February 25 in Tigers and mlb history:
1919: Monte Irvin is born in Columbia, Alabama. Irvin will become a star in the Negro Leagues before joining the New York Giants in 1949. He will gain election to the Hall of Fame in 1973.
1925: John McGraw arrives in Florida and is installed as president of a real estate development near Bradenton called Pennant Park. With streets named for early New York Giants heroes, and lots offered for $2,500 to $5,000, McGraw hires a fleet of salesmen and heads north. New York newspapers run a series of full-page ads featuring a picture of John McGraw with the bold caption "You've followed me, now follow me in real estate." A year later, the boom will go bust, washed away by two hurricanes. McGraw will incur a loss of $100,000 after paying off close friends, players, and other investors, and will be hounded by creditors.
1933: Tom Yawkey buys the Boston Red Sox from Bob Quinn. Just four days earlier, Yawkey collected $7 million in inheritance. Yawkey will own the Red Sox for 44 years.
1934: Former New York Giants manager John McGraw dies from prostate cancer in New Rochelle, New York, at age 60. McGraw led the Giants to nine National League pennants and three World Championships during a 33-year managing career. His last public appearance was in 1933 in the first All-Star Game ever as National League manager.
1940: Ron Santo is born in Seattle, WA. He will be one of the greatest third basemen in history, playing 14 of his 15 major league seasons with the Chicago Cubs and hitting 342 home runs. He will elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011, barely a year after his death from diabetes.
1946: Back from the military, Ted Williams hits the first spring training pitch he sees for a home run.
1947: Hank Greenberg visits with a sick Babe Ruth and learns the ancient secret of the home run grip.
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1951: Smokey Joe Williams dies in New York City at age 62. Williams has been considered by many historians to be one of the game's greatest pitchers, even though he never played a game in the major leagues. He spent his entire 27-year career (1905-1932) pitching in the Negro Leagues, Mexico and the Caribbean, but his path to the majors was barred by the color line.
During his stellar career, he defeated five Hall of Fame pitchers in exhibition competition: Grover Alexander, Chief Bender, Waite Hoyt, Walter Johnson and Rube Marquard. In 1999, after extensive research on the early years of black baseball reveal his outstanding numbers, Williams will gain Hall of Fame honors himself.
1957: The United States Supreme Court decides 6-3 that baseball is the only professional sport exempt from antitrust laws. The issue arises when pro football seeks similar protection from the laws.
1969: A pension plan for Major League Baseball is agreed on, with players to receive $5.45 million per year. They also get a percentage of television revenues, a reduction in the years necessary to qualify for a pension from five to four (retroactive to 1959), and a lowered minimum age for drawing a pension from 50 to 45.
1972 - The St. Louis Cardinals trade future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Rick Wise. The trade will prove to be one of the best in the history of the Philadelphia franchise, as Carlton will win an amazing 27 games for the last-place Phillies this season. During his career with the Phillies, Carlton will collect 241 wins, four Cy Young awards and help the Phils win 6 NL East crowns, 2 National League pennants, and the 1980 World Series.
1973: Players and owners come to terms on a three-year collective bargaining agreement. The new deal allows teams to open spring training on March 1st. Among the provisions of the agreement are a $15,000 minimum salary, salary arbitration, and the "ten and five" trade rule, which permits a player with ten years in the major leagues, the last five of which are with his current team, to veto any trade involving him.
1977: Tigers sell Luis Alvarado to the Mets. He will play one game as a Met, then be returned to Detroit in April to finish his 10-year major league career with two appearances as a Tiger.
1978: The Toronto Blue Jays purchased Steve Grilli from the Detroit Tigers.
1981: The Executive Board of the Players' Association votes unanimously to strike on May 29th if the issue of free agent compensation remains unresolved. That deadline will be extended briefly, however, when the Players' Association's unfair labor practices complaint is heard by the National Labor Relations Board.
1989: The Detroit Tigers signed David Palmer as a free agent.
1994: The Veterans Committee elects Phil Rizzuto to the Hall of Fame.
1999: Frank Robinson is hired by Major League Baseball to handle on-field disciplinary matters. Previously, such matters were handled by the individual league offices.
2002: 84-year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell announces this season will be his last as Detroit Tigers radio play-by-play announcer. The winner of the 1981 Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasting excellence has worked for the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and Baltimore Orioles before moving to Detroit during his 62-year career behind a microphone.
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2012: Oft-injured fireballing reliever Joel Zumaya suffers another setback, after throwing only 13 pitches in a batting practice session for the Twins. He leaves the mound in obvious pain and will be diagnosed tomorrow with a torn ligament in his elbow, putting him out for the season, and possibly ending his career.
2013: Major League Baseball announces changes to its umpiring crews for the coming season, following the resignation of three veteran umpires, Derryl Cousins, Ed Rapuano and Tim Tschida, over the winter. Jim Joyce, Ted Barrett and Fieldin Culbreth are all named crew chiefs, while Vic Carapazza, Manny Gonzalez and Alan Porter are added to the full-time umpiring staff; all three have taken part in a number of games as fill-in umpires over the past few seasons.
2016: Major League Baseball announces changes to the rules that touch on two aspects of play: first limiting the length of mound visits by coaches and managers, and the amount of time between innings, in order to speed up play; and second defining what constitutes a legal slide into a base. The latter is the result of a number of injuries last season to fielders attempting to complete a double play.
2020: 96-year-old World War II veteran Jack Barker throws out the first pitch in Lakeland.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1232370938420846592
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/szotkke01.shtml
Ken Szotkiewicz 1970.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rowlari01.shtml
Rich Rowland 1990-1993.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/suscege01.shtml
George Susce 1932.
Baseball Reference
