Baseball history unpacked, November 13

... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a lighthearted 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:

• 1899 - The National League announces that, starting next season, there will be two umpires working each game.. A crew of four umps employed for all regular-season games will not begin until 1952. (1,3)
• 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 onstage, will remain unconscious while in intensive care at Boone County Memorial Hospital in Columbia, Missouri, before dying three weeks later. (1)
• 1984 - Chicago second baseman Ryne Sandberg (.314, 19, 84) is overwhelmingly selected as the National League’s Most Valuable Player, receiving 22 of the 24 first-place votes in the BBWAA balloting. Ryno becomes the first Cub to capture the award since the writers honored Ernie Banks in 1959. Sandberg led the National League in runs (114) and triples (19). (1,2,3)
• 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. (1)
• Cubs birthdays: Johnny Kling, Bob Garbark, Steve Bilko, Arodys Vizcaino.

Sources:

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

Thanks for reading.