Chicago Cubs history unpacked — February 25

Antitrustworthiness, labor unrest, Billy the Marlin is hatched, how to use a slide rule, and other stories.Happy Birthday to Ron Santo and other Cubs!

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.

“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.

Today in baseball history:

• 1882 – Providence Grays players and their opponents will be expected to parade down the streets of Providence in full uniform, accompanied by a brass band, on game days in order to encourage attendance. (2)
• 1905 – The Chicago Cubs go to Santa Monica, California for spring training, while most clubs go south or stay close to home. (2)
• 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 be elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011, barely a year after his death from diabetes. (2)
• 1946 – The Chicago White Sox hand out the first media guide to beat writers. Just 17 pages long, it is the creation of Marsh Samuel, according to historian Peggy Beck. The project intrigues Bill Veeck, owner of the Cleveland Indians, who hires Samuel away from the Sox to create a guide for the Tribe. (2)
• 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 white major leagues. He spent his entire 27-year career (1905-1932) pitching in the Negro Leagues, Mexico and the Caribbean, but his path to Organized Baseball was barred by the color line. During his stellar career, he defeated five Hall of Fame pitchers in exhibition competition: Grover Alexander, Charles 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. (2)
• 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. (1,2)
• 1965 – The MLB owners refuse to raise the minimum salary requested by the players to $7,000 from the current $6,000, a level that is only $500 more than the first minimum salary established 18 years ago. In 1968, thanks to the first-ever collective bargaining agreement in professional sport, the amount will be raised to $10,000, setting the tone for more rapid increases in the coming years. (1)
• 1969 – Baseball avoids the first work stoppage in its history when the owners agree to increase their contribution to the newly revised pension plan. The 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. (1,2)
• 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.. (1,2)
• 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.(2)
• 1987 – Commissioner Ueberroth bans former Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt from major league baseball for the 1987 season due to multiple drug-related incidents during the past year. The Padres are ordered to reinstate the right-hander after an arbitrator reduces the penalty to sixty days. (2)
• 1993 – Resembling a marlin with arms and legs, ‘Billy’ is introduced as the mascot of the new National League franchise in Miami. Owner Wayne Huizenga selects the name partly because a dolphin is from the species of fish known as “billfish,” and it was different from typical baseball mascot names like Smasher. (2)
• 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. (2)
• 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, notably Jung-ho Kang and Ruben Tejada. (1,2,3)

Cubs Birthdays:Howard Earl, Monte Irvin HoF, Andy Pafko, Ron Santo* (HoF), Ed Lynch, Henry Rodriguez, Felix Pena, Jorge Soler, Erick Castillo. Also notable: Bob Brenly.

Today in history:

• 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, is executed for treason against the Crown of England.
• 1836 – Samuel Colt patents the first practical revolving-cylinder, multi-shot revolver, allowing it to fire multiple shots without reloading.
• 1862 – First Legal Tender Act of 1862 is passed by US Congress, authorizing the United States note (greenback) into circulation, the first fiat paper money that is legal tender in America.
• 1969 – Mariner 6 launched for a fly-by of Mars.

Common sources:

• (1) — Today in Baseball History.
• (2) — Baseball Reference.
• (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
• (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
• (6) — Wikipedia.
• (7) — The British Museum
• (8) — For world history.

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, in order to help correct the record.