Chicago Cubs history unpacked, January 30

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.

“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.

Happy birthday to Brailyn Marquez*, Grover Cleveland Alexander threatens to retire,and other stories.

Today in baseball history:

• 1917 – Pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander announces he is ready to retire from professional baseball and join a semipro team if his salary demands are not met. Alexander wants a three-year contract at $15,000 per year. (2)
• 1926 – The Major League Rules Committee agrees that pitchers may have access to a rosin bag. On February 8, the American League will refuse to permit its use, but on April 28th, the league will give in and allow a rosin bag on the field, but discourage its use by players. The Committee also discusses the possible elimination of the intentional walk, a topic that has come up before, by making the pitcher throw to the batter. Calling a balk on the catcher if he steps out of his box has not eliminated the intentional walk as intended. No action is taken, however. (2)
• 1952 – Peter J. McGovern becomes the Little League‘s first full-time president and the league’s office is moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (2)
• 1958 – Commissioner Ford Frick announces that players and coaches, rather than the fans, will vote on selections for the All-Star Game. The vote will not return to the fans until 1970, when Commissioner Bowie Kuhn reverses Frick’s action. The decision is a reaction to alleged ballot box stuffing by Cincinnati fans before last year’s All-Star Game. (2)
• 1987 – The Oakland Athletics acquire veteran third baseman Ron Cey from the Chicago Cubs for infielder Luis Quiñones. Cey will hit .221 for Oakland this year – his final major league season. (2)
• 2006 – The Cubs and Jerry Hairston Jr. (.261, 4, 30) avoid salary arbitration when the second baseman/outfielder agrees to a one-year, $2.3 million deal. The 29-year-old Illinois native was acquired from the Orioles last February for slugger Sammy Sosa. (2)
• 2011 – The Cubs sign two Cuban defectors who once played for the junior national team, OF Rubi Silva and C Yaniel Cabeza, both 21 and already veterans of the Serie Nacional. (2)
• 2017 – Commissioner Rob Manfred issues a ruling in the case of an employee of the St. Louis Cardinals caught for hacking into the scouting database of the Houston Astros. The Cards are fined $2 million, which they must pay to Houston, and also surrender two top picks in the upcoming amateur draft to the Astros. The guilty former employee, Chris Correa, incurs a lifetime ban. This is on the top of the 46-month prison sentence and $279,000 fine he received after pleading guilty to federal charges last July. (2)

Cubs Birthdays:Doc Watson, Vin Campbell, Davey Johnson, Matt Alexander, Brailyn Marquez*.

Today in History:

• 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed after having been dead for two years.
• 1835 – Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C. in first attempted assassination of a US President.

Common sources:

• (1) — Today in Baseball History.
• (2) — Baseball Reference.
• (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
• (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
• (6) — Wikipedia.
• (7) — The British Museum
• (8) — For world history.

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, in order to help correct the record.