Happy ’80s Birthday to Gary Pettis, who stole more than 350 bases in the bigs and won five Gold Gloves.
Tim Crews was born OTD in 1961. He was tragically killed in a boating accident in 1993 during spring training.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Tim Conroy who was drafted 20th overall in 1978 out of high school and went straight to the big leagues. Not smart, but Charlie Finley sold a few extra tickets so…
Happy ’80s Birthday to Larry Littleton, who made his big league debut in 1981, went 0-23, got sent down, and never got another shot. But he got there.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Doug Baker who won a ring with the Tigers in 1984 and had his ring stolen. He had a replacement made, then got the original back and sold it on eBay.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Darrell Jackson, who threw a no-hitter in his professional debut in Double-A in 1978 and spent parts of five seasons in the big leagues.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Marty Clary, who was a 3rd-round draft pick out of Northwestern and won 4 games for the Braves in the ’80s and ’90s.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Miguel Garcia, who made his debut with the Angels in 1987 and was traded to Pittsburgh for Johnny Ray. After he retired, he worked for multiple big league organizations as a scout.
4/3/87
The Cubs trade Dennis Eckersley and Dan Rohn to the A’s for Brian Guinn, Mark Leonette, and Dave Wilder.
Eck saves 320 games in Oakland over the next 8 years.
4/3/84
The Pirates sign Bob Walk as a free agent. He spends the final ten years of his career there and is now a broadcaster for the team.
4/3/85
The Indians sign Doug Jones as a free agent. He’d spent the past two seasons in the minor leagues but he sticks in the bigs in his age 29 season and goes on to save more than 300 games before retiring.
4/3/86
Phil Niekro signs a free agent deal with the Indians
In his age-47 season, Knucksie throws 210.1 innings and wins 11 games.
4/3/89
Ken Griffey Jr. makes his big league debut at the age of 19.
Junior doubles off Dave Stewart in his first career at-bat. It’s the beginning of an amazing career.
4/3/89
Steve Finley goes 0 for 1 in his big league debut for the Orioles. He starts the game but injures his shoulder in the 3rd innings making a running catch and doesn’t return to the lineup until April 22nd.
4/3/80
The Brewers release Ray Fosse and his career is over.
He’s known for being trucked by Pete Rose in the 1970 All-Star Game, but Fosse had a nice career in spite of the injury he suffered in that incident, including winning two rings with Oakland.
4/3/86
Pedro Guerrero ruptures the patella tendon in his left knee in a spring training game against the Braves.
He undergoes surgery and misses the first four months of the regular season.
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