March 19
From BR Bullpen
| Stats of players who were born this day | |
| Stats of players who died on this day | |
| Standings on this day | |
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| Today in Baseball History | |
Events, births and deaths that occurred on March 19.
Events[edit]
- 1871 - Joseph Jerome (Joe) McGinnity is born in Cornwall Township, Henry County, Illinois. A right-handed pitcher, McGinnity will gain notoriety by winning both ends of doubleheaders, and in 1903, he will pull off the feat three times in a single month, winning all six games. In a ten-season major league career, he will amass 246 wins, including 31 in 1903, 35 in 1904, and seven seasons with 20-plus wins. McGinnity will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1946.
- 1889 - In the American Association, the Columbus Solons finally resolve their long-disputed attempt to sign third baseman Spud Johnson by paying the Kansas City Cowboys $500.
- 1927 - Don Richard (Richie) Ashburn is born in Tilden, Nebraska. A five-time All-Star, Ashburn will be a solid center fielder and a solid hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies. He will hit over .300 during nine of his 15 major league seasons, twice capturing the National League batting title and conclude his career with a .308 lifetime average. Following his playing career, he will call Phillies games for more than three decades. Ashburn will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee in 1995.
- 1940 - In an exhibition game that might be a spring training record of sorts, the Triple-A Kansas City Blues pound the Washington Senators, 22 - 5. The Blues collect 23 hits for 46 total bases. Frenchy Bordagaray starts the scoring with a home run in the 1st inning; Jack Saltzgaver hits three triples in three at-bats with five RBI. Another familiar name, Johnny Lindell, yields three hits in three innings on the mound for the Blues.
- 1941 - Recently released by the St. Louis Cardinals, pitcher Paul Dean signs a contract with the New York Giants. After a 4-4 record, the Giants will release him too.
- 1951 - Detroit Tigers player representative Fred Hutchinson asks that players be allowed a say in choosing the new baseball commissioner.
- 1955 - The Chicago Cubs sell pitcher Dave Cole to the Philadelphia Phillies. Apprised of the sale, Cole remarks, "That's too bad. They're the only team I can beat."
- 1960 - All-Star catcher Sammy White announces he will retire rather than report to the Cleveland Indians, where he was traded by the Boston Red Sox. Out in 1960, White will return to play his final two seasons with the Milwaukee Braves and Philadelphia Phillies in 1961 and 1962.
- 1961 - The Boston Red Sox announce that rookie Carl Yastrzemski will start the regular season in left field, succeeding the legendary Ted Williams. Yastrzemski will remain a fixture in the Red Sox's lineup for the next 23 years and will gain election to the Hall of Fame in 1989.
- 1965:
- At age 38, Chicago Cubs radio announcer Jack Quinlan dies in an auto accident during Cubs spring camp in Arizona. Quinlan was returning from a golf outing.
- John Henry (Pop) Lloyd dies in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the age of 80. Considered one of the best black players of the deadball era, Lloyd was a line drive hitter whose extraordinary skills at shortstop drew favorable comparisons to Honus Wagner. From 1906 through 1931 he played for 12 Negro League teams, primary with the New York Lincoln Giants. Lloyd later became a player-manager, and was given the affectionate nickname, "Pop," by the young players he mentored. Lloyd will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the by Negro Leagues Committee in 1977.
- 1970 - In Arizona spring training, the Cleveland Indians lose Ken Harrelson when he fractures his leg; he will miss most of the season.
- 1974 - In a five-player, three-team deal involving the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, and New York Yankees, pitcher Jim Perry joins his pitching brother, Gaylord, in Cleveland. Detroit sends Perry to the Indians and Ed Farmer to the Yankees, who send Jerry Moses to Detroit, and Cleveland sends Rick Sawyer and Walt Williams to the Yankees. This season will mark the Perrys' first as teammates during their major league careers.
- 1977 - The Oakland Athletics sell pitcher Paul Lindblad to the Texas Rangers for $400,000. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, unlike his previous Oakland A's decision (regarding Joe Rudi, Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue), does not void the deal as not being in the best interest of baseball.
- 1981 - Toronto Blue Jays 3B and All-American basketball player Danny Ainge drives the length of the court for a lay-up with two seconds to play, giving Brigham Young University a 51-50 upset victory over seventh-ranked University of Notre Dame in the NCAA East Regional semifinals. Ainge will hit .187 in 86 games for Toronto this season, retire, then sign to play for the NBA Boston Celtics.
- 1988 - Suguru Egawa has his retirement game in the first contest ever played at the Tokyo Dome.
- 1989 - With outfielder Dave Winfield sidelined, the Yankees trade catcher Joel Skinner and a minor leaguer to the Indians for outfielder Mel Hall. Winfield will miss all of the season after undergoing back surgery next week for central disc herniation.
- 1998 - Rupert Murdoch purchases the Los Angeles Dodgers from Peter O'Malley for a reported $311 million, the highest price ever paid for a US sports franchise.
- 1999 - The career of New York Mets pitcher Paul Wilson is derailed again when he suffers a partially torn ligament in his pitching elbow while warming up before a three-inning stint in a minor league game. An MRI will show a partial tear of a ligament in his elbow, and on March 30th he will undergo Tommy John surgery which will sideline him for the year.
- 2001 - The San Diego Padres sign Rickey Henderson and send him to Triple-A to get in shape. For Henderson, it is his first time in the minors since a three-game rehabilitation stint 16 years ago.
- 2005 - After avoiding salary arbitration by signing a one-year deal worth $10.5 million in the off-season, Lance Berkman agrees to a six-year, $85 million contract with the Houston Astros. The three-time All-Star outfielder will be an Astro until 2010, with the club holding the option for an additional year.
- 2006 - When the Oakland Athletics open their season at home against the New York Yankees next month, the entire upper deck will be covered by green tarpaulins, making McAfee Coliseum the midget of the major leagues in terms of seating capacity.
- 2008 - Yulieski González sets a new Cuban Serie Nacional record with his 15th consecutive victory of the season. Lázaro Valle had won 25 straight games over multiple years. González is now 15-0 in the 2007-2008 Serie Nacional.
- 2009 - Japan beats South Korea, 6 - 2, in their fourth matchup of the 2009 World Baseball Classic to earn the Championship. Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, in a repeat of 2006.
- 2010 - Oney Guillen, the son of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, is asked to resign from his job as a member of the team's minor league department because of uncomplimentary remarks about the organization which he made on his "Twitter" account. Says Ozzie about the incident: "It's hard when you see your kids and tell them, 'I just told the people you got to resign.' I think that's the hardest thing I ever did in my life."
- 2011:
- A Mexican League record 28,753 fans turn out at Foro Sol Ballpark, but the Mexico City Red Devils drop a 8 - 6 decision in ten innings. Doug Clark of the Quintana Roo Tigers delivers the go-ahead double in the 10th off Juan Sandoval. Sandy Nin gets the win and Jorge Campillo the save.
- Giants closer Brian Wilson has a strained oblique muscle and is likely to miss the beginning of the season.
- The 2011 CPBL season begins with a 10 - 4 win by the Brother Elephants over the Sinon Bulls. Chien-Fu Yang loses his fourth Opening Day decision, a record, while Orlando Roman gets the win.
- 2012 - New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, facing a $300 million lawsuit, agree to pay $162 million into a trust fund for victims of Bernard Madoff's fraudulent investment scheme, thus averting a trial. The payoff is because the Mets were among the few investors who made money out of their investments in Madoff's fund, while thousands of smaller investors lost everything when the whole house of cards collapsed in 2009. Wilpon and Katz will put up $29 million of their own money in the settlement.
- 2013 - The Dominican Republic national team wins the 2013 World Baseball Classic, topping Puerto Rico, 3 - 0, in the finale. Samuel Deduno, Octavio Dotel, Santiago Casilla and Fernando Rodney combine on a three-hit shutout, with Rodney notching his seventh save of the tournament for the unbeaten Dominicans. Edwin Encarnación's two-run double off Giancarlo Alvarado is the biggest hit of the night. Robinson Canó hits .469 with six runs and six RBI in eight games to be named MVP of the Classic; he sets a new Classic record for hits with 15, breaking Nobuhiko Matsunaka's record.
- 2014 - A Cactus League game between the Reds and Royals is abruptly stopped in the 6th inning when Reds closer Aroldis Chapman is struck in the face by a line drive off the bat of Salvador Perez. Chapman is taken off the field on a stretcher, with fractures above his eye and in his nose, as well as multiple lacerations. The two managers then elect not to continue play, with the blessing of home plate umpire Chris Guccione.
- 2016 - In the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, host Panama overcomes an early 3 - 0 lead by the underdog French national team before escaping with a 7 - 4 win that will have them face Colombia in the group finals. In the other pool, Nicaragua needs extra innings to defeat a pesky Czech team, 7 - 6. Nicaragua strikes out a combined 18 batters in the contest.
- 2018:
- Putting financial considerations ahead of on-field competitiveness, the Braves send top prospect Ronald Acuna to the minors, even though the Baseball America 2017 Minor League Player of the Year has been red hot in spring training, hitting .432 with 4 homers, and is obviously ready for the Show. However, the Braves want to delay the start of his arbitration clock by a year by keeping him away from the bigs for at least a couple of weeks.
- Ten days before Opening Day, the Dodgers suffer a big setback when 3B Justin Turner breaks his wrist after being hit by a pitch in the 1st inning of a Cactus League game.
- 2019 - The Angels sign OF Mike Trout to a ten-year extension that will pay him $426.5 million through 2030. This represents the largest contract ever and just about ensures that the greatest player in franchise history will spend his entire career as an Angel.
- 2022 - Jorge Soler, the MVP of last year's World Series, signs a three-year free agent deal with the Marlins worth $36 million.
- 2023 - Team USA is the first finalist in the 2023 World Baseball Classic as they pummel Cuba, 14 - 2, in the semi-finals. Adam Wainwright allows the first four batters to reach before he, Miles Mikolas and Aaron Loup hold Cuba to one run the rest of the way. Trea Turner goes deep twice from the nine slot and drives in four; his four homers this Classic move him within one of Seung-yeop Lee's 17-year-old World Baseball Classic record for homers in a single tourney. Paul Goldschmidt and Cedric Mullins also homer for the US, Goldschmidt driving in four as well, while Mookie Betts and Turner each collect three hits.
Births[edit]
- 1862 - Billy Colgan, catcher (d. 1895)
- 1863 - Skyrocket Smith, infielder (d. 1916)
- 1871 - Joe McGinnity, pitcher; Hall of Famer (d. 1929)
- 1874 - Roy Evans, pitcher (d. ????)
- 1881 - Billy Maharg, infielder/outfielder (d. 1953)
- 1884 - Clyde Engle, infielder (d. 1939)
- 1884 - Bobby Messenger, outfielder (d. 1951)
- 1887 - Tex Covington, pitcher (d. 1931)
- 1889 - Walt Hirsch, minor league pitcher and manager (d. ????)
- 1890 - Julián Fabelo, utility player (d. ????)
- 1891 - Rube Schauer, pitcher (d. 1957)
- 1894 - Red Torkelson, pitcher (d. 1964)
- 1894 - Bill Wambsganss, infielder (d. 1985)
- 1897 - Elmer Bowman, pinch hitter (d. 1985)
- 1902 - Fred Bell, pitcher (d. 1936)
- 1904 - John Fitzpatrick, coach (d. 1990)
- 1908 - Gee Walker, outfielder; All-Star (d. 1981)
- 1910 - Subby Byas, catcher; All-Star (d. 1985)
- 1910 - Robert Gaston, catcher (d. 2000)
- 1915 - Joe Gonzales, pitcher (d. 1996)
- 1915 - Dom Rosselli, college coach (d. 2008)
- 1918 - Shirley Jameson, AAGPBL outfielder (d. 1993)
- 1925 - Tom Chandler, college coach (d. 2011)
- 1926 - Bob Davids, writer (d. 2002)
- 1927 - Richie Ashburn, outfielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer (d. 1997)
- 1931 - Al Salerno, umpire (d. 2007)
- 1931 - Paul Smith, infielder (d. 2019)
- 1935 - Fritz Brickell, infielder (d. 1965)
- 1936 - Karl Heron, minor league infielder; scout (d. 2007)
- 1940 - Pete Smith, pitcher
- 1944 - Joe Maher, umpire
- 1947 - John Guthrie, minor league infielder (d. 2021)
- 1947 - Garry Jestadt, infielder
- 1947 - Angel Mangual, outfielder (d. 2021)
- 1947 - Don Rose, pitcher
- 1948 - Paul Powell, outfielder
- 1952 - Perry Hill, coach
- 1953 - Tim Corcoran, outfielder
- 1954 - Nobuhisa Arai, Japanese national team coach
- 1955 - Mike Norris, pitcher; All-Star
- 1956 - Yu-Bin Chen, CPBL manager (d. 2002)
- 1957 - Jim Gabella, minor league infielder and manager
- 1958 - Randy Ford, minor league pitcher
- 1958 - Tim Purpura, General Manager
- 1960 - Jun Kawabata, NPB pitcher
- 1962 - Ivan Calderon, outfielder; All-Star (d. 2003)
- 1962 - Kunji Yonesaki, NPB infielder
- 1963 - Chuck Jackson, infielder
- 1964 - Jeff Hamilton, infielder
- 1964 - Jim Orsag, minor league infielder
- 1966 - Mike Erb, minor league pitcher
- 1966 - Tony Scruggs, outfielder
- 1966 - Barry Blackwell, minor league catcher
- 1968 - Pete Young, pitcher
- 1969 - Chun-Yu Huang, CPBL catcher
- 1969 - Min-ho Kim, KBO infielder
- 1971 - D.T. Cromer, infielder
- 1973 - Ming-Chuan Chuang, CPBL infielder
- 1973 - Hung-Ming Hung, TML infielder
- 1973 - Jeong-gil Lee, KBO pitcher
- 1973 - Scott Mitchell, minor league pitcher
- 1974 - Rocky Coppinger, pitcher
- 1974 - Jason LaRue, catcher
- 1977 - Dave Ross, catcher; manager
- 1978 - Tom Gillespie, scout
- 1979 - Iouri Perepelitsa, Russian national team infielder
- 1979 - Craig Pycock, Bundesliga utility man
- 1981 - Jose Castillo, infielder (d. 2018)
- 1981 - César Quintero, minor league catcher
- 1982 - Ryan Goleski, minor league outfielder
- 1982 - Landon Powell, catcher
- 1984 - Erik Arnesen, minor league pitcher
- 1984 - Matt Downs, infielder
- 1984 - Ryan Khoury, minor league infielder
- 1985 - Walter Aguilar, Honduran national team catcher
- 1985 - Romain Martinez-Scott, Division Elite player
- 1986 - Moisés Mena, Honduran national team outfielder
- 1988 - Richard Holgate, South African national team outfielder
- 1988 - Clayton Kershaw, pitcher; All-Star
- 1989 - Dustin Biell, minor league outfielder
- 1990 - Juvenal Lara, minor league catcher
- 1991 - Josh Elander, minor league outfielder
- 1991 - Tommy Nance, pitcher
- 1991 - Yeixon Ruíz, minor league infielder
- 1991 - Cory Spangenberg, infielder
- 1992 - Jose Valdivia, minor league pitcher
- 1993 - Ka-Chun Chiu, Hong Kong national team outfielder
- 1993 - Arturo Martoral, Puerto Rican national team pitcher
- 1993 - Darién Núñez, pitcher
- 1994 - Tzu-Peng Huang, CPBL pitcher
- 1995 - Graham Spraker, Great Britain national team pitcher
- 1996 - Kai-Wei Lin, minor league pitcher
- 1998 - Michael Bienlien, minor league pitcher
- 1998 - José Butto, pitcher
- 2000 - Mike Vasil, minor league pitcher
Deaths[edit]
- 1902 - Tom Burns, infielder, manager (b. 1857)
- 1926 - Bill Hutchison, pitcher (b. 1859)
- 1928 - Tom Lovett, pitcher (b. 1863)
- 1931 - Joe Gannon, pitcher (b. 1877)
- 1933 - Mike Drennan, scout, minor league player
- 1934 - Ray Jansen, infielder (b. 1889)
- 1936 - George Newell, infielder (b. 1855)
- 1937 - Otto Williams, infielder (b. 1877)
- 1939 - Elgin Jones, pre-MLB player (b. 1852)
- 1944 - Joe Dunn, catcher (b. 1885)
- 1944 - John Kelly, outfielder (b. 1879)
- 1947 - James Gilmore, Federal League President (b. 1876)
- 1949 - Truck Eagan, infielder (b. 1877)
- 1952 - Lefty Thomas, pitcher (b. 1903)
- 1954 - Charlie Babb, infielder (b. 1873)
- 1954 - Frank Fahey, outfielder (b. 1896)
- 1955 - Ed Hovlik, pitcher (b. 1891)
- 1955 - George Stultz, pitcher (b. 1873)
- 1963 - Arista DeHaven, minor league outfielder (b. 1881)
- 1964 - Pop Lloyd, infielder; manager; Hall of Famer (b. 1884)
- 1966 - Army Cooper, pitcher (b. 1899)
- 1968 - Rafael Almeida, infielder (b. 1887)
- 1969 - Josh Swindell, pitcher (b. 1883)
- 1969 - Lonnie Torian, pitcher (b. 1895)
- 1970 - J.L. Thornton, minor league infielder (b. 1900)
- 1972 - Gordie Hinkle, catcher (b. 1905)
- 1973 - Walt Leverenz, pitcher (b. 1888)
- 1974 - June Greene, pitcher (b. 1899)
- 1974 - Tony Murray, outfielder (b. 1904)
- 1976 - Bert Gallia, pitcher (b. 1891)
- 1977 - Red Money, college coach (b. 1901)
- 1979 - Jack Matchett, pitcher (b. 1908)
- 1981 - Zinn Beck, infielder (b. 1885)
- 1981 - Frank Lane, General Manager (b. 1895)
- 1983 - Frank Oceak, coach (b. 1912)
- 1985 - Fujio Nagasawa, NPB infielder (b. 1904)
- 1987 - Nicholas Jones, umpire (b. 1905)
- 1989 - Joe Malay, infielder (b. 1905)
- 1994 - Harvey Abar, minor league pitcher (b. 1906)
- 1998 - Roy Parker, minor league pitcher-outfielder (b. 1926)
- 2000 - Joanne Weaver, AAGPBL outfielder (b. 1935)
- 2000 - Dewey Williams, catcher (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Joe Buzas, infielder (b. 1919)
- 2003 - Shoichi Ono, NPB pitcher (b. 1933)
- 2007 - Al Lynch, scout (b. ????)
- 2008 - Bill Prentice, college coach (b. ????)
- 2011 - Tom McAvoy, pitcher (b. 1936)
- 2011 - Bob Rush, pitcher; All-Star (b. 1925)
- 2018 - Ev Hall, minor league infielder and manager (b. 1926)
- 2018 - Dick LeMay, pitcher (b. 1938)
- 2019 - Chuck Harmon, infielder (b. 1924)
- 2019 - Lloyd Pearson, minor league outfielder and manager (b. 1922)
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