2000
» The Rockies sign free agent closer Billy Taylor.
Yankee prospect D'Angelo Jimenez suffers a broken neck when a car he is driving in the Dominican Republic collides with a bus. Jimenez is not paralyzed but will miss the 2000 season. He figured to be the Yankee reserve infielder, taking over the role that Luis Sojo, now with the Pirates, filled last season.
1998
» Minor league 1B Doug Blosser is killed in an automobile accident in Sarasota, Florida.
1980
» Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon head a group of investors which purchases the New York Mets for a reported $21.1 million, the highest price paid to date for a ML baseball franchise. Doubleday, whose publishing company supplied 80 percent of the purchase price, will serve as chairman of the board, while Wilpon, a former teammate of Sandy Koufax's at Brooklyn's Lafayette High School, will be president and chief operating officer.
1973
» Warren Spahn is elected to the Hall of Fame in his first try on the BBWAA ballot, receiving 316 of 380 votes.
1962
» The Southern Association, which lost New Orleans and Memphis in the last two years and with attendance lagging, suspends operation.
1961
» The A's trade outfielders Whitey Herzog and Russ Snyder to the Orioles for IF Wayne Causey, P Jim Archer, OF Bob Boyd, and OF Al Pilarcik. Boyd, with the Orioles since 1956, leaves with a .301 average with the Birds, a team career mark that won't be topped this century.
1950
» Jackie Robinson signs a contract for $35,000, reportedly making him the highest paid Brooklyn player in history.
1939
» George Sisler, Eddie Collins, and Willie Keeler are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the BBWAA.
1922
» Brooklyn buys SS Sam Crane from Cincinnati. He will play in three games and later be convicted of murder. He will be visited in prison by Connie Mack, who works for his parole and gives him a job.
1915
» In a retreat from the FL competition, the Baltimore Orioles of the International League move to Richmond, VA. With the demise of the FL, the Orioles will return to Baltimore.
1913
» In a story in the New York Times, Detroit Tiger President Frank Navin blames the length of the games on the "coachers boxes." Navin, reacting to American League President Ban Johnson's complaint that too many games the previous season had taken two hours to play, says the boxes should be moved back so that the catcher can give the pitcher his signals more quickly. From where they are now, he said, the coaching players can detect the catcher's signals unless he takes a lot of time to hide them. Navin said this slow signalling is the reason for the longer games (as noted by Lyle Spatz).
1900
» The National League Reduction Committee has a secret meeting in Cleveland, supposedly to discuss dropping Louisville, Baltimore, Washington, and Cleveland from the league roster.
The A.J. Reach company is granted a patent for protective headgear known as the "Reach Pneumatic Head Protector." It won't gain acceptance, though a few players, notably Roger Bresnahan, will occasionally wear it.
1894
» In Jacksonville, Florida, Gentleman Jim Corbett wins the heavyweight boxing championship in a disputed third-round knockout of Englishman Charlie Mitchell. Reffing the fight is "Honest" John Kelly, a former major league player, manager, and umpire. Kelly will referee two more championship fights, in 1896, and 1899.