February in Baseball History
Published by Evan Wagner
Mar 01, 2024
Interesting Baseball History for the month of February:
1900 - Rival forces fight for control of the Union Park Ball Grounds in Baltimore. John McGraw's men camp around a fire at third base. Ned Hanlon, his former manager in Baltimore in the 1890s, now manager of Brooklyn and still president of the Baltimore club in the N.L., has forces camped around first base.
1901 - The N.L. Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes, except after two strikes. To cut the cost of lost foul balls, the committee urges that batsmen who foul off good strikes are to be disciplined.
1908 - The sacrifice fly rule is adopted. No time at bat is charged if a run scores after the catch of a fly ball. The rule will be repealed in 1931, then reinstated (or changed) several times before gaining permanent acceptance in 1954.
1909 - The Boston Red Sox trade Cy Young, who won 21 games at age 41 in 1908, to the Cleveland Naps for pitchers Charlie Chech and Jack Ryan and $12,500.
1916 - The N.L. votes down a proposal by Charlie Ebbets of Brooklyn to impose a limit of 2,000 seats that clubs can sell for 25 cents. Boston has 10,000 such seats, St. Louis 9,000, Philadelphia 6,500 and Cincinnati 4,000.
1916 - The N.L. votes down a proposal by the Giants, Braves, and Cubs to increase the club player limit from 21 to 22. (The Reds want to decrease it to 20.)
1917 - The Red Sox sell Smokey Joe Wood, his arm dead at 26, to Cleveland for $15,000. He will become an outfielder after one last, losing start on the mound, and play five more years.
1920 - Frank Home Run Baker's wife, Ottalee, dies at 31, leaving two small children. Baker will miss the entire season to stay home and take care of the family, returning in 1921 to hit .294.
1920 - The Joint Rules Committee bans all foreign substances or other alterations to the ball by pitchers, including saliva, resin, talcum powder, paraffin, and the shine and emery balls. A pitcher caught cheating will be suspended for ten days. The A.L. allows each club to name just two pitchers who will be allowed to use the pitch for one more season. The N.L. allows each club to name all its spitball pitchers. No pitchers other than those designated will be permitted to use it in 1920, and none at all after 1920.
1925 - At the American League meeting, a plan is adopted to alternate the site of future World Series openers by league rather than deciding it by a coin toss, with Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 in one park and 3, 4, 5 in the other, unless a ban on Sunday baseball interferes in one city.
1929 - The Red Sox announce they will play Sunday games (allowed for the first time in Boston) at Braves Field, because Fenway Park is located too close to a church.
1931 - The Chicago White Sox and the New York Giants become the first major league teams to meet in a night game. They collect 23 hits in a 10-inning exhibition game played at Buffs Stadium in Houston.
1934 - George Lee Anderson is born in Bridgewater, South Dakota. He will earn the nickname Sparky, play 152 games for the Phillies in 1959, and never play another major league game. He will, however, win 2,194 games and capture world championships in both the N.L. and A.L. as manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers.
1935 - Babe Ruth is released by the Yankees to sign with the Boston Braves for $20,000 and a share in the team's profits. In April he draws the largest Opening Day crowd in the Braves' history.
1942 - At a special meeting to discuss wartime regulations, MLB owners decide to allow 14 night games for each club, with Washington allowed 21. Two All-Star Games will be played, one with a military All-Star team. Curfews are set for night games with no inning to start after 12:50 A.M.
1942 - The Braves get Tommy Holmes from the Yankees for Buddy Hassett and Gene Moore in one of the best trades in Braves history. Hassett will hit .284, then join the Navy and never make it back to the major leagues. The much-traveled Moore will never play for the Yanks. Holmes couldn't break into New York's all-star outfield, but he will be a .302 career hitter and help the Braves win the 1948 pennant.
1943 - Joe DiMaggio, drawing $43,500 from the Yankees, trades in his salary for the $50 a month of an army enlisted man. DiMaggio, in his customary quiet style, gives no notice to the club.
1944 - Fifteen-year-old pitcher Joe Nuxhall signs a contract with the Cincinnati Reds just one day after playing in a high school basketball game.
1944 - The leagues meet in New York to discuss postwar action. They decide that players with war service will be guaranteed a 30-day trial with pay as well as restrictions on their release or assignment. Military service will count as playing time.
1949 - Joe DiMaggio signs with the Yankees for $100,000, the first six-figure contract in the major leagues.
1951 - The St. Louis Browns sign Satchel Paige. The 45-year-old pitcher had been out of the major leagues since last pitching for the Indians in 1949.
1952 - Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, 77, retires as a coach. He receives a pension from the Pirates and the number 33 he wore as a coach will be the first to be retired in Pittsburgh.
1953 - August A. Busch buys the Cardinals for $3.75 million and pledges not to move the team from St. Louis.
1953 - Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged Panther jet after flying a combat mission in Korea.
1953 - The Philadelphia Athletics change the name of Shibe Park to Connie Mack Stadium in honor of their longtime owner and manager.
1956 - The A.L. says it will test the automatic intentional walk during spring training.
1956 - The legendary Connie Mack dies at age 93. After managing Pittsburgh's N.L. club from 1894 to 1896, the former catcher became a prominent figure in Ban Johnson's Western League. Mack was a founder of the American League and its Philadelphia franchise in 1901. In 50 years with the Athletics, he won nine pennants and five World Championships - but also finished last 17 times.
1956 - The Pirates and the Kansas City A's cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham, Alabama, because of a local ordinance barring black players from playing against white players.
1957 - The U.S. Supreme Court decides 6-3 that baseball is the only professional sport exempt from antitrust laws. The issue arises when pro football seeks similar protection from the laws.
1958 - Ted Williams signs with the Red Sox for $135,000, making him the highest-paid player in major-league history.
1958 - The Dodgers officially become the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc.
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.
1960 - Walter O'Malley, owner of the Dodgers, completes the purchase of the Chavez Ravine area in Los Angeles by paying $494,000 for property valued at $92,000.
1962 - The N.L. releases its first 162-game schedule.
1964 - Cubs second baseman Ken Hubbs, twenty-two, is found dead in his private plane which crashed on February 13, 1964, near Provo, Utah, while en route to Colton, California. As a rookie in 1962, Hubbs had played in 78 consecutive games without making an error.
1965 - Braves officials propose a $500,000 payment to county officials if the club's lease to play in Milwaukee can be terminated a year early. The offer is refused.
1966 - Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale begin a joint holdout of the Dodgers. They seek an unprecedented three-year, $1.05 million contract to be divided evenly.
1969 - Ted Williams returns to baseball full-time, signing a five-year contract to manage the Washington Senators.
1970 - Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces the suspension of Tigers ace Denny McLain, effective April 1, for McLain's alleged involvement in a bookmaking operation. The suspension will last three months. McLain declares bankruptcy.
1970 - The N.L. offices begin their move from Cincinnati to San Francisco. The transfer will be completed February 23.
1972 - The Cardinals trade pitcher Steve Carlton to the Phillies for pitcher Rick Wise. Carlton will go on to win 241 games and four Cy Young Awards for the Phillies.
1976 - East Lansing police arrest Dodgers reliever Mike Marshall for disobeying the orders set by the Michigan State University police prohibiting him from taking batting practice. MSU feared he would hit balls too far and injure students on an adjacent tennis court. Marshall protests that it is against his rights as an MSU instructor and files a lawsuit against the school.
1976 - The Braves send Valentine's Day cards to their season-ticket holders and the media. The Braves finished in fifth place in 1975, 40 games behind Cincinnati. The 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.
1980 - Billy Martin signs to manage the Athletics after another stormy partial season managing the Yankees.
1981 - Arbitrator Raymond Goetz supports the Players' Association and declares Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk a free agent on the grounds that the club mailed his 1981 contract two days after the December 20 deadline.
1982 - The Dodgers break up the longest-playing infield in major league history by trading veteran second baseman Davey Lopes to the A's for minor leaguer Lance Hudson. Lopes, first baseman Steve Garvey, third baseman Ron Cey, and shortstop Bill Russell had been the starting infielder for Los Angeles since 1974.
1982 - The San Diego-St. Louis Ozzie Smith-for-Garry Templeton deal finally goes through, more than two months after it was first announced.
1985 - In an effort to add some much-needed power to their lineup, St. Louis trades outfielder-first baseman David Green, shortstop Jose Uribe, pitcher Dave LaPoint, and outfielder-first baseman Gary Rajsich to the Giants for slugging first baseman Jack Clark.
1986 - Rollie Fingers loses a chance to continue his career with the Cincinnati Reds when he refuses to shave his trademark handlebar mustache to comply with club policy.
1987 - Less than one month after signing with the club as a free agent, pitcher Vida Blue stuns the A's by announcing his retirement.
1987 - Tigers pitcher Jack Morris is awarded a $1.85 million salary by arbitrator Richard Bloch, the highest amount awarded to date through that process.
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 playoff and World Series games, if lights were not installed.
1989 - Reds manager Pete Rose meets with Commissioner Peter Ueberroth and Commissioner-elect Bart Giamatti to discuss his gambling habits.
1990 - Former Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro dies of pneumonia and kidney failure at the age of 45. Conigliaro, the youngest American League player ever to reach 100 career home runs, was nearly blinded by a 1967 beaning.
1990 - Owners refuse to open the spring training camps without a new Basic Agreement with the Players' Association. The lockout will last 32 days and postpone the start of the regular season by one week.
1990 - The St. Petersburg Pelicans get home runs from Lamar Johnson and Steve Kemp and rout the West Palm Beach Tropics, 12-4, to win the first-ever championship of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.
1900 - Rival forces fight for control of the Union Park Ball Grounds in Baltimore. John McGraw's men camp around a fire at third base. Ned Hanlon, his former manager in Baltimore in the 1890s, now manager of Brooklyn and still president of the Baltimore club in the N.L., has forces camped around first base.
1901 - The N.L. Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes, except after two strikes. To cut the cost of lost foul balls, the committee urges that batsmen who foul off good strikes are to be disciplined.
1908 - The sacrifice fly rule is adopted. No time at bat is charged if a run scores after the catch of a fly ball. The rule will be repealed in 1931, then reinstated (or changed) several times before gaining permanent acceptance in 1954.
1909 - The Boston Red Sox trade Cy Young, who won 21 games at age 41 in 1908, to the Cleveland Naps for pitchers Charlie Chech and Jack Ryan and $12,500.
1916 - The N.L. votes down a proposal by Charlie Ebbets of Brooklyn to impose a limit of 2,000 seats that clubs can sell for 25 cents. Boston has 10,000 such seats, St. Louis 9,000, Philadelphia 6,500 and Cincinnati 4,000.
1916 - The N.L. votes down a proposal by the Giants, Braves, and Cubs to increase the club player limit from 21 to 22. (The Reds want to decrease it to 20.)
1917 - The Red Sox sell Smokey Joe Wood, his arm dead at 26, to Cleveland for $15,000. He will become an outfielder after one last, losing start on the mound, and play five more years.
1920 - Frank Home Run Baker's wife, Ottalee, dies at 31, leaving two small children. Baker will miss the entire season to stay home and take care of the family, returning in 1921 to hit .294.
1920 - The Joint Rules Committee bans all foreign substances or other alterations to the ball by pitchers, including saliva, resin, talcum powder, paraffin, and the shine and emery balls. A pitcher caught cheating will be suspended for ten days. The A.L. allows each club to name just two pitchers who will be allowed to use the pitch for one more season. The N.L. allows each club to name all its spitball pitchers. No pitchers other than those designated will be permitted to use it in 1920, and none at all after 1920.
1925 - At the American League meeting, a plan is adopted to alternate the site of future World Series openers by league rather than deciding it by a coin toss, with Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 in one park and 3, 4, 5 in the other, unless a ban on Sunday baseball interferes in one city.
1929 - The Red Sox announce they will play Sunday games (allowed for the first time in Boston) at Braves Field, because Fenway Park is located too close to a church.
1931 - The Chicago White Sox and the New York Giants become the first major league teams to meet in a night game. They collect 23 hits in a 10-inning exhibition game played at Buffs Stadium in Houston.
1934 - George Lee Anderson is born in Bridgewater, South Dakota. He will earn the nickname Sparky, play 152 games for the Phillies in 1959, and never play another major league game. He will, however, win 2,194 games and capture world championships in both the N.L. and A.L. as manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers.
1935 - Babe Ruth is released by the Yankees to sign with the Boston Braves for $20,000 and a share in the team's profits. In April he draws the largest Opening Day crowd in the Braves' history.
1942 - At a special meeting to discuss wartime regulations, MLB owners decide to allow 14 night games for each club, with Washington allowed 21. Two All-Star Games will be played, one with a military All-Star team. Curfews are set for night games with no inning to start after 12:50 A.M.
1942 - The Braves get Tommy Holmes from the Yankees for Buddy Hassett and Gene Moore in one of the best trades in Braves history. Hassett will hit .284, then join the Navy and never make it back to the major leagues. The much-traveled Moore will never play for the Yanks. Holmes couldn't break into New York's all-star outfield, but he will be a .302 career hitter and help the Braves win the 1948 pennant.
1943 - Joe DiMaggio, drawing $43,500 from the Yankees, trades in his salary for the $50 a month of an army enlisted man. DiMaggio, in his customary quiet style, gives no notice to the club.
1944 - Fifteen-year-old pitcher Joe Nuxhall signs a contract with the Cincinnati Reds just one day after playing in a high school basketball game.
1944 - The leagues meet in New York to discuss postwar action. They decide that players with war service will be guaranteed a 30-day trial with pay as well as restrictions on their release or assignment. Military service will count as playing time.
1949 - Joe DiMaggio signs with the Yankees for $100,000, the first six-figure contract in the major leagues.
1951 - The St. Louis Browns sign Satchel Paige. The 45-year-old pitcher had been out of the major leagues since last pitching for the Indians in 1949.
1952 - Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, 77, retires as a coach. He receives a pension from the Pirates and the number 33 he wore as a coach will be the first to be retired in Pittsburgh.
1953 - August A. Busch buys the Cardinals for $3.75 million and pledges not to move the team from St. Louis.
1953 - Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged Panther jet after flying a combat mission in Korea.
1953 - The Philadelphia Athletics change the name of Shibe Park to Connie Mack Stadium in honor of their longtime owner and manager.
1956 - The A.L. says it will test the automatic intentional walk during spring training.
1956 - The legendary Connie Mack dies at age 93. After managing Pittsburgh's N.L. club from 1894 to 1896, the former catcher became a prominent figure in Ban Johnson's Western League. Mack was a founder of the American League and its Philadelphia franchise in 1901. In 50 years with the Athletics, he won nine pennants and five World Championships - but also finished last 17 times.
1956 - The Pirates and the Kansas City A's cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham, Alabama, because of a local ordinance barring black players from playing against white players.
1957 - The U.S. Supreme Court decides 6-3 that baseball is the only professional sport exempt from antitrust laws. The issue arises when pro football seeks similar protection from the laws.
1958 - Ted Williams signs with the Red Sox for $135,000, making him the highest-paid player in major-league history.
1958 - The Dodgers officially become the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc.
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.
1960 - Walter O'Malley, owner of the Dodgers, completes the purchase of the Chavez Ravine area in Los Angeles by paying $494,000 for property valued at $92,000.
1962 - The N.L. releases its first 162-game schedule.
1964 - Cubs second baseman Ken Hubbs, twenty-two, is found dead in his private plane which crashed on February 13, 1964, near Provo, Utah, while en route to Colton, California. As a rookie in 1962, Hubbs had played in 78 consecutive games without making an error.
1965 - Braves officials propose a $500,000 payment to county officials if the club's lease to play in Milwaukee can be terminated a year early. The offer is refused.
1966 - Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale begin a joint holdout of the Dodgers. They seek an unprecedented three-year, $1.05 million contract to be divided evenly.
1969 - Ted Williams returns to baseball full-time, signing a five-year contract to manage the Washington Senators.
1970 - Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces the suspension of Tigers ace Denny McLain, effective April 1, for McLain's alleged involvement in a bookmaking operation. The suspension will last three months. McLain declares bankruptcy.
1970 - The N.L. offices begin their move from Cincinnati to San Francisco. The transfer will be completed February 23.
1972 - The Cardinals trade pitcher Steve Carlton to the Phillies for pitcher Rick Wise. Carlton will go on to win 241 games and four Cy Young Awards for the Phillies.
1976 - East Lansing police arrest Dodgers reliever Mike Marshall for disobeying the orders set by the Michigan State University police prohibiting him from taking batting practice. MSU feared he would hit balls too far and injure students on an adjacent tennis court. Marshall protests that it is against his rights as an MSU instructor and files a lawsuit against the school.
1976 - The Braves send Valentine's Day cards to their season-ticket holders and the media. The Braves finished in fifth place in 1975, 40 games behind Cincinnati. The 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.
1980 - Billy Martin signs to manage the Athletics after another stormy partial season managing the Yankees.
1981 - Arbitrator Raymond Goetz supports the Players' Association and declares Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk a free agent on the grounds that the club mailed his 1981 contract two days after the December 20 deadline.
1982 - The Dodgers break up the longest-playing infield in major league history by trading veteran second baseman Davey Lopes to the A's for minor leaguer Lance Hudson. Lopes, first baseman Steve Garvey, third baseman Ron Cey, and shortstop Bill Russell had been the starting infielder for Los Angeles since 1974.
1982 - The San Diego-St. Louis Ozzie Smith-for-Garry Templeton deal finally goes through, more than two months after it was first announced.
1985 - In an effort to add some much-needed power to their lineup, St. Louis trades outfielder-first baseman David Green, shortstop Jose Uribe, pitcher Dave LaPoint, and outfielder-first baseman Gary Rajsich to the Giants for slugging first baseman Jack Clark.
1986 - Rollie Fingers loses a chance to continue his career with the Cincinnati Reds when he refuses to shave his trademark handlebar mustache to comply with club policy.
1987 - Less than one month after signing with the club as a free agent, pitcher Vida Blue stuns the A's by announcing his retirement.
1987 - Tigers pitcher Jack Morris is awarded a $1.85 million salary by arbitrator Richard Bloch, the highest amount awarded to date through that process.
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 playoff and World Series games, if lights were not installed.
1989 - Reds manager Pete Rose meets with Commissioner Peter Ueberroth and Commissioner-elect Bart Giamatti to discuss his gambling habits.
1990 - Former Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro dies of pneumonia and kidney failure at the age of 45. Conigliaro, the youngest American League player ever to reach 100 career home runs, was nearly blinded by a 1967 beaning.
1990 - Owners refuse to open the spring training camps without a new Basic Agreement with the Players' Association. The lockout will last 32 days and postpone the start of the regular season by one week.
1990 - The St. Petersburg Pelicans get home runs from Lamar Johnson and Steve Kemp and rout the West Palm Beach Tropics, 12-4, to win the first-ever championship of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.