Saturday, August 26, 2006 |
Today's Birthdays
Frank Allen BRO b. 1889, played 1912-1914, d. 1933-07-30. Jumped to the Federal League, where he made a handsome $2,000 a year for his efforts in the 1914 season. The NL and AL filed a barrage of mostly baseless lawsuits that eventually swamped the fledgling league; Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who had an antitrust case before his court filed by the Federal League, stalled and eventually brokered a peace settlement allowing two Federal club owners to buy the Browns and Cubs. After the 1916 season, the Federal League's last, Allen returned to the Senior Circuit in a Braves uniform, where he ended his career. Landis so pleased the owners by his decision that they made him the new commissioner of baseball following the Black Sox Scandal. You can read more about the Federal League's brief history at Wikipedia.
Jesse Barnes BRO b. 1892, played 1926-1927, d. 1961-09-09. A 25-game winner for John McGraw's Giants in the Spanish Flu years, he pitched into the tenth inning of 1922's World Series Game 2, when umpire George Hildebrand called the game on account of darkness; contemporaries claimed there was plenty of light, but the game ended 3-3. The Giants went on to win the Series 4-0-1, the last World Series to have a tie game. Barnes played the last two years of his career as a Dodger as an ineffective third starter and eventually swingman in rotations featuring Burleigh Grimes, Doug McWeeny, and an anomalously mediocre (in 1926) Dazzy Vance, who bounced back the next year to show some of the same form that would eventually land him in the Hall of Fame.
Pea Ridge Day BRO b. 1899, played 1931, d. 1934-03-21. A colorful pitcher who gave a piercing hog call during his delivery, he featured a powerful screwball, and was named for the town of his birth, Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Sporting the best ERA on the 1929 Kansas City Blues, one of the top 100 minor league teams of all time, he eventually committed suicide in a particularly gruesome manner.
Elmer Klumpp BRO b. 1906, played 1937, d. 1996-10-18
Chad Kreuter ANA,LAN b. 1964, played 1997-1998, 2000-2002. At one time, Chan Ho Park's personal caddy in Texas after they made an ill-considered decision to sign him, he's now out of pro baseball, and is head coach at USC. Go, Dirtbags!
Gene Moore BRO b. 1909, played 1939-1940, All-Star: 1937, d. 1978-03-12. Sixteen homers in 1937 as a 27-year-old, more proof for the notion that most players peak early.
Alex Trevino LAN b. 1957, played 1986-1987. Played for six clubs over 13 seasons as mostly a reserve catcher, he eventually became a broadcaster en Español for the Astros. Brother of Angels-for-40-at-bats Bobby Trevino.
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