- Curt Flood files a lawsuit challenging the major league reserve clause in 1970.
- The Baltimore Orioles traded Mike Dimmel to the Cardinals for Benny Ayala in 1979.
Birthdays
Marv Goodwin 1891 – was a pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1916 to 1925. He would play for the Washington Senators, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. Goodwin was known for throwing the spitball, and he was one of the 17 pitchers allowed to continue throwing the pitch after it was outlawed in 1920. Goodwin was a pilot in World War I, and died after the war from injuries sustained in a training flight while a member of the Army Air Service Reserve. He is believed to have been the first professional athlete killed as a result of a plane crash.
Ferdie Schupp (1891) -was a pitcher for the New York Giants (1913–19), St. Louis Cardinals (1919–21), Brooklyn Robins (1921) and Chicago White Sox (1922). In 10 seasons he had a 61–39 win–loss record, 216 games, 120 games started, 62 complete games, 11 shutouts, 70 games finished, 6 saves, 1,054 innings pitched, 938 hits allowed, 470 runs allowed, 389 earned runs allowed, 30 home runs allowed, 464 walks allowed, 553 strikeouts, 33 hit batsmen, 24 wild pitches, 4,463 batters faced, 1 balk and a 3.32 ERA.
In 1916 Schupp allowed only 5.07 hits per 9 innings pitched in 140.1 IP with a microscopic 0.90 ERA but fell short of leading in both those categories as he fell short of the qualifier of 1 inning pitched per scheduled game. He led the National League in won–loss % (.750) and hits allowed per 9 innings pitched (6.68) in 1917. He led the National League in walks allowed (127) in 1920. He helped the Giants win the 1913 and 1917 National League pennant.
Dizzy Dean (1910) – Dean made his major league debut on September 28, 1930, the final day of the 1930 regular season. The 20 year-old earned a complete game win against the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing only three hits and one run. He did not pitch in the major leagues the following year. Dean pitched his first full season in 1932 and turned in a stellar rookie campaign, leading the major leagues with 191 strikeouts and four shutouts. He improved again the following year, when he pitched a 3.04 ERA and again led the league with 199 strikeouts. Perhaps his finest game of the 1933 season came on July 30, when he set a modern-era record by striking out 17 batters in the first game of a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs.
Dean was best known for winning 30 games in 1934 while leading the “Gashouse Gang” Cardinals to the National League pennant and the World Series win over the Detroit Tigers. He had a 30–7 record with a 2.66 ERA during the regular season. His brother, Paul, was also on the team, with a record of 19–11, and was nicknamed “Daffy”, although this was usually only done for press consumption. Though “Diz” sometimes called his brother “Daf”, he typically referred to himself and his brother as “Me an’ Paul.” Continuing the theme, the team included Dazzy Vance and Joe “Ducky” Medwick.
St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city in the major leagues at the time, and the Gashouse Gang became a de facto “America’s Team.” Team members, particularly Southerners such as the Dean brothers and Pepper Martin, became folk heroes in the Depression-ravaged United States. Americans saw in these players a spirit of hard work and perseverance, as opposed to the haughty, highly paid New York Giants, whom the Cardinals chased for the National League pennant. Much like later sports legends Joe Namath and Muhammad Ali, Dean liked to brag about his prowess and make public predictions. In 1934, Dean predicted, “Me an’ Paul are gonna win 45 games.”[6] On September 21, Dean pitched no-hit ball for eight innings against the Brooklyn Dodgers, finishing with a three-hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader, his 27th win of the season. Paul then threw a no-hitter in the nightcap to win his 18th, matching the 45 that Dean had predicted. “Gee, Paul,” Dean was heard to say in the locker room afterward, “if I’d a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I’d a-throw’ed one too!” On May 5, 1937, he bet he could strike out Vince DiMaggio four times in the game. He struck him out his first three at-bats, but when DiMaggio hit a popup behind the plate at his fourth, Dean screamed at his catcher, Bruce Ogrodowski, “Drop it!, Drop it!” Ogrodowski did and Dean fanned DiMaggio, winning the bet. Few in the press now doubted Dean’s boast, as he was also fond of saying, “If ya done it, it ain’t braggin’.” Dean finished with 30 wins, the only NL pitcher to do so in the post-1920 live-ball era, and Paul finished with 19, for a total of 49. The Cards needed them all to edge the Giants for the pennant, setting up a matchup with the American League champion Detroit Tigers. After the season, Dean was awarded the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award.
Dean was known for antics which inspired his nickname. In time, perception became reality. In Game 4 of the 1934 World Series against Detroit, Dean was sent to first base as a pinch runner. The next batter hit a potential double play ground ball. Intent on avoiding the double play, Dean threw himself in front of the throw to first. The ball struck him on the head, and Dean was knocked unconscious and taken to a hospital. The storied (and possibly apocryphal) sports-section headline the next day said, “X-ray of Dean’s head reveals nothing.”[11] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Detroit Free Press merely stated that the X-rays “revealed no lasting injury.” However, Dean was reported saying his head was too hard for a baseball to hurt it. Although the Tigers went on to win the game 10–4, Dean recovered in time to pitch in Game 5, which he lost. After the Cardinals won Game 6, Dean came back and pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 7 to win the game and the Series for the Cardinals. The Dean brothers accounted for all four wins, with two each
Ron Villone (1970) – In February 2008, Villone was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals to a minor league contract and was invited to spring training. Coming out of camp, He made the Opening Day roster.On February 27, 2009, Villone signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets 61-66 lifetime record
Albert Pujols (1980) – (so much here, I can’t include it all) During spring training in 2001, incumbent first baseman Mark McGwire told Cardinals manager Tony La Russa that if he did not promote Pujols to the major league roster, “it might be one of the worst moves you make in your career.”[20] La Russa later recounted the “myth” that Pujols only made the Opening Day roster in 2001 because Bobby Bonilla was injured. According to La Russa, he and the rest of Cardinals management were impressed enough by Pujols that they decided to promote him to the big league club even before Bonilla’s injury. Cardinals executive John Vuch, backed this up, calling the link between Pujols and Bonilla an “old wives’ tale” and stating that the competition for the last roster spot was actually between Bonilla and John Mabry. Although the team did not require Pujols to fill any particular position, the Cardinals activated him to the Opening Day roster, and he started all season at third base, right field, left field, or first base.
On Opening Day against the Colorado Rockies on April 2, Pujols became the first major league player born in the 1980s. In that game, he recorded his first career hit, a single against pitcher Mike Hampton in an 8–0 loss. Four days later, he had three hits and three RBI – including his first home run – against the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Armando Reynoso in a 12–9 win.[ On April 9, in his first career home game, Pujols hit a two-run home run in his first at bat against Denny Neagle of Colorado. Through 2015, he was one of three players to hit 20 or more home runs in their rookie year before July, along with Wally Berger (1930) and Joc Pederson (2015). At midseason, Pujols became the first Cardinals rookie since Luis Arroyo in 1955 to make the All-Star Game.] He finished the season batting .329 (sixth in the league) with 194 hits (fifth in the league), 47 doubles (fifth in the league), 37 home runs, and 112 runs. His 37 home runs led the Cardinals, topping Jim Edmonds’ 30 and McGwire’s 29.[28] He was named the National League (NL) Silver Slugger Award winner for the third base position, and he finished fourth in NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) voting, behind Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Luis Gonzalez.[ He was unanimously named the NL Rookie of the Year after setting an NL rookie record with 130 RBI’s (fifth in the league) and becoming the fourth MLB rookie to hit .300 with 30 home runs, 100 runs, and 100 RBI’s.[
The Cardinals finished the 2001 season with a 93–69 record and advanced to the playoffs as the National League wild card team. The team advanced to the NL Division Series (NLDS). In Game 2 on October 10, Pujols hit a game-winning two-run home run against Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson in a 4–1 victory. The Cardinals, however, were eliminated in five games, and Pujols had just two hits in 18 at-bats recorded his 3,000th major league hit, against Mike Leake of the Seattle Mariners. In 2022,On September 14, he became the second player in MLB history to officially compile 2,200 RBIs. On September 23, Pujols became the fourth player to hit 700 career home runs.[5] His 699th and 700th home runs came during consecutive at-bats during an 11–0 victory for the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium.[250] He hit No. 699 off Andrew Heaney, his 200th home run off a left-handed pitcher; and his 700th off Phil Bickford, his 500th home run off a right-handed pitcher.
Daniel Poncedeleon (1992) – the St. Louis Cardinals drafted Ponce de Leon in the ninth round of the 2014 MLB draft,[7] and he signed. After signing, Ponce de Leon made his professional debut that same season with the State College Spikes of the Low-A New York–Penn League. In 12 games (ten starts), he was 3–3 with a 2.44 ERA. In 2015, he pitched for the Peoria Chiefs of the Single-A Midwest League and the Palm Beach Cardinals of the High-A Florida State League, compiling a combined 11–2 record with a 2.12 ERA and a 1.10 walks plus hits divided by innings pitched in 20 games (19 starts), and in 2016, he pitched for the Springfield Cardinals of the Double-A Texas League, going 9–8 with a 2.53 ERA in 27 starts. He began 2017 with the Memphis Redbirds of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.
On May 9, 2017, while pitching against Víctor Caratini of the Iowa Cubs, Caratini hit a line drive that struck Ponce de Leon in the head. He had emergency surgery[ and remained in the hospital for three weeks after the incident. He was cleared for baseball activities in August, but did not return to baseball until spring training 2018. He began 2018 with Memphis. On June 11, 2018, the Cardinals promoted Ponce de Leon to the major leagues. In 12 games prior to his call-up, he was 5–2 with a Pacific Coast League-leading 2.41 ERA.[16] He did not make an appearance with St. Louis and was optioned to Memphis on June 15 He was recalled again on July 23. He was 9–3 with a 2.15 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) with Memphis. He made his major league debut that night as St. Louis’s starting pitcher at Great American Ball Park versus the Cincinnati Reds. In his debut, Ponce de Leon threw seven no-hit innings in which he struck out three and walked three on 116 pitches.[ He was optioned back to Memphis the next day, and recalled by St. Louis once again on July 27. In total in 2018 for St. Louis, Ponce de Leon made 11 appearances, with four being starts, posting a 0–2 record with a 2.73 ERA in 33 innings pitched
Ponce de Leon began the 2019 season in Memphis, but was recalled to St. Louis multiple different times before he was called up for the remainder of the year on September 1. Through 48+2⁄3 innings pitched with St. Louis during the regular season, he went 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA, striking out 52. In a shortened 2020 season, he pitched to a 1-3 record with a 4.96 ERA and 45 strikeouts over nine games (eight starts) and 32+2⁄3 innings. He made 24 appearances with St. Louis in 2021, going 1-1 with a 6.21 ERA and 24 strikeouts. On September 20, 2021, the Cardinals designated Ponce de Leon for assignment. He was subsequently outrighted to the Triple-A West Memphis Redbirds. The following day, the Cardinals released him.
Brendan Donovan (1997) – On April 25, 2022, Donovan was promoted to the major leagues. He made his MLB debut that night against the New York Mets as a pinch runner and scored on a single by Tyler O’Neill. The next night, Donovan made his first major league start; he went 0-for-2 and was hit by a pitch in a 0–3 loss to the Mets. On April 28, 2022, Donovan recorded his first career hit: a pinch-hit single against fellow rookie Tyler Holton of the Arizona Diamondbacks. On May 10, he hit his first MLB home run, off Dillon Tate of the Baltimore Orioles. On September 22, Donovan hit his first career grand slam off of Nick Martinez of the San Diego Padres.
Donovan finished his rookie season batting .281/.394/.379 with five home runs, 45 RBIs, and 21 doubles over 126 games. Defensively, he played left field, right field, first base, second base, shortstop, and third base, and was named the first ever recipient of the National League Gold Glove Award for a utility player. He was named a finalist for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, alongside Michael Harris II and Spencer Strider. He finished in third place as Harris won the award.
In 2023, Donovan played in 95 contests for the Cardinals. In 327 at–bats, he hit .281/.362/.419 with 11 home runs and 34 RBIs. On August 2, 2023, it was announced that Donovan would undergo season–ending surgery to repair a flexor tendon injury in his throwing arm.
Deaths
Wiley Dunham (1934)- born as Henry Houston “Wiley” Dunham on January 30, 1877. He died in Cleveland, Ohio at the age of 56 and buried in Mound Cemetery Piketon, Ohio.
Rudy Hulswitt (1950) -Rudolph Edward Hulswitt born on February 23, 1877. He died on January 16, 1950 at Louisville, KY