Charlie Finley was born on this day in 1918. He had an… interesting run as the A’s owner.
He sold the team in 1980.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Joe Lefebvre, who spent six years in the bigs with the Padres, Phillies, and Yankees and also homered in his first career game.
Sparky Anderson was born on this day in 1934. He played 1 season for the Phillies and spent 26 yrs managing Reds & Tigers, winning 3 World Series titles.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Tom Griffin, who spent 14 years in the big leagues with five teams and also hit an inside the park grand slam as a rookie.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Cool Breeze! Eric Yelding made his debut in 1989 and stole 64 bases in 1990, his first full season.
2/22/85
The Pirates sign Orlando Merced as an amateur free agent.
He makes his big league debut in 1990 and spends 13 years in The Show.
2/22/88
The Indians sign Chris Codiroli as a free agent.
He goes 5-4 in Triple-A and makes four appearances at the big league level before signing with Kansas City.
2/22/88
The Blue Jays signed Mark Ross as a free agent.
He splits the year between Triple-A and the big leagues, spends all of 1989 in the minors and gets back to the big leagues in 1990 with Pittsburgh.
2/22/89
The Pirates sign Jim Pankovits as a free agent.
He begins the year in Triple-A Buffalo before being sold to the Dodgers. He signed with Boston prior to 1990 and played in two games at the major league level.
2/22/83
Steve Carlton’s agent informs the Phillies that his client will not sign the contract mailed to him by the team.
Coming off a 1982 season in which Carlton won his 4th Cy Young Award, Lefty wants to be the highest-paid pitcher in the game but when Fernando Valenzuela won his arbitration case Lefty no longer had that distinction.
He eventually signs a deal that pays him $1.125 Million in 1983.
2/22/85
MLB owners say that want changes in the salary arbitration system after Tim Raines is awarded $1.2 million by an arbitrator. It seems that a system designed to keep salaries down is no longer working so it must be addressed, despite the fact that the owners still win a majority of the cases.
“I don’t think anyone contemplated salary arbitration awards of $1 million and over,” says Lee McPhail.
2/22/87
Reds GM Bill Bergesch tells the media he’s not interested in signing free agent 3B Bob Horner, even for a bargain price of $800,000.
“I’ve never been a Horner fan,” he says. “Pete and I have talked about it and that his salary ($1.6 million) is the most inflated of all.
The other teams agree, apparently, and Horner eventually signs to play in Japan in 1987.
2/22/89
The Tigers release Mark Huismann.
He signs with Baltimore and splits the year between Triple-A and the majors, then finishes his career with two years in the Pirates organization.
2/22/85
Don Mattingly undergoes arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage from his right knee. The injury bothers him so much in 1985 that he wins the MVP.
We lost Julio Cruz OTD in 2022
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