Baseball history unpacked, February 13

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:

• 1898 - Cincinnati Reds president John Brush dismisses criticism of his proposed league resolution to punish players who use vulgar and obscene language on the field, saying newspaper criticism is the result of ignorance. (2)
• 1953 - The Philadelphia Athletics change the name of Shibe Park to “Connie Mack Stadium”, in honor of their longtime owner and manager. Mack was part-owner and manager of the franchise for a record 50 years. The Athletics will depart Philadelphia at the end of the following season, and the Phillies will continue to inhabit Connie Mack Stadium until the end of the 1970 season, when they will move to Veterans Stadium. After being badly damaged in a fire in 1971, Connie Mack Stadium will continue to decay until being torn down in 1976. (1,2)
• 1964 - Chicago Cubs second baseman Ken Hubbs*, named National League Rookie of the Year in 1962, dies in Provo, Utah at age 22, when the plane that he is piloting crashes. (2)

The Ken Hubbs story from SABR.

• 2005 - Pitcher Nelson Briles, who was part of two World Series championships with the Cardinals and Pirates, dies at age 61 in Orlando, Florida, after suffering a heart attack at a Pirates alumni golf tournament. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Bill Bradley, Gilly Campbell, Donnie Moore, Matt Mieske.

Today in history:

• 1258 - Baghdad, then a city of 1 million, falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed, tens of thousands slaughtered, ending the Islamic Golden Age.
• 1578 - Tycho Brahe first sketches “Tychonic system” of solar system.
• 1795 - 1st state university in US opens, University of North Carolina.
• 1920 - Baseball Hall of Famer “Rube” Foster and 7 other team owners create the first Negro National League (NNL) at a meeting in a Kansas City YMCA.
• 2019 - NASA confirms Mars Opportunity rover’s mission has ended after 15 years due to a sandstorm damaging its communications.

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. Thanks for reading.