March 13 in Tigers and mlb history:
1886: Frank Baker is born in Trappe, Maryland. A third baseman and left-handed hitter, Baker will guide the Philadelphia Athletics to three World Series championships. He will be nicknamed "Home Run" during the 1911 World Series, in which he will hit a go-ahead home run off Rube Marquard in Game Two and a 9th-inning game-tying home run off Christy Mathewson in Game Three. Baker will lead the American League in home runs for four consecutive seasons, twice lead the league in RBI, and bat .363 in six Series. Baker will earn Hall of Fame honors in 1955.
1887: After a week of conditioning in Macon, Georgia, the Detroit Wolverines National League club team begins a six-week spring exhibition tour through the South and Midwest.
1917: After hearing that Gabby Street had caught a ball dropped off the Washington Monument in 1908, Brooklyn manager Wilbert Robinson brags that he could catch a ball dropped from an airplane at spring training, even though he is in his mid-50s and well above his playing weight. Robinson circles unsteadily under the descending spheroid. Instead, a grapefruit was secretly substituted and it explodes on impact with his glove. Once he feels the ooze, Robinson thinks it is blood, and screams that he is dying, until he tastes the juice. He later concedes that he probably would have been killed if a real baseball had been dropped from the plane. Aviatrix Ruth Law dropped the grapefruit as outfielder Casey Stengel assumed culpability for the switch.
1937 - Lou Gehrig signs with the New York Yankees for $38,000 and a $750 signing bonus.
1942: The Brooklyn Dodgers purchased Billy Sullivan from the Detroit Tigers.
1943: The Philadelphia Phillies selected Charlie Fuchs off waivers from the Detroit Tigers.
1943: The major leagues approve a new official ball manufactured by the Spalding Company for the upcoming season. Instead of the usual combination of cork and rubber, the inside of the ball is made up of recycled cork and balata, materials not needed in the war effort. Officials insist the ball will have the resiliency of the 1939 ball, but the players will express dismay that they cannot drive the new ball and point out the dearth of runs and homers in 1942 even with the old ball.
1953: Braves owner Lou Perini announces he will seek permission from the National League to move his franchise from Boston to Milwaukee. The day will become known as "Black Friday" in Beantown.
1954: Milwaukee Braves outfielder Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle while sliding into a base during a spring training game. The 1951 National League playoff hero is replaced by a promising prospect named Hank Aaron and the rest is history.
1960: The Chicago White Sox unveil an important uniform innovation. The Sox's road uniforms feature players' names on the backs of the jerseys, marking the first time that players' names will appear on major league uniforms. The innovation will make it easier for fans watching games on television to identify the players on the field. The idea is yet another creation of colorful White Sox owner and innovator Bill Veeck.
1969: In addition to this year's lower mound and tightened strike zone, Major League Baseball tries an experimental ball with 10% more resiliency for a spring training game between the Mets and Tigers in Lakeland, Florida. It has an all-rubber center instead of a cork and rubber core, and the seams are higher than the regular ball. Mets pitcher Don Cardwell surrenders three home runs in the 4th inning to Dick McAuliffe, Norm Cash, and Gates Brown in the Tigers' 7 - 4 victory.
1975: In Las Vegas, Nevada, the late Roberto Clemente joins Roy Campanella and twelve other sports figures, living and dead, as this year's inductees in the Black Athletes' Hall of Fame.
1979: The Detroit Tigers traded Ed Glynn to the New York Mets for Mardie Cornejo.
1987: The Philadelphia Phillies signed Lance Parrish as a free agent.
1995: Newly-elected Hall of Famer Leon Day dies in Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 78. A former Negro Leagues outstanding pitcher and superb contact hitter, Day had been elected to Cooperstown by the Veterans Committee just six days earlier.
1996: The Detroit Tigers returned Jon Ratliff (earlier draft pick) to the Chicago Cubs.
1996: The Detroit Tigers selected Kimera Bartee off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles.
2000: The Detroit Tigers released Mike Oquist.
2000: The Detroit Tigers selected Shane Halter off waivers from the New York Mets.
2006: Legendary pitcher Bob Feller, who has been in the Hall of Fame longer than any other living player, says that controversial superstar Barry Bonds should be kept out of the exclusive club.
2013: The Detroit Tigers released Brennan Boesch.
2014: Crews work to thaw the field at Comerica Park after a March snowstorm, in preparation for Opening Day on March 31.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5sC1r0WQAAGeZw.jpg
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/easonma01.shtml
Mal Eason 1903.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/ericker01.shtml
Eric Erickson 1916, 1918-1919.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Cliff_Mapes
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mapescl01.shtml
Cliff Mapes 1952.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/avilemi01.shtml
Mike Aviles 2016.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Vincent_Maney
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/meanepa01.shtml
Vincent Maney 1912.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/steenbi01.shtml
Bill Steen 1915.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ira_Flagstead
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/flagsir01.shtml
Ira Flagstead 1917, 1919-1923.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/warneja01.shtml
Jack Warner 1925-1928.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pasekjo01.shtml
Johnny Pasek 1933.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Frank_House
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/housefr03.shtml
Frank House 1950-1951, 1954-1957, 1961.
Baseball Reference
