Baseball History -- January 28

Complete entry for January 28 is at BaseballLibraray.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1992
Tigers 1B Cecil Fielder avoids arbitration by agreeing to a $4.5 million contract, for the largest single–season deal in history.

That's a bargain now.

1961
The International League Board of Directors unanimously votes to move the Montreal franchise to Syracuse, NY.

So the Expos weren' the first team to leave Montreal. The Montreal Royals were the top farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers for a long time. Wikipedia has an entry about the Royals HERE. Baseball Reference has an entry HERE.

1901
The American League formally organizes: the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Athletics, and Boston Somersets are admitted to join the Washington Nationals, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago White Stockings. Three of the original clubs—Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo—are dropped. League power aggregates in Ban Johnson as trustee for all ballpark leases and majority stockholdings, and with authority to buy out refractory franchises. Player limit is 14 per team, and the schedule will be 140 games. AL contracts give the Players Protective Association what it asked for, with 5-year limits on the rights to player services.

Happy Birthday, American League.