Happy ’80s Birthday to Larry Christenson, who won 19 games for the Phillies in 1977 but battled elbow problems for years and also broke his collarbone during a charity bike ride.
Happy ’80s Birthday to the underrated Larry Parrish. Parrish finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 1975 and turned in his finest season in 1979, batting .307 with 30 homers and 82 RBI. He finished his career with 256 homers.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jack Clark: 18 years in the bigs, nearly 350 homers and an intimidating force at the plate.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Mike Vail, who made his debut in 1975 for the Mets and singled off J.R. Richard in his first career at-bat. He then went 4-for-4 in his fifth game to begin a 23-game hitting streak. Not too shabby.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Bob Stanley, who won 115 games for the Red Sox and saved another 132 over 13 seasons. He threw 100+ innings three seasons in a row with zero starts.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jeff Twitty, who went 2-1 for the 1980 Royals.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Phil Ouellette, who played in ten games for the 1986 Giants.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Andres Thomas, who spent six years with the Braves and later managed in the minor leagues.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Kenny Rogers, who made his debut in 1989 with the Rangers and pitched until 2008, winning 219 games, including a perfecto.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Shawn Holman, who appeared in five games for the 1989 Tigers. He pitched well, allowing just two earned runs in ten innings, but never got another shot in the bigs.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Junior Noboa, who made his debut with Cleveland in 1984 at the ago of 19 and spent eight years in the bigs and later worked in the front office for the Diamondbacks.
11/10/80
Cleveland General Manager Gabe Paul reacts angrily to a letter sent by then free agent Dave Winfield to twelve teams asking them not to select him in the upcoming re-entry draft. MLB rules cap the number of teams that may select any given player at thirteen.
11/10/81
Tom Seaver, coming off a league-leading 14 wins, is set to leave for Paris on vacation on the day the Cy Young Award is going to be announced so he calls Jack Lang to see if he should stay or not. Lang refuses to clue him in on who the winner is so Tom and Nancy go to Paris. Fernando wins the Cy, but Tom Seaver get to see Paris.
11/10/81
Tommy Lasorda is named N.L. Manager of the Year after leading the Dodgers to a World Series title.
11/10/82
Terry Forster and Floyd Bannister are the most popular players at the 1982 free-agent re-entry draft. Both are selected by sixteen teams. Forster signs with Atlanta, while Bannister goes to the White Sox.
Four teams, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minnesota, and Los Angeles don’t select anyone.
11/10/87
Steve Bedrosian edges out Rick Sutcliffe for the NL Cy Young Award.
Bedrock’s 40 saves lead the N.L. but Sutt’s 18 wins do the same. It’s the closest Cy Young race in history.
11/10/88
Orel Hershiser is the unanimous choice for the NL Cy Young Award. Kind of a no-brainer
11/10/88
The Cubs release Jerry Mumphrey and his career is over. Jerry spends 15 years in the bigs with five teams. In 1981, he hit .307 with six homers, 32 RBI, and 14 SBs for the Yankees and finished 20th in the MVP balloting.
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