was the shortest amount of time.
1999 David Cone, despite having to sit through a 45 minute rain delay, throws a perfect game to beat the Expos, 6 – 0. It was Yogi Berra day and Don Larsen threw out the first pitch.
2000 Johnny Damon has four doubles among five hits – but wasn’t the only one who knocked four two-baggers that day. Shannon Stewart had four for Toronto, too.
2001 Jeff Bagwell hits for the cycle as Houston clocks St. Louis, 17 – 11.
2002 Ouch! Baltimore’s Melvin Mora is hit by a pitch three times in a game against Toronto.
TRANSACTION WIRE:
1939 Brooklyn sends $35,000, Red Evans and Art Parks to the Red Sox for the rights to Pee Wee Reese. Legend has it that Joe Cronin sent a bad scouting report to Boston management, in part, to keep his own job…
1951 Boston sends $100,000, Matt Batts, Jim Suchecki, and later Jim McDonald to the Browns for catcher Les Moss. Moss hit .198 for the Red Sox and was back with St. Louis a year later…
1984 New York sends Roy Smalley, Jr. to the White Sox for Doug Drabek and Kevin Hickey.
1989 Los Angeles sends Mariano Duncan and Tim Leary to Cincinnati for Kal Daniels and Lenny Harris.
1993 Atlanta acquires Fred McGriff from San Diego for three guys and a plate of spaghetti… (Not really – but the three guys were Vince Moore, Donnie Elliott, and Melvin Nieves.)
2004 Montreal sends Carl Everett to the White Sox for Gary Majewski and Jon Rauch.
Mighty Casey Baseball 