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August 15th

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Tom Kelly 1988 Topps baseball card

Happy ’80s Birthday to Tom Kelly, who played one season for the Twins in 1974, and won World Series titles there as a manager in 1987 and 1991

Nino Espinosa 1980 Topps Baseball Card

Nino Espinosa was born OTD in 1953. He passed away after a heart attack on Christmas Eve in 1987. He was just 34 years old.

Chris Brown was born on this day in 1961. Brown was a high school teammate of Darryl Strawberry’s at Crenshaw High and looked to be headed for stardom. He finished 4th in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 1985 and had another nice year in 1986, batting .313. But a shoulder injury cut his career short and he retired after the 1989 season. He passed away in 2006 from injuries suffered in a fire.

Duffy Dyer 1981 baseball card

Happy ’80s Birthday to Duffy Dyer, who spent 14 years in the big leagues with the Tigers, Mets, Pirates and Expos.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Randy Johnson, who hit 58 dingers in 1980 and 1981 in the minor leagues in the White Sox organization. That’s who you were thinking of, right?

Joe Cowley 1986 baseball card

Happy ‘80s Birthday to Joe Cowley, who no-hit the Angels on September 19, 1986 for his last career win.

Tom Dodd 1986 minor league baseball card

Happy ‘80s Birthday to Tom Dodd, who appeared in 8 games for the 1986 Orioles.

Jeff Huson 1989 Score baseball card

Happy ‘80s Birthday to Jeff Huson, who made his debut with the Expos in 1988 and spent 12 years in the bigs with multiple teams.

Lynn McGlothen 1981 Topps Baseball Card

8/15/81

The Cubs trade Lynn McGlothen to the White Sox for a PTBNL. The Sox sent Bob Molinaro to the Cubs to complete the trade.

Pete Rose 1984 Baseball Card

8/15/84

The Expos trade franchise icon Pete Rose to the Reds for a PTBNL (Tom Lawless.) Rose takes over as manager after Cincinnati fires Vern Rapp.

Danny Darwin 1986 Topps baseball card

8/15/86

The Astros trade Don August and Mark Knudson to the Brewers for Danny Darwin. Darwin goes 5-2 down the stretch and helps the Astros advance to the NLCS.  

Casey Candaele 1985 minor league baseball card

8/15/82

The Expos sign Casey Candaele as an amateur free agent. He makes his debut in 1986 and plays in the bogs for nine seasons.

George Foster 1986 Fleer Baseball Card

8/15/86

The White Sox sign George Foster as a free agent.

8/15/82

Rollie Fingers selects Jerry Mlodzik as the winner in a handlebar mustache contest sponsored by the Brewers.

Big Days

Rick Langford 1980 baseball card

8/15/80

Rick Langford throws his 17th straight complete game and he wasn’t even close to being finished yet.

Art Howe 1980 Topps

8/15/80

The Astros score two runs on zero hits in the top of the 20th inning to beat the Padres 3-1 at The Murph. San Diego makes two errors in the inning. Luis Pujols and Art Howe score on Jerry Mumphrey’s error.

Jose Cruz 1983 Fleer Baseball card

8/15/83

Jose Cruz homers twice and drives in 5 in a 9-1 Astros win over the Reds. It was part of a stretch from August 6th through the 18th in which Cruz hit .451 with 4 homers and 16 RBI in 12 games.

George Vukovich 1984 Donruss baseball card

8/15/84

George Vukovich goes 3 for 5 with 4 RBI as part of a 19-hit attack as the Indians beat Toronto 16-1 in the first game of a double header. Cleveland wins the nightcap 4-3. Thanks to four doubleheaders, Cleveland plays 13 games in nine days.    

Dan Schatzeder 1984 baseball card

8/15/84

Dan Schatzeder allows three runs over 8 innings and goes 3 for 3 with two RBI in an 8-3 win over the Giants.

The three knocks raise his batting average to .391. 

8/15/85

Andre Thornton homers and drives in 5 as the Indians beat the Tigers 7-6.

8/15/87

Ty Griffin hits a walk off job to give the U.S. a 6-4 win over Cuba at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis.

Charlie Hough baseball card

8/15/89

Charlie Hough pitches a one-hitter for the second time in his career and suffers his second career one-hit loss. Seattle wins the game 2-0 in part due to Hough walking five, balking and throwing a wild pitch. His teammates collect 13 hits but don’t score a run.

Injuries

Bob Horner 1983 Drakes Big Hitters Card

8/15/83

Bob Horner breaks his right wrist sliding into second base during a 4 – 0 loss to the Padres and misses the rest of the season. Horner was hitting .303 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI at the time of the injury.

Dave Dravecky 1989 Fleer Baseball Card

8/15/89

Dave Dravecky, in his second start after coming back from cancer surgery, suffers a broken arm while throwing a pitch. He’d break it again during the Giants’ on-field celebration when they clinched the pennant and never pitch again. 

Fights

8/15/89

Ron Oester and Pete Rose get into a shoving match with umpire Joe West after Oester is called out on a check swing to end the Reds/Cubs game. Oester receives a $200 fine while West was not disciplined. 

Managerial Changes

8/14/84

The Reds fire manager Vern Rapp and replace him with a familiar face.

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