clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Baseball history unpacked, February 18

A thrice-weekly look at #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB history. This one remembers the great Harry Caray.

Farewell, Harry
VINCENT LAFORET/AFP via Getty Images

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and deep dives into various narratives that expand over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along. We also add a bit of world history, for perspective’s sake.

Today in baseball history:

Cubs birthdays: Walter Thornton, Zip Zabel, Cal Neeman, Bob Miller, Jerry Morales, Kevin Tapani, Shawn Estes, Brian Bogusevic. Also notable: Joe Gordon HOF.

Today in world history:

  • 1519 - Hernán Cortés leaves Cuba for the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico with 11 ships and 500 men.
  • 1856 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate its first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
  • 1879 - Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi is awarded a patent for his design for the Statue of Liberty.
  • 1922 - The Capper-Volstead Act allows farmers to buy and sell cooperatively without the risk of prosecution under antitrust laws.
  • 1930 - US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
  • 1970 - Chicago 7 defendants found innocent of inciting to riot.
  • 1977 - Space Shuttle Enterprise takes its maiden flight affixed atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Aircraft Carrier.
  • 2014 - Ukrainian Revolution of 2014 begins as protesters, riot police and unknown shooters take part in violent events in the capital, Kiev, culminating after five days in the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych.
  • 2021 NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully lands at Jezero Crater, Mars, on mission to find microfossils.

Common sources:

There is a very active baseball history community and there are many facets to their views. We strive for clarity. Please be aware that we are trying to make the historical record as represented by our main sources coherent and as accurate as is possible. No item is posted here without corroboration. Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources, so that we can address them to the originators. BBRef is very cooperative in this regard, as are SABR and the Baseball Almanac. We have removed thenationalpastime from our sourcing list, as there have been multiple complaints about their content and they do not respond to attempts to communicate.

Also please remember that this is supposed to be fun.

Thank you for your cooperation. And thanks for reading!