Happy ’80s Birthday to the versatile and underrated Tom Brookens, who played anywhere and everywhere Sparky wanted him to play for the Tigers, including a game at catcher.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mike Schooler, who spent six years in the bigs with the Mariners and Rangers.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jerald Clark, who made his debut with the NL Champion 1984 Padres and played in parts of seven seasons with the Pads, Rockies, and Twins.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Bill Wilkinson, whose great grandfather Jim Bluejacket, pitched in the Federal League. Bill pitched in 88 games for the Mariners from 1985 through 1988.
8/10/83
The Astros trade Omar Moreno to the Yankees for Jerry Mumphrey. Moreno hits .250 in 199 games for the Yankees with 28 stolen bases before heading to Kansas City in 1985. Mumphrey hits .291 in 325 games in Houston before finishing his career with the Cubs.
8/10/86
The Tigers trade a PTBNL and Ken Hill to the Cardinals for Mike Heath. Detroit sent Mike Laga to St. Louis to complete the trade. Hill makes his big league debut in 1988 and wins 117 games whil Heath helps the Tigers reach the playoffs in 1987.
8/10/82
The Phillies sign Willie Montanez as a free agent. He appears in 18 games and his career is over at the end of the season. He finishes with 1,604 hits over 14 seasons.
8/10/80
Jay Howell throws a scoreless inning against the Dodgers in his big league debut. The Reds send him to the Cubs in the offseason and he then goes to the Yankees before being dealt to Oakland in the Rickey Hendeson deal. He finishes his career with 155 saves over 15 seasons.
8/10/81
Darryl Motley goes 1 for 5 against Baltimore in his big league debut. He hits .232 in 42 games as a rookie and wins a ring in 1985.
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8/10/81
Cal Ripken Jr. makes his big league debut for the Orioles when he is inserted as a pinch-runner for Ken Singleton in the 12th inning. Two batters later John Lowenstein drives him in with the winning run in a 3-2 win over the Royals at Municipal Stadium.
8/10/84
Ivan Calderon goes 0 for 3 against the Twins in his big league debut. He collects his first hit the following day and plays until 1993 when he’s murdered in Puerto Rico.
8/10/87
Todd Frohwirth throws 1 2/3 scoreless against the Cubs in his big league debut. He doesn’t allow a run in 10 appearances in his rookie season.
8/10/89
Greg Vaughn makes his big league debut as a pinch-runner. He gets his first start the following day and goes 2 for 2. He finishes his career with 355 dingers.
8/10/80
Steve McCatty throws a 14-inning CG in the first game of a doubleheader, a 2-1 loss to the Mariners. He’s the 4th Oakland pitcher to go 14 in the 1980 season.
Rick Langford throws a CG in the nightcap.
8/10/81
Play resumes following the players strike and Pete Rose singles off Mark Littell to pass Stan Musial as the all-time National League hits leader.
8/10/83
Al Oliver collects the 2500th hit of his career, a 7th inning single off Carlos Diaz.
Scoop could hit.
8/10/85
Dave Kingman hits the 400th home run of his career. He’d retire after the 1986 season with 442.
8/10/85
Willie McGee goes 7 for 10 with a homer and 5 RBI in a doubleheader sweep over the Phillies.
8/10/86
It’s Billy Martin Day at Yankee Stadium and the team retires Billy’s number 1.
8/10/86
Bob Forsch’s grand slam propels the Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Pirates
8/10/87
Jack Clark sets a National League record by drawing a walk in his 16th consecutive game. He finishes the year with a league-leading 136.
8/10/87
Mark McGwire ties the rookie record with his 38th homer of the year. He’d finish the season with 49 and win Rookie of the Year honors.
8/10/87
Following Joe Niekro, Phillies pitcher Kevin Gross becomes the second pitcher in eight days to be ejected for scuffing the baseball after umpires find sandpaper in his glove. Like Niekro, Gross draws a 10-game suspension.
8/10/89
Dave Dravecky goes eight and allows three runs on four hits to beat the Reds. It’s his first game since having cancer surgery.
8/10/89
Nolan Ryan takes a no-no into the 9th inning before it’s broken up by Dave Bergman. It’s the 4th time in 1989 that Ryan took a no-hitter into the 8th or later.
8/10/87
The Phillies release Tom Hume. He signs with the Reds a week later and finishes his career where it began.
8/10/88
The Dodgers release Don Sutton and his career is over.
He finishes with 324 wins and 3,574 strikeouts.
8/10/89
The New York Yankees selected Rich Gossage off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.
8/10/82
The Houston Astros fire Bill VIrdon and replace him with Bob Lillis. Houston had high hopes entering the 1982 season but lack of offense and injuries made it a tough year.
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