March 5 in Tigers and mlb history:
1860: Sam Thompson is born in Danville, Indiana. An outstanding slugger and a fine right fielder in the deadball era, Thompson will collect 200 or more hits three times, finishing his 15-season major league career with a lifetime mark of .336, 126 home runs, and 1299 RBI, including a batting crown (1887) and two home run titles (1889 and 1895). Thompson will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1974.
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1888: The American Association meets in Brooklyn, New York, and votes to make use of turnstiles mandatory at all entrances to its parks.
1889: The Boston Beaneaters returned Deacon White to the Detroit Wolverines following previous purchase.
1889: The Pittsburgh Alleghenys purchased Deacon White from the Detroit Wolverines.
1901: The American League approves a 14-player limit to go into effect 14 days after the start of the season. The limit is changed at the last minute, the deadline postponed for two weeks, and the limit increased to 15 players by Ban Johnson, after six teams request the change.
1922: New York Yankees star Babe Ruth becomes the highest-paid player in history when he signs a three-year contract that will pay him over $50,000 per season. In 1921, Ruth led the American League with 59 home runs and 171 RBI.
1936: The St. Louis Cardinals - without the brothers Paul and Dizzy Dean, who are once again holdouts - visit Cuba and are beaten by the Cuban all-stars. Luis Tiant, Sr., whose son Luis Jr. will win 229 major league games, is the starting pitcher for the Cubans.
1941: Brooklyn Dodgers president Larry MacPhail issues instructions that all Dodgers players must live in Brooklyn. MacPhail is also campaigning for visiting teams to stay in Brooklyn rather than Manhattan.
1945: With war-time travel restrictions still in effect, the Dodgers open spring training at Bear Mountain, New York with 15 players in camp. Seven teams - the Browns, Tigers, Reds, Indians, Cubs, Pirates and White Sox - are training in Indiana, the most of any state.
1952: Norman Bel Geddes, after designing a 5,000 seat complex for the Brooklyn Dodgers in Vero Beach, Florida, states that team owner Walter O'Malley has asked for a stadium design for the team. It is to have a retractable dome, garage, automatic hotdog vending machines, and artificial turf that can be painted in different colors.
1958: Duke Snider, Johnny Podres, and Don Zimmer suffer minor injuries in an auto accident in Vero Beach, Florida, as they try to beat a 12:30 A.M. curfew. This is the third accident involving Dodgers players in the last two months; Jim Gilliam and his family had an accident shortly after Roy Campanella's.
1966: United Steelworkers union official Marvin Miller is named the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Under Miller's guidance, the players' union will make major gains such as salary increases, improvements in pension benefits, and the advent of free agency and salary arbitration.
1982: Needing just three wins to reach 300 for his career, pitcher Gaylord Perry signs a one-year contract with the Seattle Mariners.
1996: The Veterans Committee elects four new members for the Hall of Fame, and just misses naming a fifth.
The group elected includes fiery manager Earl Weaver, who had a .583 winning percentage in 17 seasons managing the Baltimore Orioles;
pitcher Jim Bunning, who won 100 games in both leagues, including no-hitters in each circuit, one of them a perfect game;
19th-century manager Ned Hanlon, who won five National League pennants with the Baltimore Orioles (3) and Brooklyn (2),
and Bill Foster, the top left-handed pitcher in the Negro Leagues.
Nellie Fox receives the necessary 75% of the Committee's votes, but the rules allow just one modern player elected, and Bunning has more votes.
2003: Not agreeing to ban ephedra, a memo is sent to all major leaguers by the players' union strongly recommending players "be extremely reluctant to use any products" containing the substance. The diet supplement, which is available without a prescription, has been linked to the spring training death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler.
2019: The Detroit Tigers released Chris Smith.
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Sam_Thompson
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thompsa01.shtml
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b3e0fab8
Sam Thompson Detroit Wolverines 1885-1888, Tigers 1906.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/robinra01.shtml
Rabbit Robinson 1904.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Lu_Blue
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bluelu01.shtml
Lu Blue 1921-1927.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/u/ujdurje01.shtml
Jerry Ujdur 1980-1983.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/huntebr02.shtml
Brian Hunter 1997-1999.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Mike_Hessman
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hessmmi01.shtml
Mike Hessman 2007-2008.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/schrejo01.shtml
John Schreiber 2019-present.
Tigers players and executives who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bill_Yawkey
Bill Yawkey owner 1903-1919.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lorenle01.shtml
Lefty Lorenzen 1913.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/flemile01.shtml
Les Fleming 1939.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithcl01.shtml
Clay Smith 1940.
Baseball Reference
