Categories: December

December 17th

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Happy ’80s Birthday to Bob Ojeda, who finished 3rd in the 1981 AL Rookie of the Year balloting behind Dave Righetti and his Boston Red Sox teammate Rich Gedman. He also won 18 games and a ring with the ’86 Mets and was the winning pitcher in the longest game in baseball history.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Marvell “Go Fight” Wynne, who spent 8 years in the bigs with the Pirates Padres & Cubs and a season in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Mark Dempsey, who pitched in three games with the Giants in 1982. I always find the stories of guys who played in a handful of games at the major league level fascinating.

Cal Sr was born on this day in 1935.

Bryan Clutterbuck was born OTD in 1959. He appeared in 34 games for the Brewers in 1986 and 1989 and later served as a coach and GM for some independent teams. He passed away in 2016.

12/17/85

The Orioles trade Sammy Stewart to the Red Sox for Jackie Gutierrez.

12/17/89

The Braves traded Ricky Trlicek to the Blue Jays for Kevin Batiste and Ernie Whitt, who was the last “original Blue Jay” left. 

12/17/80

The Padres sign a 16-year-old shortstop from Venezuela as a free agent. They send him to the White Sox for LaMarr Hoyt and he wins Rookie of the Year.

12/17/80

The Orioles sign pinch-hitter extraordinaire Jose Morales to a three-year free agent deal.

12/17/83

The Tigers sign Darrell Evans as a free agent. He moves east and continues to hit bombs because that’s just what Darrell Evans does.

12/17/85

The Giants sign Vida Blue as a free agent. He goes 18-18 in two seasons in San Francisco.

Deaths

We lost Frank Pastore OTD in 2012 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

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J. Daniel

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