1915 – Chalmer Luman Harris is born in New Castle, AL. He would become the first manager of an indoor baseball team when the Colt .45s move into the Astrodome and become the Houston Astros in 1965.
1915 – According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the American League hometown franchise will now be known as the Indians replacing the nickname the Naps – a change due to Napoleon Lajoie, the player-manager for whom the team is presently named, leaving for the Philadelphia Athletics. Team owner Charles W. Somers asked the city’s baseball writers, who in turn asked their readers for suggestions. A false rumor claims that the origin of the name was former Cleveland Spiders outfielder, Chief Sockalexis.
On January 17, 1890, future Hall of Famer Louis Santop is born in Tyler, Texas. A powerful left-handed slugger with a keen batting eye, Santop was the starting catcher for some of black baseball’s greatest teams, from 1909-1926. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2006. @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IC0gLSAtIC0gLSAtIC0gIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@ Other Resources & Links…
1888 – The Kansas City Cowboys franchise is admitted to the American Association to replace the New York Metropolitans. Even though the Mets were bought out by the Brooklyn Grays, their franchise is only considered suspended until suitable playing facilities in Manhattan can be found.
1885 – The New York Clipper reports that Paul Hines has canceled his Washington Monument ball-drop exhibition. “The experiment of trying to catch a ball thrown from the top of the Washington Monument has proved to be a failure. The ball reaches the ground with such great speed that it indents the ground almost as much as a heavy cannon ball would dropped from a proportionate height. The fact is that, independently of the difficulty of judging the ball falling from such a height, the speed is too great to allow of any one holding it when it nears the ground.”
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