January 7 in Tigers and mlb history:
1913: Future Hall of Fame first baseman Johnny Mize is born in Demorest, GA. Known as "The Big Cat," Mize will hit 359 home runs and will gain election to the Hall in 1981.
1915: The Detroit Tigers waive Wally Pipp to the New York Yankees. Pipp hit .161 in 12 games, but he'll anchor first base in New York for a decade until Lou Gehrig's appearance.
1920: Babe Ruth reacts to his recent sale to the Yankees in the Boston Evening Standard saying, "Frazee is not good enough to own any ball club, especially one in Boston."
1933: Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis announces that he is cutting his salary by 40 percent. Landis's action is a sign of the times during the Great Depression; most players will have their salaries reduced for the coming season.
1933: The Detroit Tigers purchased Ike Boone from the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1976: The Detroit Tigers signed Alex Johnson as a free agent.
1976: The Detroit Tigers drafted Steve Kemp in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1976 amateur draft (January).
1976: The Detroit Tigers drafted Mike Walters in the 2nd round of the 1976 amateur draft (January Secondary), but was not signed.
1976: The Detroit Tigers drafted Ron Roenicke in the 3rd round of the 1976 amateur draft (January Secondary), but was not signed.
1984: The Detroit Tigers signed Ramon Pena as a free agent.
1985: Lou Brock and Hoyt Wilhelm are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
During his career, Brock established the record for the most stolen bases in major league history (which will later be broken by Rickey Henderson).
While the knuckleballing Wilhelm pitched in more games than any other major league pitcher (Jesse Orosco will eventually break that mark).
Nellie Fox is named on 295 of the 395 ballots (74.7%), but the BBWAA and the Hall of Fame committee decline to round Fox's total to the required 75%. As this is Fox's last year on the ballot, he will only be inducted when he becomes eligible to be considered by the Veterans Committee.
1991: Bill Lajoie announces his retirement as Tigers VP and GM after 23 seasons with the team. Architect of 1984 world championship team.
1992: Starter Tom Seaver and reliever Rollie Fingers, two of the greatest pitchers of their generation, are elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA.
1993: The Detroit Tigers sign first baseman Cecil Fielder to a five-year $36 million contract, temporarily making him the highest-paid player in the majors.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENH2pzZWsAAGxFr?format=jpg&name=small
1993: Mike Illitch announces Tiger Stadium upgrades.
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1999: The Montreal Expos selected Roberto Duran off waivers from the Detroit Tigers.
2003: The Detroit Tigers signed Robinson Cancel as a free agent.
2004: The Detroit Tigers signed Andy Van Hekken as a free agent.
2005: Boston Red Sox owner John Henry calls Doug Mientkiewicz to discuss the defensive replacement's possession of the game ball caught at first base for the last out of the 2004 World Series. Larry Lucchino, the club's president, has made it clear he wants the team to have ownership of the historic ball. The ball now resides in a safe deposit box along with the back-up infielder's Olympic gold medal.
2005: Bud Selig announces that MLB and the Players Association will donate $1,000,000 to help last month’s tsunami victims in Southeast Asia.
2005: The Detroit Tigers signed Mike Hessman as a free agent.
2006: The minimum salary for players in the major leagues is rising $11,000 this year to $327,000.
2006: Baseball's world governing body, the IBAF, threatens to withdraw its sanctioning of the World Baseball Classic unless the United States government allows Cuba to compete.
2016: Former Tiger Curtis Pride named MLB's Ambassador for Inclusion.
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2020: As Major League Baseball's investigation into allegations of sign stealing by the Houston Astros continues and punishment is expected to be announced soon, news reports indicate that there is evidence that a similar scheme was used by the Red Sox in their World Series-winning season in 2018, by using the video replay room to capture their opponents' signs and relay them to batters. Sox manager Alex Cora was on the coaching staff of the Astros in 2017, when the scheme that prompted the original investigation allegedly was put in place.
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Topper_Rigney
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rigneto01.shtml
Topper Rigney 1922-1925.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grabojo01.shtml
Johnny Grabowski 1931.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/semprra01.shtml
Ray Semproch 1960.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hannaji01.shtml
Jim Hannan 1971.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/penabr01.shtml
Brayan Pena 2013.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Francísco_Rodriguez
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rodrifr03.shtml
Frankie Rodriguez 2016-2017.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/George_Mullin
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mullige01.shtml
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/george-mullin/
George Mullin 1902-1913.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/George_Burns_(burnsge02)
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/burnsge02.shtml
George Burns 1914-1917.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clairda01.shtml
Davey Claire 1920.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/boromre01.shtml
Red Borom 1944-1945.
Baseball Reference
