The history of sports is both vast and rich, thanks to the existence of so many different events and the longevity associated with them. With so much history to cull through, We offer the opportunity to look back and see what memorable things happened or milestones were reached on This Day In Baseball February 23.
This Day In Baseball February 23 Highlights . . .
- On February 23, 1934 — Brooklyn Dodgers coach Casey Stengel signs a two-year deal to manage the Team for $12,000 per season. He replaced Max Carey, who guided the sixth-place club to a 65-88 record last season. During the rookieplace.
- On February 23, 1960 — Twenty-eight months after the Dodgers play their last game in Brooklyn, the demolition of Ebbets Field finally begins when a wrecking ball, painted with red and white stitches, begins its work on the ballpark Brooklyn called home for 44 years. Before the demolition wheel-chair bound Roy Campanella, the team’s former All-Star catcher and three-time National League MVP is given an urn of dirt from behind home plate.
- On February 23, 1974 – The California Angels send veteran Vada Pinson to Kansas City for minor leaguer Barry Raziano and cash. Pinson will call it quits at the end of the 1975 season, having rung up 2,757 hits, the most ever for an eligible player not in the Hall of Fame.
- On February 23, 1986 — Although he loses his arbitration case, Boston third baseman Wade Boggs receives the richest amount ($1.35 million) ever awarded by this process. Last season’s AL batting champ had sought $1.85 million, but arbitrator Thomas Roberts rules in favor of the Red Sox, resulting in a drop of a half-million dollars for the infielder.
- On February 23, 2012 — Ryan Braun becomes the first major league player to successfully appeal a positive PED test when arbitrator Shyam Das rules in his favor with regard to a positive test performed during the 2011 postseason. The test showed a testosterone level so high as to be almost unimaginable without outside interference. The three-man pannel chaired by Das rules that the fact that proper protocol was not followed in collecting and storing the sample prior to testing, makes it impossible to be certain that it has not been subject to tampering at some point. Braun had proclaimed his innocence all along, and now no longer faces a 50-game suspension.
- Born: February 23, 1929 in St. Louis, MO The Yankees’ first black player, Elston Howard was forced to play the outfield through much of his first five seasons because Yogi Berra was behind the plate. By 1960, Howard was the starting catcher and Berra was more often in the field. Howard was an exceptional defensive catcher; his .993 career fielding average is one of the highest ever, and he pioneered the use of a hinged catcher’s mitt that led to the modern one-handed catching techniques. He was also highly regarded as a handler of pitchers. He was named to the AL All-Star team nine consecutive years.
- Born: February 23, 1941 in St. Louis, MO . . Ron Hunt once said, “Some people give their bodies to science; I give mine to baseball.” He retired with three major league records for HBP: most times in a career (243); in a season (50, 1971); and in a game (three, tied). For seven straight years he led the NL in HBP. He had other ways to get on, as two .300 seasons and good walk totals showed. He set Expo team records for fewest strikeouts in a season (19, 1973) and fewest times hitting into double plays (one, 1971). Though he played on the early, horrid Met teams (in ’64 he was their first All-Star), he was heartbroken when he was traded to the Dodgers in November 1966 for Tommy Davis. After retiring, Hunt went into ranching outside St. Louis.
