Baseball Events
St. Louis first baseman Mark McGwire tells ESPN, in 2005, he plans to retire, ending his 16-year big league career. The prolific home run hitter, who ranked fifth all-time with 583 career homers, decided not to sign the two-year, $30 million extension the Cardinals had offered.
Trades and Transactions
- The Toronto Blue Jays traded Pat Hentgen and Paul Spoljaric to the St. Louis Cardinals for Alberto Castillo, Matt DeWitt and Lance Painter in 1999.
- The Cardinals, in 2011, released Bryan Augenstein.
- The Cardinals signed Scott Moore as a free agent in 2013.
- Cardinals signed Miguel Socolovich and Dean Anna as a free agent in 2014.
Birthdays
- Rabbit Maranville (Hall of Famer) 1891 – was a shortstop, second baseman and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Robins, and St. Louis Cardinals between 1912 and 1934. At the time of his retirement in 1935, he had played in a record 23 seasons in the National League, a mark which was not broken until 1986 by Pete Rose.Maranville was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954, mainly on the strength of his defensive abilities. 1926 was a struggle for Maranville. Having been claimed off waivers by the Brooklyn Robins, he spent the first half of the season with them but was released halfway through the year. The Cardinals signed him that November but assigned him to the Rochester Tribe of the International League in 1927. Maranville realized he would have to make a change in his lifestyle if he wanted to continue playing in the major leagues. “Either I had to lay off the booze and get serious with the game or it would be the end of me.”
On May 24, 1927, Maranville resolved to stop drinking. Later that year, Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey stated, “Walter is a changed man … it is apparent that he has seen the light … his change in attitude is remarkable. Called up by St. Louis at the end of the year, he played in nine games for them in late September before spending all of 1928 on their roster.
Even at age 41, when Maranville batted .218 in 143 games and hit no homers, he finished in a tie for 12th in the 1933 NL MVP voting. He missed the entire 1934 season after breaking his left fibula and tibia in a collision at home plate during an exhibition game
Deaths
- Fred Harman 1938