Baseball History -- December 11

Complete entry for December 11 is at BaseballLibrary.com is HERE.

Highlighted entries are:

1989
The Royals sign free agentMark Davis to a 4-year contract. Davis and Bret Saberhagen will make the 1990 Royals the first team ever to have both defending Cy Young Award winners.

That didn't turn out as well as the Royals hoped. Davis was going to be the closer, but he managed just six saves in 1990 and wound up making three starts that season.

1973
The Cubs come up with a team Ron Santo will agree to be traded to: Southside rivals the White Sox. P Steve Stone and three other players go to the Cubs.

Topps used to do a Traded series and I think that the Ron Santo card is in the collection somewhere.

1951
Joe DiMaggio officially retires as a member of the New York Yankees with 361 home runs and an average of .325 after 13 seasons. His 56-game, consecutive-game hitting streak in 1941 will stand as one of the all-time best diamond achievements.

Just a few more years to the Mr. Coffee commercials.

1928
At the National League meeting, President John Heydler proposes the designated hitter for pitchers to improve and speed up the game. He contends fans are tired of seeing weak-hitting pitchers come to bat. Heydler refers to his idea as "the tenth regular."

A man before his time.

1884
The AA votes to keep its ban on overhand pitching and to continue to allow fouls caught on one bounce to count as outs. It does abolish the tradition of team captains flipping for the honor of batting first. Now the home team will automatically bat first.

One bounce should count for 75 points in a game of 500 not as an out on foul balls.