March 28 in Tigers and mlb history:
1931 - Ban Johnson dies in St. Louis, Missouri, at the age of 67. Johnson served as the first president of the American League, guiding the "junior circuit" until 1927. He will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1937.
1970 - In this first (and last?) "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial All-Star Baseball Classic", solo home runs by Ron Fairly of Montreal and Ron Santo of the Chicago Cubs, plus a three-run 8th-inning brings the East a 5 - 1 victory over the West. A crowd of 31,694 watches the charity game in Dodger Stadium. Proceeds go to the late Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a memorial center planned for Atlanta. For this initial charity game, former New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio manages the East, and ex-Dodger Roy Campanella, confined to a wheelchair since a 1958 auto accident, directs the fortunes of the West. Jim "Mudcat" Grant of Oakland sings the National Anthem in the pre-game program, and then becomes the victim of a four-hit uprising in the 8th inning that insures the outcome. Al Kaline of Detroit beats out an infield hit to open the frame and moves to second as Tommie Agee drives Hank Aaron to the left field wall. Kaline races home on Lou Brock's double to left. Brock scores on Roberto Clemente's double and Clemente comes home on Ken McMullen's single.
1990 - A plan to allow starting pitchers to earn victories with only three innings pitched (because of the abbreviated spring training period) is scrapped, but teams will be allowed to open the regular season with 27-man rosters instead of the allowed maximum of 25.
2003 - Three days prior to Opening Day, the YES Network claims Cablevision has pulled out of a proposed deal signed 17 days ago which would have provided televised New York Yankees games to nearly three million cable subscribers in the New York City metropolitan area. According to a YES press release, the giant cable television company failed to sign a finalized version of the hand-written document that both parties exchanged on March 12th, but Cablevision president, James L. Dolan, said when YES sent him a revised typewritten draft on two days later, the document contained alterations that he found unacceptable.
Tigers players birthdays:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jimmy_Barrett
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/barreji01.shtml?redir
Jimmy Barrett 1901-1905.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/paquecr01.shtml
Craig Paquette 2002-2003.
Tigers players who passed away:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Donie_Bush
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bushdo01.shtml?redir
Donie Bush 1908-1921.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Johnny_Neun
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/neunjo01.shtml?redir
Johnny Neun 1925-1928.
from Baseball Reference
