1909 – The National Commission rules that players who jump contracts will be suspended for five years. Players joining outlaw organizations will be suspended for three years as punishment for going outside organized baseball.
1961 – The Professional Baseball Rules Committee rejects the Pacific Coast League’s proposal to use a designated hitter for the pitcher by a vote of 8-1.
1968 – The American League announces the name of Seattle’s expansion team to be the Pilots.
1969 – Veteran utility infielder Chico Salmon is traded from the expansion Seattle Pilots to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Gene Brabender and infielder Gordy Lund. Salmon will play for three consecutive pennant winners in Baltimore from 1969 to 1971, while the Pilots last only one season in Seattle before moving to Milwaukee.
1994 – The Chicago White Sox assign Michael Jordan to their AA farm team in Birmingham.
1995 – The longest strike in sports history ends in a courtroom. A U.S. District court order forbids owners from implementing new financial working conditions in the wake of the negotiations impasse. The court decides that conditions will revert to the old rules from the previous season. Because of the timing of the court order, 18 games will have to be trimmed from the major league schedule.
1996 – The first ever March Opening Day takes place in Seattle.
1998 – Expansion teams get a rude entry into major league baseball. The Tigers rip Wilson Alvarez for six runs and nine hits in 2.1 innings in an 11-6 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the first-ever game at Tropicana Field. Wade Boggs, just 200 hits shy of 3,000 at the start of the season, hits the first home run in Tampa Bay history. Meanwhile in Phoenix, the Arizona Diamondbacks fall to the Rockies, 7-2, as Bank One Ballpark opens its doors and its retractable roof. Travis Lee gets both the first hit and later, the first home run, in Arizona history.
2001 – The Pirates open the season in their new home PNC Park.
2005 – The Orioles and Major League Baseball agree on a deal which will allow Nationals games to be televised.
2013 – Houston wins its first game as an American League team
2014 – Expanded instant replay is used for the first time in a Major League Baseball game.
2019 – 19-year-old Elvis Luciano becomes the first player born in the 21st century to appear in a major league game when he makes his debut for the Blue Jays against the Tigers.
