This Weekend in Baseball History
December 18th, 1993: Brien Taylor, the Yankees top pitching prospect, tears the labrum in his left shoulder during a fight. The former first overall draft pick will miss the following season, never regaining his form or reaching the major leagues.
Along with Steve Chicott of the Mets (1966) and Mark Appel of the Astros (2013), Taylor is one of the very few players taken first in the MLB draft who never played in the majors.
December 18th, 1981: The Reds sent 3rd baseman Ray Knight to the Astros for outfielder Cesar Cedeno.
December 18th, 1973: The Yankees announce as Dick Williams as their new manager -- which sets off a legal squabble with A's owner Charlie Finley. American League president Joe Cronin soon rules that the Yankees cannot sign Williams, who was already under contract to Oakland. Instead, George Steinbrenner settles for Bill Virdon as his first new skipper.
December 18th, 1956: The Yankees announce that recently retired shortstop Phil Rizzuto will join their broadcast team for the upcoming season, alongside Mel Allen and Red Barber. "The Scooter" will spend the next 40 seasons calling games (retiring after the '96 season).
Combining his playing and broadcasting careers, Scooter was associated with the Yankees for 53 seasons.
December 19th, 2014: The Rays and Padres complete an 11-player trade. The key players: Wil Myers, who heads to San Diego, while catcher Rene Rivers and outfielder Steven Souza will call Tropicana Field home.
Rangers win the rights to Yu Darvish. The 25 year-old pitcher after going 93-38 in seven seasons in Japan, soon signs with Texas.
December 19th, 2007: Curt Schilling urges Roger Clemens to return the four Cy Young Awards won after 1997 -- the point when he allegedly began using PED's. In a post on his blog, while acknowledging the guidance the 354-game winner gave him as a young pitcher, Schilling believed he was only being consistent -- since he previously recommended Jose Canseco to give up his 1988 AL MVP award due to steroid use.
December 19th, 2006: After the Yankees fail to land Japanese pitching star Daisuke Matsuzaka, they sign lefthanded pitcher Kei Igawa from the Hanshin Tigers for a combined $46 million (between the posting fee and a five-year contract). The deal is a total failure, as Igawa goes just 2-4, with a 6.66 ERA in 14 starts over the next two seasons.
Talk about poor value: the Yankees paid $23 million per victory by Igawa; $3.28 million per major league start. Igawa is, however, the alltime leader in victories for the Yanks' AAA farm club in Scranton.
December 19th, 2002: The Yankees sign Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui to a three-year $21 million deal. The beloved "Godzilla" would star for the Bronx Bombers for the next seven seasons, capped by being named MVP of the 2009 World Series.
December 19th, 1991: Free agent Dave Winfield leaves the Angels for the Blue Jays, where he'll be the DH on a team that brings Canada its first World Series champ the following October.
December 19th, 1990: The Tigers announce that 1991 would be the final season for beloved broadcaster Ernie Harwell. The move, orchestrated by team president Bo Schembeckler, is widely panned. Harwell keeps busy working for CBS radio and the Angels, before being brought back to his adopted hometown. Within two years, owner Tom Monahan sells out to Mike llich, who brings Harwell returns Ernie to the Tigers radio-TV team for the 1993 season.
Having met Ernie on a couple of occasions, I'm happy to join those recalling him as one of nicest people ever to walk this planet -- and as talented as he was kind. He was, in a way, responsible for Vin Scully becoming the voice of the Dodgers. Walter O'Malley's tightness with a buck led Ernie to leave Brooklyn to join the Giants broadcast team in 1950 for a higher salary. Barber then chose Scully, who did some freelance reporting for him on CBS radio, to be the junior member of the Brooklyn radio crew.
December 19th, 1954: Wally Moon is the first Cardinal player to be named the National League's Rookie of the Year. The 24 year-old center fielder, who taken over for Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter in St. Louis finishes ahead of future Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Hank Aaron in the voting.
December 20th, 2007: Dontrelle Willis gets a three year, $29 million contact extension from the Tigers. The lefthander, who came to Detroit along with Miguel Cabrera in a blockbuster trade, goes wins just two games for the Tigers over the next three seasons, due to injuries and an anxiety disorder.
December 20th, 2004: Carl Pavano leaves the Marlins and signs a four-year deal worth $40 million with the Yankees. Coming off an 18-win season, the Connecticut native will spend the next four seasons mostly on the injured list -- appearing in just 26 games and winning only nine times over the next three seasons.
December 20th, 2001: The Red Sox are sold by the Jean Yawkey Trust to a group led by Marlins' owner John Henry for $600 million -- a record-setting amount for a baseball team.
December 20th, 1989: Juan Samuel, after just a half-season with the Mets, is traded to the Dodgers for 1st baseman Mike Marshall and pitcher Alejandro Pena.
December 20th, 1965: Sandy Koufax is named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine.
December 20th, 1960: Charles Finley after losing out to Gene Autry for the American League's Los Angeles expansion team, purchases a majority interest in the Kansas City A's from the estate of Arnold Johnson. (Seven years later, he moves the team to Oakland.)
December 20th, 1940: Connie Mack, having managed the Atheltics for the past 40 years, gain controlling interest in the team for a reported $42,000. He buys out the heirs of Benjamin Shibe, who established the team in 1901, and for whom Philadelphia's ballpark is named.
December 20th, 1926: In one of the biggest trades ever, the Cardinals and Giants swap Hall of Fame-bound 2nd basemen: Frankie Frisch goes to St. Louis, while Rogers Hornsby, who'd been in a contract dispute with the Redbirds, joins John McGraw's Giants.
Comments