The Hawk* signs a blank check, Kirby Puckett departs this vale, and other stories.
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:
1987 – Free agent Andre Dawson* signs a one-year contract with the Cubs for the bargain-basement price of $650,000. Dawson had offered to sign a contract with the dollar amount left blank just so he could play on the natural grass at Wrigley Field and save his fragile knees. He will hit 49 home runs, lead the majors in RBIs, and win the 1987 N.L. MVP Award. (1,2)
2005 – Suzyn Waldman becomes the first woman to be a full-time color commentator in major league history, making her debut with John Sterling on WCBS-AM 880, the radio flagship of the New York Yankees. The former radio-talk host on WFAN, the first all-sports radio station in United States, was also the first female to broadcast on a national baseball telecast, as well as the first to provide local TV (Yankees) major league play-by-play. (2)
2016 – The Commissioner’s office overturns the two-game suspension handed to Dodgers IF Chase Utley for a dangerous slide that injured the Mets’ Ruben Tejada in last year’s NLDS. The decision is because the rules regarding sliding at the time were too vague; they have since been strengthened. (2)
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Cubs Birthdays: Hal Mauck, Bill Sweeney, Ted Abernathy, Terry Adams, Jake Arrieta, Leonys Martín. Also notable: Lefty Grove HOF, Willie Stargell HOF.
Today in history:
1521 – Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam.
1788 – The British First Fleet arrives at Australian territory of Norfolk Island to found a convict settlement.
1831 – Edgar Allan Poe court-martialed and dismissed from West Point military academy for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders.
1836 – Battle of the Alamo: After 13 days of fighting, 1,500-3,000 Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Texan defenders, killing 182-257 Texans including William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett.
1857 – Dred Scott Decision: US Supreme Court rules Africans cannot be US citizens.
1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table of the elements to the Russian Chemical Society.
1918 – US naval boat “Cyclops” disappears in Bermuda Triangle. The ship was traveling from Barbados to Baltimore — it has never been found.
1964 – Boxing legend Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name to “Muhammad Ali”, calling his former title a “slave name.”
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, in order to help correct the record.