truebluefan

1923 Giant manager John McGraw trades outfielders Casey Stengel and Bill Cunningham along with shortstop Dave Bracroft to the Braves for pitchers Joe Oeschger and Bill Southworth.

1940 Unwilling to yield to the players' demands during the season, Alva Bradley finally fires Indian manager Oscar Vitt and replaces him with Roger Peckinpaugh. It is Peckinpaugh's second time as Cleveland's field boss.

1952 Philadelphia A's hurler Bobby Shantz (24-7, 2.48) is named as American League MVP by the baseball writers.

1955 Fred Hutchinson replaces Harry Walker as Cardinal manager. With the departure of 'the Hat', next season will be the first time in National League history without a player-manager.

1986 Red Sox Roger Clemens becomes only the second American League pitcher to unanimously win the Cy Young Award. Denny McLain was the first to accomplish the feat in 1968.

2001 One year after playing Class-A ball, Albert Pujols (.329, 37, 130) is named the National League Rookie of the Year by BBWAA. The Cardinal freshman set NL rookie marks RBIs (130), total bases

(360)and extra base hits (88) and fell one home run shy of tying the National League rookie record of 38 established by Frank Robinson in 1956 as a member of the Reds.

2001 Although disappointed not winning the award unanimously, Mariners outfielder Ichiro, who led the circuit in hitting, is named the American League Rookie of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Chris Assenheimer of the Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle-Telegram voted for C.C. Sabathia (17-4) as his top choice citing the nine years of professional experience in Japan made Ichiro less of a rookie than Indian hurler Sabathia.

2002 Miguel Tejada, who receives 356 points from the Baseball Writers' Association, including 21 first-place votes of the 28 cast, is selected as the American League's Most Valuable Player. The A's shortstop joins countrymen Sammy Sosa and George Bell as Dominican Republic natives to win the award.

2003 Thanks to Luis Garcia's ninth inning tie-breaking home run, Mexico upsets the United States Olympic baseball team in the quarterfinals of the qualifying tournament, 2-1, was knocked out of the by The loss in Panama means the squad be unable to defend its gold medal the next summer in Athens.

2004 After refusing a $60 million, four-year extension from the Red Sox last winter, Nomar Garciaparra signs a one-year deal with the Cubs, the team he was traded to in July, for $8 million. The all-star shortstop, who is coming off an injury- plagued season, can increase the value of the contract with bonus incentives based on performance and playing time to $11 million.