Baseball History -- March 21

Complete entry for March 21 is at BaseballLibrary.com HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1978
The Padres fire manager Alvin Dark, replacing him with pitching coach Roger Craig. Dark becomes the second manager after the Cubs' Phil Cavarretta in 1954 to be fired during spring training.

Fired in spring training. That's cold.

1977
Mark Fidrych, the 1976 Rookie of the Year, rips the cartilage in his left knee and will undergo surgery in ten days. The injury will effectively end the fabled career of the Bird.

What kind of career could he have had?

1975
Yes, in baseball. Georgia Tech shuts out Earlham 41–0, setting an NCAA record for scoring and for winning margin.

Was this before they switched to aluminum bats?

1936
Joe DiMaggio runs his spring training record to 12-for-20, in an 11–2 Yankee victory over the newly named Boston Bees. Before the next game is played, the prize rookie is left unattended with his foot in a diathermy machine. The resulting burn ends his spring training and delays his ML debut until May.

For more than you will ever want to know about diathermy machines go HERE.