Baseball history unpacked, December 10

A wildly popular Cubs-centric look at baseball’s past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along as we review select scenes from the rich tapestry of Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball history.

Today in baseball history:

• 1919 - The National League, spearheaded by the leadership of Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss, approves the banning of the spitball, allowing just the current spitballers presently throwing the pitch to use it under a “grandfather” clause. A year later the American League will adopt the same rule. (1)

Bio of Barney Dreyfuss.

• 1972 - The American League votes unanimously to adopt the designated hitter rule on a trial basis for three years. The concept that permits a team to designate a player to bat in place of the pitcher will be implemented in some measure by most collegiate and professional circuits, with the National League and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League being the notable exceptions. (1)

The history of the DH.

• 1990 - Maniford Harper, known to his friends as Hack, is true to his word when he is buried in a Cub uniform, keeping to the arrangements that made him a central Illinois celebrity in 1980. The 75 year-old Washburn (IL) native’s devotion to the team began in 1926 when as a polio-stricken 11-year-old, Chicago legend Hack Wilson, who was among several players visiting the local Shriners hospital, put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and correctly predicted, ‘Kid, stick it out. Someday you’re gonna walk’. (1)
• Cubs birthdays: Jimmy Johnston, Ed Donnelly, Steve Renko, Paul Assenmacher, Rick Wrona, Mel Rojas.

Sources:

• (1) — The National Pastime.
• (2) — Today in Baseball History.
• (3) — Baseball Reference.
• (4) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (5) — Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thanks for reading. #Cubsnews