Happy ’80s Birthday Paul O’Neill, who used his World Series fame to earn a guest spot on Seinfeld.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Cesar Cedeno, a talented outfielder who was never the same after breaking his ankle in the 1980 NLCS.
He still spent 17 years in the bigs and amassed more than 2,000 hits.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Bob Brenly, who once made four errors in the same inning and then hit a walk-off homer to win the game.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Ed Lynch, who pitched in the big leagues for eight years and later became GM of the Cubs.
Kevin Hickey was born OTD in 1956.
Kevin attended an open tryout with the White Sox in 1977 and eventually pitched in the big leagues for six years. He passed away in 2012.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Ken Dayley, who was the 3rd overall pick in the 1980 draft and pitched for 11 years in the big leagues with the Braves, Cardinals, and Blue Jays.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Larry Arndt, who was a 26th round draft pick and appeared in two games for the A’s in 1989.
He went 1-6 with a single off Frank Viola.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Joel McKeon, who appeared in 43 games for the White Sox in the mid-80s and later pitched and managed in Belgium.
Former Pirates GM Syd Thrift was born OTD in 1929.
Syd laid the groundwork for the successful Pirates teams of the early ’90s. He passed away in 2006.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jerry Reinsdorf, who has owned the White Sox since 1981.
2/25/82
The Red Sox sign Mark Fidrych as a free agent. Bird goes 8-7 over two years in Pawtucket but never reaches the bigs.
2/25/85
The Blue Jays sign Gary Allenson as a free agent.
He splits the season between Triple-A and the big leagues and later managed in the minor leagues for more than 20 years.
2/25/85
The Kansas City Royals sign Jamie Quirk as a free agent.
He spends another four years in KC where he wins a ring and plays through the 1992 season.
2/25/86
The White Sox sign Bryan Clark as a free agent.
He appears in 16 games over the next two seasons in Chicago and finishes his big league career with Seattle in 1990.
2/25/86
The Angels sign Terry Clark as a free agent.
He makes his big league debut in 1988 and pitches in parts of six years in the majors.
2/25/86
The Indians sign Jim Kern as a free agent.
He goes 1-1 over 16 games and his career is over. He’s now a wildlife photographer.
2/25/86
The Expos sign Bob Owchinko as a free agent.
He goes 1-0 in three starts at the major league level and his career is over.
2/25/88
The Yankees sign Jose Cruz as a free agent.
Jose hits .200 in 38 games and his career is over.
2/25/89
The Tigers sign David Palmer as a free agent.
Palmer splits the season between Triple-A and the bigs, pitches in the Indians organization in 1990 and his career is over.
2/25/89
The Rangers sign Jeff Stone as a free agent.
He begins the season in Texas and ends it in Boston. His final big league season was in 1990.
2/25/80
Joe Sambito wins his arbitration hearing and gets a raise from the $90,000 he made in 1979 to $250,000 in 1980. He celebrates by pouring a can of beer over his head.
2/25/81
The MLB Players Association sets a strike date of May 29th if the issue of free-agent compensation is still unresolved.
It isn’t and the longest strike in baseball history takes place.
2/25/86
Steve Garvey rips former Padres manager Dick Williams for resigning at the beginning of spring training, saying the timing of his resignation was “to inflict the most harm on our team.”
2/25/87
Peter Ueberroth bans pitcher LaMarr Hoyt from MLB for the 1987 season due to multiple drug-related incidents during the past year.
The penalty is reduced to 60 days and the San Diego Padres release him the day after he is reinstated.
He never pitches again.
2/25/82
The Padres release John Littlefield.
He signs with Toronto, spends the season in Triple-A and his career is over.
Former umpire Nick Colosi passed away OTD in 2005.
He was a major league umpires from 1968 through 1982.
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