2000
» The National Labor Relations Board certifies the results of the November election that kicked out the Major League Umpires Association and replaced it with the newly-formed World Umpires Association. About 50 of the 71 major league umpires have joined the new union. The decision ends Richie Phillips' 21-year reign as union chief.
1990
» Former Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro dies of pneumonia and kidney failure at the age of 45. Conigliaro was the youngest ML player ever to reach 100 career home runs and then was nearly blinded by a 1967 beaning.
1986
» High-tension Dick Williams resigns as manager of the Padres. He will be replaced by low-key Steve Boros.
1948
» In a key trade for New York, Ed Lopat goes to the Yankees from the White Sox in exchange for C Aaron Robinson, Bill Wight, and Fred Bradley. Lopat will star for seven seasons in pinstripes, winning 21 in 1951 and going 16–4 in 1953. Robinson's main value to the Sox will come at the end of the season when he's swapped for another lefty pitcher, Billy Pierce.
1943
» The Texas League announces it will quit for the duration of the war. The Cardinals, with 260 farm players in the service, will reduce farm clubs from 22 to 6. Only nine minor leagues will start the 1943 season. Advertisements for players appear in The Sporting News.
1926
» Southpaw Eddie Plank, winner of 327 games in 17 years, dies at 51 in his native Gettysburg, PA.
1917
» Smoky Joe Wood, his arm dead at 26, is sold by the Red Sox to Cleveland for $15,000. He will become an OF after one last, losing start on the mound, and will play five more years.
1896
» The National League adopts changes in the National Agreement. The minor leagues are divided into six classifications based on population, and new draft fees are instituted.
The NL forbids players from deliberately soiling baseballs, declares that "a ball cutting the corners of the home plate, and being requisite height, must be called a strike," and empowers umpires to eject players.
1886
» Kansas City hires 30-year-old Dave Rowe to manage the Cowboys.