December 25
From BR Bullpen
| Stats of players who were born this day | |
| Stats of players who died on this day | |
| Standings on this day | |
| Permanent link to Today's Entry | |
| Sources | |
| Baseball Library Chronology | |
| Today in Baseball History | |
Events, births and deaths that occurred on December 25.
Events[edit]
- 1856 - Pitcher James Francis (Pud) Galvin, a future Hall of Fame member, is born in St. Louis, Missouri. Galvin will win 364 games in a 15-year career, including two 46-win seasons.
- 1862 - A crowd of 40,000 watches two teams of imprisoned Union Army soldiers play baseball at Hilton Head, South Carolina. Civil War historians are debating the actual size of the crowd.
- 1888 - At the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, on the Pennsylvania State Fair Buildings and Grounds located at Broad Street & Lehigh Avenue in Philadelphia, the Downtowners beat the Uptowners in the first sanctioned indoor baseball game ever played, 6 - 1, before a crowd of 2,000.
- 1922 - On their tour of the Far East, the Herb Hunter All-Americans, with Casey Stengel and Waite Hoyt among their members, beat a team of U.S. servicemen, 12 - 5, in Manila. In other games, the All-Americans are the first team of major leaguers to play a Chinese team, in Shanghai, and also play a Korean all-star team in Seoul, whipping them, 21 - 3. The American all-stars also lost a game in Japan when Zensuke Shimada hit an out-of-the-park home run against Hoyt and the Mita Club defeated the All-Americans, 9 - 3. Michimaro Ono got the win. It is the first loss by a team of touring U.S professionals in Japan.
- 1927 - Nellie Fox, who will lead the American League in hits four times, win three Gold Gloves, play in 12 All-Star Games, and become American League MVP for the 1959 Chicago White Sox, is born in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania. It will not be until 1997, 23 years after his death, that he will finally be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
- 1940 - South Side Park, the first home of the Chicago White Sox, burns down.
- 1957 - With the backing of United States Representatives Kenneth Keating and Emanuel Celler, the minor league executives urge that Major League Baseball compensate them for infringement on their territorial rights.
- 1958 - Rickey Henderson is born in Chicago, Illinois. Henderson will break into the major leagues with the Oakland Athletics in 1979, and will go on to become one of the greatest leadoff men and the most prolific base stealer in history before being elected to the Hall of Fame in 2009.
- 1988 - Fernando Hernández drives in 12 runs for Vegueros against Forestales to break a 20-year-old RBI record in the Cuban Serie Nacional.
- 1989 - Billy Martin, an All-Star infielder and former manager with five teams, dies in a car accident in Johnson City, NY, at the age of 61. Martin, a five-time New York Yankees manager under owner George Steinbrenner, was rumored to be a candidate to replace current Yankees skipper Lou Piniella. During an 18-year managerial career, Martin posted a record of 1253-1013, led his teams to five American League pennants and guided the Yankees to the 1977 World Championship. He will be buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Westchester, NY, in a plot near Babe Ruth. Steinbrenner, who fired Martin four times (he resigned the fifth time) purchases the plot.
- 2001 - Hideki Matsui signs a one-year, $4.7 million contract to play for the Yomiuri Giants, becoming the highest-paid player in Nippon Pro Baseball history. The outfielder's salary surpasses the $4 million mark the Orix Blue Wave gave Ichiro Suzuki for the 2000 season.
- 2009 - Alexei Bell of Santiago de Cuba gets himself a new record for Christmas - he hits his fourth grand slam of the 2009-2010 season, a new Cuban Serie Nacional record.
- 2012 - Andruw Jones is arrested at his home outside Atlanta, GA and charged with battery in a domestic dispute.
- 2019 - The White Sox sign free agent slugger Edwin Encarnacion to a $12 million contract, with an option year for the same amount.
Births[edit]
- 1842 - Nat Jewett, catcher (d. 1914)
- 1856 - Pud Galvin, pitcher, manager; Hall of Famer (d. 1902)
- 1864 - Vince Dailey, outfielder (d. 1919)
- 1865 - George Mappes, infielder (d. 1934)
- 1866 - George Haddock, pitcher (d. 1926)
- 1869 - Alex Jones, pitcher (d. 1941)
- 1871 - Mike Hickey, infielder (d. 1918)
- 1872 - Ted Lewis, pitcher (d. 1936)
- 1874 - Barry McCormick, infielder; umpire (d. 1956)
- 1875 - Clyde Bateman, minor league infielder-pitcher (d. 1937)
- 1876 - Jim Jones, outfielder (d. 1953)
- 1877 - Dick Braggins, pitcher (d. 1963)
- 1881 - Joe McCarthy, catcher (d. 1937)
- 1884 - Ed Henderson, pitcher (d. 1964)
- 1887 - Morrie Rath, infielder (d. 1945)
- 1887 - Bull Wagner, pitcher (d. 1967)
- 1888 - James Lynch, outfielder (d. ????)
- 1889 - Marty Becker, outfielder (d. 1957)
- 1892 - Walter Holke, infielder (d. 1954)
- 1892 - Karl Kolseth, infielder (d. 1956)
- 1895 - Frank Ellerbe, infielder (d. 1988)
- 1896 - Herb Hunter, infielder (d. 1970)
- 1897 - Allen Elliott, infielder (d. 1979)
- 1899 - Tom Gulley, outfielder (d. 1966)
- 1899 - Earl Kunz, pitcher (d. 1963)
- 1899 - Gene Robertson, infielder (d. 1981)
- 1901 - Buster Chatham, infielder (d. 1975)
- 1904 - Bill Akers, infielder (d. 1962)
- 1904 - Red Barnes, outfielder (d. 1959)
- 1904 - Lloyd Brown, pitcher (d. 1974)
- 1906 - James Buford, infielder (d. 1966)
- 1908 - Ben Chapman, outfielder, manager; All-Star (d. 1993)
- 1908 - Alta Cohen, outfielder (d. 2003)
- 1908 - Bill Harris, infielder (d. ????)
- 1908 - Jo-Jo Moore, outfielder; All-Star (d. 2001)
- 1912 - Greek George, catcher (d. 1999)
- 1912 - Quincy Trouppe, catcher, manager; All-Star (d. 1993)
- 1914 - Abelardo Raidi, writer (d. 2002)
- 1915 - Natividad Sanoja, Venezuelan national team pitcher (d. 2010s?)
- 1917 - Willie Bunn, pitcher
- 1919 - Virgil Richardson, minor league infielder and manager (d. 2014)
- 1919 - Bill Scopetone, minor league outfielder and manager
- 1922 - Neal Watlington, catcher (d. 2019)
- 1922 - Ralph Matherly, college coach (d. 2008)
- 1923 - Charles Baird, minor league player and manager (d. 2018)
- 1925 - Ned Garver, pitcher; All-Star (d. 2017)
- 1926 - Dick Manville, pitcher (d. 2019)
- 1927 - Nellie Fox, infielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer (d. 1975)
- 1928 - Frank Baldwin, catcher (d. 2004)
- 1928 - Mike Blyzka, pitcher (d. 2004)
- 1933 - Sonny Hirsch, minor league executive (d. 1999)
- 1934 - Charlie Beamon, pitcher (d. 2016)
- 1935 - Al Jackson, pitcher (d. 2019)
- 1937 - John Mitchell, Negro Leagues outfielder (d. 2020)
- 1938 - Jack Hamilton, pitcher (d. 2018)
- 1939 - Chris Krug, catcher
- 1943 - Dennis Musgraves, pitcher
- 1945 - Ken Stabler, drafted pitcher (d. 2015)
- 1946 - Gene Lamont, catcher, manager
- 1947 - Wayne Danson, minor league outfielder
- 1948 - Kenichi Abe, NPB outfielder
- 1950 - Manny Trillo, infielder; All-Star
- 1951 - Luis Quintana, pitcher (d. 2009)
- 1951 - Koji Yamamoto, NPB infielder and manager (d. 2016)
- 1952 - Julio Gonzalez, infielder
- 1953 - Rick Anderson, pitcher (d. 1989)
- 1954 - Jeff Little, pitcher
- 1956 - Wallace Johnson, infielder
- 1956 - Charlie Lea, pitcher; All-Star (d. 2011)
- 1958 - Gerry Davis, outfielder
- 1958 - Rickey Henderson, outfielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer
- 1960 - Ty Gainey, outfielder
- 1960 - Tom O'Malley, infielder
- 1961 - Rich Renteria, infielder; manager
- 1962 - Marty Pevey, catcher
- 1962 - Bruce Walton, pitcher
- 1963 - Armando Moreno, minor league player
- 1965 - Kang-Chih Liao, CPBL pitcher
- 1968 - Scott Bullett, outfielder
- 1968 - Koichi Ogata, NPB outfielder and manager
- 1969 - Pork Chop Pough, minor league player
- 1970 - Steve Montgomery, pitcher
- 1972 - Erik Hiljus, pitcher
- 1973 - Tarrik Brock, outfielder
- 1973 - Yeu-Jeng Jong, CPBL pitcher
- 1973 - Daisuke Miura, NPB pitcher and manager
- 1974 - Hee-jin Kim, South Korean women's national team catcher
- 1975 - Chung-I Lin, CPBL infielder
- 1975 - Hideki Okajima, pitcher; All-Star
- 1979 - Manny Nanita, scout
- 1980 - Naohisa Sugiyama, NPB pitcher
- 1981 - Christian Colonel, minor league infielder
- 1981 - Andrew Lane, minor league infielder
- 1981 - Willy Taveras, outfielder
- 1982 - Ruben Gotay, infielder
- 1982 - Koichi Kotaka, Japanese national team pitcher
- 1983 - Ben Bando, minor league outfielder
- 1984 - Muhammad Ali, Pakistani national team infielder
- 1985 - Anthony Cros, minor league outfielder
- 1985 - Simon Vincente, Division Elite infielder
- 1986 - Daniela Daniel, Venezuelan women's national team outfielder
- 1986 - Waldis Joaquin, pitcher
- 1987 - Jesus Brito, minor league infielder
- 1987 - Brandon Erbe, minor league pitcher
- 1987 - Kyle Smith, minor league infielder
- 1988 - Brandon Hamilton, minor league pitcher
- 1990 - Garrett Cooper, infielder; All-Star
- 1992 - Yu-Ying Hsieh, Taiwan women's national team pitcher
- 1992 - Tanner Rainey, pitcher
- 1993 - Connar O'Gorman, minor league catcher
- 1994 - Nabil Crismatt, pitcher
- 1994 - Zach Jackson, pitcher
- 1995 - Enyel De Los Santos, pitcher
- 1995 - Alex Jackson, catcher
- 1996 - Reeves Martin, minor league pitcher
- 1999 - Carter Lohman, minor league pitcher
- 2000 - JJ Goss, minor league pitcher
Deaths[edit]
- 1894 - Tom Cahill, infielder (b. 1868)
- 1910 - John Deasley, infielder (b. 1861)
- 1916 - Bill Moriarty, infielder (b. 1883)
- 1922 - Wes Fisler, infielder (b. 1843)
- 1925 - Harry Kirsch, pitcher (b. 1887)
- 1930 - Fred Clement, infielder (b. 1867)
- 1937 - Country Brown, outfielder (b. 1896)
- 1941 - George Bell, pitcher (b. 1874)
- 1942 - Whitey Alpermann, infielder (b. 1879)
- 1945 - José Muñoz, Negro League pitcher (b. 1881)
- 1952 - Ed Coughlin, pitcher/outfielder (b. 1861)
- 1952 - Chester Williams, infielder; All-Star (b. 1906)
- 1953 - Patsy Donovan, outfielder, manager (b. 1865)
- 1961 - Frank Foutz, infielder (b. 1877)
- 1961 - Don Savage, infielder (b. 1919)
- 1968 - Roosevelt Tate, outfielder (b. 1911)
- 1970 - Red Juelich, infielder (b. 1916)
- 1974 - Felton Stratton, infielder, manager (b. 1895)
- 1975 - Como Cotelle, minor league outfielder (b. 1904)
- 1976 - Bill Skiff, catcher (b. 1895)
- 1977 - Ken Guettler, minor league outfielder (b. 1927)
- 1983 - Babe Young, infielder (b. 1915)
- 1987 - Jimmy Fuller, catcher (b. 1892)
- 1989 - Billy Martin, infielder, manager; All-Star (b. 1928)
- 1989 - Bill Parese, scout (b. 1942)
- 1992 - Ed Donnelly, pitcher (b. 1932)
- 1994 - Frank Carswell, pitcher (d. 1921)
- 1994 - Tony Robello, infielder (b. 1913)
- 1995 - Hidenosuke Shima, NPB outfielder and umpire; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (b. 1908)
- 2001 - Ramon Garcia, pitcher (b. 1924)
- 2004 - Romualdo Urías, minor league infielder (b. 1928)
- 2006 - Nick Adzick, minor league catcher (b. 1927)
- 2007 - Jim Beauchamp, infielder (b. 1939)
- 2008 - Warren Abadie, minor league pitcher (b. 1916)
- 2009 - Bill Burich, infielder (b. 1917)
- 2010 - Karl Olson, outfielder (b. 1930)
- 2013 - Mike Hegan, infielder; All-Star (b. 1942)
- 2014 - Kit Putnam, minor league pitcher-outfielder (b. 1944)
- 2014 - Deck Woldt, minor league outfielder (b. 1919)
- 2015 - Tim Hill Sr., college coach (b. 1944)
- 2016 - Johnny Rutherford, pitcher (b. 1925)
- 2018 - John Briggs, pitcher (b. 1934)
- 2019 - Andy Hassler, pitcher (b. 1951)
- 2020 - Herbert Alban, minor league player (b. 1918)
- 2021 - Bill Moore, minor league manager; scout (b. 1945)
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