1953 – Larry Raines, on leave from military service, plays his first game for the Hankyu Braves. He will stay for the 1954 season, return in 1962, and will end his Japanese baseball career with a .302 batting average.

ByTom

1953 – Larry Raines, on leave from military service, plays his first game for the Hankyu Braves. He will stay for the 1954 season, return in 1962, and will end his Japanese baseball career with a .302 batting average.

1952 – During spring training, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Slaybaugh is hit in the left eye with a line drive and subsequently loses the eye. The young pitcher will return to the mound in 1953 and again in 1954 before he retires from professional baseball.

ByTom

1952 – During spring training, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Slaybaugh is hit in the left eye with a line drive and subsequently loses the eye. The young pitcher will return to the mound in 1953 and again in 1954 before he retires from professional baseball.

1947 – In a meeting at the Sarasota Terrace Hotel, in Florida, former Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher admits to Commissioner Happy Chandler that he sometimes bets on card games with the team’s pitcher, Kirby Higbe.

ByTom

1947 – In a meeting at the Sarasota Terrace Hotel, in Florida, former Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher admits to Commissioner Happy Chandler that he sometimes bets on card games with the team’s pitcher, Kirby Higbe.

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Helene Hathaway Britton becomes the first female owner in major league history.

ByThis Day in Baseball

On March 24, 1911, the president of the St. Louis Cardinals, Matthew Stanley Robison, dies unexpectedly and leaves ownership of the team to his niece. Helene Hathaway Britton becomes the first female owner in major league history. [jetpack_subscription_form title=”Join the Community” subscribe_text=”We bring you cool stories about the game, players, ballparks and the people that…

1889 – The minor league season opens with the California League in San Francisco and Stockton. This year’s new rules include the first legal substitution rule and the reduction of balls for a walk from 5 to 4. The substitution rule, which allows a team to designate one man to be put into the game at the captain’s discretion at the end of any inning, will soon be modified.

ByTom

1889 – The minor league season opens with the California League in San Francisco and Stockton. This year’s new rules include the first legal substitution rule and the reduction of balls for a walk from 5 to 4. The substitution rule, which allows a team to designate one man to be put into the game at the captain’s discretion at the end of any inning, will soon be modified.