Phil Niekro was born OTD in 1939 and spent 24 years in the bigs. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997 and passed away in 2020.
Rusty Staub was born OTD in 1944 and spent 23 years in the bigs with five teams. He was a six-time All-Star. Rusty passed away in 2018.
Willie Montanez was born OTD in 1948 and was 2nd in the 1971 R.O.Y. race. He enjoyed his best season in 1976 when he went .311-11-85.
Mike Bacsik was born OTD in 1952 and spent parts of 5 seasons with the Twins and Rangers. His son, Mike, Jr. pitched in the big leagues as well.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Manny Castillo, who spent parts of three seasons in the major leagues with the Royals and Mariners and later coached and managed in the minor leagues and The Dominican Republic.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mike Kinnunen, who holds the major league record for most pitching appearances without a decision of any kind. He appeared in 48 games and had a lifetime record of 0-0 with 0 saves.
4/1/80
The Pirates trade a PTBNL and cash to the Mariners for Odell Jones. The Pirates send Larry Andersen to Seattle to complete the trade.
4/1/81
The Indians trade Juan Bonilla to the Padres for Bob Lacey.
Bonilla becomes a starter in San Diego and was having a great 1982 campaign until he broke his wrist.
4/1/81
The White Sox trade Thad Bosley to the Brewers for John Poff.
Bosley spends 1981 in Milwaukee and 1982 in Seattle before settling in with the Cubs.
4/1/81
The Angels trade Jason Thompson to the Pirates for Mickey Mahler and Ed Ott.
Thompson spends five years in Pittsburgh and bats .259 with 93 homers and 354 RBI
4/1/81
The Angels trade Dickie Thon to the Astros for Ken Forsch. Thon develops into one of the top shortstops in the NL before a horrible beaning derails his career.
4/1/82
The Mets trade native son Lee Mazzilli to the Rangers for minor league pitchers Ron Darling and Walt Terrell. The deal goes over like a fart in church in New York initially, but Mets fans come around when Darling develops into Ron Darling.
4/1/83
The Cubs trade a PTBNL and cash to the Brewers for Steve Lake. Chicago sends Rich Buonantony to Milwaukee Brewers to complete the deal.
4/1/83
The White Sox trade Pat Tabler to the Indians for Jerry Dybzinski. Dybzinski hits .232 in two seasons in Chicago while Tabler develops into a solid MLB player. Oops.
4/1/85
The Phillies trade Len Matuszek to the Blue Jays for Ken Kinnard, Jose Escobar and Dave Shipanoff. Matuszek is flipped to the Dodgers where he finishes his career.
4/1/87
The Pirates trade All-Star Tony Peña to the Cardinals in exchange for Mike LaValliere, Andy Van Slyke, and Mike Dunne. Spanky and Slick become staples of a Pirates team that win three straight NL East titles.
4/1/80
The Yankees sign Jim Kaat as a free agent. He goes 0-1 in 4 games before being sold to the Cardinals where he wins a World Series a few years later.
4/1/82
The Angels sign Jerry Narron as a free agent. He spends the next four years with the Angels before finishing his big league career in Seattle and going into coaching.
4/1/84
The Mariners sign an amateur free agent out of Venezuela named Omar Vizquel.
4/1/84
The Giants sign Dusty Baker as a free agent. He hits .292 in 100 games and finishes his career across the bay in Oakland.
Transactions
4/1/80
The Cubs purchase Lenny Randle from the Mariners. He hits .276 in his lone season in Chicago before signing with the Mariners and blowing balls foul.
4/1/81
The Angels release Jim Barr. He signs with the White Sox and spends 1981 in Triple-A before returning to the Giants to finish his career.
4/1/81
The Rangers release Willie Horton. He signs with the Pirates and spends two years in Triple-A before retiring.
4/1/81
The Angels release Dave LaRoche. The king of La Lob signs with the Yankees and finishes his career in the Bronx.
4/1/82
The Cubs release Rawly Eastwick and his career is over. He spends 8 years in the big leagues, leads the NL in saves twice, and wins two rings.
4/1/84
The Giants release Jim Barr. He signs with the Orioles, spends the year in Triple-A and his career is over.
4/1/84
The Indians release Juan Eichelberger. He spends four years in the minor leagues and resurfaces with Atlanta in 1988 where he goes 2-0 to finish his career.
4/1/86
The Braves release Len Barker. He signs with the Expos and spends a year and a half in the minor leagues before finishing his career with the Brewers in 1987.
Deaths
John McSherry passed away OTD in 1996.
Former GM Lou Gorman passed OTD in 2011
We lost Ed Farmer OTD in 2020
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