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Happy ‘80s Birthday to Jose Cruz, who was born OTD in 1947 and got three hits on the way home from the hospital. Dude could rake
Happy ’80s Birthday to Officer Karkovice, who spent 12 years in the big leagues with the White Sox and hit an inside-the-park grand slam in 1990.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mike Ivie, who was the top pick in the 1970 draft and spent 11 years in the big leagues. His best season was 1979, when he hit .286 with 27 homers for the Giants.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Al Woods, who spent seven years in the big league and hit a pinch-hit homer in his first at bat.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mark Ross, who pitched in 27 games over six seasons for the Astros, Pirates, and Blue Jays from 1982 through 1990.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Cliff Speck, who was the 17th overall pick in the 1974 draft and appeared in 13 games for the 1986 Braves.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Ray Fontenot, who was a 34th-round draft pick in 1979 and spent four years in the bigs with the Yankees, Cubs, and Twins.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Alan Fowlkes, who won four games over two seasons with the Giants and Angels.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Dave Meier, who is one of just two players born in Helena, Montana to reach the major leagues.
Dave played in 145 games over four seasons with Minnesota, Texas, and the Cubs.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Brett Gideon, who appeared in 34 games for the Pirates and Expos from 1987 through 1990.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Frank Howard, who hit 10 homers in 20 at-bats as a member of the Senators in 1968, grabbed 32 rebounds in a single game as a member of the Ohio State basketball team, and served as the manager of the Padres and Mets in the 1980s.
8/8/82
The Yankees trade Bucky (effing) Dent to the Rangers for Lee Mazzilli.
Maz in Texas wasn’t a good fit.
8/8/84
The Brewers sign Jim Kern as a free agent. He spends a year and a half in Milwaukee and finishes his career with the Indians in 1986.
8/8/85
The White Sox sign Steve Rogers, who had been released by the Angels a month earlier. Rogers goes 1-2 for Chicago’s AAA team in Buffalo and retires.
8/8/80
Ken Schrom throws 2/3 scoreless innings against the Royals in his big league debut.
He pitches in the bigs for seven years and wins a career-high 15 games for the Twins in 1983.
8/8/83
Tom Candiotti throws 2 1/3 scoreless innings against the Royals in his big league debut but gets knocked around as the season progresses.
He reinvents himself as a knuckleballer prior to 1986 and wins 145 games between 1986 and 1999.
8/8/85
Bob Hegman makes his big league debut as a defensive replacement in the first game of a doubleheader against the Tigers. He plays one inning, doesn’t get to hit, and never plays another big league game.
8/8/86
Luis Aquino allows one run in 3 2/3 innings in his big league debut. He spends nine years in the major leagues and wins 31 games.
8/8/88
Rick Reed throws eight scoreless and picks up a win against the Mets in his big league debut.
He pitches for 15 years in the major leagues and wins 93 games for six teams, including the Mets.
8/8/89
Mauro Gozzo throws eight scoreless and picks up a win against the Rangers in his big league debut.
He goes 4-1 as a rookie for Toronto and wins seven games overall over the course of his career.
Big Days
8/8/80
Ron LeFlore goes 1 for 2 with 4 stolen bases in a 5-2 win over the Cubs. LeFlore stole 97 bases in his lone season in Montreal.
8/8/82
Doug DeCinces goes 3 for 5 with 3 homers and 4 RBI against the Mariners. It’s the second time in a week that he’s hit 3 homers in a game. In the first seven games of August, DeCinces bats .500 with 9 homers and 15 RBI.
8/8/83
Schmitty homers twice and drives in 5 as the Phillies beat the Pirates 14-5. Schmitty had 44 games in which he hit at least two homers.
8/8/85
Keith Hernandez goes 5 for 6 and drives in three in a 14-7 Mets win over the Expos.
8/8/85
En route to a career year, John Tudor throws a one-hitter and beats the Cubs 8-0. He’d begin the year with a 1-7 record and goes 20-1 after that.
8/8/85
Winny homers twice and drives in six in an 8-1 win over Cleveland.
8/8/87
Steve Carlton records the 329th, and final, win of his Hall of Fame career
8/8/87
In his age-44 season, Tommy John fires a two-hit shutout against the Tigers to run his record to 11-4.
8/8/88
Harry Grossman turns on the lights at Wrigley Field for the first-ever Cubs night game. Baseball Gods then bring rain.
Transactions
8/8/80
The Mariners release catcher Bob Stinson and his career is over.
He spends 12 years in the big leagues and finishes with 408 hits. Bob was the Opening Day catcher for the first game in Mariners history.
8/8/80
The Blue Jays release pitcher Tom Buskey and his career is over.
He wins 21 games over eight years with the Indians, Blue Jays, and Yankees.
8/8/80
The Braves release Sugar Bear and his career is over, which is total crap.
8/8/81
The Blue Jays purchase Juan Berenguer from the Royals.
He goes 2-9 in 11 starts and signs with Detroit where he wins 25 games and a ring over the next four years.
8/8/83
The Cubs release Paul Moskau and his career is over.
He finishes with 32 wins over seven big league seasons.
Deaths
We lost former umpire Ken Kaiser OTD in 2017.
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