Salvatore Leonard Bando was born OTD in 1944. He won 3 World Series titles with Oakland & finished his career with the Brewers. Bando was a 6th-round pick out of Arizona State in the 1965 draft, the first in MLB history. Hal McRae went to the Reds two slots ahead of him.
Donnie Moore was born on this date in 1954. We all know the tragic story of how things ended, but my favorite Donnie Moore fact is that in the famous Phillies/Cubs 23-22 game in 1979, Moore had a pinch-hit triple in the bottom of the first inning off Doug Bird.
Frank Williams was born OTD in 1958. He and his twin brother were given up for adoption at birth, lived in multiple foster homes. and eventually settled in in Kirkland Washington. Frank won 24 games in the big leagues from 1984 through 1989. He passed away in 2009.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Dann Howitt, who spent 6 years in the big leagues with Oakland, Seattle, and the White Sox and holds the distinction of hitting the final home run given up by Nolan Ryan.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jerry Browne. The Governor spent 10 years in the big leagues and another 7 as a minor league coach.
2/13/86
The White Sox trade Chris Alvarez (minors), Eric Schmidt (minors), Ron Hassey, and Matt Winters to the Yankees for Glenn Braxton (minors), Neil Allen, Scott Bradley, and cash.
Allen wins 7 games over parts of two seasons for Chicago before being released and re-signing with the Yankees.
2/13/82
The Indians re-sign free agent pitcher John Denny. Denny goes 6-11 with a 5.01 ERA for Cleveland before being dealt to the Phillies in September, where he goes 0-2. He wins the Cy Young award for Philadelphia the following season.
2/13/82
The White Sox sign Steve Dillard as a free agent. He hits .313 in Triple-A and appears in 16 games at the major league level before being released at the end of the season.
2/13/86
The Pirates sign Ed Farmer as a free agent. He goes 4-7 for the Pirates Triple-A team in Hawaii and his career is over.
2/13/86
The Braves sign David Palmer as a free agent. He goes 11-10 in ’86 but just 8-11 in 1987. He pitches two more years in the bigs, one in Philadelphia, and one in Detroit.
2/13/87
The Astros sign Juan Agosto as a free agent. He wins 24 out of the pen over the next four years while appearing in 255 games.
2/13/87
The Yankees sign Rick Cerone as a free agent. He hits .243 in 113 games then spends the next two years in Boston before returning to the Yankees for a third stint in 1990.
2/13/87
The Royals sign Matt Winters as a free agent. He’d already spent 9 seasons in the minor leagues and spends all of 1987 and 1988 in the minors before finally reaching the show in 1989.
2/13/89
The Twins sign Lee Tunnell as a free agent. he goes 1-0 in 10 appearances in his final season in the big leagues, but he pitched until 1995, including a few seasons in Japan.
2/13/87
Jack Morris wins his arbitration case against the Tigers and is awarded a $1.85 million salary by arbitrator Richard Bloch, a raise of nearly $1 million over his 1986 salary. Morris goes 18-7 and helps the Tigers win the A.L. East before falling to Minnesota in the ALCS.
2/13/89
Bull Durham is released in Spain. Spain becomes better.
2/13/82
The Indians release Mike Stanton, whom they had purchased from the Cardinals just five days prior. He spends the next three-plus seasons in Seattle where he wins 9 games and saved 23 more.
2/13/85
The Rangers purchase Greg Harris from the Padres. Harris wins 20 games over the next three years in Texas and pitches until 1995.
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