Tag: November 5

2018 – Billy Beane, Vice-President for Baseball Operations of the Oakland Athletics, is named the inaugural winner of the newly-minted Major League Baseball Executive of the Year Award. The honor is in recognition of his role in turning the 2017 last-place team into a wild card winner in 2018.

2016 – Po-Jung Wang of the Lamigo Monkeys is named both CPBL MVP and Rookie of the Year for 2016, the second position player so honored (following Yi-Chuan Lin in 2009). Wang had set league records for hits (200), runs (130), average (.414) and total bases. Teammate Hung-Yu Lin is picked to the Best Ten twice – once as the league’s best catcher and once as the best DH, the first player to pull off a feat like that.

The first trade of the off-season involves Seattle sending IF Brad Miller, 1B Logan Morrison and P Danny Farquhar to Tampa Bay in return for Ps Nathan Karns and C.J. Riefenhauser and minor league OF Boog Powell.

Chi-Hung Hsu is named Rookie of the Year for the 2015 CPBL. A corner infielder and DH for the Chinatrust Brothers, he hit .319/.432/.535 with 13 homers in 87 games.

P Matt Harvey of the Mets and 1B Prince Fielder of the Rangers receive the Comeback Player of the Year Award in their respective leagues. Both players helped lead their team to surprise division titles after missing all or most of the previous season because of injuries.

Hall of Fame infielder/DH Paul Molitor is introduced as the Twins’ 13th manager, signing a three-year deal to replace recently-released Ron Gardenhire, who spent 13 seasons at the helm. The 5

Koji Akiyama wins his third Matsutaro Shoriki Award, given to the best manager in Nippon Pro Baseball, after previously winning in 1991 and 2011. Akiyama guided the Softbank Hawks to the 2014 Japan Series title. He joins Tatsunori Hara and Sadaharu Oh (a four-time winner) with at least three Shoriki Awards.

Seung-yeop Lee becomes the all-time Korea Baseball Organization postseason home run leader, when he hits #14 (breaking a tie with Tyrone Woods), taking Henry Sosa of the Nexen Heroes deep. The Samsung Lions beat the Heroes, 7 – 1, in Game 2 of the 2014 Korean Series, with Seung-hwan Yoon getting the win over Sosa. Yamaico Navarro goes 3 for 4 with 3 runs, a steal, double and homer for Samsung.

The Mariners name Lloyd McClendon to manage the team, replacing Eric Wedge, who announced his retirement at the end of the season. Seattle’s new skipper, who spent the last eight seasons as a coach with Detroit, managed the Pirates for five years, compiling a 336-446 record from 2001 through 2005.

2013 – The Mariners name Lloyd McClendon as their manager, succeeding Eric Wedge.

The Mariners name Lloyd McClendon to manage the team, replacing Eric Wedge, who announced his retirement at the end of the season. Seattle’s new skipper, who spent the last eight seasons as a coach with Detroit, managed the Pirates for five years, compiling a 336-446 record from 2001 through 2005.

The Boston Red Sox and David Ortiz come to terms on a two-year, $26 million deal, that will most likely keep the Dominican slugger in Boston for the remainder of his career. Although limited to only 90 games last season due to an injured Achilles heel, ‘Big Papi’ has averaged 34 home runs and 109 RBIs each season during his ten-year tenure with the team.

2011 – The Phillies sign 41-year-old 1B Jim Thome to a free agent contract.

One of the approximately 60 rare T206 Honus Wagner baseball cards, auctioned off by the Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame, is acquired by a sporting card store owner Doug Walton, who pays $262,000 for the treasured piece of memorabilia. The School Sisters of Notre Dame plan to use the windfall from the sale of the valuable card of the Pirates’ third baseman to benefit ministries for the poor in 35 countries.

2010 – The Blue Jays acquire C Miguel Olivo from Colorado in return for a player to be named later, then immediately buy out his option for next season, making him a free agent. They also buy out the option of closer Kevin Gregg, who is coming off a season in which he saved a career-high 37 games. In both cases, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos explains the team is interested in re-signing the player, but wants to limit its financial exposure, but both will move to new teams in 2011.

2009 – The Florida Marlins trade young OF Jeremy Hermida to the Boston Red Sox for P Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez.

The Marlins trade Jeremy Hermida to the Red Sox for a pair of southpaw prospects, Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez. The move of the underachieving outfielder, a first-round draft choice in 2002, will allow Florida to cut payroll while adding pitching.

Bobby Abreu (.293, 15, 103), a last-minute signing with the club last season, agrees to a $19 million, two-year deal to stay with the Angels rather than to retake a chance on the free-agent market. The veteran outfielder didn’t find a team until just before spring training when Los Angeles offered him a one-year contract guaranteeing $5 million.

Extending a major league record, Greg Maddux captures his 18th Gold Glove, making it two more than former Baltimore third baseman Brooks Robinson and 26-year big league veteran Jim Kaat. The 42 year-old Dodger right-hander, who is considering retirement, has been selected 18 of the last 19 years as the NL’s slickest fielding pitcher, with the only exception occurring in 2003 when Mike Hampton got the nod from the managers and coaches for the Rawlings award.

Extending a major league record, Greg Maddux captures his 18th Gold Glove, making it two more than former Baltimore third baseman Brooks Robinson and 26-year big league veteran Jim Kaat. The 42 year-old Dodger right-hander, who is considering retirement, has been selected 18 of the last 19 years as the NL’s slickest fielding pitcher, with the only exception occurring in 2003 when Mike Hampton got the nod from the managers and coaches for the Rawlings award.

In an effort to replace relievers Francisco Cordero (Reds) and Scott Linebrink (White Sox), who were lost to free agency, the Brewers sign David Riske. The 31 year-old right-handed hurler, who after a rocky start pitched effectively for the Royals last season, agrees to a three-year contract to play for Milwaukee.

The Pirates name former third base coach John Russell as their 38th manager in franchise history. The Bucs’ new skipper, the 2006 International League Manager of the Year, managed the Red Barons, the triple-A Phillies affiliate located in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, for the past two seasons.

2003 – Promising Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson is kidnapped, robbed, and brutally murdered by four men in Scottsdale, Arizona, for reasons that are still unclear. He was 25.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson wins the National League Cy Young Award, his fifth overall and fourth in a row. Johnson is the first NL player since the Mets’ Dwight Gooden to win the pitching triple crown, going 24-5 with 334 strikeouts and a 2.37 ERA. Johnson also led the major leagues in strikeouts for the ninth time.

In what Bud Selig says is Phase One of a realignment of the major leagues, his Milwaukee Brewers move from the American League to the National League. Phase 2 will have to wait until 2013, however.

On the day he is named the AL Manager of the Year, Davey Johnson resigns as Orioles skipper. Although the team had the best record in the American League (98-64), the relationship between the Birds’ skipper and owner Peter Angelos continued to deteriorate during the season.

The Cleveland Indians trade pitcher Greg Swindell to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Ps Jack Armstrong, Scott Scudder and Joe Turek.

1970 – Former major league pitcher Charlie Root dies at the age of 71. Root posted a 201-160 record over 17 major league seasons, but was best known for an incident in the 1932 World Series. Root was on the mound for the Chicago Cubs when Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees allegedly “called his shot” before hitting a home run.

1969 – In a trade of pitchers, the Cincinnati Reds send George Culver to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ray Washburn.

1932 – In the Pacific Coast League, Tony Freitas of the Sacramento Solons pitches the first night game no-hitter, stopping the Oakland Oaks, 2 – 0, in nine innings.

The Court of Appeals upholds the ban prohibiting Sunday amusements in Washington D.C, after the law, which would have allowed the playing of baseball on this day of the week, had previously been overturned. The Senators, during the brief legal interval, had still decided against scheduling games on the day of worship out of fear it might alienate its church-going fans, and will not play its first home game on a Sunday until 1918.

1914 – The ban on Sunday baseball is upheld in Washington, DC by the Court of Appeals.