What is the story about?
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.
“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.
Today in baseball history:
- 1918 – Barney Dreyfuss of the Rules Committee launches a campaign to ban the spitter. He will succeed in 1919. (2)
- 1960 – Demolition of Ebbets Field begins. Lucy Monroe sings the National Anthem, and Roy Campanella is given an urn of dirt from behind home plate. (1,2)
- 1964 – The San Francisco Giants acquire P Masanori Murakami, 3B Tatsuhiko Tanaka, and C Hiroshi Takahashi on a player development deal with the Nankai Hawks, who own rights to all three. They are the first Japanese natives ever to play for American teams. All three are assigned to the Magic Valley Cowboys (Pioneer League). Although none of the three are considered top prospects, Murakami will confound everyone by reaching the major leagues by September after an outstanding season in the minors. (2)
- 1976 – Major League owners announce that spring training will not open until a new labor contract is agreed upon, thus decreeing a lockout. (1,2)
- 1988 – A committee of Chicago aldermen vote 7-2 to allow the Cubs to install lights and play up to 18 night games a year at Wrigley Field. The Cubs had feared losing the 1990 All-Star Game, as well as future postseason and World Series games, if lights were not installed. (1,2)
- 1990 – Despite the owners dropping their arbitration and minimum salary proposals, spring training camps remain closed. (2)
- 2000 – Chicago Cubs manager Don Baylor names four captains – first baseman Mark Grace, right fielder Sammy Sosa, pitcher Kevin Tapani and reliever Rick Aguilera. The quartet will be the Cubs’ first captains since the 1960s and early 1970s when Ron Santo held the position. (2)
Cubs Birthdays: Eric Yelding, Brian Duensing. Also notable: Sparky Anderson HOF.
Today in history:
- 1455 – Johannes Gutenberg prints his first Bible [estimated date] .
- 1540 – Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s expedition sets off from Mexico in search of the Seven Cities of Gold (Cibola).
- 1782 Engineer James Watt’s patent for a rotary motion for the steam engine (his sun-and-planet gear) is granted.
- 1847 – Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico; Zachary Taylor leads mostly volunteer troops against larger Mexican Army force; Mexico retreats, both sides claim victory.
- 1886 – The Times of London newspaper publishes the world’s first classified ad.
- 1896 – Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield.
- 1904 – US acquires control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.
- 1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by American chemist Glenn T. Seaborg at Berkeley
- 1954 – First mass inoculation against polio with the Jonas Salk vaccine takes place at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Common sources:
- (1) — Today in Baseball History.
- (2) — Baseball Reference.
- (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
- (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
- (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
- (6) — Wikipedia.
- (7) — The British Museum
- (8) — For world history.
*pictured.
Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and
that is why we ask for verifiable sources, in order to help correct the record.
