Mr. Cub becomes Coach Cub, and other stories. RIP Dave McNally, Tommy Heinrich.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.

“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.

Today in baseball history:

1942 – At major league meetings in Chicago, World War II travel restrictions are the order of the day. Owners decide to restrict travel to a three-trip schedule rather than the customary four. Spring training in 1943 will be limited to locations north of the Potomac or Ohio rivers and east of the Mississippi. (1,2)

1963 – Major league owners agree to allow the expansion clubs four protected first-year players who can be optioned to the minors without being subject to a draft. (2)

2021 – At 11:59 p.m., Major League Baseball owners decree a lockout when their self-imposed deadline for concluding a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Players Association expires without a deal. At stake is the contention by the players that they are receiving an ever-shrinking share of revenues and that practices such as revenue sharing, tanking and manipulation of service time all conspire to hold down salaries, especially for younger players in their prime, while many veterans can no longer find jobs because many teams are more interested in the bottom line than in giving fans a quality product. Before the lockout imposes a freeze on transactions, there is a huge flurry of deals, whose total value surpasses $1.4 billion, an irony not lost on observers. This figure largely consists of deals reported over the previous three days but not made official yet, but a few more are added, including the Cubs signing P Marcus Stroman for $71 million over three years, OF/IF Chris Taylor re-signing with the Dodgers for $60 million over four years, and P Raisel Iglesias returning to the Angels for $58 million, also over four years. But a number of prominent names are still in free agency limbo, including Freddie Freeman, Nick Castellanos and Carlos Correa, and will remain so until the two sides come to an agreement, which will not come until March 10th. (2)

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Cubs Birthdays: Tommy Raub, Ed Reulbach, Charley Moore, Johnny O’Connor, Dwain Sloat, Cal McLish, Dan Straily, Javier Báez, Brandon Hughes. Also notable: Walter Alston HOF, Larry Walker HOF.

Today in History:

1640 – Portugal regains independence after 60 years of Spanish rule following a revolution by Portuguese nobility; the Portuguese Restoration War begins and lasts until 1668 with recognition by Spain of the country’s independence.

1783 – Jacques Charles and Nicolas Roberts make first untethered ascension with gas hydrogen balloon in Paris

1831 – Erie Canal closes for entire month due to cold weather.

1887 – Sherlock Holmes first appears in print in “Study in Scarlet” by Arthur Conan Doyle.

1913 – Ford Motor Company institutes world’s 1st moving assembly line for the Model T Ford.

1936 – Bell Labs tests coaxial cable for TV use.

1940 – Four sets of brothers play in one NHL game when Chicago Blackhawks beat NY Rangers, 4-1; Lynn & Muzz Patrick and Neil & Mac Colville (Rangers); Max & Doug Bentley and Bob & Bill Carse (Chicago).

1955 – Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus and give her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama.

1982 – Dentist Barney B Clark gets 1st artificial heart.

2019 – Earliest traceable patient, a 55-year-old man, develops symptoms of a novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in Wuhan, China.

Common sources:

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources.