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Happy ’80s Birthday to Bill Gullickson, who set a rookie strikeout record in 1980 when he fanned 18 Cubs on September 10th in the heat of a pennant race.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Brian Snyder, who was on Team USA in the 1979 Pan American Games and pitched in 17 games in the big leagues for the Mariners and A’s.
Phil Lombardi was born OTD in 1963. He appeared in 43 games over three seasons for the Yankees and Mets. Phill passed away in 2021.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Derek Lilliquist, who was the 6th overall pick in the 1987 draft and made his debut two years later. He spent eight years in the bigs and won 25 games.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jesus Figueroa, who played in 115 games for the Cubs in 1980 and never appeared in the big leagues again.
After his retirement, he spent many years as a batting practice pitcher for the Blue Jays.
2/20/87
The Twins trade minor leaguer Mike Shade to the Expos for Al Newman.
Newman becomes a regular with the Twins and wins two rings over the next five seasons.
2/20/84
The Astros sign Enos Cabell as a free agent.
He hits .310 in his first year back in Houston and is dealt to the Dodgers during the 1985 season.
2/20/84
The Red Sox sign Rich Gale as a free agent.
Gale wins 2 games in his final big league season and goes into coaching.
2/20/85
The Dodgers sign Jay Johnstone as a free agent.
He appears in just 15 games at the major league level and his career is over at the end of the season.
2/20/86
The Orioles sign Luis DeLeon as a free agent. He spends the year in the minor leagues but does return to the bigs in 1987 and briefly in 1989.
2/20/87
The Cardinals sign Ivan de Jesus as a free agent.
St. Louis sells him to the Giants later in the year where he plays in 9 games before being released.
2/20/88
The Tigers sign Luis Salazar as a free agent.
Luis hits .270 in 130 games then re-signs with the Padres in 1989.
2/20/89
The Mets sign Don Aase as a free agent.
He goes 1-5 with 2 saves in 49 games, then finishes his career with the Dodgers in 1990.
Big Days
2/20/84
Pedro Guerrero signs a five-year, seven-million dollar contract to play for the Dodgers. It’s the biggest contract in team history.
Transactions
2/20/80
The Phillies purchase Porfi Altamirano from Miami of the Inter-American League. He makes his big league debut in 1982 and is sent to the Cubs in the Gary Matthews deal.
Managerial Changes
2/20/80
The A’s hire Billy Martin as their new manager Billy goes 215 and 218 in Oakland and gets the A’s back to the postseason.
Charlie Finley stripped the A’s down to nothing so he could sell them. When his deal fell through he knew he had to make the team better so he brought Billy in. It worked in the short-term.
Deaths
We lost Curt Gowdy OTD in 2006
We lost Stan Williams OTD in 2021
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