1918 – Barney Dreyfuss, owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates and member of the Rules Committee, launches a campaign to ban the spitter. He will succeed with his plan in the next year, making the pitch illegal.
1934 – Casey Stengel, who had been a Dodgers coach, signs a two-year contract to manage Brooklyn club, replaceing Max Carey. It is his first managerial stop along his Hall of Fame career, and he will have a 208 – 25 record over three seasons.
1960 – Twenty-eight months after the Dodgers’ departure from Brooklyn, the demolition of Ebbets Field commences, marked by a wrecking ball adorned with baseball stitches. Before the teardown, Roy Campanella, ex-All-Star catcher, receives soil from home plate.
With a rendition of Auld Lang Syne by a brass band, 200 loyal fans witness the demolition of Ebbets Field, the Dodgers’ cherished home from 1913 to 1957.
1964 – Charlie Finley gives in to the pressure of the American League owners and signs a four-year lease to keep the A’s in Kansas City. Finley had been pushing fr a two year lease but his exasperated colleagues voted 9-1 in a declaration that Kansas City’s offer was reasonable. This was after Finley has signed an agreement to move the team to Louisville, Kentucky In January. The American League owners had voted down that move 9-1 in January. This vote was to bar the team from moving to Oakland, which they will eventually do after the 1967 season.
1976 – Major League owners announce that spring training will not open until a new labor contract is agreed upon. The lockout was instituted after the expiration of the league’s Basic Agreement. A primary issue addressed during lockout negotiations was the longstanding reserve clause and the players’ desire to become free agents. The lockout did not result in any regular season games being canceled.
