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Today in baseball history: Gary Matthews Jr. is traded to the Cubs, and other stories.
- 1938 – Commissioner Landis frees 74 St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, among them Pete Reiser, in yet another attempt to halt the farm system cover-up. Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Larry MacPhail makes a pact with his St. Louis counterpart, Branch Rickey, to take the as-yet unknown Reiser and swap him back in the future, but the young outfielder’s ability is too great to hide.
- 1968 – In a spring training game, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jim Ellis creates the “Lip Pass” by going to his mouth on a 3 and 1 count to issue an intentional walk. Cubs manager Leo Durocher, who was opposed to the new strict enforcement of the rule preventing pitchers from going to their mouth while on the rubber, is warned not to repeat the Lip pass or he’ll be fined. He doesn’t, but the rule is relaxed.
- 1974 – The Chicago Cubs send All-Star outfielder Jim Hickman to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for pitcher Scipio Spinks.
- 2000 – The Chicago Cubs send relief pitcher Rodney Myers to the San Diego Padres in exchange for outfielder Gary Matthews Jr.*
- 2015 – Hillerich & Bradsby, which has manufactured the iconic Louisville Slugger bats for 130 years, sells the brand to the rival Wilson Sporting Goods company for $70 million. The bats will continue to be produced in Louisville, KY and the Louisville Slugger Museum will also remain open.
- 2016 – In his first professional pitching appearance since being freed from prison after serving 51 months for driving under the influence, driving without a license and causing grievous bodily injury, former Number One Pick in the 2004 amateur draft Matt Bush has a spectacular outing, flashing a fastball that hits 98 mph and a devastating curveball in pitching two hitless innings for the Rangers against the Cubs.
- 2018 – 2018 – A few lines in a 2,000 page, $1.3 trillion spending bill passed by Congress exempts Major League Baseball from certain terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The consequences are that minor leaguers need no longer be paid for spring training, off-season workouts or any overtime during the season. The change, entitled the “Save America’s Pastime Act”, a misnomer, is the result of active lobbying by MLB to preempt a lawsuit filed four years ago in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco, CA by former minor league player Garrett Broshuis on behalf of three active players that accuses teams of systematically violating labor laws. MLB is still liable for such violations in past years, however.
Cubs Birthdays: Peaches Graham, Cy Slapnicka, Johnny Moore, Pat Bourque, Mike Remlinger, Joel Peralta.
Today in history:
- 1066 – 18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
- 1708 – Pretender to the English throne James III attempts to land at Firth of Forth, Scotland, but is turned away by the British Royal Navy.
- 1775 – Patrick Henry proclaims “Give me liberty or give me death” in speech in favor of Virginian troops joining US Revolutionary war.
- 1794 – Polish general Tadeusz Kościuszko returns to Kraków, Poland to led the Kościuszko Uprising against Russian and Prussian control.
- 1840 – Draper takes 1st successful photo of the Moon (daguerreotype).
- 1857 – Elisha Otis installs his first elevator at 488 Broadway in New York City
- 1901 – Dame Nellie Melba reveals secret of her now famous toast.
*pictured.
