February 17
From BR Bullpen
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| Stats of players who died on this day | |
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Events, births and deaths that occurred on February 17.
Events[edit]
- 1883 - At a meeting between the American Association and the National League, the Tripartite Agreement (or "National Agreement") is drafted. In it the two leagues, along with the Northwestern League, agree to respect each other's contracts, ending a brief period of player raids. Also, the reserve rule is amended to allow each team to reserve 11 players, an increase of six. The National Agreement will usher in a period of peaceful coexistence, lasting until the Players League war of 1890.
- 1890 - New York National League officials fail in an effort to woo star player and Brotherhood officer Buck Ewing to rejoin the Giants. Although he has rejected an offer reported at $33,000 for three years, Ewing is later accused by some players of spying for the NL.
- 1891 - The American Association withdraws from the National Agreement thus starting a war with the National League. The AA moves its Chicago team to Cincinnati to compete with the National League team in the city.
- 1900 - Mary Hamilton Von Derbeck is to become owner of the Detroit American League franchise and of Bennett Park, in lieu of unpaid alimony. However, her ex-husband George Von Derbeck files the required bond with a Michigan court to cover the alimony due, regains ownership of the club, and sells it to Tiger manager George Stallings on March 6th.
- 1909 - The National League deprives umpires of the power to fine players and decrees that relief pitchers must retire at least one batter before being relieved.
- 1924 - Frank Chance, signed as Chicago White Sox manager three months ago, resigns because of illness. Coach Johnny Evers is named acting manager until Chance returns, but the former Cubs star never recovers, and will die on September 24th.
- 1937 - The New York Yankees buy another Babe from the Red Sox, picking up Babe Dahlgren. The California native will become the player who replaces Lou Gehrig.
- 1943 - Joe DiMaggio, drawing $43,500 from the Yankees, trades in his salary for the $50 a month as an army enlisted man. DiMaggio, in his customary quiet style, gives no notice to the club.
- 1955 - The Baltimore Orioles get P Erv Palica from the Dodgers for 1B Frank Kellert and cash. This replaces the Preacher Roe deal, which fell through when the Brooklyn lefty announced his retirement.
- 1959 - The Yankees invite Australian cricket player Norman O'Neill for a tryout at SS. U.S. Davis Cup captain Billy Talbert, while playing tennis in Australia, arranges the deal after hearing of O'Neill's prowess.
- 1964 - Former White Sox SS Luke Appling is elected into the Hall of Fame in a run-off ballot, after finishing first in the earlier regular vote. In 1953, Appling's first year of eligibility for Cooperstown, the Sox great received just two votes. He holds the single-season highest batting average for his position, hitting .388 in 1936.
- 1965 - Commissioner Ford Frick suspends U.S.-Japan baseball relations until the Yomiuri Giants-San Francisco Giants dispute over Masanori Murakami's contract is resolved.
- 1971 - Boston's Carl Yastrzemski signs what is believed to be the richest player contract in history: three years for a total of $500,000.
- 1976 - Mike Scott of Pepperdine University pitches a 3 - 0 perfect game against California Lutheran University. He will be selected in the 2nd round of the June draft.
- 1980 - While taping separate interviews at KNBC-TV studios in Burbank, CA, Giants coach Jim Lefebvre and Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda trade punches after a brief argument, leaving Lasorda with a bloody lip. Lefebvre had been a Dodger coach in 1979 until he was fired by Lasorda.
- 1987 - New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly wins his $1.975 million arbitration case, breaking the record for the largest amount ever awarded to a player set by Jack Morris just four days ago.
- 1995 - With the strike still unresolved and spring training set to begin, Tigers manager Sparky Anderson is put on an involuntary leave of absence as he refuses to manage replacement players. The Orioles announce they will not play exhibition games against teams using replacement players, further weakening the owners' preferred option to force the striking players into submission.
- 2003:
- His body temperature having soared to 108 degrees, Orioles 23-year-old pitching prospect Steve Bechler dies of multi-organ failure after a spring training workout yesterday. Early speculation is the expectant father's death may have been caused by ephedrine, a dietary supplement linked to heat stroke and heart attacks.
- Avoiding arbitration, the Braves and 36-year-old righty Greg Maddux (16-6, 2.62) agree to the largest one-year contract in major league history. The $14.75 million deal for the four-time Cy Young Award winner eclipses the $12 million given to David Cone by the Yankees in 2000.
- 2006 - Chicago White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen issues an apology for his comments published in Sports Illustrated criticizing Alex Rodriguez's indecision concerning which country the Yankee All-Star would represent in the World Baseball Classic. A-Rod, who was born in the United States, thought at first he would play for the Dominican Republic due his parents' heritage, then decided he was not going to play at all before choosing to play for Team USA.
- 2010 - The Nationals win their salary arbitration hearing with P Brian Bruney and sign P Ron Villone to a minor league contract.
- 2011:
- The Society for American Baseball Research announces the second class of recipients of the Henry Chadwick Award. Sean Forman, founder of Baseball-Reference.com and the BR Bullpen is one of the five honorees.
- The Blue Jays take a bet that Jose Bautista's breakout 2010 season, when he led the majors with 54 homers, was not a fluke. They sign the OF/3B to a five-year deal worth $65 million, avoiding arbitration. Bautista will prove them right as he will be one of the majors' top power hitters over the length of the contract.
- 2012:
- The Yankees find a taker for P A.J. Burnett, whose inconsistency over the past two years has given management gray hairs. They send him to the Pirates for a couple of players from the low minors, Diego Moreno and Exicardo Cayones, but have to agree to pay $20 million out of the $33 million due him in salary for the next two seasons for the privilege of having him taken off their hands.
- 45-year-old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield announces his retirement after a 19-year career in which he won exactly 200 games.
- 2014 - The Orioles significantly improve their pitching staff as they sign free agent Ubaldo Jimenez for four years at $50 million, as well as South Korean Suk-min Yoon to a three-year deal for $5.75 after he passes a physical exam.
- 2015 - U.S. District Court Judge Darrin Gayles sentences Anthony Bosch, the man behind the Biogenesis PED scandal, to four years in jail for masterminding the operation that led to a dozen major league players receiving suspensions of 50 games or more. Ironically, the poster boy for the guilty players, Alex Rodriguez, issues a handwritten apology to fans today as he is about to head to spring training with the Yankees following the end of his suspension, but the text does not go into any detail besides expressing general regret for his trespasses.
- 2018- The long saga of 1B Eric Hosmer's free agency ends as he finally signs an eight-year contract worth $144 million with the Padres. The deal, which is the largest of this off-season and in San Diego's history, had been rumored for months, but took a long time to come to fruition.
- 2021:
- The Padres sign their young superstar SS, Fernando Tatis Jr., to the longest contract extension in major league history, a fourteen-year deal estimated to be worth $340 million. It is the third largest contract in terms of money, behind only those granted last year to Mike Trout and Mookie Betts.
- According to reports, the Blue Jays have settled on TD Ballpark at their spring training complex in Dunedin, FL, to be their temporary home for the start of the upcoming season. Because of restrictions on cross-border travel caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, the Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON is unavailable. In 2020 the Jays used Sahlen Field, the ballpark of their AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, as a temporary home, and will return to Sahlen once the weather turns better in the Northeast.
- 2022 - After a short deliberation, the jury in the trial of former Angels employee Eric Kay, accused of supplying the drugs that led to the overdose death of P Tyler Skaggs in 2019, returns a guilty verdict. Kay now faces a minimum jail sentence of 20 years.
Births[edit]
- 1861 - Joe Miller, infielder (d. 1928)
- 1861 - Stump Weidman, pitcher; umpire (d. 1905)
- 1871 - Cy Bowen, pitcher (d. 1925)
- 1878 - Charles McGeehan, minor league player and manager; college coach (d. 1933)
- 1885 - Steve Evans, outfielder (d. 1943)
- 1886 - Pat Pieper, public address announcer (d. 1974)
- 1889 - Leonardo Alanís, minor league outfielder; Salon de la Fama (d. 1978)
- 1890 - Rivington Bisland, infielder (d. 1973)
- 1892 - Fred Brainerd, infielder (d. 1959)
- 1892 - Nemo Leibold, outfielder (d. 1977)
- 1893 - Eddie Onslow, infielder (d. 1981)
- 1893 - Wally Pipp, infielder (d. 1965)
- 1895 - Leon Carlson, pitcher (d. 1961)
- 1896 - Frank Emmer, infielder (d. 1963)
- 1897 - Ike Boone, outfielder (d. 1958)
- 1899 - Jack Holloway, minor league infielder and manager (d. 1968)
- 1899 - Leo Najo, minor league outfielder (d. 1978)
- 1899 - Peahead Walker, minor league infielder (d. 1970)
- 1901 - Eddie Phillips, catcher (d. 1968)
- 1904 - Yasuhiro Itami, college coach; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (d. 1977)
- 1905 - Ed Brandt, pitcher (d. 1944)
- 1907 - Orlin Collier, pitcher (d. 1944)
- 1908 - Red Barber, announcer (d. 1992)
- 1912 - Bruce Ogrodowski, catcher (d. 1956)
- 1914 - Rod Dedeaux, infielder (d. 2006)
- 1917 - Ed Chandler, pitcher (d. 2003)
- 1918 - Henry Merchant, outfielder (d. 1982)
- 1921 - Doyle Lade, pitcher (d. 2000)
- 1923 - Dottie Key, AAGPBL outfielder (d. 2003)
- 1923 - Bill Sommers, infielder (d. 2000)
- 1925 - Dick Haviland, minor league outfielder (d. 2013)
- 1926 - Jack Crimian, pitcher (d. 2019)
- 1930 - Roger Craig, pitcher, manager (d. 2023)
- 1930 - Satoshi Hirayama, NPB outfielder (d. 2021)
- 1931 - Cliff Gustafson, college coach (d. 2023)
- 1932 - Jake Tarr, minor league catcher (d. 2010)
- 1932 - Dick Tremblay, umpire (d. 1987)
- 1933 - Juan Manuel Ley López, minor league executive; Salon de la Fama (d. 2016)
- 1934 - Willie Kirkland, outfielder
- 1934 - Darold Satchell, umpire (d. 1997)
- 1935 - Whammy Douglas, pitcher (d. 2014)
- 1941 - Dave Wissman, outfielder
- 1942 - Bob Hiegert, college coach
- 1943 - Domingo Setien, announcer; Salon de la Fama (d. 2022)
- 1944 - Dick Bosman, pitcher
- 1949 - Leonard Coleman, executive
- 1951 - Mike Cosgrove, pitcher
- 1951 - Dave Roberts, infielder
- 1953 - Jamie Easterly, pitcher
- 1953 - Jim Umbarger, pitcher
- 1954 - Mike Macha, infielder
- 1955 - Scott Bailey, Canadian national team pitcher
- 1955 - Si-Yi Liu, Chinese Taipei national team pitcher
- 1958 - Mike Hart, outfielder
- 1958 - Alan Wiggins, infielder (d. 1991)
- 1962 - Munehiko Shimada, NPB catcher
- 1963 - Michael Jordan, minor league outfielder
- 1964 - Mike Campbell, pitcher
- 1964 - Walter Cossutta, Serie A1 pitcher
- 1965 - Jim Bowie, infielder
- 1966 - Howard Freiling, minor league player and manager
- 1967 - Lonnie Maclin, outfielder
- 1967 - Dayton Moore, General Manager
- 1971 - Rolando Meriño, Cuban league catcher
- 1971 - Luis Miranda, Nicaraguan national team pitcher
- 1971 - Danny Patterson, pitcher
- 1972 - Scott Stricklin, college coach
- 1975 - Dan Ehler, minor league pitcher
- 1975 - Kelcey Mucker, minor league outfielder
- 1976 - Cody Ransom, infielder
- 1976 - Scott Williamson, pitcher; All-Star
- 1976 - Wanjun Zhang, China Baseball League pitcher
- 1977 - Juan Padilla, pitcher
- 1979 - Josh Willingham, catcher
- 1981 - Andrew Brown, pitcher
- 1981 - Yusuke Kawasaki, NPB pitcher
- 1982 - Brian Bruney, pitcher
- 1982 - Yoanny Delgado, Cuban league catcher (d. 2021)
- 1982 - Yuniesky Gourriel, minor league outfielder
- 1982 - Jay Musialowski, minor league pitcher
- 1983 - Yasuyuki Kataoka, NPB infielder
- 1984 - Chris Emanuele, minor league outfielder
- 1985 - Jose De Los Santos, minor league infielder
- 1985 - Danny Santiesteban, minor league outfielder
- 1986 - Mitch Graham, minor league infielder
- 1987 - Danny Farquhar, pitcher
- 1988 - Greg Hendrix, minor league pitcher
- 1989 - Paolino Ambrosino, Italian Baseball League outfielder
- 1989 - Wally Bryan, minor league infielder (d. 2011)
- 1990 - Jakub Sládek, minor league infielder
- 1991 - Jose Cabrera, minor league outfielder
- 1991 - Maxime Lefevre, minor league infielder
- 1992 - Esteban Quiroz, infielder
- 1993 - Kevin Cron, infielder
- 1993 - Zac Grotz, pitcher
- 1993 - Stephen Tarpley, pitcher
- 1996 - Deivy Grullon, catcher
- 1997 - Francisco Haro, minor league pitcher
- 1997 - Chang-mo Koo, KBO pitcher
- 1998 - Jhony Brito, pitcher
- 1998 - Jie Cao, minor league infielder
Deaths[edit]
- 1895 - A.M. Thompson, manager (b. 1846)
- 1909 - Jim Burns, outfielder
- 1915 - Jersey Bakely, pitcher (b. 1864)
- 1920 - Ray Boyd, pitcher (b. 1887)
- 1923 - George Meakim, pitcher (b. 1865)
- 1927 - Harry Little, outfielder (b. 1850)
- 1933 - Harry Smith, catcher, manager (b. 1874)
- 1935 - James Graham, infielder (b. 1865)
- 1936 - Tom York, outfielder, manager, umpire (b. 1851)
- 1941 - Happy Iott, outfielder (b. 1876)
- 1943 - William Galloway, minor league player; Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (b. 1882)
- 1943 - George Keogan, college coach (b. 1890)
- 1950 - Jack Dalton, outfielder (b. 1885)
- 1956 - Kip Selbach, outfielder (b. 1872)
- 1961 - Doc Johnston, infielder (b. 1887)
- 1963 - Lee Thompson, pitcher (b. 1898)
- 1965 - Larry Gilbert, outfielder (b. 1891)
- 1966 - Finners Quinlan, outfielder (b. 1887)
- 1972 - Lew Malone, infielder (b. 1897)
- 1975 - George Twombly, outfielder (b. 1892)
- 1979 - Antonio Marcucci, Serie A1 catcher (b. 1927)
- 1982 - Nestor Chylak Hall of Famer (b. 1922)
- 1985 - George Washington, outfielder (b. 1907)
- 1986 - Chet Bryan, college coach (b. 1915)
- 1986 - Red Ruffing, pitcher; All-Star, Hall of Famer (b. 1905)
- 1989 - Lefty Gomez, pitcher; All-Star, Hall of Famer (b. 1908)
- 1990 - Larry Cox, catcher (b. 1947)
- 1996 - Andy Lapihuska, pitcher (b. 1922)
- 2000 - Turkey Tyson, pinch hitter (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Steve Bechler, pitcher (b. 1979)
- 2003 - Bob Bonifay, minor league executive (b. 1916)
- 2006 - Jim Dreyer, scout (b. 1951)
- 2011 - Leonard Hurgin, minor league pitcher (b. 1922)
- 2012 - Howie Nunn, pitcher (b. 1935)
- 2013 - Sophie Kurys, AAGPBL infielder (b. 1925)
- 2014 - Frank Farmer, author (b. 1924)
- 2016 - Brock Pemberton, infielder (b. 1953)
- 2016 - Tony Phillips, infielder/outfielder (b. 1959)
- 2017 - Victor Orozco, minor league player (b. ~1943)
- 2021 - Walt Head, scout (b. 1944)
- 2021 - Luis Marquez, scout (b. 1980)
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