Categories: August

August 6th

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Happy ’80s Birthday to Ken Phelps. My baseball guys love Ken Phelps. They kept saying, Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Bob Horner, who once called the Braves owner a jerk. Here’s the story 

Happy ’80s Birthday to Ron Davis, who won 14 games out of the pen for the Yankees in 1979 and finished 4th in the Rookie of the Year balloting.

Happy Birthday to Steve Nicosia, who may not be a household name, BUT he was the starting catcher in Game 7 of the 1979 World Series, which happens to be the last World Series appearance by the Pirates.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Jim Pankovits, who played in the 1968 Little League World Series and the 1986 NLCS. He later became a minor league manager. 

Happy ’80s Birthday to Stan Belinda, who saved 53 games for the Pirates from 1991-93.

8/6/82

The Mariners sign Dave Revering as a free agent. He finishes the season in Seattle and retires. 

8/6/83

The Angels sign Jack Howell as an amateur free agent. He makes his big league debut less than two years later and spends 11 years in the major leagues and four in Japan. 

8/6/87

The White Sox sign Johnnie LeMaster as a free agent. He finishes the season in Triple-A and retires. 

8/6/87

The Rangers sign Larry McWilliams as a free agent. He spends the rest of the year in Triple-A and signs with Atlanta for 1988. 

8/6/83

Danny Cox, who began the year in Single-A, throws ten scoreless innings against the Phillies in his big league debut.

He wins 74 games in eleven seasons over the course of his career.

8/6/86

Bobby Thigpen allows two runs on five hits in two innings of work against Boston in his big league debut.

He notches 200 saves over the next seven years, including a league-leading 57 in 1990.

Big Days

8/6/81

The players approve a split-season format made necessary by the strike the owners thrust upon them. The Yankees, A’s, Phillies, and Dodgers are declared the first-half champions

8/6/83

Walt Terrell hits two two-run homers off Fergie Jenkins in a 4-1 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

8/6/83

After spending the first eight years of his career in the National League, Eric Rasmussen makes his first A.L. start and throws a shutout against the Red Sox. He’s the first pitcher to throw a shutout in his first start in each league since Bob Spade did it for the 1910 St. Louis Browns.  

8/6/84

The Braves retire Phil Niekro’s No. 35 in a ceremony at Fulton County Stadium.

Niekro was a member of the Yankees at the time. 

8/6/85

MLB players go on strike. Fortunately, the work stoppage lasts just two days.

8/6/86

Toby Harrah goes 5 for 5 with a double and a grand slam in 13-11 win over the Orioles. Larry Sheets and Jim Dwyer hit slams for Baltimore.

8/6/87

Birthday Boy Ken Phelps, Scott Kingery, and Harold Reynolds each record three hits as the Mariners hammer the Angels 15-4. 

8/6/88

Goose Gossage becomes just the 2nd player to record 300 saves. 

He finishes his career with 310. 

8/6/89

The Red Sox retire Carl Yastrzemski’s number 8

8/6/90

Jim Palmer and Joe Morgan are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Five rings, two MVPs, three CY Young Awards, and countless underwear ads from those two dudes.

Transactions

8/6/86

The Mets release George Foster. He will play 15 games for the White Sox before retiring for good.

8/6/86

After notching his 4,000th career strikeout the day before, Steve Carlton announces his retirement. The Giants release him the following day and his retirement lasts less than a week. He signs with the White Sox on August 12th. 

Deaths

We lost Dutch OTD in 2017

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J. Daniel

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