In their home opener at the Oakland Coliseum, a 2-1 victory over Milwaukee, the A’s use gold-colored bases. This colorful innovation introduced by team owner Charlie O. Finley will quickly be banned by the MLB’s Rules Committee.
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces the suspension of Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain
Curt Flood refuses to accept a trade to the Philadelphia Phillies
On August 13, 1969, After serving as the interim replacement for William Eckert, Bowie Kuhn is unanimously elected to a seven-year term by the major league owners to be baseball’s fifth commissioner. Prior to his selection to his new post, the 42 year-old lawyer, who once worked as the scoreboard boy for a dollar a…
1969 – In addition to this year’s lower mound and tightened strike zone, Major League Baseball tries an experimental ball with 10% more resiliency for a spring training game between the Mets and Tigers in Lakeland, Florida. It has an all-rubber center instead of a cork and rubber core, and the seams are higher than the regular ball. Mets pitcher Don Cardwell surrenders three home runs in the 4th inning to Dick McAuliffe, Norm Cash, and Gates Brown in the Tigers’ 7 – 4 victory. Tomorrow, in Phoenix, Arizona, the same ball is used in the Giants’ 13 – 1 win over the Angels, with Bobby Bonds hitting the only two homers off George Brunet. The players agree the ball is definitely livelier and sounds louder coming off the bat.
1969 – After Donn Clendenon “retires” and refuses to report to spring training, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn rules that Montreal can keep both Rusty Staub and Clendenon, insisting that Houston will have to settle for further compensation rather than voiding the trade.
On February 4, 1969, 42-year-old Bowie Kuhn is named commissioner, succeeding Spike Eckert. Kuhn receives a one-year contract paying him $100,000. Major league owners turned to Kuhn after failing to agree on either of two other candidates, Mike Burke of the New York Yankees and Charles Feeney of the San Francisco Giants. The early favorite,…
On January 22, 1969, the Houston Astros trade Rusty Staub to the Montreal Expos for Donn Clendenon and Jesus Alou. But Clendenon refuses to report to Houston, because of a personality conflict with the team’s newly-hired skipper, Harry Walker, who had managed him in Pittsburgh. He eventually announces his retirement. The Astros petition Commissioner Bowie Kuhn…
By a unanimous vote of the owners, retired Air Force Lieutenant General William Eckert becomes the fourth Commissioner of Major League Baseball, succeeding the retiring Ford Frick, who served 14 years in the position. The game’s unfamiliar new leader, who hasn’t attended a game in a decade, will quickly be dubbed in the press as “the Unknown Soldier.”
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