This Date in Baseball

"I'm a natural left-hander, but I throw right-handed because that's the way I
learned. But I eat and drink left and write left. I'm amphibious." -DALE MURPHY,
Braves outfielder (1976-90).

1920 A new twelve team National League format, made up of the eleven dissenting clubs and one of the five teams still loyal to Ban Johnson, is agreed to at a meeting held for the purpose of dismissing the American League president. This revolutionary plan for a new senior circuit will be discarded a few days later.

1950 After leading the league with a 144 RBIs, Red Sox slugging first baseman Walt Dropo is selected as the American League's Rookie of the Year.
1954 The American League owners approve the sale of the Philadelphia A's to Arnold Johnson and the transfer of the team to Kansas City.
1977 Bucky Harris dies on his 81st birthday in Bethesda, Maryland. The 'Boy Wonder' was a player-manager for the Senators in the 1920's.

1983 Dale Murphy (.302, 36, 121) joins Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan and Mike Schmidt as one of the players who has won the MVP award in consecutive years. The soft-spoken Braves' outfielder receives 21 of the 24 votes cast.
1999 The U.S. House of Representatives passes HR 269 calling for former White Sox outfielder ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson to be honored. Representative Jim DeMint (R-SC), who represents Jackson's hometown of Greenville, drafted the resolution to pay tribute to the local legend, who was banned from professional baseball due to his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal and thus is ineligible from becoming a member of the Hall of Fame.
2000 After leading the White Sox to their first playoffs in seven years despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the majors (21st out of 30), Jerry Manuel is selected by the BBWAA as the American League Manager of the Year.
2004 Jason Bay (.282 ,26, 82) becomes the first Pirate, as well as the first Canadian, to win the National League Rookie of the Year. The 26-year old British Columbia native married to his college girlfriend, Kristen, two days ago.

2004 Receiving 27 of 28 first-place votes, Bobby Crosby (.239, 22, 64) wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award. The Oakland shortstop, who is the son of former big leaguer infielder Ed Crosby, joins Harry Byrd (1952), Jose Canseco (1986), Mark McGwire (1987), Walt Weiss (1988) and Ben Grieve (1998) as the sixth A’s freshman to be honored by BBWAA.