BR Bullpen:News Archive/2011

2011

• December 19: The Texas Rangers spend a record $51.7 million in the posting system to win the rights to negotiate with Yu Darvish.
• December 14: Joey Votto and John Axford are named co-winners of the Tip O'Neill Award.
• December 8: Willie Vasquez wins the 2011 Italian Baseball League MVP. Paolo Ceccaroli is inducted into the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame.
• December 8: The Houston Astros take Rhiner Cruz with the first pick of the Rule 5 Draft.
• December 7: Tim McCarver wins the Ford Frick Award.
• December 6: Bob Elliott is awarded the J.G. Taylor Spink Award.
• December 5: Ron Santo is elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
• December 1: Seiichi Uchikawa wins the 2011 Pacific League MVP while Takuya Asao takes the Central League MVP.
• November 30: Hirokazu Sawamura and Kazuhisa Makita win the 2011 Central League Rookie of the Year Award and 2011 Pacific League Rookie of the Year Award, respectively.
• November 29: The Samsung Lions win the 2011 Asia Series, the first Korean team to win an Asia Series. Won-sam Jang is named MVP.
• November 27: The 2011-2012 Cuban Serie Nacional opens.
• November 25: Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame manager Yukio Nishimoto dies.
• November 22: OF Ryan Braun of Milwaukee receives the 2011 National League Most Valuable Player Award.
• November 22: Koji Akiyama wins the Matsutaro Shoriki Award
• November 21: Greg Halman, a major leaguer and former Dutch MVP, is killed at age 24.
• November 21: Detroit's Justin Verlander adds the 2011 American League Most Valuable Player Award to the Cy Young Award he won a week ago.
• November 20: The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks win the 2011 Japan Series. Hiroki Kokubo becomes the oldest Japan Series MVP, at age 40.
• November 17: Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers wins the 2011 National League Cy Young Award.
• November 16: Kirk Gibson and Joe Maddon win Manager of the Year honors.
• November 15: Justin Verlander is the unanimous winner of the 2011 American League Cy Young Award after winning the ­Pitching Triple Crown.
• November 14: Masahiro Tanaka wins the 2011 Sawamura Award.
• November 14: Winners of Major League Baseball's Rookie of the Year Award are announced. Craig Kimbrel wins the award in the National League and Jeremy Hellickson in the American League.
• November 11: Rob Cordemans wins his 6th Hoofdklasse Pitcher of the Year Award, the second player to win that many. Vince Rooi is named the 2011 Hoofdklasse MVP, his first time to be so honored.
• November 11: The Miami Marlins unveil their new logo and uniforms in anticipation of their move to a new ballpark in downtown Miami, FL in 2012
• November 7: Suk-min Yoon is named KBO MVP for 2011. Young-seop Bae wins Rookie of the Year.
• October 31: Days after leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a World Series win, Tony LaRussa announces his retirement as the club's manager.
• October 31: The Samsung Lions win the 2011 Korean Series. Seung-hwan Oh is named Korean Series MVP after setting the career save record for the Korean Series.
• October 30: Hung-Yu Lin wins the 2011 CPBL MVP, the first catcher to do so.
• October 28: The St. Louis Cardinals win the 2011 World Series in seven games over the Texas Rangers. David Freese wins the World Series MVP Award.
• October 25: Team Canada wins the 2011 Pan American Games, their first Gold Medal at any major baseball tournament.
• October 22: Albert Pujols sets the record for most total bases in a World Series game and ties the records for hits, homers and RBI.
• October 20: The Uni-President Lions win the 2011 Taiwan Series. It is their 8th Taiwan Series title, a record. Ching-Ming Wang is named Taiwan Series MVP, the first Taiwan native to win that honor in five years.
• October 15: The Dutch national team wins the 2011 Baseball World Cup, their first Baseball World Cup title. Curt Smith is named Baseball World Cup MVP.
• October 13: Lance Berkman and Jacoby Ellsbury win the MLB Comeback Player of the Year Awards.
• October 9: The Rouen Huskies win their 7th consecutive Division Élite title, the second-longest stretch in French history.
• October 9: Technika Brno wins the Extraliga title; they end a 16-year run of pennants for Draci Brno.
• September 24: The 200,000th game in major league history since 1876 is played. The Colorado Rockies defeat the Houston Astros, 4-2 in 13 innings, in the milestone contest.
• September 24: The Regensburg Legionäre win the 2011 Bundesliga championship.
• September 24: Stockholm BSK wins the 2011 Elitserien title. Magnus Pilegård wins MVP honors for the finals.
• September 22: T&A San Marino wins the 2011 European Cup. Mattia Reginato is named MVP of the Final Four.
• September 20: The Columbus Clippers win the Triple-A National Championship. Joe Martinez is named MVP.
• September 19: Mariano Rivera records his 602nd save to become the all-time major league leader, passing Trevor Hoffman.
• September 14: Luis Terrero is named MVP of the 2011 Mexican League after posting the second 30-30 season in league history and leading in runs, RBI and OPS.
• September 11: The L&D Amsterdam Pirates win the 2011 Holland Series. Wesley Connor is honored as MVP.
• September 10: T&A San Marino wins the 2011 Italian Series. Anthony Granato is named MVP.
• September 7: Alex Liddi becomes the first major leaguer born and raised in Italy as well as the first MLB European Academy alumnus to make the majors.
• September 2: Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame member Ichiro Yoshikuni dies.
• August 31: Craig Kimbrel sets a rookie record with his 41st save.
• August 28: Huntington Beach, CA wins the 2011 Little League World Series.
• August 28: The United States win the 2011 World Youth Championship. Zachary Collins is named MVP.
• August 26: The Tigres de Quintana Roo win the Mexican League pennant.
• August 25: The New York Yankees become the first team to hit three grand slams in one game. Robinson Cano, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson all go deep with the bases loaded in a 22-9 win over the Oakland A's.
• August 18: Mike Jacobs becomes the first North American professional athlete to be caught with a positive test for Human growth hormone.
• August 15: Jim Thome becomes the 8th player in major league history to hit 600 home runs.
• July 27: Ervin Santana throws a no-hitter as the Los Angeles Angels defeat the Cleveland Indians, 3-1.
• July 26: Justin Germano throws the fifth perfect game in International League history.
• July 2: Bert Blyleven, Roberto Alomar, and Pat Gillick are inducted into the Hall of Fame.
• July 19: Dirk van 't Klooster becomes the second Hoofdklasse player to notch 1,000 career hits.
• July 15: Trevor Bauer of UCLA is the winner of the 2011 Golden Spikes Award.
• July 12: The National League team wins the 2011 All-Star Game. Prince Fielder is named the MVP.
• July 11: The United States wins the 2011 Futures Game. Grant Green is named MVP.
• July 9: Derek Jeter becomes the 28th member of the 3,000 hit club with a homer off David Price as part of a 5-for-5 day at the plate.
• July 9: The Dayton Dragons have a sellout for the 815th straight game, a record for North American professional sports.
• July 7: Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, who led three different teams to the World Series, dies at age 82.
• July 2: FC Barcelona wins its first Division Honor title since 1955 - less than a month after the organization announced it was cutting its baseball program (and many other of its minority sports).
• June 28: The University of South Carolina wins the 2011 College World Series. Scott Wingo is named Most Outstanding Player.
• June 16: Hitoki Iwase breaks Shingo Takatsu's record for career saves in Nippon Pro Baseball.
• June 10: Tony La Russa becomes the second person to manage 5,000 major league games.
• June 9: José Dariel Abreu is named Serie Nacional Most Valuable Player for 2010-2011.
• June 6: Gerrit Cole is the first pick of the 2011 amateur draft.
• June 4: The University of West Florida wins the 2011 Division II College World Series in their first appearance in that Series.
• June 3: Concordia University wins the 2011 NAIA College World Series.
• May 31: Marietta College wins the 2011 Division III College World Series.
• May 29: The South wins the 2011 Mexican League All-Star Game. Rubén Rivera is named MVP.
• May 25: Wilson Valdez wins a game, the first position player to do so in 11 years.
• May 25: Mariano Rivera becomes the first pitcher to appear in 1,000 games for the same team.
• May 17: Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew dies at age 74.
• May 16: A group led by Jim Crane purchases the Houston Astros from Drayton McLane.
• May 11: Dutch baseball player, coach, journalist, author and innovator Gé Hoogenbos dies.
• May 7: Justin Verlander no-hits the Toronto Blue Jays for the second no-hitter of his career.
• May 3: Francisco Liriano of the Minnesota Twins throws the first no-hitter of the major league season.
• May 2: Pinar del Rio wins the 50th Cuban Serie Nacional. Yosvani Torres is named finals MVP.
• April 30: Emilio Navarro, the oldest living professional baseball player, dies at 105.
• April 22: Kris Wilson throws a no-hitter in the Italian Baseball League.
• April 20: Major League Baseball seizes control of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• April 15: Tomoaki Kanemoto has his record streak of 1,766 consecutive games played in Nippon Pro Baseball come to an end.
• April 12: The 2011 Nippon Pro Baseball season finally starts, having been delayed by Japan's earthquake and tsunami of a month earlier.
• April 8: Manny Ramírez announces his retirement.
• April 5: Chin-Feng Chen becomes the fastest player in CPBL history to 100 home runs, doing so in his 453rd game.
• April 3: Tokai University Sagami High School wins the 2011 spring Koshien.
• April 2: The 2011 KBO begins with three shutouts in four games.
• April 1: David Ortiz breaks Edgar Martinez's record for career RBI by a designated hitter.
• March 23: José Dariel Abreu and Yoennis Céspedes both finish the 2010-2011 season with 33 home runs, breaking Alfredo Despaigne's Cuban Serie Nacional record by one.
• March 21: The trial of Barry Bonds for perjury and obstruction of justice opens in San Francisco, CA.
• March 19: A Mexican League record 28,753 fans come to Foro Sol Ballpark on Opening Day.
• March 15: Commissioner Bud Selig creates a 12-person Baseball Origins Committee headed by MLB official historian John Thorn to study the question of the origins of baseball.
• February 28: Japanese Baseball Hall of Famer Wally Yonamine dies at age 85. He was the first American to both play and manage in Nippon Pro Baseball after World War II.
• February 27: Hall of Fame center fielder Duke Snider passes away at the age of 84.
• February 27: Ricardo Hernandez tosses a no-hitter on the Division Honor Opening Day.
• February 21: Dick Groat, Terry Francona, Danny Goodwin, Prez Jones, Oddibe McDowell, Tim Wallach and Bill Wilhelm are inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
• February 21: Justine Siegal becomes the first woman to throw batting practice to a MLB team in spring training.
• February 17: SABR announces the second class of recipients of the Henry Chadwick Award. BR Bullpen founder Sean Forman is among the honorees, alongside authors Charles Alexander and John Holway, researcher Cliff Kachline, and Sporting News publisher J.G. Taylor Spink.
• February 13: The Perth Heat win the 2010-2011 Australian Baseball League.
• February 7: The Yaquis de Obregón, representing Mexico win the 2011 Caribbean Series to claim the first Caribbean championship in team history. 1B Jorge Vazquez is named Caribbean Series MVP.
• February 6: The East wins the 2011 Cuban All-Star Game, 15-13, behind two homers from Yoelvis Fiss and a 3-run, 10th-inning shot by Alexander Guerrero.
• February 4: David Welch throws a no-hitter in the Australian Baseball League playoffs.
• February 2: Roberto Alomar, Carlos Baerga, Luis DeLeon and Candy Maldonado are voted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame.
• January 30: The Caribes de Anzoátegui become Venezuelan League champions for the first time in team history after beating Aragua in the 7th game of the finals, 8-7. They join Ciudad Obregon, Toros del Este and Caguas in the 2011 Caribbean Series.
• January 29: The Yaquis de Obregón become Mexican Pacific League champions after defeating the Algodoneros de Guasave 5-1 in the 7th game.
• January 28: The Criollos de Caguas win the Puerto Rican League championship with a 7-5 victory over Leones de Ponce in the decisive 7th game of the finals.
• January 24: Teddy Higuera, Mercedes Esquer, Jimmie Collins and Arturo León are voted into the Salón de la Fama.
• January 24: Tom Henke, George Wood and Allan Simpson are inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
• January 23 The Toros del Este win their second Dominican League pennant.
• January 22: Bryan Engelhardt is named MVP of the 2010 Hoofdklasse while Leon Boyd wins Pitcher of the Year.
• January 14: Hiromitsu Ochiai and Mutsuo Minagawa are elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
• January 11: Trevor Hoffman, baseball's all-time saves leader with 601, announces his retirement.
• January 11: Italy's all-time hit king, Roberto De Franceschi, retires.
• January 5: Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven are voted into the Hall of Fame in the 2011 Hall of Fame Election.