March 28 in Tigers and mlb history:
1901: Philadelphia Phillies owner John Rogers files for an injunction prohibiting Nap Lajoie, Bill Bernhard, and Chick Fraser from playing for any other team - the most serious legal test of the reserve clause to date.
1918: International League owners vote 6-2 to disband the league. The two teams voting to continue play are Richmond and Newark. Despite the apparent dissolution of the league, a reborn IL will indeed play in 1918 and beyond.
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.
1937: Trying to see if a new "dead ball" is better than the existing one, the new sphere is tried in a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Senators. The Sox outslug the Nats, 13 - 12, as Joe Cronin drives in six runs. Last week, the ball was used in a game between the New York Giants and Boston Bees with much the same result. On April 12th, the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates will test the new ball, with the Sox winning, 9 - 6, though the longest hit is a double.
1946: The Detroit Tigers released Russ Kerns.
1946: The Detroit Tigers released Milt Welch.
1947: Second baseman Johnny Evers dies in Albany, New York, at the age of 65. Known as "the Crab," Evers won the National League MVP Award in 1914 and stole 324 bases over an 18-year career. In 1946, Evers was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
1958: Slugger Chuck Klein dies in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the age of 53. Klein batted .320 with 300 home runs and 1201 RBI over a 17-year career. His most productive season came in 1933, when he won the National League Triple Crown. Klein will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1980.
1961: In their first meeting since Pittsburgh's dramatic World Series win over New York, the Bucs, behind would-be World Series goat Bob Friend, beat up the banged-up Bombers, 9 - 2. The game's first run comes in the bottom of the 2nd on Roberto Clemente's bases-empty bomb over the left-field fence. Pittsburgh goes up 3 - 0 in the 3rd on Dick Stuart's two-run shot, likewise to left field. By the 7th, the Bucs have built their lead to 8 - 0 before New York can push across its initial tally.
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.
1976: Media sources report a potential blockbuster trade between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers which involves two future Hall of Fame pitchers. According to the rumor, the deal will send Tom Seaver to the Dodgers in exchange for Don Sutton. Mets fans respond negatively to the proposed deal, perhaps influencing management to call off the trade. Seaver will remain with the Mets until 1977, when he is traded to the Cincinnati Reds, in a trade which will be universally rued by Mets fans.
1977: The Detroit Tigers released Marv Lane.
1982: The Detroit Tigers released George Cappuzzello.
1983: The Detroit Tigers purchased Keith Comstock from the Oakland Athletics.
1988: The Detroit Tigers traded Karl Best to the Minnesota Twins for Don Schulze.
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.
1994: The Detroit Tigers released Skeeter Barnes.
1999: The Baltimore Orioles make the first visit to Cuba by major leaguers since 1959, and defeat a team of Cuban amateurs by a score of 3 - 2 in 11 innings. Pitcher Jose Contreras hurls eight innings of two-hit, 10-strikeout ball in relief for the Cubans, while catcher Charles Johnson hits a two-run home run and DH Harold Baines drives in the winning run for the Orioles. The two teams will play a rematch at Camden Yards in Baltimore on May 3rd.
2002: The Detroit Tigers released Melvin Nieves.
2002: The Detroit Tigers released Juan Sosa.
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.
2003: The Detroit Tigers released Robinson Cancel.
2003:The Detroit Tigers released Luke Carlin.
2003: The Detroit Tigers released Jesse Carlson.
2003: The Detroit Tigers released Damion Easley.
2003: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected George Lombard off waivers from the Detroit Tigers.
2008: The Seattle Mariners sent Jeff Frazier to the Detroit Tigers as part of a conditional deal.
2008: The Detroit Tigers released Jason Perry.
2014: Two-time defending American League MVP Miguel Cabrera signs an eight-year contract extension with the Tigers. Including the two years remaining on his present contract, the deal is worth $292 million, making it the biggest in major league history.
It surpasses the ten-year extension signed by Alex Rodriguez in 2006 for $275 million. In fact Rodriguez had held the record since signing as a free agent with the Texas Rangers for $252 million in 2001.
The huge deal makes the six-year contract for $144.6 million that Angels OF Mike Trout also signs today seem like an anecdote.
2014: Major League Baseball and the Players Association agree to a number of changes that toughen the major leagues' PED policy. The penalty for a first offense goes from 50 to 80 games, suspended players will no longer be eligible for the postseason or for full a postseason share, while the number of random tests will be significantly increased.
2016: The Detroit Tigers released Casey McGehee.
2016: The Detroit Tigers released Bobby Parnell.
2017: The Detroit Tigers released Daniel Muno.
2018: The Detroit Tigers signed Jairo Labourt as a free agent.
2018: The Detroit Tigers released Enrique Burgos.
2018: The Detroit Tigers released Derek Norris.
2019: It's Opening Day across Major League Baseball as all 30 teams are active, one week after a preliminary two-game opening series in Japan. A record number of homers are hit today - 48 across the majors. Leading the charge are the Dodgers, who hit an opening day record 8 long balls in their 12 - 5 win over the Diamondbacks.
2019: The Detroit Tigers released Louis Coleman.
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jimmy_Barrett
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/barreji01.shtml
Jimmy Barrett 1901-1905.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/paquecr01.shtml
Craig Paquette 2002-2003.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Donie_Bush
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bushdo01.shtml
Donie Bush 1908-1921.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Johnny_Neun
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/neunjo01.shtml
Johnny Neun 1925-1928.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rossdo01.shtml
Don Ross 1938, 1942-1945.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Gus_Triandos
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/triangu01.shtml
Gus Triandos 1963.
Baseball Reference
