February 14
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 February 14.
Events[edit]
- 1887:
- The Chicago White Stockings National League club sells King Kelly to the Boston Beaneaters for the unheard-of sum of $10,000. With the contract and bonus, Kelly is dubbed a "$15,000 Beauty." Kelly, who is often credited with popularizing the hit-and-run, will win election to the Hall of Fame in 1945.
- The National Colored Base Ball League, the first attempt at a professional Negro League, is organized at a meeting in Baltimore, MD. Eight clubs are represented: Lord Baltimores (Baltimore); Resolutes (Boston, MA); Browns (Cincinnati, OH); Falls City (Louisville, KY); Gorhams (New York, NY); Pythians (Philadelphia, PA); Keystones] (Pittsburgh, PA) and Capital City Club (Washington, DC). Two weeks after being launched, the league will fail from lack of attendance.
- 1911:
- The Philadelphia Phillies come up with an idea for a new style of uniform - white flannels with thin vertical stripes -, an innovation that predates the famed New York Yankees pinstripes by four years.
- A cork-centered ball is introduced, and the number of .300 hitters will jump from eight in 1910 to 27 this season in the American League. The league's earned run average will go from from 2.53 to 3.34.
- 1917 - Dave Fultz, president of the Players Fraternity, calls off a strike set to begin within the week. One of demands of the union is to abolish the ten-day clause, in which a team ceases to pay an injured player after he has been out of action for ten days. Organized Baseball officially severs relations with the union, leaving the players without representation.
- 1928 - The Major League Baseball Advisory Council agrees to allot $50,000 to develop a national championship program for amateur players. The program will be run by the American Legion.
- 1934 - The Cleveland Indians sign former Washington Senators 19-year outfielder Sam Rice to a contract for the upcoming season. He will bat .293 in 335 at-bats for the Indians, but will fall 13 hits shy of the 3,000 mark before retiring. Rice will win election to the Hall of Fame in 1963.
- 1935 - The Dai Nihon Tokyo Yakyu Club leaves for a tour of the USA. They will go 75-34-1, primarily facing minor league and semipro clubs.
- 1941 - The entire Brooklyn Dodgers squad leaves New York to train in Havana, Cuba for most of the spring. Babe Phelps, a reluctant traveler and still unsigned, will leave the team in Miami, FL, rather than take a boat, and return to Maryland.
- 1945 - Bob Quinn gives up his post as general manager of the Boston Braves, allowing his son, John, to take over. The elder Quinn, a veteran of baseball employment since 1900, had served the Braves as president and general manager off and on since 1924.
- 1948 - Right-handed pitcher Mordecai Brown dies in Terre Haute, Indiana, at the age of 71. Despite losing part of two fingers on his right hand in a childhood farm accident, Brown won 239 games during a 14-year Hall of Fame career.
- 1952 - The St. Louis Browns pick up 1B Dick Kryhoski and Ps Gene Bearden and Bob Cain from the Detroit Tigers. Detroit receives C Matt Batts, OF Cliff Mapes, P Dick Littlefield, and 1B Ben Taylor.
- 1957 - Some ten years after Jackie Robinson broke the major league color barrier, the Georgia Senate unanimously approves a bill prohibiting blacks from playing baseball with white players, except at religious gatherings. The bill was put forth by Senator Leon Butts. At the time, Georgia does not have a major league team, but does have several minor league teams.
- 1959 - The Baltimore Orioles purchase veteran 1B Whitey Lockman from the San Francisco Giants, but will trade him to the Cincinnati Redlegs in June for 1B Walt Dropo.
- 1976 - The Atlanta Braves send Valentine's Day cards to their season ticket holders and the media. The Braves finished in fifth place in 1975, 40 1/2 games behind the Cincinnati Reds. Atlanta will finish this season in last place, 32 games behind Cincinnati, but they are first in rhyming. Their card reads: "Rose is a Red, Morgan's one, too. They finished first, Like we wanted to. But last year's behind us; We're happy to say. Now we're tied for first, Happy Valentine's Day."
- 1996 - Kevin McClatchy and his group of investors purchase the Pirates from the Pittsburgh Associates.
- 2001:
- The Ford C. Frick Award, named in memory of the former commissioner who also was a broadcaster, will be given to Florida Marlins radio announcer Felo Ramirez during Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this summer. Ramirez, who began his 56-year career broadcasting games in Cuba, has been in the Miami broadcast booth since the team's inaugural season in 1993.
- According to the Detroit Free Press, Major League Baseball is informing umpires to remove pitchers from the game, without warning, who deliberately throw a beanball at a batter's head. The crackdown, according to officials, is a clarification and reinforcement of an existing rule.
- 2002 - The Detroit Tigers sign Dmitri Young, who hit .302 with 21 home runs for Cincinnati last season, to a four-year contract. Detroit traded outfielder Juan Encarnación and minor leaguer Luis Pineda in December to acquire the 1B/OF.
- 2003 - After much speculation, the Chunichi Dragons return Kevin Millar to the Marlins for an undisclosed amount of money for relinquishing its rights. After reconsidering an offer from the Boston Red Sox, Millar had a change of heart and does not want to play for the Japanese Central League team.
- 2005 - The Minnesota Twins sign Johan Santana, who was eligible for arbitration, to a four-year deal. In 2004, the 25-year-old lefthander became the first Venezuelan pitcher to win the Cy Young Award.
- 2006:
- According to an attorney, Anaheim City officials plan to ask a judge to order the Angels to drop "Los Angeles" from their name despite last week's jury ruling that the team did not breach a contract by calling itself the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim".
- Adam Dunn avoids arbitration by signing a two-year, $18 million contract with the Cincinnati Reds.
- Orel Hershiser is rejoining ESPN and will be a studio analyst for the network this season.
- 2012 - The White Sox sign free agent OF Kosuke Fukudome to a one-year contract.
- 2016 - Australia wins the first of the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, needing to come back twice against South Africa. The final 12 - 5 score is somewhat deceptive as it is 6 - 5 going into the bottom of the 8th. Peter Moylan gets the win and Ryan Searle the save while Trent Oeltjen (3 for 4, 2 R, 2 RBI) and Trent D'Antonio (2 H, 2 BB, 3 RBI) lead the offense and Brad Harman and Allan de San Miguel both homer. Callan Pearce takes the loss for South Africa, while Kyle Botha hits a three-run homer and Gift Ngoepe also goes yard.
- 2017 - As pitchers and catchers begin to report for spring training, the Cardinals get some bad news: top pitching prospect Alex Reyes is diagnosed with a complete tear of his ulnar collateral ligament and will require Tommy John surgery, putting him out of action for the entire season. It's also a loss for the Dominican Republic national team, which was counting on Reyes for the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
- 2018:
- Former All-Star pitcher Esteban Loaiza appears before a court in San Diego, CA facing charges of possession and transportation of over ten pounds of narcotics and using a false compartment to smuggle drugs. The charges stem from a traffic stop on February 9th, when police discovered the modification to the van he was driving, and obtained a search warrant to his home in Imperial Beach, CA, where approximately 40 pounds of what appears to be cocaine was seized. Loaiza pleads not guilty and is released after posting a $250,000 bail.
- One of the worst school shootings in U.S. history takes place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, resulting in the deaths of 16 persons and numerous others wounded. One of the school's most famous alumni, 1B Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs, rushes to his alma mater to attempt to provide comfort to survivors.
- 2023 - As spring training gets underway, one of the few remaining free agents of the off-season, P Michael Wacha, signs with the Padres. He is coming off a bounce-back year, going 11-2 with Boston last year, after struggling with injuries and ineffectiveness for three seasons before that.
Births[edit]
- 1852 - Al Nichols, infielder (d. 1936)
- 1855 - Joe Gerhardt, infielder, manager (d. 1922)
- 1855 - Lou Sylvester, outfielder (d. 1936)
- 1858 - Arthur Irwin, infielder, manager (d. 1921)
- 1860 - Patrick Larkin, infielder (d. 1918)
- 1860 - Jim Tray, catcher (d. 1905)
- 1864 - Charlie Getzein, pitcher (d. 1932)
- 1865 - George Meyers, infielder (d. 1943)
- 1867 - Morgan Murphy, catcher (d. 1938)
- 1869 - Ace Stewart, infielder (d. 1912)
- 1870 - Candy LaChance, infielder (d. 1932)
- 1870 - Bob Quinn, general manager (d. 1954)
- 1873 - Harry Jordan, pitcher (d. 1920)
- 1875 - Perry Lipe, minor league infielder and manager (d. 1955)
- 1878 - Bill Kay, outfielder (d. 1945)
- 1879 - Tim Jordan, infielder (d. 1949)
- 1880 - Claude Berry, catcher (d. 1974)
- 1880 - Harry Eells, pitcher (d. 1940)
- 1884 - Jack Lewis, infielder (d. 1956)
- 1885 - Abe Kruger, pitcher (d. 1962)
- 1886 - Bill McCarthy, catcher (d. 1928)
- 1890 - Mike Hechinger, catcher (d. 1967)
- 1891 - Otis Francis, infielder (d. 1940)
- 1891 - Ed Schorr, pitcher (d. 1969)
- 1894 - Roy Van Graflan, umpire (d. 1953)
- 1897 - Earl Smith, catcher (d. 1963)
- 1901 - Frank Duncan, catcher, manager; All-Star (d. 1973)
- 1903 - Uel Eubanks, pitcher (d. 1954)
- 1905 - Curtis Harris, infielder; All-Star (d. 1947)
- 1908 - Oscar Judd, pitcher; All-Star (d. 1995)
- 1908 - Ray Wedgeworth, college coach (d. 1975)
- 1910 - Alex Sabo, catcher (d. 2001)
- 1911 - Bill Marshall, infielder (d. 1977)
- 1912 - Leon Revolinsky, minor league pitcher (d. 2008)
- 1913 - Mel Allen, announcer (d. 1996)
- 1914 - Marion Cain, pitcher (d. ????)
- 1914 - Charlie Humber, infielder (d. 1991)
- 1915 - Red Barrett, pitcher; All-Star (d. 1990)
- 1916 - Valentín Arévalo, Venezuelan national team pitcher
- 1916 - Calvin Clarke, outfielder (d. 1955)
- 1916 - Grover Froese, umpire (d. 1982)
- 1916 - Purnell Mincy, pitcher (d. 2003)
- 1917 - Augie Bergamo, outfielder (d. 1974)
- 1918 - Benny Zientara, infielder (d. 1985)
- 1923 - Harold Cooper, minor league executive (d. 2010)
- 1925 - Buddy Lively, pitcher (d. 2015)
- 1925 - George Nicolau, arbitrator (d. 2020)
- 1926 - Claudio Solano, minor league outfielder; Salón de la Fama
- 1927 - John Steadman, writer (d. 2001)
- 1931 - Joe Caffie, outfielder (d. 2011)
- 1933 - Tom Borland, pitcher (d. 2013)
- 1940 - Len Gabrielson, outfielder
- 1940 - Howard Lincoln, owner
- 1943 - Darrell Osteen, pitcher (d. 2017)
- 1944 - Carlos Sanchez, minor league pitcher
- 1945 - Bob Terlecki, pitcher
- 1947 - Donna Halper, author
- 1949 - Larry Fritz, pinch hitter (d. 2010)
- 1950 - Ken Levine, announcer
- 1950 - Fred Mims, minor league infielder
- 1951 - Larry Milbourne, infielder
- 1952 - Will McEnaney, pitcher
- 1953 - Dave Sims, broadcaster
- 1955 - Garry Conn, minor league pitcher (d. 2013)
- 1955 - Sun-hee Lee, KBO pitcher
- 1955 - Chien-Chen Tsai, Chinese Taipei national team outfielder
- 1956 - Dave Dravecky, pitcher; All-Star
- 1957 - Jaime Cocanower, pitcher
- 1959 - Frank Anderson, college coach
- 1959 - Mike King, minor league pitcher
- 1959 - Alejandro Sanchez, outfielder
- 1962 - Bruce Crabbe, minor league manager
- 1963 - John Marzano, catcher (d. 2008)
- 1964 - Keith Brown, pitcher
- 1964 - Bill McGuire, catcher
- 1965 - Chi-Hsun Hsieh, CPBL infielder
- 1965 - Barry Jones, minor league outfielder
- 1966 - Tracy Smith, college coach
- 1968 - Scott Scudder, pitcher
- 1969 - Craig Bjornson, coach
- 1969 - Paul Meade, minor league infielder
- 1970 - Corey Mee, college coach
- 1970 - Takashi Saitoh, pitcher; All-Star
- 1970 - Kelly Stinnett, catcher
- 1971 - Terry Powers, minor league pitcher
- 1972 - Justin Mashore, coach
- 1973 - Daniel Garibay, pitcher
- 1973 - Kenny Henderson, minor league pitcher
- 1973 - Steve McNair, drafted infielder
- 1973 - Julio Vinas, minor league catcher
- 1974 - Rob Penders, college coach
- 1975 - Damaso Marte, pitcher
- 1975 - Carlos Sievers, minor league infielder
- 1977 - Chao-Hang Cheng, CPBL infielder
- 1977 - Jake Uhlenhopp, umpire
- 1977 - Andy Yount, minor league player
- 1980 - John Schneider, coach
- 1981 - Brad Halsey, pitcher (d. 2014)
- 1983 - Callix Crabbe, infielder
- 1983 - Yi-Che Huang, CPBL pitcher
- 1984 - Marlinda Becker, Dutch women's national team infielder
- 1984 - Jacob Marceaux, minor league pitcher
- 1985 - Tyler Clippard, pitcher; All-Star
- 1985 - Lee Hyde, minor league pitcher
- 1985 - Tomohisa Ohtani, NPB pitcher
- 1985 - Ubaid Ullah, Pakistani national team outfielder
- 1986 - Travis Banwart, minor league pitcher
- 1987 - Felix Carrasco, minor league infielder
- 1987 - Quincy Martina, minor league outfielder
- 1987 - Philippe-Alexandre Valiquette, minor league pitcher
- 1988 - Paul Clemens, pitcher
- 1989 - Juan Graterol, catcher
- 1989 - Derek Norris, catcher; All-Star
- 1991 - Hector Alvarez, minor league catcher
- 1993 - Yermín Mercedes, catcher
- 1993 - Nick Pivetta, pitcher
- 1994 - Martin Andonov, Bulgarian national team pitcher
- 1994 - Feng Chen, China Baseball League pitcher
- 1994 - Eigoro Mogi, NPB infielder
- 1995 - Abiatal Avelino, infielder
- 1995 - Ian Clarkin, minor league pitcher
- 1996 - Jakob Syrén, Hoofdklasse pitcher
- 1997 - Ryan McKenna, outfielder
- 1997 - Ethan Small, pitcher
- 1998 - Beicker Mendoza, minor league infielder
- 1999 - Johnaikel Acosta, Hoofdklasse pitcher
- 2000 - Gabriel Moreno, catcher
- 2001 - Brooks Lee, infielder
- 2001 - Emiliano Teodo, minor league pitcher
- 2001 - Yan-Cheng Wang, Taiwan national team pitcher
- 2001 - Adam Zacko, Slovakian national team outfielder-pitcher
- 2002 - Mac Guscette, minor league catcher
- 2002 - Nolan Schanuel, infielder
Deaths[edit]
- 1875 - Charlie Hodes, catcher/outfielder (b. 1848)
- 1890 - Ed Greer, outfielder (b. 1863)
- 1906 - Yale Murphy, infielder (b. 1869)
- 1909 - William Walker, umpire (b. 1856)
- 1920 - Andy Sullivan, infielder (b. 1884)
- 1921 - Jumbo Davis, infielder (b. 1861)
- 1926 - Gil Whitehouse, outfielder (b. 1893)
- 1930 - Pete Kilduff, infielder (b. 1893)
- 1945 - Ervin Curtis, outfielder (b. 1861)
- 1946 - Woody Wagenhorst, infielder (b. 1863)
- 1948 - Mordecai Brown, pitcher, manager; Hall of Famer (b. 1876)
- 1951 - Harry Thompson, pitcher (b. 1889)
- 1952 - Ed Kobesky, minor league outfielder and manager (b. 1916)
- 1955 - Harry Hartsell, college coach (b. 1890)
- 1956 - Bill Bishop, pitcher (b. 1900)
- 1959 - Eddie Higgins, pitcher (b. 1888)
- 1966 - Jack Coffey, infielder (b. 1887)
- 1966 - Bill Stumpf, infielder (b. 1892)
- 1967 - Jimmy Johnston, infielder (b. 1889)
- 1968 - Bill Lelivelt, pitcher (b. 1884)
- 1970 - Ruben Jones, outfielder, manager (b. 1894)
- 1970 - Walt Laskowski, scout (b. 1913)
- 1971 - Bill Reinhart, college coach (b. 1896)
- 1973 - Paul Johnson, outfielder (b. 1896)
- 1973 - Ida Schnall, actor (b. 1888)
- 1976 - Eusebio Gonzalez, infielder (b. 1892)
- 1980 - Jelly Jackson, infielder (b. 1909)
- 1984 - Loren Babe, infielder (b. 1928)
- 1986 - Fox Blevins, infielder (b. 1910)
- 2002 - Gene Cook, minor league executive (b. 1932)
- 2005 - Ángel Scull, minor league outfielder (b. 1928)
- 2008 - Hal Erickson, pitcher (b. 1919)
- 2009 - Harry Lamprich, minor league catcher, manager (b. 1920)
- 2011 - Brad Driesen, college coach (b. 1943)
- 2011 - Cecil Kaiser, pitcher (b. 1920)
- 2014 - Christian Franco, minor league outfielder (b. 1977)
- 2014 - Jim Fregosi, infielder, manager; All-Star (b. 1942)
- 2015 - Mickey Abarbanel, minor league pitcher (b. 1945)
- 2016 - Dick Urlage, umpire (b. 1933)
- 2018 - Richard Maher, minor league pitcher (b. 1919)
- 2019 - Tommy Giordano, infielder (b. 1925)
- 2019 - Rocky Krsnich, infielder (b. 1927)
- 2022 - Bob Conley, pitcher (b. 1934)
- 2022 - LaMont Geiger, USA national team pitcher (b. 1934)
- 2024 - Don Gullett, pitcher (b. 1951)
We're Social...for Statheads
Every Sports Reference Social Media Account
Site Last Updated:
Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction?
Subscribe to our Free Email Newsletter
Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREE
Your All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database
Do you have a sports website? Or write about sports? We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Find out more.