Today in Baseball History -- March 23 -- from Mary Landers ... 1938 -- Commissioner Landis frees 74 Cardinal minor leaguers to halt the cover up he perceives taking place in the St. Louis farm system. 1951 -- The Dodgers sign a 21-year lease with the City of Vero Beach for use of their spring training site. 1959 -- The Cardinals trade Sam Jones to the Giants for first baseman/outfielder Bill White and third baseman Ray Jablonski. 1962 -- The Phillies trade third baseman Andy Carey and second baseman Lou Vassie to the White Sox for pitcher Cal McLish. Chicago then trades Carey to the Dodgers for Ramon Conde and Jim Koranda. 1963 -- On the day he is fitted for his big-league Orioles uniform, Steve Dalkowski, pitching in an exhibition against the Yankees, feels something pop in his left elbow. The fireballer from New Britain, Connecticut, who once struck out 24 batters in a minor league game, will never appear in the major leagues. 1978 -- The Mets trade popular shortstop Bud Harrelson to Philadelphia for minor league infielder Freddie Andrews. 1990 -- Howard Spira is arrested for extorting money from George Steinbrenner. The Yankee owner paid the Bronx gambler $40,000 in January to dig up dirt on outfielder Dave Winfield. 2009 -- Thanks to Mariners Ichiro Suzuki’s two-out, two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, Japan defeats South Korea, 5-3, to win its second consecutive World Baseball Classic title. South Korea, the reigning Olympic champion, had tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth on Lee Bum-hos two-out RBI single off Japanese closer Yu Darvish in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 54,846 at Dodger Stadium. 2009 -- The Miami-Dade County commissioners approve the final documents necessary to move forward on the Marlins’ new 37,000-seat home which will be located on the present grounds of Miami’s Orange Bowl. The long-anticipated retractable-roof ballpark will become a reality in 2012, with the team breaking ground this July.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 19:41:05 +0000