The eventual Hall of Famer and infamous spit-baller signs with Atlanta for his first and only season with the Braves.
Braves Franchise History
1906: The owners of the Boston Beaneaters reject a $250,000 offer for the team.
1949: The New York Giants are fined $2,000, and their manager Leo Durocher $500, for signing Freddie Fitzsimmons as a coach while he was still under contract to the Boston Braves. Fitzsimmons gets a $500 fine and a 30-day spring training suspension.
1972: The Atlanta Braves select outfielder Sam Bowen in the secondary phase of the January draft, but he elects not to sign.
1981: The Atlanta Braves sign future Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry to a free agent contract. The 42-year-old Perry will be joining his sixth major league team, after splitting the 1980 season between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers.
Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images
MLB History
1921: Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis takes over in his new role as Commissioner of baseball. Landis replaces the three-man National Commission that had been running the game for the previous two decades.
1946: Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams receives his discharge from the U.S. Marine Air Corps after a three-year stint serving in World War II. Despite the long absence from competitive baseball, Williams will return to the major leagues by hitting .342 with 38 home runs and 123 RBI this season.
1972: Detroit Tigers owner John Fetzer announces that the franchise has signed a lease to build a $126 million domed stadium along the river in downtown Detroit. The complex will seat 52,000 for baseball and 60,000 for football. However, lawsuits and a failed bond issue along with the construction of the Silverdome in Pontiac will eventually kill the project.
1983: Juan Marichal and Brooks Robinson are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers.
1984: Free agent reliever Goose Gossage leaves the Yankees and signs with the San Diego Padres. The hard-throwing right-hander will save 25 games this season and help the Padres to their first appearance in the World Series.
1988: Former Pirates start Willie Stargell is elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA. He is the 17th player to be elected in his first year of eligibility.
1994: Steve Carlton receives over 96% of the vote and is elected to the Hall of Fame.
1999: Setting a record, the ball that Mark McGwire hit for his 70th home run is sold at an auction for $2.7 million by Guernsey’s Auction House in Manhattan. The buyer is later revealed to be Todd McFarlane, creator of the Spawn comic books series. The price tag surpasses the record $126,500 which bought a Babe Ruth home run ball last year.
2005: The Dodgers announce that they have signed Derek Lowe to a four-year deal worth $36 million.
2009: Rickey Henderson is elected to the Hall of Fame along with longtime Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice. Henderson goes in on his first ballot while Rice makes it in on his 15th and final opportunity.
2018: The Blue Jays sign third baseman Josh Donaldson to a one-year, $23 million deal. The deal surpasses Bryce Harper’s one-year, $21.6 million deal with the Nationals as the biggest ever handed out to a player that was eligible for salary arbitration.
Information for this article was found via Baseball Reference, NationalPastime.com and Today in Baseball History