Happy ’80s Birthday to media darling Dave Kingman, who homered as a member of a team in each division in 1977, which is one of the great oddball stats ever.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Slick!
Joaquin Andujar was born on this day in 1952 and was “One Tough Dominican.” He won 20 games for the Cardinals in 1984, a ring in 1982, and delivered great quotes throughout his career. He passed away in 2015.
Larry Bradford was born OTD in 1949. He made his big league debut in 1977 with the Braves and spent four years in the bigs, winning six games and saving seven. He passed away in 1998 of a heart attack. He was just 48.
Happy ’80s Birthday to the 2nd spitter.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Elliott Maddox, who was on the verge of stardom in 1975 until he injured his knee in the Shea Stadium outfield where the Yankees were playing their home games while Yankee Stadium was being renovated.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Tom Henke, who went from Texas to the Blue Jays as a free agent compensation pick after the Rangers signed Cliff Johnson. All Henke did after that was save 308 games.
12/21/82
The Seattle Mariners trade Ron Musselman to the Texas Rangers for Pat Putnam. Putnam hits .269 with 19 homers for Seattle in 1983.
12/21/82
The Padres sign a new first baseman.
12/21/87
The A’s sign Dave Henderson as a free agent. He hits .304 with 24 dingers in his first season in Oakland and helps the A’s reach the World Series three years in a row.
12/21/88
The Reds sign Manny Trillo as a free agent. He plays in 17 games for Cincinnati and is released in May of 1989.
12/21/88
The Reds sign Joel Youngblood as a free agent. He finishes his career in Cincinnati and retires after the 1989 season.
12/21/89
The Dodgers sign Hubie Brooks to a three-year, $6 million free agent deal.
12/21/89
The Dodgers sign Mike Maddux as a free agent. He goes 0-1 in L.A. and signs with the Padres for 1991.
12/21/81
Wille Stargell tells the Pirates he will be back for 1982. He hits .233 in 74 games, is hampered by injuries, and retires at the end of the year.
12/21/84
Marge Schott is officially introduced as the new majority/controlling owner of the Cincinnati Reds. She begins a smooth and uneventful run with the Reds.
12/21/85
Kirk Gibson and Dave Rozema marry sisters JoAnn and Sandy Sklarski in a joint ceremony in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mi.
The two couples are still together.
12/21/87
The Twins release Don Baylor. He signs with Oakland and hits .220 in his final big league season before retiring.
12/21/87
The Astros release Buddy Biancalana and his career is over.
12/21/87
The Yankees release Mike Easler and his major league career is over. He spends a few games in Triple-A in 1988 before retiring.
12/21/87
The Yankees release Ron Kittle. He signs with Cleveland and hits .258 with 18 homers before returning to Chicago in 1989.
12/21/87
The Rangers release Darrell Porter and his career is over. He finishes with 188 career homers and a ring.
12/21/88
The Astros release Buddy Bell. He returns to Texas and retires after the 1989 season.
12/21/81
Royals pitcher Mike Jones breaks his neck and is nearly killed in a car crash. He misses the entire 1982 season but returns in 1983 and spends the season in the minor leagues before returning to the bigs in 1984.
We lost Dick Enberg OTD in 2017.
Credit: USA Today Sports
We lost Elrod Hendricks OTD in 2005
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