Baseball history unpacked, December 21

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:

• 1944 - In an even closer vote than occurred in the AL, where Hal Newhouser won by four points, the NL MVP award goes to fielding wizard Marty Marion. The Cardinals shortstop tallies one more vote than Cubs slugger Bill Nicholson. Led by Marion at shortstop, the Cardinals erred only 112 times and averaged.982. Both marks top the previous records held by the 1940 Reds. (2)
• 1960 - Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley announces the club will not have a manager next season, but will instead use a college of coaches. The ‘faculty’ for the upcoming campaign will include El Tappe, Charlie Grimm, Goldie Holt, Bobby Adams, Harry Craft, Verlon Walker, Ripper Collins, and Vedie Himsl, with each serving as “head coach” for part of the season. (1)

More about this ill-fated experiment from BBRef, Fangraphs, and BCB.

• 2011 - The Reds continue to acquire players in preparation for a run at what appears to be a wide-open NL Central division in 2012. Today, they get lefty reliever Sean Marshallfrom the Cubs in return for P Travis Wood and two players to be named, who turn out to be OF Dave Sappelt and IF Ronald Torreyes. (3)
• Cubs birthdays: Dell Darling, Cy Williams, Pete Scott, Bob Rush, Dave Kingman, LaTroy Hawkins, Dustin Hermanson, Taylor Teagarden, Brian Schlitter.

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