<— AUG 02     AUG 04 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1849 Charlie Snow
1855 Frank Sylvester (Silver) Flint
1870 Richard P. (Stub) Brown
1873 Ed McFarland
1884 Tom Reilly
1885 Samuel Beryl (Doc) Ralston
1886 Al Kaiser
1888 Jay Rogers
1889 Gus Getz
1894 Harry Heilmann
1894 George Hale
1902 Joe Sprinz
1902 Doug Taitt
1905 Joe Cates
1909 George Meyer
1911 Art Evans
1912 Vernon Sprague (Whitey) Wilshere
1914 Elbert Eatmon
1917 Dave Hoskins

I know – Shohei Othani…  The fellas at Seamheads.com have limited data on this guy, but Hoskins had skills.  As a pitcher he went 16 – 11 in 60+ documented appearances and batted .288, but with less power than Shohei, and was very valuable as a hitter (88 RBIs in nearly 600 at bats).

1917 Milo Candini
1920 Vic Johnson
1920 Jim Hegan
1921 Joe Lafata
1927 Dick Welteroth
1928 Cliff Ross
1928 Dick Hyde
1940 Roger Repoz
1952 Dan Meyer
1959 Mike Jeffcoat
1959 Jim Gott
1960 Sid Bream
1962 Mackey Sasser
1964 Kevin Elster
1968 Kevin Morton
1968 Rod Beck
1969 Steve Dixon
1971 Chris Sexton
1972 Wendell Magee
1973 Blake Stein
1975 Roosevelt Brown
1976 Troy Glaus
1977 Justin Lehr
1981 Travis Bowyer
1981 Felix Sanchez
1983 Mark Reynolds
1984 Sergio Escalona
1984 German Duran
1984 Matthew Joyce
1988 Pat McCoy
1989 Roberto Gomez
1992 Bubba Starling
1995 Zac Gallen
1996 Travis Blankenhorn
1996 Alex Bohm
1997 Luis Robert, Jr.
1998 Jared Shuster
1998 Jonathan Arauz
2001 Darell Hernaiz

OBITUARIES:

1918 Mike Lawlor
1934 Charlie Hastings
1940 Willard Hershberger

Suicide. Just 29, Hershberger slit his throat with a razor blade. The Reds had lost both games of a doubleheader on August 2nd and Hershberger was distraught, taking the losses very personally. Manager Bill McKechnie spent hours talking to him, and by the evening he seemed okay – even ate a big meal.

The next day, he didn’t appear at the ballpark – but he answered the phone and told the team he’d eventually get to the ballpark. Gabe Paul, then the traveling secretary for the Reds, asked Sam Cohen, a friend of Hershberger’s to pick him up and when Cohen got there he got a hotel maid to unlock the door. That’s when they found Hersheberger’s lifeless body.

I hadn’t realied this, but Hershberger had some hitting skills…  He didn’t flash much power, but he held a .316 batting average in his three major league seasons.

“Cincinnati Catcher Commits Suicide”, The Morning Call, 04 August 1940, Page 11.

1942 Jack Sutthoff

Reds and Cardinals pitcher; died after a long illness… “Former Redleg Dies,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 4, 1942: 13.

1942 Jack Hayden

Former Athletic player and Louisville manager turned meat distributor died at his home in Haverford, PA. “John F. Hayden,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 4, 1942: 34.

1942 Lyle Bigbee

Brother of Pirates star, Carson Bigbee, Lyle was an Oregon alum.  He played with the Athletics and Pirates briefly after a run in the Pacific Coast League.  Bigbee’s end was self-inflicted – gunshot to the head in his Portland, OR boarding house. – “Lyle Bigbee Suicide,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, August 5, 1942: 16.

1947 Al Tesch

Former Federal League player who once led the American Association with 86 steals in 1914…  Tesch died after a brief illness, according to the New York Daily News.

1947 Vic Willis

Willis suffered a stroke a few days earlier. – “Vic Willis Dies at 71,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, August 4, 1947: 17.

1947 Curtis Harris

Stabbed in his home – and oddly, never reported in the LA Times.

1954 Art Hoelskoetter
1955 Mule Shirley

Southern Association legend… Didn’t hit in a couple of chances with the Washington Senators, but was a popular first baseman in the minors.  Some say he didn’t take the game seriously enough.  I read one story where he left his hotel one night wearing nothing but a black bow tie.  When asked where he was going he replied, “Places.”

1961 Tom Downey
1962 War Sanders
1966 Earl Blackburn
1967 Ed Young
1968 John Jenkins

Missouri native – given a brief look by the White Sox in 1922 – but spent his last three months at a hospital in Columbia, MO.

1976 Homer Ezzell
1980 Bill Hubbell
1981 Jim McLeod
1984 Elmer Smith
1985 Cloy Mattox
1990 Bob Brown
1995 Harry Craft
1996 Wild Bill Wright

You likely never heard of this Negro League star, but he batted .326 with a .493 slugging percentage and was about 35% better than the average hitter of his day (the 1930s and 1940s, though he played in the Mexican Leagues until the mid-1950s).  In 1943, he was credited with winning the Triple Crown – and just missed leading the league in stolen bases, too.  Started as a pitcher but had little control – hence the nickname. Might have to dig into this guy’s story.

2007 Lee Griffeth
2021 Duke Carmel

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1914 Les Nunamaker, Yankees catcher, gets three assists in an inning by throwing out Sam Crawford and Bobby Veach trying to steal, and picking off Hugh High, who was leading too far off first base – all in the seventh inning. (It didn’t matter – Detroit won 4 – 1 anyway.)

Now THAT’S helping your pitcher.

Batchelor, E. A. “New York Cannot Hit Coveleskie,” Detroit Free Press, 04 August 1914, Page 12.

2015 Mike Hessman hits his 433rd minor league homer, passing a mark set 79 years earlier by Buzz Arlett.

2015 Adrian Beltre hits for the cycle – again! Only four players have done this trivial quirk three times – the other three did so more than 80 years earlier.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1899 Baltmore sent Gene Demontreville and Jerry Nops to Brooklyn for Hughie Jennings. That trade lasted all of two days, when all three players were returned to their prior teams. (When is a trade not a trade?)

“A Base Ball Deal Off,” Wilmington Messenger, August 6, 1899: 4.

1960 Detroit sent manager Jimmy Dykes to the Indians for their manager, Joe Gordon.

1967 The Yankees sent Elston Howard to Boston for Pete Magrini and (later) Ron Klimkowski. Howard helped get the Red Sox to the World Series – something Howard had done nine times with New York.

1990 Atlanta sent Dale Murphy to the Phillies for Jeff Parrett (and there were three players named later, including Tommy Greene).

2002 Arizona signed amateur free agent hitter Carlos Gonzalez.