Baseball history unpacked, October 23

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.

Today in baseball history:

• 1910 - Philadelphia’s Jack Coombs* won his third game of the World Series, beating the Chicago Cubs 7-2 as the Athletics took the championship in five games. Eddie Collins had three hits, including two doubles, for the A’s. (1,2)

SABR on Jack Coombs.

• 1920 - The Chicago grand jury indictment adds the names of former featherweight boxing champ Abe Attell, Hal Chase, and Bill Burns as go-betweens in the 1919 World Series scandal. Ed Cicotte, Joe Jackson, Lefty Williams and Happy Felsch sign confessions, which they later recant. (1)
• 1935 - Gabby Hartnett is selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America as the National League MVP, with Dizzy Dean the runner-up. (1,2)
• 1945 - Branch Rickey announces the signing of Jackie Robinson and John Wright by the Dodgers organization. The two will be the first black players to play in ‘Organized Baseball’ since 1899. (1,2)
• 1974 - The Cubs trade sweet-swinging Billy Williams, a fixture at Wrigley Field for 16 years, to the Oakland Athletics for second baseman Manny Trillo and pitchers Darold Knowles and Bob Locker. (1,2)
• 1984 - Rick Sutcliffe, who was 16-1 for the Cubs after arriving from Cleveland two days before the June 15 trading deadline, is a unanimous choice as National League Cy Young Award winner. (1,2)
• 1993 - In one of the most dramatic endings in World Series history, Joe Carter hits a three-run, ninth-inning home run off Mitch Williams for an 8-6 win and Toronto’s second straight World Championship. Paul Molitor, who hits .500 (12 for 24), is named Series MVP while Lenny Dykstra of the Phillies, who hit .348 with four home runs, did everything except pitch. (1,2)
• 2019 - The Cubs hire former C David Ross, one of the heroes of their conquest of a World Series title in 2016, to succeed Joe Maddon as the team’s manager. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Mike Sullivan, Solly Drake, John Lackey, Felix Doubront. Also notable: Jim Bunning HOF.

Today in history:

• 42 BC - Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi - Brutus’s army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide.
• 1588 - Remnants of Medina Sidonia’s Spanish Armada returns to Santander, Spain.
• 1684 - English King Charles II revokes the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter due to repeated violations of the charter’s terms including trading with other countries and running an illegal mint.
• 1850 - First US National Women’s Rights convention opens in Brinley Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts.
• 1915 - An estimated 25,000 supporters in a women’s suffrage march on New York’s Fifth Ave, led by Dr. Anna Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt, founder of the League of Women Voters.
• 1933 - John Dillinger and his gang rob Central National Bank, in Greencastle, Indiana. They take $75, 000.
• 1955 - Dominican Professional Baseball League moves to winter play for first time.

Common sources:

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

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid, so that we can address that to the originators and provide clarity if not ‘truth’. Nothing is posted here without at least one instance of corroboration (this also includes the history bullets). Thanks for reading, and thanks also for your cooperation.