Happy ’80s Birthday to Joey McLaughlin, who won 29 games out of the bullpen over a seven-year career with Atlanta, Toronto, and Texas.
Ed Ott was born on this day in 1951 and spent eight years in the bigs, including winning a ring with the Pirates in 1979. He also caught all 20 innings of a Cubs/Pirates game in July of 1980.
Ed passed away in 2024.
7/11/80
The Indians trade Dave Oliver to the Expos for Ross Grimsley.
Grimsley goes 4-5 for Cleveland, misses 1981 and finishes up with Baltimore in 1982.
7/11/85
The Red Sox trade Reid Nichols to the White Sox for Tim Lollar.
7/11/87
The Cubs trade Gary Matthews to the Mariners for a PTBNL. Seattle sends Dave Hartnett to Chicago to complete the trade.
Sarge hits .235 in 45 games with Seattle and he’s done.
7/11/88
The Mets trade Gene Walter to the Mariners for Ed Nunez.
7/11/81
The Pirates sign Bobby Bonilla as an amateur free agent. The Mets are still paying him
July 11, 1987
The Cardinals sign David Green as a free agent.
Green had been playing in Mexico and Japan over the past two seasons.
7/11/87
The Giants sign Dave Kingman as a free agent.
He plays 20 games in Triple-A and he’s done.
7/11/87
Billy Ripken makes his big league debut and has the opportunity to play next to his brother, whose name escapes me.
7/11/85
Nolan Ryan reaches 4,000 strikeouts
7/11/89
Bo and Boggsie go back-to-back in the All-Star Game
7/11/80
The Dodgers sell knuckleballer Charlie Hough to the Rangers who eventually convert him to a starter and turn his career around.
Hough would win 139 games with Texas and start the first ever game for the Florida Marlins.
7/11/87
The Orioles release Rick Burleson and his career is over.
Burleson spends 13 years in the big leagues, makes four All-Star teams, wins a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger, and appears in the postseason in 1976 and 1986.
Powered by BlueHost
From Jack Morris to Len Barker, here are the wins leaders for every major league…
From Robin Yount to Chili Davis, here are the hits leaders for every major league…
From Mike Schmidt to Carmelo Martinez, here is the home run leader for every major…
An excerpt from Patrick Montgomery's new book, Baseball's Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who…