On January 21, 1960, future Hall of Famer Stan Musial makes an unusual request – asking for a pay cut. Musial tells St. Louis Cardinals management that he is overpaid and should have his salary reduced after a subpar 1959 season. The Cardinals cut his salary from $100,000 to $80,000, believing that he…
In an effort to fill the void of National League baseball in New York City, the Phillies agree to televise 78 games in the metropolitan area, which is without a Senior Circuit team for the first time since the league’s inception in 1876. The Pirates and Cardinals will also beam games into the Big Apple, but their contests will only feature the departed Dodgers and Giants as opponents.
1955 – Reliever Dave Smith is born in Richmond, CA. He would register 199 saves for Houston and was named to the Astros All-Time Team in 1999. He dies on December 17, 2008 at his California home of an apparent heart attack.
On January 21, 1953, pitcher Dizzy Dean and outfielder Al Simmons are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America surprisingly bypasses former New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio in his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot. DiMaggio will gain an election two years later. Dean gathers 209…
1947 – A rule change that allows voting only for players who were active after 1921 produces four new Hall of Fame members: catcher Mickey Cochrane, second baseman Frankie Frisch, and pitchers Lefty Grove and Carl Hubbell, all former Most Valuable Players and World Series winners. Pie Traynor misses selection by two votes. Hubbell was forbidden by Ty Cobb to throw his screwball in Detroit’s farm system, but used it to win 253 games for the New York Giants; Frisch went to the World Series eight times and batted .316 over 19 seasons; Grove won 300 games, and his battery-mate Cochrane retired with .320, the highest lifetime batting average of any catcher.
1941 – Pitcher Bob Feller signs with the Cleveland Indians for a reported $30,000.
On January 21, 1938, future Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio begins a contract holdout that will last for nearly three months. After meeting with New York Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert and general manager Ed Barrow, DiMaggio rejects a one-year offer of $25,000. DiMaggio counters by asking for $45,000. The holdout will last until April 20,…
1936 – The Hollywood Stars, last place finishers in the Pacific Coast League in 1935, move to San Diego, where they will become the Padres. The Stars were unable to pay the annual rent of $8,000 for Wrigley Field.
On January 21 in 1933 the Pittsburgh Pirates signed pitcher Waite Hoyt, two months after he was released by the New York Giants. He was 33 at the time and had a career record of 195-141, 3.71 in 15 seasons, ten of them with the Yankees. Hoyt would go on to pitch four full seasons…
1921 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis officially is signed as baseball commissioner, to a seven-year, $350,000 contract.
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