This Weekend in Baseball History

December 17th, 2012: The Mets trade Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays for top prospects Noah Syndergaard and Travis d'Arnaud.

December 17th, 1996: David Wells signs with a three-year, $13.5 million free agent deal with the Yankees. He would win 68 games over his four New York seasons, highlighted by a 1998 perfect game against the Twins.

December 17th, 1975: Bill Veeck returns to baseball, as he leads a group of investors purchasing the Chicago White Sox from John Allyn.

December 17th, 1964: The Yankees, under new CBS ownership, fire longtime lead broadcaster Mel Allen for reasons never explained, and soon replace him with NBC's Joe Garagiola. Allen returns to the club to call cable TV games a decade later, after George Steinbrenner purchases the club from the network. He closes his career on an even higher note, as the voice of the nationally syndicated highlights show This Week in Baseball.

Maybe it's coincidence, maybe not... firing franchise icons Allen and Yogi Berra after the '64 season led to an 11-year absence from the post-season, that didn't end until both Mel (calling SportsChannel games) and Yogi (on Billy Martin's coaching staff) were back in the fold.

December 17th, 1953: In a move to reduce their tax liability, Dan Topping and Del Webb sell Yankee Stadium and their Kansas City minor league facility to the Knights of Columbus and the Johnson Corporation, who immediately lease the property back to the Yanks. A year later, Arnold Johnson purchases the Philadelphia A's and move them to Kansas City, where they serve as a defacto minor league team to the Yankees for the rest of the decade.

December 17th, 1920: The American League, following the plan adopted a year earlier by the NL, allows pitchers who used the spitball in 1920 to continue throwing it as long as they are in the league.

December 18th, 2001: Tino Martinez, after seeing the Yankees replace him with free agent Jason Giambi, signs a three-year deal with the Cardinals, where he'll take over for the just-retired Mark McGwire at 1st base.

Whatever hard feelings there were at the time didn't linger. Tino returned to the Yankees four years later for the final season of his career. There's now a plaque honoring him in Monument Park.

December 18th, 2000: Catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. leaves the Indians for the White Sox and a two-year contract worth just under $6 million.

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 Chilcott 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 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 Rivera and outfielder Steven Souza will call Tropicana Field home.

December 19th, 2011: After paying a $51.7 million posting fee, the 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 lefthander Kei Igawa from the Hanshin Tigers for a combined $46 million (between the posting fee and a five-year contract). The deal is a massive failure, as Igawa goes just 2-4, with a 6.66 ERA in 14 starts over the next two seasons.  

Talk about a deal gone sour: the Yankees paid $23 million per victory by Igawa; $3.28 million per major league start. Igawa becomes 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 their iconic broadcaster Ernie Harwell. The move, orchestrated by team president Bo Schembechler, is widely panned. Harwell keeps busy working for CBS radio and the Angels. Within two years, owner Tom Monahan sells out to Mike llich, who brings Harwell back 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. In a backhanded way, he's even responsible for Vin Scully becoming the voice of the Dodgers. Walter O'Malley's tightness with a buck led Ernie to leave Brooklyn to move crosstown and join the Giants broadcast team in 1950 for a higher salary. Barber then chose Scully, who previously 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'd 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.

This image of Wally (left) and Carl Erskine (center) with DodgerTalk host Ken Levine was taken at the team's 50th Anniversary in L.A. celebration in 2008.