Categories: March

March 26th

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Harry the K was born on this day in 1936.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Kevin Seitzer who tied for the A.L. lead in hits with 207 as a rookie in 1987. Seitzer finished 2nd in the Rookie of the Year balloting to Mark McGwire and put together a solid 12-year career with the Royals and the Brewers.

Mel Queen was born on this day in 1942.

Queen played for the Reds and Angels before becoming a pitching coach for the Blue Jays where he was instrumental in developing many of Toronto’s top arms. Under his watch, Toronto pitchers won three straight Cy Young Awards. He  passed away in 2011

Happy ’80s Birthday to Dan Morogiello who threw 37 2/3 innings with the Orioles in 1983. Dude played in 22 games in the big leagues and got a ring. Good for him.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Chris Codiroli, who spent 8 years in the big leagues and led the AMerican League with 37 starts in 1985.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Mickey Weston who made his debut with the Orioles in 1989 and pitched in the big leagues until 1993.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Mike Warren, who won 9 games over three seasons for the A’s and also threw a no-hitter in 1983.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Luis Medina, who was drafted nine times before finally signing with the Indians in 1985. He made his big league debut in 1988 and played in 51 games over three seasons.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Mike Loynd who was a Rangers 7th round draft pick in 1987 and reached the big leagues in just two months. He pitched for the Rangers for two seasons.

3/26/80

The Dodgers trade Ron Washington to the Twins for minor leaguer Wayne Caughey. Wash spends the year in the minor leagues but gets back to the majors in 1981.

3/26/82

The Cubs trade a PTBNL, Paul Mirabella, and cash to the Texas Rangers for Bump Wills. The move allows Chicago to finally settle on a position for newcomer Ryne Sandberg, who begins the season at 3rd base.

3/26/82

The Orioles trade Brooks Carey and Dallas Williams to the Reds for Joe Nolan, who hit a career-high .309 in 1981 but threw out just 12 of 68 potential base stealers. His defense improves in 1982 but his batting average dips.

3/26/84

The Cubs trade a minor leaguer and a PTBNL to the A’s for Tim Stoddard, who wins 10 games out of the pen for the NL Eash champs.

3/26/84

The Cubs trade Bill Campbell and Mike Diaz to the Phillies for Porfi Altamirano, Bob Dernier, and Gary Matthews. Advantage: Dallas Green.

3/26/87

The White Sox trade Joe Cowley and cash to the Phillies for Gary Redus. Redus plays in Chicago for a year and a half and moves on to Pittsburgh and wins three-straight division titles.

3/26/88

The Mets trade Randy Milligan and a minor leaguer to the Pirates for Mackey Sasser and Tim Drummond. Sasser hits well in New York but develops problems throwing the ball back to the pitcher which torpedoes his career.

3/26/81

The Cardinals sign Stan Javier as an amateur free agent. He makes his big league debut in 1984 and spends 17 years in the big leagues.

3/26/81

Earl Weaver returns from a three-game suspension for pulling his team off the field as a result of a dispute over substitution rules in a game against the Royals. In his first game back, Earl resumes the exact same argument against the exact same team and gets tossed.

Big Days

3/26/81

Members of the Cincinnati Cycle Club begin a 788-mile trek with the Reds Opening Day baseball in the continuation of a great Cincinnati tradition. The following year the ball travels a bit farther. It went on the Space Shuttle.

3/26/2000

The Kingdome is imploded.  It was the first event covered live on ESPN Classic. 

Transactions

3/26/81

The Mariners release Ted Cox. He signs with Toronto and retires after the season.

3/26/81

The Mariners release Rob Dressler and his career is over. He finishes with 11 wins over five seasons.

3/26/81

The Mariners release Dave Heaverlo. He signs with Oakland and pitches in their system for three years before retiring.

3/26/81

The Mariners release Willie Norwood and his major league career is over. He plays two seasons in Mexico and retires.

3/26/82

The Orioles purchase Glenn Gulliver from the Tigers. He has a memorable day in the season finale against the Brewers, making a baserunning blunder and hitting his only career homer. 

3/26/82

The Twins release Tim Corcoran. He signs with the Phillies and spends most of the next two years in Triple-A but hits .341 off the bench in 1984.

3/26/83

A year to the day after being acquired from the Cubs in a trade, the Rangers release Paul Mirabella. He signs with Seattle and pitches in the big leagues for another 7 seasons.

3/26/84

The Padres release Juna Bonilla. He sits out the season and hooks on with the Yankees for 1985.

3/26/84

The Cardinals release Jamie Quirk. He spends the season with the White Sox and the Indians, then returns to Kansas City for 1985 and beats the Cardinals in the World Series.

3/26/84

The Expos release Mike Vail. He signs with the Dodgers and splits the season between Triple-A and the big leagues and retires.

3/26/84

The Braves release Bob Walk. He signs with the Pirates and pitches for them for the next ten years.

3/26/88

The Phillies release Doug Bair. He signs with the Blue Jays and finishes his career with two years in Pittsburgh.

Managerial Changes

3/26/88

Gene Mauch officially steps aside as manager of the Angels. He had left the team for health reasons earlier in spring training and opts not to return. Cookie Rojas takes over as manager for 1988.

Deaths

Former pitcher Todd Frohwirth passed away OTD in 2017 from stomach cancer.

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J. Daniel

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