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Happy ’80s Birthday to Barry Foote, who spent 10 seasons in the bigs, primarily as a backup catcher. But he did have a big day back in 1980 for the Cubs. Here’s the story
Happy ’80s Birthday to pinch-hitter extraordinaire Terry Crowley, who spent 15 seasons in the big leagues and never played in 100 games. Hand the dude a bat in the 7th inning and he’ll deliver.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Glenn Abbott, who spent eight years in the bigs, won three rings with the A’s, and was an original Mariner.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jerry Hairston, who spent 14 years in the big leagues with the White Sox and Pirates. He hit .294 for the 1983 Winning Ugly Sox.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Eric Bullock, who spent parts of 7 seasons in the big leagues with four teams.
He also spent four years coaching at the minor league level.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Bill Pecota, who spent 9 years in the big leagues and played all nine positions at least once over the course of his career.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Dwayne Henry, who spent parts of 11 seasons in the big leagues with six teams, primarily the Texas Rangers.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Frank DiMichele, who appeared in four games for the 1988 Angels.
He was also the head baseball coach at La Salle University.
2/16/81
The Yankees trade Rafael Santana to the Cardinals for a PTBNL. St. Louis sent George Frazier to New York Yankees to complete the trade.
2/16/82
The dismantling of the 1980 Phillies continues as they trade Bake McBride to the Indians for Sid Monge. To be fair, Bake didn’t have much left but it was still sad to see him go.
2/16/88
The Orioles trade John Hoover along with minor leaguers Rick Carriger and Doug Cinnella to the Expos for minor leaguer Al Cardwood and Jay Tibbs.
Tibbs has a miserable year on a miserable 1988 Orioles team but bounces back to go 5-0 in 1989.
2/16/82
The Giants sign Ron Pruitt as a free agent.
He spends most of the next two years in the minor leagues before retiring but he does play a few games in 1982 and ’83 at the big league level. Plus, the uniform is 100% on point.
2/16/83
The Cardinals sign Jamie Quirk as a free agent.
He plays in just 48 games for St. Louis but spends another nine years in the big leagues.
2/16/83
The Blue Jays sign Tony Castillo as an amateur free agent.
He makes his debut in 1988 and pitched in the big leagues for 10 years. He also won a ring with Toronto in 1993.
2/16/85
The Padres sign Roberto Alomar as an amateur free agent. He winds up in the Hall of Fame.
2/16/87
The Orioles signed Luis Mercedes as an amateur free agent.
He makes his big league debut in 1991 and plays in 70 games over three seasons.
2/16/89
The Astros sign Roger Mason as a free agent.
He appears in just two games at the big league level and signs with the Pirates prior to 1990. He pitches until 1994.
2/16/89
The Phillies sign Steve Ontiveros as a free agent.
He appears in 11 games over the next two seasons at the major league level and gets hurt, but pitches professionally until 2001.
2/16/89
Orel Hershiser signs a three-year, $7.9 million contract with the #Dodgers that makes him the first player to sign a contract that calls for a $3 million salary. That’s what not letting the other team score while you’re pitching gets you
Deaths
We lost Jim Bibby on this day in 2010.
Bibby didn’t make his major league debut until he was 28, in part due to missing two seasons while serving in Vietnam. He had his best season in 1980 when he went 19-6 for the Pirates and finished third in the Cy Young Award race
We lost The Kid on this day in 2012.
He was the first Hall of Famer whose plaque depicts him as a member of the Montreal Expos
We lost Tony Fernandez on this day in 2020.
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