December 10 in Tigers and mlb history:
1900 - At the National League meetings at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, rumors fly. Ban Johnson says the American League has signed a lease on a park in Detroit. The Players Protective Association says its members will not sign with the NL.
1919: With the opposition led by New York, Boston, and Chicago owners, the American League directors pass a resolution accusing Ban Johnson of overstepping his duties. They demand that league files be turned over to them and that an auditor review all financial accounts. The three teams' disatisfaction with Johnson can be traced back to his attempt to suspend pitcher Carl Mays after he left his team without authorization during the past season.
1919: The National League votes to ban the spitball's use by all new pitchers. The ban will be formally worked out by the Rules Committee in February.
1924 - The two leagues agree on a permanent rotation for World Series play proposed by Charles Ebbets: the first two games at one league's park, the next three at the other league's park, and the last two if needed back at the first league's park, with openers to alternate between leagues. Next year's World Series will commence at the National League city.
1935: Ford Frick is reelected National League president for two years and given a raise. The American League votes down night ball and awards a $500 cash prize for batting leaders retroactive to include Buddy Myer in 1935.
1935: After three years in Chicago, Al Simmons is sold by the White Sox to the Tigers for $75,000.
1940: In Chicago, a curious rule that was designed to "break up the Yankees" is continued by the American League, a rule which prohibits the team winning the championship from trading with any other club. The rule was voted in at the December, 1939 meetings by the seven other AL owners after the New York Yankees won four straight World Series. The major and minor leagues agree that players taken into the military will not count against roster limits.
1940: The sacrifice fly rule, reinstituted last year, is eliminated for the 1941 season. Though he would hit .400 without the rule change, Ted Williams will have six flies that score runners from third base in 1941.
1948 - The minors started 58 leagues and 438 clubs this year. All the leagues finished their schedules, but when the minor leagues ask for curbs on television broadcasts into their areas, the Major League clubs sidestep the issue.
1956: Similar to the National League, the Junior Circuit opts for a three-game playoff in case of a tie at the end of the regular season. Previously, a deadlock in the American League had been broken with one-game winner-take-all format. However, the new format will never need to be used until the leagues break into two divisions in 1969.
1972 - The major leagues make modifications to the official save rule, a statistic officially adopted before the 1969 season. A pitcher shall be credited with a save if, when entering a game as a reliever, he finds the tying or winning run on base or at the plate, and he preserves the lead. Or he pitches three effective innings and preserves the lead. The rule will be tweaked again, to take its lasting form, before the 1975 season.
1996: The Tigers make their biggest trade since 1957, sending four players to Houston in exchange for five Astros. Detroit C Brad Ausmus, P Jose Lima, lefties C.J. Nitkowski and Trever Miller, and IF Daryle Ward go to the National League for OF Brian Hunter, IF Orlando Miller, and P Doug Brocail and Todd Jones, and a player to come later. Brocail, also involved in the 1994 12-player swap between San Diego and Houston, will be Detroit's Opening Day pitcher in April.
Tigers players birthdays:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Floyd_Giebell
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/giebefl01.shtml
Floyd Giebell 1939-1941.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonesda03.shtml
Dalton Jones 1970-1972.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rojasme01.shtml
Mel Rojas 1999.
from baseball reference
