<— AUG 15     AUG 17 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1854 Samuel H. (Doc) Landis
1855 Warren William (Hick) Carpenter
1865 Ed Mayer
1870 Willie Clark
1872 Gene Steere
1884 Joe Hovlik
1886 Hub Northen
1887 Hank Robinson
1890 Gifford McDonald
1890 Thurman Jennings
1890 William Chester (Baby Doll) Jacobson
1892 Bill Keen
1893 Cy Wright
1895 Fred Bailey
1897 Bob Fothergill
1899 Willie Ware
1900 George Scales
1900 Billy Rhiel
1901 Mahlon Higbee
1902 Zearlee Maxwell
1903 Eddie Wall
1904 Jimmy Johnson
1908 Andy Bednar
1910 Fermin Valdes
1910 Norman Cross
1911 Herman Besse
1913 Ernest Edward (Tiny) Bonham
1913 Lew Carpenter
1914 Jesse Warren
1916 Brennan King
1922 Gene Woodling
1923 Sherwood Brewer
1925 Willie Jones
1929 Curt Roberts
1931 Don Rudolph
1938 Robert Leroy (Buck) Rodgers
1941 Gene Brabender
1941 Larry Loughlin
1941 Bill Edgerton
1945 Jan Dukes
1948 Mike Jorgensen
1952 Al Holland
1953 Nick Leyva
1958 Jim Maler
1960 Bill Mooneyham
1961 Greg Jelks
1961 Donnie Scott
1964 Rick Reed
1965 Xavier Hernandez
1966 Terry Shumpert
1966 Steve Foster
1967 Bret Barberie
1970 Quinton McCracken
1973 Damian Jackson
1974 John Snyder
1974 Roger Cedeno
1975 Michael Coleman
1975 Jin Ho Cho
1978 Brian Gordon
1980 Ben Kozlowski
1980 Ryan Hanigan
1982 Freddy Sandoval
1985 Daric Barton
1986 Yu Darvish
1986 Martin Maldonado
1988 J. C. Ramirez
1988 Justin Grimm
1990 Adrian Sanchez
1992 Delino DeShields
1992 Connor Joe
1996 Tyler Stephenson
1996 Peter Solomon
1997 Dominic Canzone
1998 Michael Toglia
1998 Akil Baddoo

OBITUARIES:

1906 Tom Carey

Carey served during the Great War for Slavery, he was a member of Company C of the 17th New York Infantry. Based on his listed birthdate (November 2, 1846), he enlisted before turning 18 as the 17th New York was absorbed into other forces before the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

As a professional player, Carey was an infielder for Keokuk in 1871, Baltimore in 1872 and 1873, the Mutuals of New York in 1874, the Hartfords of Brooklyn from 1875 to 1877, Providence in 1878, and the Cleveland Blues in 1879. He hit .270 with marginal power; he was league average in terms of his error rate and a little less mobile than his peers – especially at shortstop.

A successful player into his mid-thirties, Carey also managed and umpired major league games. He traveled west with major leaguers on a western winter tour and liked San Francisco so much that he stayed and joined an amateur squad called the Knickerbockers. Carey’s body and eyesight failed him, and he fell upon hard times, dying in a local hospital virtually penniless.

Carey’s remains lie in San Francisco’s National Cemetery, a military headstone noting his role with the US Army.

A note included on his FindaGrave.com profile suggests that Carey was born J. J. Norton – and if that’s true, we baseball researchers have some more digging to do.

“Famous Player in Bread Line,” San Francisco Call, May 24, 1906: 6.
“Tom Carey, Famous Veteran Player is Dead,” San Francisco Bulletin, August 21, 1906: 9.

1919 Ed McKean
1923 Bill Day
1923 Jim Scoggins
1927 Jerry Denny
1943 Beals Becker
1944 Tom Sullivan
1946 Billy Rhiel
1948 Babe Ruth

Throat cancer – and just 53 years old.

1953 Ty Tyson
1953 Wyman Smith
1970 Kurt Krieger
1971 Walter Mueller
1972 Fred Bailey
1976 George Aiton
1977 Joe Kelly
1977 Charlie Barnabe
1977 Al Javery
1983 Earl Averill
1984 Tommie Aaron
1984 Fred Hahn
1985 Dick Drott
1993 Bama Rowell
2002 John Roseboro
2007 Chico Garcia
2010 Bobby Thomson

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1920 Maybe not, this time. Carl Mays’ rising fastball (he threw underhanded) catches Ray Chapman in the head, fracturing his skull. Chapman, the best shortstop of his day, died the next morning.

The Indians would wear black arm bands in his memory, then went on to win the AL pennant during the most chaotic of season endings (the Black Sox were kicked out with a week or so to go – costing them a shot at repeating; the Yankees were also in the running).

As for Mays, he already had a reputation for throwing inside and he didn’t usually get along with his teammates in New York. He was eventually sold to the Reds. All things considered, Mays was a really good pitcher.  When his career was over, Mays had a 207-126 record and his ERA was 2.92 despite spending so much time in a heaving batting era of baseball.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1911 Cleveland releases Cy Young. The end includes 511 career wins and a future award naming. Wire stories from that time suggested that Young wasn’t convinced he was done – but baseball teams were no longer interested in a heavyset 45 year old legend.

“‘Old Cy’ Young Released,” Champaign Daily Gazette, 16 August 1911: 6.

Young’s release was HUGE front page news in the Boston Globe, where Denton T. had many of his finest seasons.

1963 Baltimore signs amateur free agent pitcher Jim Palmer. As I write this (2020), Mr. Palmer just had knee replacement surgery. Heal fast, sir.

1984 Cincinnati sent Tom Lawless to the Expos for their new manager, Pete Rose.

1999 The Mets signed amateur free agent infielder Jose Reyes.

2000 The Angels plucked David Eckstein off the waiver wire – the best thing that could happen to this plucky infield prospect.