Baseball history unpacked, February 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:

• 1896 - The National League adopts changes in the National Agreement. The minor leagues are divided into six classifications based on population, and new draft fees are instituted. The league also forbids players from deliberately soiling baseballs, and declares that “a ball cutting the corners of the home plate, and being requisite height, must be called a strike.” It also empowers umpires to eject players. (2)
• 1926 - Southpaw Eddie Plank, winner of 327 games in 17 years, dies at 51 in his native Gettysburg, PA. (2)
• 1943 - The Texas League announces it will suspend operations for the duration of the war. The St. Louis Cardinals, with 260 farm players in the service, will reduce farm clubs from 22 to 6. Only nine minor leagues will start the 1943 season. Advertisements for players appear in The Sporting News. (2)
• 1990 - Former Boston Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro dies of pneumonia and kidney failure at the age of 45. Conigliaro was the youngest American League player ever to reach 100 career home runs and then was nearly blinded by a 1967 beaning. (2)
• 2000 - The National Labor Relations Board certifies the results of the November election that kicked out the Major League Umpires Association and replaced it with the newly-formed World Umpires Association. About 50 of the 71 major league umpires have joined the new union. The decision ends Richie Phillips’ 21-year reign as union chief. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Wilbur Cooper, Clarke Pittenger, Lynn Nelson, Earl Grace, Mike Sember, Rob Bowen*. Also notable: Honus Wagner HOF, Eddie Murray HOF.

Today in history:

• 1528 - John Zápolya, the disputed King of Hungary, and Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sign a treaty.
• 1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces New Style (Gregorian) calendar.
• 1821 - Agustín de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero agree to the Plan of Iguala, stating that Mexico will become a constitutional monarchy, Roman Catholicism the official religion and that Peninsulares and Creoles will enjoy equal political and social rights.
• 1863 - Arizona Territory created.
• 1969 - Mariner 6 launched for Mars flyby to study the planet’s atmosphere.
• 1980 - US ice hockey team clinches gold medal with a 4-2 win over Finland at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; comes after the 4-3 “Miracle on Ice” victory against the favored Soviet Union.

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.