January 20 in Cardinals History

• The American Association is reorganized in 1885 with clubs from St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Louisville, New York and Baltimore.
• The  Cardinals purchased Wally Gilbert from the Cincinnati Reds in 1933.
• The Boston Red Sox, in 1948, purchased Tommy O’Brien from the Cardinals.
• In 1997, former outfielder Curt Flood, who played most notably with the Cardinals, dies of throat cancer at the age of 59. After being traded to the Phillies in 1969, the baseball pioneer refused to play for Philadelphia and challenged the owners’ reserve clause, taking the matter as far as the U.S. Supreme Court, where he lost the case, but laid the groundwork which would lead to free agency in professional sports.

Birthdays

• Carl Taylor 1944
• David Eckstein 1975
• John Rodriguez 1974

Deaths

• Emmet Heidrick 1917
• Curt Flood 1997
• Vern Benson 2014