February 9 in Tigers and mlb history:
1895: New York Giants owner Andrew Freedman institutes reserved grandstand seats to attract businessmen.
1916: The National League celebrates its 40th anniversary with a Waldorf-Astoria banquet. The NL's first president, Morgan G. Bulkeley, is present. The chief speaker is former president William Howard Taft.
1916: The National League votes down a proposal by the Giants, Braves, and Cubs to increase club player limit from 21 to 22. (The Reds want a decrease to 20).
1920: The Joint Rules Committee bans all foreign substances or other alterations to the ball by pitchers, including saliva, resin, talcum powder, paraffin, and the shine and emery ball. A pitcher caught cheating will be suspended for 10 days.
The American League allows each club to name just two pitchers who will be allowed to use the pitch for one more season.
The National League allows each club to name all its spitball pitchers. No pitchers other than those designated will be permitted to use the banned pitch, and none at all after this season (however, the designated pitchers will eventually be allowed to use the pitch for the rest of their careers).
Other rules changes: the adoption of writer Fred Lieb's proposal that a game-winning home run with men on base be counted as a home run even if the batter's run is not needed to win the game. Also, the intentional walk is banned, and everything that happens in a protested game will go in the records.
1922: Judge Kenesaw Landis cracks down on phony player deals. He fines the Cards and Tigers $150 each, and three minor league clubs a total of $1,400 for violating waiver rules. In March, he will assess the Giants $1,764 for the improper transfer of a player.
1924 - Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith names 2B Bucky Harris, last year's team captain, as the new Nationals' manager. Harris had annoyed Griffith by playing pro basketball over the winter, in violation of his contract, but the owner still tabs him the job. Harris, 28, team captain, is at spring training when he receives the offer by letter.
Harris will later become manager of the Tigers from 1929-1933, and 1955-1956.
1927: The A’s sign free agent legend Ty Cobb.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwE8nUAX4AEqTxd.jpg
1951: The St. Louis Browns sign Satchel Paige, 45. He has been out of Major League Baseball since last pitching for the Cleveland Indians in 1949.
1961: Willie Mays signs for $85,000, currently the biggest contract in Major League Baseball.
1971: Former Negro Leagues P Satchel Paige is nominated for the Hall of Fame. On June 10 the Hall's new Special Committee on the Negro Leagues will formally select Paige for induction.
1976: Oscar Charleston is selected for the Hall of Fame by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues.
1988: The Detroit Tigers signed Tom Brookens as a free agent.
1994: The Ted Williams Retrospective Museum and Library opens in Hernando, FL.
2000: The Reds send four players - pitcher Brett Tomko, outfielder Mike Cameron and two minor leaguers to the Mariners and agree to a contract extension to obtain Seattle's superstar Ken Griffey Jr. Junior's nine-year $116.5 million contract is the richest package in history, but in the current market is considered quite a bargain.
2001: After 13 months of negotiations, Derek Jeter and the Yankees finalize a $189 million, 10-year contract. The deal makes the All-Star shortstop second only to Alex Rodriguez ($252 million/10 years) as highest-paid player in the history of the sport.
2004: The Detroit Tigers released Bobby Estalella.
2005: The Cubs trade reliever Kyle Farnsworth and a player to be named to the Tigers in exchange for pitcher Roberto Novoa and minor leaguers Scott Moore and Bo Flowers.
2006: Deliberating for a little more than four hours, a jury rules the Angels did not breach a contract with the city of Anaheim when the ball club changed its name. Thirteen months ago, the team known as the Anaheim Angels became the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim", prompting the city where it plays to file a law suit claiming the change in name amounted to at least $100 million in lost revenue.
2009: 12-time All-Star and 3-time MVP Alex Rodriguez publicly admits to using steroids from 2001 to 2003, while a member of the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez apologizes for his past errors; he had not commented on the issue since Sports Illustrated had broken a story about a positive 2003 test two days earlier.
2012: The Detroit Tigers signed Zack Segovia as a free agent.
2017: Major League Baseball announces that a variation of the "Schiller Rule" used in International Baseball will be tested in two Rookie-level Minor Leagues this season. In the Gulf Coast League and the Arizona League, if a game is tied after nine innings, every subsequent inning will start with a runner already on second base.
2020: The Mookie Betts trade, originally completed on February 4th but which had threatened to unravel due to concerns by the Red Sox over the health of Twins prospect Brusdar Graterol, is finally completed. Graterol now goes to the Dodgers, who send Jeter Downs and Connor Wong to Boston as compensation, and receive Luke Raley and a draft pick from the Twins while also sending them a player to be named later.
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hankido01.shtml
Don Hankins 1927.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Vic_Wertz
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wertzvi01.shtml
Vic Wertz 1947-1952, 1961-1963.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/John_Young
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/youngjo01.shtml
John Young 1971.
Founder of Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI).
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/u/underpa01.shtml
Pat Underwood 1979-1980, 1982-1983.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/welchmi02.shtml
Milt Welch 1945.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/froatbi01.shtml
Bill Froats 1955.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/casalje01.shtml
Jerry Casale 1961-1962.
Baseball Reference
