1953- Cardinals owner Fred Saigh is found guilty of income tax evasion and is sentenced to a fifteen-month jail term, but will serve only five months at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, before being given parole for good behavior. The embattled Cardinal owner, under pressure of his franchise being taken away by MLB, puts in place a lucrative deal with a consortium that plans to move the team to Houston, but is persuaded to sell the team for less (3.5 million) to Gussie Busch, when the Anheuser-Busch president persuades him that civic pride was more important than financial gain.
Birthdays
Bill Doak (1891) Doak made his most lasting contribution to baseball by innovating the design of the baseball glove. In 1920, he suggested to Rawlings that a web should be laced between the first finger and thumb, saying it would create a natural pocket. The Bill Doak glove soon replaced all other baseball gloves and is the standard to this day.
Pat Crawford (1902) -In 1934, Crawford found himself playing on the world champion St. Louis Cardinals. The last two games of his major league career were World Series games. His teammates on the Gashouse Gang that year included HOFers Frankie Frisch, Leo Durocher, Joe Medwick, Dizzy Dean, and Burleigh Grimes. All told, Crawford had a .280 batting average with 9 home runs and 104 RBI in 318 major league games. He was one of the initial inductees in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame on February 11, 1983.
Lyn Lary (1906) – In 1939 he was in a Cardinals uniform for part of the season. a 12-season career, Lary posted a .269 batting average with 38 home runs and 526 RBIs in 1,302 games played.
Bill White (1934) -In his 13-season major league career, White batted .286 with 202 home runs and 870 RBIs in 1,673 games. His best statistical year came in 1963 when he posted career highs with 200 hits, 106 runs scored, 27 home runs, and 109 RBIs. White was a consistent performer, particularly during the 1962-64 seasons. During those three seasons, he had highly productive and notably consistent numbers for hits (199, 200, 191), runs (93, 106, 92), home runs (20, 27, 21), runs batted in (102, 109, 102), and average (.324, .304, .303). During the 1964 Cardinals championship season, White placed third in the league MVP voting for his overall seasonal performance yet had a subpar postseason, batting only .111 (3–27 with 2 RBI) in the World Series. A capable baserunner, White stole 12 or more bases four times. He was also one of the top defensive first basemen of his time, winning seven straight Gold Glove Awards (1960–66). White hit for the cycle on August 14, 1960 and once hit three home runs in a game, on July 5, 1961. Also in July 1961, White tied Ty Cobb’s 49-year Major League record by collecting 14 hits in consecutive doubleheaders, both against the Chicago Cubs at Sportsman’s Park, going 4-for-5 in both games on July 17 and 3-for-4 in both games the very next day. Ironically, the first doubleheader was played on the same day Cobb died and 49 years to the day after Cobb collected eight hits to begin his feat.
He was an eight-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove winner who earned a championship as a top contributor in the 1964 World Series.White became a full-time sportscaster after his playing career ended in 1969 and was the play-by-play man and color analyst for New York Yankees television and radio broadcasts for 18 years.In 1989, White was elected President of the National League to replace Bart Giamatti, who succeeded Peter Ueberroth as Commissioner. White served as NL president until he retired in 1994.
Deaths
- Jake Thielman 1928
- Al Strueve 1929
- Steve Melter 1962
- Bobby Young 1985
- Stan Partenheimer 1985
- Rocky Bridges 2015