Portal:Baseball/Anniversaries/March 17

Events

• 1871 - The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players is founded.
• 1884 - The Union Association admits the Boston Reds club organized by George Wright, bringing the number of teams to eight.
• 1886 - The Sporting News publishes its first issue.
• 1936 - Rookie Joe DiMaggio makes his debut with the New York Yankees, collecting four hits including a triple.
• 1946 - Jackie Robinson debuts with the Montreal Royals in a spring training game in Daytona Beach, Florida, marking the first appearance of an integrated team in Organized Baseball in the 20th century.
• 1965 - Jackie Robinson is signed as a member of the ABC-TV MLB broadcast team, becoming the first black broadcaster to receive a network position.
• 1969 - The St. Louis Cardinals trade Orlando Cepeda to the Atlanta Braves for Joe Torre.
• 1977 - U.S. Federal Judge Frank McGarr rules in favor of Bowie Kuhn, saying that the Commissioner of Baseball acted within his authority in voiding the 1976 player sales engineered by Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley.
• 1984 - Ferguson Jenkins announces his retirement.
• 1992 - Hal Newhouser and Bill McGowan are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
• 1999 - The Toronto Blue Jays fire manager Tim Johnson and replace him with Jim Fregosi.
• 2001 - Joe Randa agrees to a two-year contract extension with the Kansas City Royals.
• 2005 During more than 11 hours of the Committee on Government Reform hearing concerning Major League player use of steroids, Mark McGwire refuses to talk about the past and does not deny taking performance enhancing drugs. Other players testifying included Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and former big leaguer Jose Canseco, whose recent book prompted the congressional hearing. * 2006 - Toronto Blue Jays starter Roy Halladay signed a three-year, $40 million contract extension.

Births

• 1857 - Larry Murphy, outfielder (d. 1911)
• 1860 - Fred Pfeffer, infielder, manager (d. 1932)
• 1863 - Art Hagan, pitcher (d. 1936)
• 1867 - Ernie Beam, pitcher (d. 1918)
• 1883 - Oscar Stanage, catcher (d. 1964)
• 1885 - Paddy Mayes, outfielder (d. 1962)
• 1888 - Ed Klepfer, pitcher (d. 1950)
• 1897 - Harry Riconda, infielder (d. 1958)
• 1899 - Charlie Root, pitcher (d. 1970)
• 1906 - Hy Vandenberg, pitcher (d. 1994)
• 1912 - Whitey Ock, catcher (d. 1975)
• 1917 - Hank Sauer, outfielder; All-Star (d. 2001)
• 1919 - Pete Reiser, outfielder; All-Star (d. 1981)
• 1923 - Pat Seerey, outfielder (d. 1986)
• 1926 - Jaynne Bittner, AAGPBL pitcher
• 1938 - Jimmie Hall, outfielder; All-Star
• 1944 - Cito Gaston, outfielder, manager; All-Star
• 1952 - Jerry Tabb, infielder
• 1956 - Rick Lisi, outfielder
• 1956 - Tim Lollar, pitcher
• 1956 - Rod Scurry, pitcher (d. 1992)
• 1958 - Frank Wren, general manager
• 1959 - Danny Ainge, infielder
• 1965 - John Smiley, pitcher; All-Star
• 1968 - Dan Masteller, infielder
• 1969 - Scott Brow, pitcher
• 1971 - Bill Mueller, infielder
• 1973 - Raúl Chávez, catcher
• 1973 - Vance Wilson, catcher
• 1976 - Scott Downs, pitcher
• 1977 - Robb Quinlan, infielder
• 1982 - A. J. Murray, pitcher
• 1986 - Chris Davis, infielder

Deaths

• 1872 - Elmer White, outfielder (b. 1849)
• 1924 - Bill Harbridge, outfielder (b. 1855)
• 1936 - Grant Thatcher, pitcher (b. 1877)
• 1939 - Bill Burke, pitcher (b. 1865)
• 1944 - Rube Kroh, pitcher (b. 1886)
• 1948 - Ike Butler, pitcher (b. 1873)
• 1959 - Howard Ehmke, pitcher (b. 1894)
• 1962 - Billy Purtell, infielder (b. 1886)
• 1980 - Bob Hooper, pitcher (b. 1922)
• 1981 - Paul Dean, pitcher (b. 1912)
• 1985 - Ike Pearson, pitcher (b. 1917)
• 1995 - Jimmy Uchrinscko, pitcher (b. 1900)
• 2002 - Lefty Bertrand, pitcher (b. 1909)