<— NOV 24 NOV 26 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1846 Edward Beavan
1848 Sam Wright
1858 Harry McCaffery
1859 Jimmy Woulfe
1865 Elmer Ellsworth (Bert) Cunningham
1876 Lou Castro
1880 Frank Corridon
1882 Art Brouthers
1889 Dick Crutcher
1889 Joe Vernon
1893 Gene Bailey
1895 Frank Spruiell (Jakie) May
1896 Clint Thomas
1900 Henry Harris
1903 Jim Weaver
1914 Gene Handley
1914 Buddy Allen
1914 Januel Tarrant
1914 Joe DiMaggio
1915 Bob Finley
1916 Oscar Georgy
1916 Duke Cleveland
1917 Len Perme
1922 Ben Wade
1922 John Wells
1923 Archie Wilson
1928 Ray Narleski
1931 John Pyecha
1933 Jim Waugh
1933 Lazaro Ramon Gonzalez (Cholly) Naranjo
1935 Jim Duffalo
1940 Dennis Aust
1941 Mike Ryan
1942 Bobby Etheridge
1945 Wayne Redmond
1945 Rafael Batista
1946 Wenty Ford
1946 Don Leshnock
1951 Russell Earl (Bucky) Dent
1956 Dave Baker
1957 Tony Brewer
1957 Chico Walker
1964 Mark Davis
1965 Randy Veres
1966 Mark Whiten
1968 John Johnstone
1968 Shingo Takatsu
1971 Tavo Alvarez
1972 Ramon Fermin
1973 Octavio Dotel
1978 Zach McClellan
1978 Joe Borchard
1979 Matt Tupman
1980 Nick Swisher
1987 Grant Dayton
1987 Nate Karns
1988 Jimmy Paredes
1993 Sandy Baez
1995 Justin Lawrence
1994 Seranthony Dominguez
1995 Trevor Stephan
1997 Estevan Florial
1998 Alec Burleson
1999 Cole Winn

OBITUARIES:

1903 George Wetzell

Also spelled Wetzel (PA Death Certificate) – his FindaGrave.com page says his middle name is Bernard… He was a wool sorter when he passed away of whatever it was that gave him gastritis.

George B. Wetzel (or Wetzell) was born to John F. and Dorothea Mallon Wetzel around 1865, the third of five children. John was a French import and worked as a whipmaker. Dorothea was the daughter of Irish immigrants – and she had to raise four of the five kids virtually by herself as John died when most of the kids were still young. (She died in a flash – literally. Her dress caught fire from a gas stove; in a panic she fell and likely had a heart attack from the entirety of the event.) By fifteen, Wetzel was already working in a cloth mill. When he died, he left behind his mother and siblings; he never married.

Wetzel made two starts for Baltimore in 1885 – lost ’em both. In the first, the New York Times said his name was Swival in the box score – and “swival” is what the heads of New York batters did – six walks and four wild pitches. In his second start, he was really poor – eighteen hits allowed, six wild pitches, three walks, two balks, and hitting two batters. I found another game he pitched, an exhibition against Washington where he lost, 4 – 1. Wetzel was not of major league quality as a pitcher.

Notes:

Baseball-Reference.com
FindAGrave.com
PA Death Certificates (George/Dorothea)

“On the Diamond Field,” New York Times, August 27, 1885: 3.
“Base Ball,” Baltimore Sun, August 27, 1885: 4.
“Base Ball,” Baltimore Sun, September 3, 1885: 4.
“On the Diamond,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 3, 5.
Obit, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 27, 1903: 7.

1918 Patrick Larkins
1919 Grover Gilmore
1932 Charlie Carr
1937 Ben Conroy
1944 Kenesaw Landis
1945 Ham Patterson
1963 Rube Parnham
1974 Frank Wilson
1974 Herbert (Duke) Brett
1974 Eddie Dent
1975 Red Sheridan
1975 Cecil Coombs
1976 John Andre
1977 Andy Childs
1979 Elbert Andrews
1980 Art Jones
1981 Eddie Berry
1984 Ival Goodman
1985 Ray Jablonski
1993 Burgess Whitehead
2000 Hugh Alexander
2004 Bob Romby
2005 Mal Mallette
2008 Randy Gumpert
2013 Lou Brissie
2017 Cal Irvin
2024 Gail Henley

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT!!!

1941 Cleveland gives the managerial reins to Lou Boudreau, the team’s shortstop. Boudreau is all of 24, like Fred Clarke and Jim McCormick before him, making him one of the youngest player-managers ever. No manager since 1901 has been as young as Boudreau; only McCormick (23) was younger.

2002 Speaking of young hires… The Red Sox hire Theo Epstein, just 28, to be the General Manager. Epstein would solve two curses: Boston and Chicago – and seems likely to get a Hall of Fame nod.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1969 California sends Pedro Borbon, Jim McGlothen, and Vern Geishert to the Reds for Alex Johnson and Chico Ruiz.

1991 St. Louis trades Ken Hill to the Expos for Andres Galarraga.

2003 The Marlins send Derrek Lee to the Cubs for Hee-Seop Choi and Mike Nannini.

2005 Philadelphia sends Jim Thome to the White Sox for Aaron Rowand, Daniel Haigwood, and (later) Gio Gonzalez.