This day in baseball: Robinson awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
Posted: March 26, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers, history, Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball, MLB, President of the United States, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Rachel Robinson, Ronald Reagan, sports 2 CommentsOn March 26, 1984, President Ronald Reagan awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to Jackie Robinson. Rachel Robinson accepted the award on behalf of her husband. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is considered the highest civilian honor given in the United States.
You can watch President Reagan’s remarks from that Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony in the video below. If you’d like to go straight to his remarks about Robinson, you can find them at the 16:03 timestamp.
This day in baseball: Ty Cobb re-signs with the Tigers
Posted: March 21, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Detroit Tigers, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports, Ty Cobb Leave a commentOn March 21, 1908, 21-year-old Ty Cobb re-signed with the Tigers for $4000, with an $800 bonus if he hit over .300 for the year. Cobb finished the season with a league-leading .324 batting average with the Tigers.
This day in baseball: Weiss becomes Mets president
Posted: March 14, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball, Uncategorized | Tags: Baseball, George Weiss, Major League Baseball, MLB, New York Mets, New York Yankees, sports 2 CommentsOn March 14, 1961, former Yankees president George Weiss agreed to become the first president of the expansion New York Mets. It is believed that the Mets offered Weiss a five-year deal at $100,000 annually, more than he ever earned during his 14 seasons with the Yankees.
George Weiss (National Baseball Hall of Fame)
This day in baseball: Babe’s first professional homer
Posted: March 7, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Babe Ruth, Baltimore Orioles, Baseball, history, International League, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, MLB, sports 2 CommentsBabe Ruth hit his first home run in professional baseball on March 7, 1914 in the last inning of a spring training exhibition game for the International League’s Baltimore Orioles. The homer was a 400-foot shot at the Cape Fear Fairgrounds in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Ruth in 1914 (untoldentertainment.com)
This day in baseball: Sandberg becomes baseball’s highest paid player
Posted: March 2, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Bobby Bonilla, Chicago Cubs, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, New York Mets, Ryne Sandberg, sports Leave a commentRyne Sandberg became the highest paid player in baseball when he signed a four-year contract extension worth $28.4 million with the Chicago Cubs on March 2, 1992. The contract eclipsed Bobby Bonilla’s five-year, $29 million contract with the Mets, signed just three months previous. Sandberg never got to enjoy the full sum promised by this contract, however, as he unexpectedly retired during the 1994 season, walking away from nearly $15.8 million of the record deal.
This day in baseball: John McGraw passes
Posted: February 25, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, history, John McGraw, Major League Baseball, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, sports Leave a commentLess than two years after retiring, John McGraw died on February 25, 1934 at his home in New Rochelle, New York. McGraw passed away due to prostate cancer and uremic poisoning at the age of 60 and is interred in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1937, he became a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s second induction class.
John McGraw in 1910 (Wikimedia Commons)
This day in baseball: Cincinnati signs Nuxhall
Posted: February 18, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Cincinnati Reds, history, Joe Nuxhall, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports, World War II 4 CommentsHaving obtained his parents’ permission, Joe Nuxhall signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds on February 18, 1944 at the age of fifteen years old. Nuxhall would become the youngest player ever to appear in a major league game, tossing 2/3 of an inning for Cincinnati that June, with forty-nine days to go until his sixteenth birthday.
Joe Nuxhall (MLB.com)
