1911 – William Russell, head of the syndicate that owns the Boston Nationals, dies. No doubt helping his downfall was watching his team finish the season with a .291 winning percentage. Former player, now lawyer, Monte Ward and New York politician James Gaffney will purchase 945 of the 1,000 shares for $177,000. The team, also known as the Rustlers (or Doves), will start next season as the “Braves” – a name that will ultimately stick.
1978 – Bob Horner of the Braves faces Ozzie Smith of San Diego and wins the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Horner hit .266 with 23 home runs in just 323 at-bats after starting the season at Arizona State University before being the first overall pick of the June draft.
1991 – Atlanta Braves third baseman Terry Pendleton, who hit .319 with 22 home runs and 86 RBI, wins the National League MVP Award. Pendleton surprisingly surpasses number two Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Barry Bonds (.292, 25, 116).
2002 – The Montreal Expos may play approximately twenty-five percent of their home games (22 of 81) in San Juan, Puerto Rico next season. Away “home games” are not unprecedented, as the Brooklyn Dodgers played seven games in Newark, NJ in 1956 and 1957, and the Chicago White Sox, who filled a void when the Braves left, played nine games in Milwaukee, WI in 1968 and another eleven in 1969.
2017 – The commissioner’s office rules in the investigation into improprieties committed by the Atlanta Braves by voluntarily circumventing international signing rules between 2015 and 2017. Former general manager John Coppolella is given a lifetime ban and twelve prospects in the organization are declared free agents. The Braves are also prohibited from signing any prospect for a bonus of more than $10,000 in the 2019-20 signing period, will have their bonus pool cut by 50% the following year, and will lose a third-round selection in the 2018 amateur draft, while sanctions against other hires are expected to follow. The scam involved secretly diverting bonuses declared for certain prospects to others who fell below signing pool limits, to give the impression that the team had not exceeded those limits.
1889 – The National League issues its response to the Players League Manifesto. Claiming that the league saved baseball in 1876 and that under reserve rules player salaries “more than tripled,” the NL denounces the Brotherhood movement as “the attempts of certain overpaid players to regain power.” [baseball] for their own aggrandizement…to the ultimate disgrace and disintegration.”
1970 – The Sporting News announces the Gold Glove Award selections. Chicago White Sox shortstop Luis Aparicio wins the ninth and final honor of his career, while New York Mets outfielder Tommie Agee becomes the first position player to win it in any league. Aparicio has now won a Gold Glove in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, while Agee also won honors with the White Sox during his 1966 Rookie of Year season.
1972 – Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk is the first-ever unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year. Fisk hit 22 home runs and led the AL East Division with a .293 batting average. Pitcher Jon Matlack of the New York Mets is named the winner of the National League.
2000 – Commissioner Bud Selig, citing statistics before a U.S. Senate panel, argues that it is time for “major changes” in the economics of the game, raising the possibility of a work stoppage after the current contract expires on October 31, 2001.
2011 – Justin Verlander of the Tigers adds the American League Most Valuable Player Award to the Cy Young Award he won a week ago after a dominant season in which he led Detroit to the AL Central title. He is the first pitcher to win the award in the AL since reliever Dennis Eckersley in 1992, and the first starting pitcher to do so since Roger Clemens in 1986. He received 13 of 28 first-place votes, finishing ahead of Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury, Toronto’s Jose Bautista and New York’s Curtis Granderson in a joint vote.
#day #Braves #history #John #Coppolella #banned #baseball