{"id":534579,"date":"2026-01-23T15:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/534579\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:36:20","slug":"chicago-cubs-history-unpacked-january-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/534579\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs history unpacked, January 23"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,\u00a0Bleed Cubbie Blue<\/a>\u00a0is pleased to present a\u00a0Cubs<\/a>-centric look at baseball\u2019s colorful past.\u00a0Here\u2019s a handy Cubs timeline<\/a>, to help you follow the various narrative paths.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I called it wrong, but it\u2019s official.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Tom Connolly<\/a>, HoF Umpire.<\/p>\n

Hack Wilson finds another new team. Happy birthday, Jeff Samardzija* and other stories\u00a0for the discerning reader.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Today in baseball history:<\/p>\n

1927\u00a0\u2013 In the continuing clash between\u00a0Commissioner<\/a>\u00a0Kenesaw Landis<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0American League<\/a>\u00a0President\u00a0Ban Johnson<\/a>, the AL owners are prepared to censure Johnson. But his serious health problems convince them to change their stance and Johnson is given an indefinite leave of absence instead.\u00a0Detroit Tigers<\/a>\u00a0President\u00a0Frank Navin<\/a>\u00a0takes over control of the league on an interim basis and the owners adopt a resolution repudiating the charges that Johnson made against Landis. (2)<\/p>\n

1953 \u2013\u00a0Argyle R. Mackey<\/a>\u00a0warns \u2018alien players\u2019 they will face deportation if found jumping U.S. professional contracts. The Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization cites the\u00a0McCarran-Walter Act<\/a>\u00a0as the basis of his decision. (1)<\/p>\n

Further reading:\u00a0The history of the Antitrust Exemption<\/a>\u00a0(NYT);\u00a0Los Chorizeros<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1981\u00a0\u2013 Faced with the possibility of losing star outfielder\u00a0Fred Lynn<\/a>\u00a0to free agency because of a front-office blunder, the Red Sox trade Lynn and pitcher\u00a0Steve Renko<\/a>\u00a0to the Angels for pitchers\u00a0Frank Tanana<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jim Dorsey<\/a>\u00a0and outfielder\u00a0Joe Rudi<\/a>. The Players Association contends that Lynn and catcher\u00a0Carlton Fisk<\/a>\u00a0are free agents because the Red Sox failed to mail their new contracts by the deadline provided for in the Basic Agreement. Lynn signs a four-year deal with the Angels and agrees to drop his case. Fisk\u2019s case will go to arbitration. (1,2)<\/p>\n

1988 \u2013\u00a0Arbitrator\u00a0Thomas Roberts<\/a>\u00a0declares seven presently contracted players no-risk free agents as a result of the collusion suit against Major League baseball. The players, who include\u00a0Kirk Gibson<\/a>,\u00a0Carlton Fisk<\/a>, and\u00a0Joe Niekro<\/a>, have until March 1 to make deals with other clubs. (1)<\/p>\n

MLB collusion, explained<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2013\u00a0\u2013 Coming off the best season of his career, free agent OF\u00a0Scott Hairston<\/a>\u00a0signs a two-year deal with the\u00a0Chicago Cubs<\/a>.(2)<\/p>\n

Cubs Birthdays: Bill Bowman<\/a>,\u00a0Joey Amalfitano<\/a>,\u00a0Don Nottebart<\/a>,\u00a0Dick Burwell<\/a>,\u00a0Jeff Samardzija<\/a>*,\u00a0Addison Russell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today in History:<\/p>\n

393\u00a0\u2013 Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor.<\/p>\n

971\u00a0\u2013 War elephant corps of the Southern Han defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops; Southern Han state forced to submit to the Song Dynasty. 1st regular war elephant corps in Chinese army.<\/p>\n

1556\u00a0\u2013 Shaanxi Earthquake, the deadliest ever recorded, kills 830,000 in Shaanxi Province, China.<\/p>\n

1812\u00a0\u2013 7.8 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri.<\/p>\n

1930\u00a0\u2013 Clyde Tombaugh photographs dwarf planet Pluto.<\/p>\n

1957\u00a0\u2013 Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee flying disc (originally called the \u201cPluto Platter\u201d \u2013 until 1958).<\/p>\n

1973\u00a0\u2013 US President Richard Nixon announces an accord has been reached to end the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

Common sources:<\/p>\n

*pictured.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,\u00a0Bleed Cubbie Blue\u00a0is pleased to present a\u00a0Cubs-centric look at baseball\u2019s colorful past.\u00a0Here\u2019s a handy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[51659,70783,5,70784,8859,138,24,4245,161,53,36510,26211,59776,70786,1600,4,89,70787,67,46656,46654,70785],"class_list":["post-534579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-addison-russell","tag-ban-johnson","tag-baseball","tag-california-league","tag-carlton-fisk","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-cubs","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-fred-lynn","tag-hack-wilson","tag-jeff-samardzija","tag-kenesaw-landis","tag-major-league","tag-mlb","tag-red-sox","tag-scott-hairston","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-today-in-baseball-history","tag-tom-connolly","tag-touring-team"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115945156506654402","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}