Share This Page
Long-Time Cubs TV director Arne Harris was born on this day in 1934.
I don’t know about you, but as far as I was concerned, he was the most famous director in the world.
Happy Birthday to hitting guru Walt Hriniak, who was born on this day in 1943.
Walt spent a lot of time working with a young hitter named Boggs and it worked out well.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Tommy John, who won a career-high 22 games in 1980 for the Yankees and threw 265 innings. Not too bad for a guy with a rebuilt elbow.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jose Mesa, who faced Jim Rice in his first game and Mark Teixeira in his next to last game.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mark Brouhard, who made the most of his lone start in the 1982 ALCS, going 3 for 4 with a dinger and 3 RBI.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mark Mercer, who struck out 8 in 7.2 innings of work for the 1981 Rangers, his only Major League time.
5/22/83
In separate moves, the Phillies deal Sid Monge to the Padres for Joe Lefebvre and acquire Willie Hernandez from the Cubs in exchange for Dick Ruthven and Bill Johnson.
Hernandez would win the CY Young and the MVP the following year… for the Tigers.
5/22/87
The Baltimore Orioles trade Brad Havens and John Shelby to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Tom Niedenfuer.
5/22/87
The Twins sign Sal Butera as a free agent.
Butera plays 51 games for the Twins and wins a ring before finishing his career in Toronto in 1988.
5/22/80
Ernie Camacho strikes out five in 3.2 innings in his big league debut.
He spends 10 years in the majors with six teams.
5/22/80
Joe Lefebvre goes 1 for 3 with a dinger off Dave Stieb in his big league debut.
Pretty solid.
5/22/84
Lemmie Miller goes 1 for 4with a single off Jerry Koosman in his big league debut.
His major league career consists of just 8 games over 12 days but he got there and had two knocks.
Big Days
5/22/82
Charlie Hough throws a 12-inning CG and picks up a 3-1 win over the Royals.
5/22/83
Cliff Johnson sets a new record by hitting his 18th career pinch-hit homer in a 5-0 win over the Orioles.
Goose Gossage was unavailable for comment.
5/22/85
Pete Rose passes Hank Aaron to become the all-time leader in the National League for runs scored with 2,108.
5/22/86
The Hawaii Islanders (Pirates) lead the Phoenix Firebirds (Giants) 17-3 heading into the 9th inning and drop a 14-spot to win the game 31-5. All 14 runs were unearned and came off a guy named Randy Johnson, but not THAT Randy Johnson.
Hawaii bangs out 33 hits, only one of which is a homer. That comes off the bat of a Pirates prospect named Barry Bonds.
5/22/86
Jimmy Key strikes out 8 and allows just on hit in a 5-0 shutout of the White Sox.
He wins 14 games in 1986 and leads the A.L. in E.R.A. in 1987.
5/22/88
Yankees lefty John Candelaria throws a 2-hitter against the A’s and strikes out 13 in a 2-0 win.
The Candy Man went 13-7 for the Yankees in 1988, his last double-digit win season.
Fights
5/22/88
Pedro Guerrero and David Cone have a disagreement.
Managerial Changes
5/22/81
The Twins fire manager Johnny Goryl after an 11-25 start to the season.
Goryl reluctantly took the managerial job after Gene Mauch resigned in late 1980. He’s replaced by Billy Gardner, who pilots the team until mid -1985.
5/22/88
The Braves fire Chuck Tanner and replace him with Russ Nixon. Atlanta went 12-27 under Tanner in 1988 and 153-208 during his two-plus years as skipper. It’s his last managerial job.
Four coaches are also dismissed, including Willie Stargell.
Deaths
We lost former Indians manager Dave Garcia OTD in 2018.
