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Happy birthday to Arodys Vizcaino*, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1984 – Ryne Sandberg wins the National League MVP Award, becoming the first Chicago Cubs player to do so since Ernie Banks in 1959. Sandberg hit .314 with 19 home runs and 32 stolen bases and led the NL in runs (114) and triples (19), and other stories as well.
Today in baseball history
:- 1958 – Mayor Robert Wagner of New York announces preliminary plans for a third major league. Chairman William Shea, of what will become the Continental League, says it is apparent that the National League is going to ignore New York City.
- 1968 – St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson edges Pete Rose to win the National League MVP Award.
- 1974 – Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey is selected National League MVP, after he hit for a .312 average with 21 home runs and 111 RBI.
- 1979 – For the first time in major league history, two players share the Most Valuable Player Award. The National League co-winners are Willie Stargell, the spiritual leader of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who hit .281 with 32 home runs, and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez, who led the NL in runs (116), doubles (48) and batting average (.344).
- 1989 – After 16 years with the same team, outfielder Jim Rice is released by the Boston Red Sox. Rice retires from the game with 382 home runs and a .298 average. He will eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame in 2009.
- 1990 – Oakland Athletics pitcher Bob Welch is named the 1990 American League Cy Young Award winner. His 27 wins were the most in the major leagues since Steve Carlton in 1972.
- 1995 – Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux wins the National League Cy Young Award for an unprecedented fourth straight time. Maddux had a remarkable 19-2 record with a 1.63 ERA, the second year his ERA is below 1.80.
- 1995 – Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin is named National League MVP.
- 1996 – San Diego Padres third baseman Ken Caminiti becomes the fourth unanimous winner of the National League MVP Award. Caminiti set team records for home runs (40), RBI (130) and slugging percentage (.621), while leading the Padres to the NL West division title for the first time since 1984.
- 1997 – Larry Walker of the Colorado Rockies is named National League MVP, becoming the first Canadian in either league to win the honor. Walker, who hit .366 with 49 home runs and 130 RBI, caps off a big week for Canada. Earlier in the week, pitchers Roger Clemens of the Toronto Blue Jays and Pedro Martinez of the Montreal Expos each won the Cy Young Award.
- 2000 – Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox becomes the first pitcher to win the American League Cy Young Award unanimously in consecutive years. Martinez, who posted an 18-6 mark with a 1.74 ERA, has copped the “top pitcher” honor three of the last four seasons.
- 2001 – Pitcher Randy Johnson, who posted a 21-6 record with a 2.49 ERA and 372 strikeouts, wins his fourth Cy Young Award, his third straight as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Previously, Johnson also won the honor in 1995 with Seattle, and is the second pitcher to win three consecutive Cy Young awards, joining Greg Maddux who won four in a row from 1992–1995.
- 2007 – CC Sabathia wins the 2007 American League Cy Young Award, beating out Josh Beckett. Sabathia is the first African-American Cy Young Award winner since Dwight Gooden in 1985 and the first African-American winner in the American League since Vida Blue in 1971.
- 2008 – Cliff Lee wins the 2008 American League Cy Young Award, taking 24 of 28 first-place votes. Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA for the Cleveland Indians. He led the league in ERA and wins. Lee is the second straight Indians left-hander to win the award, following CC Sabathia in 2007.
- 2013 – Max Scherzer of the Detroit Tigers, the only 20-game winner in the majors last season, wins the 2013 American League Cy Young Award, while Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is the National League winner after leading the circuit in both ERA and strikeouts.
- 2014 – OF Mike Trout of the Angels is the unanimous winner of the 2014 American League Most Valuable Player Award, while P Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers adds the 2014 National League Most Valuable Player Award to the Cy Young Award he collected a day earlier.
- 2017 – Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr passes away in Junction City, OR at the age of 99. He was the Oldest Living MLB Player and also the last surviving player to have played in the 1930s.
- 2017 – OF Aaron Judge, who led the AL in home runs, is the unanimous winner of the 2017 American League Rookie of the Year Award, while 1B Cody Bellinger is also a unanimous winner in the National League.
- 2023 – Both winners of the Rookie of the Year Award this year are unanimous selections. Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles wins the award in the American League and Corbin Carroll wins it in the National League, the first player from the Arizona Diamondbacks to be so honored.
- 2025 – There are a lot of familiar faces in the awards given out by Major League Baseball today: both winners of the MVP Award are repeat winners from last year, with Shohei Ohtani winning by unanimous vote in the NL and Aaron Judge doing so in the AL, albeit in a close race with second-place finisher Cal Raleigh. Both MVPs are also the repeat winners of the Hank Aaron Award. The winners of the MLB Reliever of the Year Award are also previous winners, with Edwin Diaz winning the NL’s Trevor Hoffman Award and Aroldis Chapman winning the AL’s Mariano Rivera Award, each having done so on one previous occasion, with Diaz also having been a winner in the AL.
Cubs Birthdays: Arodys Vizcaíno*, Wade Miley, Steve Bilko, Bob Garbark, Johnny
Kling. Also notable: Buck O’Neil HOF.
Today in history:
- 1789 – In a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, Benjamin Franklin writes “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
- 1980 – US spacecraft Voyager 1 sends back first close-up pictures of Saturn during its fly-by.
- 1982 – Vietnam Veterans Memorial opens in Washington, D.C., featuring the names of over 58,000 US soldiers killed or missing in the Vietnam War.
- 1992 – Riddick Bowe wins the undisputed world heavyweight boxing crown with a unanimous points decision over Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas; first of their three meetings.
- 2001 – Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira‘s fifth studio album and first English language album, “Laundry Service”, is released.
- 2002 – Eminem releases the single ‘Lose Yourself’ from the soundtrack of “8 Mile,” the first rap song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
- 2015 – Terror attacks in Paris at bars, restaurants, the national football stadium and Bataclan music venue leave 130 dead. Isis claim responsibility.
- 2020 – Kylie Minogue becomes the first woman to top the UK album chart over five consecutive decades with “Disco”
*pictured.
