February 7 in Tigers and mlb history:
1899: Under a joint ownership arrangement, several Baltimore Orioles players are shifted to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, and that club transfers several to the Orioles. Manager Ned Hanlon takes Willie Keeler, Joe Kelley, Hughie Jennings, and others with him to Brooklyn, while John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson remain in Baltimore to stay close to their businesses there. The powerful new Brooklyn team is now sometimes called the "Superbas", after a stage show in New York called "Superba" that is produced by the Hanlon brothers (unrelated to Ned Hanlon).
1905: In Lynn, Massachusetts, Rube Waddell prevents a fire by carrying a burning stove out of a store and throwing it into a snow bank. Three days later he flees nearby Peabody to escape charges of assaulting and injuring his wife's parents.
1908: The St. Louis Browns purchase future Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell from the Philadelphia Athletics. The Browns pay $5,000 for Waddell, who won 19 games with a 2.15 ERA in 1907. Waddell will win 19 games this season, while lowering his ERA to 1.89.
1916: The Federal League's year-old suit charging antitrust violations by organized baseball is dismissed by mutual consent in U.S. District Court in Chicago by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. No appellate decision is written and it will not be until 1922 when the courts rule on antitrust, in another suit stemming from the Federal League.
1942: The Cincinnati Reds stir the hometown fans by selling popular catcher Ernie Lombardi to the Boston Braves, where he will win the National League batting title this season with a .330 average.
1949: New York Yankees superstar Joe DiMaggio signs a one-year contract worth $100,000, becoming the first player to earn a six-figure deal in major league history. In 1948, DiMaggio batted .320, while leading the American League in home runs and RBI.
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1958: The Dodgers officially become the "Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc." in anticipation of playing their first season on the West Coast.
1959: Nap Lajoie dies of pneumonia at the age of 84. Lajoie, who also managed the Cleveland Naps from 1905 to 1909, hit for a .338 batting average over a 21-year career and gained election to the Hall of Fame in 1937.
1959: Chicago White Sox president Mrs. Dorothy Rigney agrees to sell the team to Bill Veeck for a reported $2.7 million. Chicago insurance broker Charles O. Finley allows that he can match the price. Charles Comiskey, Dorothy's brother, will try to stop Veeck from buying the Sox, but will be unsuccessful.
1961: Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Jensen makes a return to the major leagues by signing a $40,000 contract. Jensen had retired in 1960 due to a fear of flying. The layoff will prove detrimental to Jensen, who will hit only .263 with 13 home runs this season.
1962: Lawyer Melvin Belli obtains a writ laying claim to Willie Mays, among other assets, unless the San Francisco Giants pay him the judgment awarded by a jury in January. Belli claims the club failed to file a motion for a new trial before the deadline.
1986: The Detroit Tigers signed Jack Lazorko as a free agent.
1987: For only the second time in major league history, a player is forced to take a pay cut due to salary arbitration, when Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser signs for $800,000, which is a twenty percent reduction from his 1986 salary. Hershiser was 14-14 with a 3.85 ERA in 1986.
1994: Former National Basketball Association star Michael Jordan signs a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox. Jordan will report to spring training before being assigned to the Class-AA Birmingham Barons. After one season in the minors, Jordan will return to the NBA.
1994: The Detroit Tigers sign free agent pitcher Tim Belcher.
1996: Dave Winfield announces his retirement at the age of 44. Winfield compiled 3,110 hits, 465 home runs and 1,833 RBI during a 22-year career with six teams.
1999: Veteran pitcher Dennis Martinez announces his retirement. The Nicaraguan right-hander won 245 games with 3,999 2/3 innings pitched over a 23-year career with five teams. In 1991, he pitched a perfect game as a member of the Montreal Expos.
2005: The Detroit Tigers sign All-Star right fielder Magglio Ordóñez for five years for a reported $75 million. The contract for the free agent slugger, recovering from knee surgery, includes options which could extend his stay in Detroit for an additional two years making the deal worth nearly $100 million.
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2005: The Detroit Tigers released Dewayne Wise.
2007: The Detroit Tigers traded Jeff Frazier to the Seattle Mariners for Yorman Bazardo.
2008: The fallout from the Mitchell Report continues when Brian McNamee gives a seven-hour deposition to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Meanwhile, Roger Clemens lobbies congressmen and continues to claim McNamee lied about Clemens' use of steroids.
2012: Rusty Staub is voted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, alongside P Rheal Cormier and GM Doug Melvin, the latter two Canadian natives. Staub was the first star in the history of the Montreal Expos, representing the team at three All-Star Games and seeing his number 10 retired by the team. The Canadian senior national team that won gold at the 2011 Pan American Games and bronze at the 2011 Baseball World Cup is also honored collectively.
2013: The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame announces its 2013 class. Two left fielders of the 1980s headline it: Montreal Expos all-around star Tim Raines, a seven-time All-Star, and Toronto Blue Jays slugger and 1987 American League MVP George Bell.
2013: Justin Verlander plays the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
2014: In a major reversal, Alex Rodriguez decides to drop his lawsuit against Major League Baseball and the Players Association. He will serve his one-year suspension for his role in the Biogenesis scandal and will attempt to come back in 2015. He will also not attend the Yankees spring training opening shortly, where his presence would have been a major distraction.
2019: Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, a member of the 500 Home Run Club, a Triple Crown winner, the first player to win the MVP Award in both leagues, and the first African-American manager in major league history, passes away in hospice care in Los Angeles, CA at the age of 83. He was also a senior executive for Major League Baseball and was still serving as the honorary President of the American League.
2022: The Detroit Tigers signed Jack Lopez as a free agent.
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Earl_Whitehill
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whiteea01.shtml
Earl Whitehill 1923-1932.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/borkoda01.shtml
Dave Borkowski 1999-2001.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walkuji02.shtml
Jim Walkup 1939.
Baseball Reference
