January 31 in Tigers and mlb history:
1919: Future Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson is born to Jerry and Mallie Robinson in Cairo, Georgia. Robinson will become the first black player in 20th century major league history when he debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
1927: National League President John Heydler rules that Rogers Hornsby cannot continue to both hold stock in the St. Louis Cardinals and play for the New York Giants. Seemingly oblivious, the Cards' board of directors, meeting in St. Louis, votes stockholders a 10% dividend, earning Hornsby $2916. for his 1167 shares.
1928: The Detroit Tigers traded Rip Collins to Toronto (International) for Vic Sorrell.
1931: Hall of Fame shortstop Ernie Banks is born in Dallas, Texas. Banks will make his debut with the Chicago Cubs in 1953 and hit 512 home runs during a 19-year career.
1941: Paul Waner, released by the Pittsburgh Pirates last December, signs with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Waner will play 11 games before moving to the Boston Braves, but he will return to Brooklyn in 1943.
1947: Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan is born in Refugio, Texas. Ryan will make his major league debut in 1966 with the New York Mets, kicking off a major league record 27-year career. He will win 324 games with the Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers.
1952: The Hall of Fame elects two new members: Harry Heilmann, with 203 votes, and Paul Waner with 195. Waner, a .333 career hitter, rapped out 3,152 hits and struck out just 376 times in 9,459 career at-bats.
Heilmann was similarly skilled with the bat, winning four batting titles with the Detroit Tigers and finishing his career with a .342 average.
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1953: The New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and Boston Red Sox retaliate at Bill Veeck, forcing the St. Louis Browns to play afternoon games to avoid sharing TV revenues. Veeck takes his plan to the American League office to make them pay. The plan is rejected.
1959: Former major league star Joe Cronin succeeds Will Harridge as president of the American League. A Hall of Fame shortstop who played for the Pirates, Senators and Red Sox, Cronin batted .301 over a 20-year playing career. He signs a seven-year pact and will remain in office until his retirement in 1973.
1962: San Francisco Giants star Willie Mays signs the largest contract in major league baseball, reportedly $90,000 for the upcoming season. Mays will earn every penny in 1962, when he bats .304 with 49 home runs and 141 RBI and helps the Giants to the National League pennant.
1965: Pitcher Pud Galvin is chosen for Hall of Fame induction by the Special Veterans Committee. Galvin had 20 victories in 10 out of 14 seasons and won 46 games in both 1883 and 1884 for the Buffalo Bisons of the National League.
1969: The National Association approves the use of the Designated Hitter for the International, Eastern, Texas and New York-Pennsylvania leagues. The rules vary slightly for each league. The Texas League will be the first to use the DH, in April.
1969: The American and National leagues agree to try an experimental rule change in spring training using a designated pinch hitter, but they don't agree on the implementation. The AL tells the teams to use the DPH when they are the home team; the NL gives the home manager the choice of which rules to use, but the visiting manager has to agree. The Mets, Giants, and Cardinals say that they will not use the rules, and the Astros and Reds follow suit.
1971: The Special Veterans Committee selects seven men for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame: former players Jake Beckley, Joe Kelley, Harry Hooper, Rube Marquard, Chick Hafey, and Dave Bancroft, as well as executive George Weiss. A number of this year's choices will later be derided as some of the worst ever made by the Veterans Committee.
1977: Joe Sewell, Amos Rusie, and Al Lopez are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. Sewell batted .312 over 14 seasons with the Indians and Yankees. Rusie won 246 games over nine seasons from 1889 to 1898. Lopez won four fielding titles in 19 years as a catcher, but it is his .584 winning percentage in 17 seasons as a manager that got him into Cooperstown.
1980: The Houston Astros sign free agent second baseman Joe Morgan. Houston was the first major league team the two-time National League MVP played with before he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds and became a force in the Big Red Machine.
1986: The Detroit Tigers signed Bill Campbell as a free agent.
1994: The California Angels sign free agent outfielder Bo Jackson to a one-year contract worth $1 million.
1996: Ken Griffey, Jr. becomes the highest-paid major league player by signing a four-year, $34 million contract with Seattle.
2001: A story in The Wall Street Journal quotes players Monte Irvin, Sal Yvars and Al Gettel, three former members of the 1951 New York Giants, as admitting that they stole catchers' signs at the Polo Grounds to help the club overtake the 13 1/2-game lead of the Brooklyn Dodgers and win the National League pennant. Except for Yvars, all the participants will deny using the system during the three-game playoff with the Dodgers. According to the report, Bobby Thomson, whose three-run, ninth-inning home run in Game Three of the playoff won the pennant for the Giants, did not, however, steal a sign before hitting his historic home run.
2008: The Detroit Tigers released Tony Giarratano.
2018: OF Mookie Betts of the Red Sox wins the first salary arbitration filing to be decided this off-season and will earn $10.5 million, a significant raise over his previous salary of $950,000.
2020: The Detroit Tigers signed Kennys Vargas as a free agent.
Tigers players and coaches birthdays:
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/h/hargrpi01.shtml
Pinky Hargrave 1928-1930.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Duke_Maas
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/maasdu01.shtml
Duke Maas 1955-1957.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Hank_Aguirre
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/aguirha01.shtml
Hank Aguirre 1958-1967.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/powerte01.shtml
Ted Power 1988.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Fred_Kendall
Fred Kendall coach 1996-1998.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ossie_Vitt
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vittos01.shtml
Ossie Vitt 1912-1918.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gibsosa01.shtml
Sam Gibson 1926-1928.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cantrgu01.shtml
Guy Cantrell 1930.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Harry_Chiti
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/chitiha01.shtml
Harry Chiti 1960-1961.
Baseball Reference
