Baseball history unpacked, November 6

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:

• 1922 - Morgan G. Bulkeley, first president of the National League and later governor of Connecticut and U.S. senator, dies. As president of the Hartford Dark Blues club, Bulkeley presided over the NL’s first meeting and headed the league for one year. He will be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937, in spite of his relatively short involvement in baseball. (2)
• 1938 - The brothers Joe, Vince and Dom DiMaggio play together for the first time, making up an outfield for an All-Star team in a West Coast charity game. (1,2)
• 1974 - Mike Marshall of the Los Angeles Dodgers becomes the first relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. Ironman Marshall set major league records that still stand with 106 appearances and 208 innings pitched in relief. (1,2)
• 1986 - In Chicago, the MLB owners decisively reject a proposed labor agreement that would have ended a three-year stalemate. The 18-12 vote threatens to plunge baseball back into full-fledged hostilities between the owners and players’ union. (2)
• 1997 - Milwaukee is back in the National League 31 years after the Braves left the city for Atlanta. The Brewers are the first team to ever switch from the American League to the National League. With an expansion team joining each league in 1998, the move keeps an even number of teams in both leagues to allow interleague play to occur at selected times of the season. (1)
• 1998 - Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kerry Wood, who posted a 13-6 record, wins the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Wood held batters to a NL best .196 opponents batting average and finished third in the league in strikeouts with 233 in just 166⅔ innings pitched. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Charlie Newman, Bryan LaHair*.

Today in history:

• 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II proclaims his cousin Julian as Caesar and heir apparent.
• 1860 - Abraham Lincoln of Illinois elected the 16th President of the United States of America.
• 1913 - Mahatma Gandhi arrested for leading Indian miners’ march in South Africa.
• 1947 - NBC’s “Meet the Press” debuts — US’s longest running TV show.

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