On November 13 in Baseball History...

    1899 - The National League announces starting next season there will be two umpires working each game.

    1931 - Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert buys the International League's Newark franchise. The Bears will be very successful and will send many players to the Bronx.

    1934 - Bucky Harris, who managed the 1924 and 1925 American League champion Senators, is hired back by Washington to replace youthful Joe Cronin, who has been sold to Boston.

    1951 - Lefty O'Doul's All-Stars, including Joe DiMaggio, Ferris Fain, and Billy Martin, lose 3-1 to a Pacific League All-Star team. This is only the second time since 1922 that an American professional team has lost to Japan, and the first time to professional players.

    1958 - Mayor Robert Wagner of New York announces preliminary plans for a third major league. Chairman William Shea, of what will become the Continental League, says it is apparent that the National League is going to ignore New York City. He implies that the new league will be free to raid major-league rosters.

    1965 - At the beginning of his induction speech at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Branch Rickey mumbles to the audience before collapsing over the podium, "I don't believe I'm going to be able to speak any longer." The 83-year old baseball executive, who suffered a massive heart attack on stage, will remain unconscious while in intensive care at Boone County Memorial Hospital in Columbia, Missouri before dying three weeks later.

    1967 - Following a meeting of National League owners, president Warren Giles says the league will not stand in the way of American League expansion to Seattle and Kansas City.

    1968 - Bob Gibson (22-9, 268 strikeouts, 1.12 ERA) edges Pete Rose (.335, 42 doubles) to win the National League Most Valuable Player award.

    1974 - Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey wins the National League Most Valuable Player Award with a .312 BA, 21 home runs, and 111 RBI.

    1978 - The Yankees sign pitcher Luis Tiant as a free agent to a two-year $875,000 contract.

    1979 - For the first time in history, two players share the Most Valuable Player Award. The National League co-winners are Willie Stargell, the spiritual leader of the Pirates, who batted .281 with 32 home runs, and Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez, who led the National League in runs (116), doubles (48), and batting (.344).

    1984 - Ryne Sandberg wins the National League Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the first Cub to do so since Ernie Banks in 1959. Sandberg hit .314 with 19 home runs and 32 stolen bases and led the National League in runs (114) and triples (19).

    1987 - Former team manager and broadcaster Jim Frey is named the Cubs' Director of Baseball Operations. The skipper of the 1984 Chicago squad that won the NL East title, Frey's first major move will be to name Don Zimmer, a longtime friend, as field boss.

    1989 - After 16 years with the same team, Jim Rice is released by the Red Sox. The Boston outfielder retires from the game with a career .298 average with 382 home runs.

    1990 - Oakland's Bob Welch wins the American League Cy Young Award. His 27 wins were the most in the majors since Steve Carlton in 1972.

    1995 - Reds' shortstop Barry Larkin wins the National League's Most Valuable Player award, with Colorado outfielder Dante Bichette and Atlanta right-hander Greg Maddux as the runners-up in a close election. The Cincinnati infielder, the first shortstop since Maury Wills in 1962 to cop the prestigous prize, provided excellent defense and batted .319 to help his team to capture the NL West Division.

    1996 - Padres third baseman Ken Caminiti is the fourth unanimous winner of the National League Most Valuable Player. The slick-fielding Caminiti set team records for home runs (40), RBI (130), and slugging percentage (.621), while leading the Padres to the National League West title for the first time since 1984.

    1997 - Colorado outfielder Larry Walker is named National League Most Valuable Player, becoming the first Canadian in either league to win the honor. Walker, who hit .366 with 49 homers and 130 RBI, caps off a big week for Canada. Earlier in the week, Roger Clemens of Toronto and Pedro Martinez of Montreal each won the Cy Young Award.

    1998 - The ball thrown by Red Sox hurler hurler Howard Ehmke and hit by Babe Ruth for the first home run hit in Yankee Stadium is sold at an auction for $126,500 ($110,000 bid + 15% commission). Mark Scala found the 1923 historic ball in the attic of his grandmother's home several years ago.

    2000 - Becoming the first pitcher to win the American League Cy Young award unanimously in consecutive years, Red Sox hurler Pedro Martinez (18-6,1.74) has copped the 'top pitcher' honor three of the last four seasons.

    2001 - Randy Johnson (21-6, 2.49, 372) wins his fourth Cy Young Award, his third straight as a member of the Diamondbacks. The 'Big Unit', who also won the honor in 1995 with the Mariners, is the second pitcher to win three consecutive Cy Young awards joining Greg Maddux who won four in a row from 1992-95.

    2002 - The Giants select former Expo veteran skipper Felipe Alou to replace Dusty Baker as their new manager. The 67-year-old Dominican Republic native compiled a 691-717 record during his ten years at the helm with Montreal and was selected as the National League Manager of the Year in the 1994 strike-shortened season.

    2003 - Eric Gagne, who saved 55 consecutive games for the Dodgers, becomes the ninth reliever to win a Cy Young Award. The runner up is Jason Schmidt of the Giants, the pitcher with the NL’s best won-lost percentage (17-4, 77%) and who also had an ERA of 2.34 to lead the circuit.

    2003 - MLB announces that the drug screens taken during the past baseball season tested positive in 5-to-7 percent of the 1,438 samples provided by the players. The results will set into motion a mandatory testing program for performance-enhancing drugs with punitive consequences for failure for the first time in baseball history.

    2006 - Three of the top four National League vote-getters for Rookie of the Year Honors finishers are Marlins teammates. Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez, in an extremely tight race, edges Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and teammates second baseman Dan Uggla and hurler Josh Johnson.

    2006 - The Mets stage a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the construction of the 45,000-seat ballpark which will replace Shea Stadium in 2009. The new $800 million ballpark, named CitiField in association with Citigroup Inc., will be reminiscent of Ebbets Field and will feature a statue of Jackie Robinson in a rotunda which will be named after the immortal Brooklyn Dodger infielder.

    2006 - Tigers right-hander Jason Verlander (17-9, 3.63) cops the AL Rookie of the Year award receiving 26 of a possible 28 first place votes cast by the BBWAA. The 23-year old hard-throwing hurler becomes the first starting pitcher to win the freshman award since Yankee newcomer Dave Righetti accomplished the feat in 1981.

    2007 - Given their postseason match-ups of the CYA candidates, many baseball observers are surprised C.C. Sabathia (19-7, 3.21) is selected over Red Sox ace Josh Beckett (20-7, 3.27) for the American League Cy Young Award by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. In the ALCS, the 27-year old Indian southpaw faced Beckett twice and lost each time, but voting is done at the end of the regular season.

    2008 - Cliff Lee (22-3, 2.54) receives 24 of 28 first-place votes from the BBWAA to win the American League Cy Young award. Joining Gaylord Perry (1972) and C. C. Sabathia (2007), the 30 year-old southpaw becomes the third Indian hurler to cop the honor.

    2008 - In a five-player trade with the White Sox, the Yankees obtained Nick Swisher and Triple A right-hander Kaneoka Texeira in exchange for pitching prospects Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez, as well as infielder Wilson Betemit. The Bronx Bombers plan to use the flexible 27-year old switch hitter to replace departing first baseman Jason Giambi, but could be moved to the outfield if the team acquires a big name free agent to play first.

    2008 - With a year left on his contract, Ron Gardenhire agrees to a two-year extension to remain as the Twins skipper through 2001. The 51-year-old manager, who replaced Tom Kelly in 2002, has compiled a 622-512 record during his seven-year tenure in Minnesota winning four division titles with the small market team.

    2010 - During an auction at the Louisville Slugger Museum, the winning bid for the ball Yankee slugger Babe Ruth hit for his 702nd career home run is $264,500, three times the estimated price. The historic horsehide, hit at Chicago's Comiskey Park in 1934 off Ted Lyons, had been passed down by three generations of a Minnesota family before being made available to the public.

    2010 - The Marlins send outfielder Cameron Maybin to the Padres for Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb, who are both right-handed relievers. The 23-year-old outfielder, the 10th overall pick in 2005, was traded by Detroit two years later in a major multiplayer Winter Meeting deal that included Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.

    2012 - Bob Melvin, for the second time in his career, is selected as the Manager of the Year when the Baseball Writers' Association of America name him first on 16 of 28 ballots to narrowly outpoint Buck Showalter of the Orioles, 116-108. The Oakland skipper, the National League's BBWAA managerial award recipient in 2007 with the Diamondbacks, guided the A's to the American League West title before losing Game 5 in the ALCS to Detroit.

    2012 - Davey Johnson, who led the Nationals to the most victories in the major leagues with a record of 98-64, is selected as the National League Manager of the Year, easily outdistancing runners-ups Dusty Baker of the Reds and Bruce Bouchy of the Giants, when he receives 23 of the 32 first-place votes cast by the writers. The 69-year old field, honored by the BBWAA in 1997 for his managerial efforts with the Orioles, joins Bobby Cox (Blue Jays, Braves), Tony La Russa (White Sox and A's, Cardinals), Lou Piniella (Mariners, Cubs), and Jim Leyland (Pirates,Tigers) as the fifth skipper to have won the award in both leagues.

    2013 - The Phillies announce the team has reached a two-year, $16 million deal with Marlon Byrd, who helped the Pirates reach the postseason for the first since 1992 by hitting .318 for after being traded by the Mets to the Bucs at the end of August. Last offseason, the 36 year-old outfielder signed a minor league contract with New York, emerging as one of the team’s few offensive assets before being dealt to Pittsburgh along with John Buck for two minor league prospects.

    2013 - Max Scherzer is selected by the BBWAA as the American League's Cy Young Award winner, receiving 28 of 30 writers’ first place votes to finish ahead of Ranger ace Yu Darvish and Mariner starter Hisashi Iwakuma. The 29 year-old Tigers right-hander, who posted a 21-3 record with a 2.90 ERA in 32 starts for the pennant-winning club, joins Justin Verlander (2011), Denny McLain (1968-69) and Willie Hernandez (1984) as the fourth hurler to cop the prestigious pitching prize hurling for Detroit.

    2014 - Clayton Kershaw (21-3, 1.77 ERA) becomes the first pitcher to win the National League MVP award since Cardinal right-hander Bob Gibson copped the honor in 1968. The 26 year-old Dodger southpaw, who won his third NL Cy Young Award yesterday, receives 18 of 30 of the writers' first-place votes, easily outdistancing runner-ups Giancarlo Stanton [8] and Andrew McCutcheon [4].

    2014 - Angels outfielder Mike Trout is the unanimous selection of the BBWAA for the American League's Most Valuable Player Award, after finishing as the writers' second choice during the previous two seasons to the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera. The 23-year-old South Jersey native becomes the youngest unanimous MVP selection in baseball history.



    Baseball Birthdays on November 13...

    1860 - Myers, George
    1862 - Weihe, Podge
    1863 - Meegan, Pete
    1881 - Boucher, Al
    1882 - Midkiff, Ezra
    1884 - Daley, Tom
    1885 - Kreitz, Ralph
    1887 - Devore, Josh
    1888 - Harrington, Andy
    1889 - Stanley, Buck
    1894 - Neitzke, Ernie
    1895 - Steineder, Ray
    1895 - Dumont, George
    1901 - Clabaugh, Moose
    1903 - Rosenthal, SI
    1905 - Shoffner, Milt
    1908 - Kroner, John
    1909 - Garbark, Bob
    1911 - Mihalic, John
    1912 - Kampouris, Alex
    1912 - Price, Jackie
    1914 - Hallett, Jack
    1915 - Wilks, Ted
    1917 - Goulish, Nick
    1922 - Anderson, Andy
    1925 - Delsing, Jim
    1926 - Lembo, Steve
    1928 - Bilko, Steve
    1939 - Parker, Wes
    1941 - Stottlemyre, Mel
    1943 - Pfeil, Bobby
    1947 - Theodore, George
    1947 - Garber, Gene
    1951 - Harlow, Larry
    1952 - Sutton, John
    1958 - Petry, Dan
    1959 - Shipanoff, Dave
    1965 - Natal, Rob
    1968 - Hentgen, Pat
    1968 - Kiefer, Mark
    1969 - Beltran, Rigo
    1970 - Darensbourg, Vic
    1973 - Simontacchi, Jason
    1979 - Laird, Gerald
    1984 - Abreu, Tony
    1985 - Cabrera, Asdrubal
    1986 - Bell, Josh
    1986 - Miley, Wade
    1986 - Perez, Juan
    1986 - Price, Bryan
    1987 - Adleman, Tim
    1989 - Adams, Lane
    1989 - Frias, Carlos
    1990 - Bard, Luke
    1990 - Devenski, Chrs
    1990 - Vizcaino, Arodys
    1992 - Gossett, Daniel



    Baseball Deaths on November 13...

    1884 - Sullivan, Bill
    1926 - Pearce, Frank
    1932 - Clark, Willie
    1942 - Hoffman, Izzy
    1943 - McPartlin, Frank
    1958 - Elder, Heinie
    1963 - Ruel, Muddy
    1964 - Lord, Bris
    1972 - Echols, Johnny
    1978 - Powers, Les
    1984 - Epps, Aubrey
    1986 - Webber, Les
    1986 - Upright, Dixie
    1992 - Wilborn, Claude
    1992 - Ostrowski, Johnny
    1992 - Shaner, Wally
    1996 - McCardell, Roger
    1997 - Weston, Al
    1997 - Thacker, Moe
    1998 - Wright, Al
    1999 - Goolsby, Ray
    2009 - Klimkowski, Ron
    2010 - Binks, George
    2014 - Dark, Alvin
    2017 - Doerr, Bobby
    2017 - Rivera, "Jungle Jim"