1903 – A syndicate headed by Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss and James Potter buys the Phillies from John Rogers and A. J. Reach for $170,000. It will be another seven years before ownership interest in more than one team is prohibited.
1931 – Ban Johnson dies after a long illness. He had created the A.L. and was its dynamic, dictatorial leader until subdued by the advent of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who took office as the first commissioner in January 1921.
1966 – Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale begin a joint holdout of the Dodgers. They seek an unprecedented three-year, $1.05 million contract to be divided evenly.
1986 – In baseball’s sternest disciplinary move since the Black Sox were banished for life, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth gives seven players who were admitted drug users a choice of a year’s suspension without pay or heavy fines and career-long drug testing, along with 100 hours of drug-related community service. Joaquin Andujar, Jeffrey Leonard, Enos Cabell, Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, Dale Berra, and Lonnie Smith will be fined 10 percent of their annual salaries, while 14 other players will receive lesser penalties for their involvement with illegal drugs.
