January 24 in Tigers and mlb history:
1900: Officials from the National League hold a secret meeting in Cleveland, supposedly to discuss dropping the Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville and Washington, DC franchises from the league roster. Indeed, the four teams will be contracted before the start of the season.
1900: The A.J. Reach Company is granted a patent for protective headgear known as the "Reach Pneumatic Head Protector." It won't gain acceptance, though a few players, notably Roger Bresnahan, will occasionally wear it.
1913: In a story in the New York Times, Detroit Tigers President Frank Navin blames the length of the games on the coaches' boxes. Navin, reacting to American League President Ban Johnson's complaint that too many games the previous season had taken two hours to play, says the boxes should be moved back so that the catcher can give the pitcher his signals more quickly. From where they are now, he said, the coaching players can detect the catcher's signals unless he takes a lot of time to hide them. Navin said this slow signalling is the reason for the longer games.
1939: Eddie Collins, Willie Keeler and George Sisler are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Sisler set a major league season-record (later broken by Ichiro Suzuki) with 257 hits in 1920 and batted .420 in 1922 on his way to a .340 career batting average.
Collins batted an even .333 for his career and stole 744 bases as a member of four World Series Champions.
Keeler, who "hit 'em where they ain't", batted .341 and collected 2,932 hits.
1950: Jackie Robinson signs a contract for $35,000, reportedly making him the highest-paid player in Brooklyn Dodgers team history.
1955: In an effort to speed up the game, Major League Baseball announces a new rule which requires a pitcher to deliver the ball within 20 seconds after taking a pitching position.
1973: Left-handed pitcher Warren Spahn is elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA. Spahn, in his first year of eligibility, is named on 316 out of a possible 380 ballots. Spahn won a total of 363 games during a 21-year major league career.
1996: The Detroit Tigers signed Alan Trammell as a free agent.
2001: In what is believed to be an historical first, 68 major league umpires participate in a pre-season session to practice calling strikes as defined by the rule book. With the help of minor league players wearing tapes nine inches above their belts, the men in blue get a good look at pitches, normally called balls, which now will considered a strike as the correct interpretation of the zone will be enforced this upcoming season.
2002: The Detroit Tigers selected Oscar Salazar off waivers from the Oakland Athletics.
2003: The Detroit Tigers signed Kevin Barker as a free agent.
2006: According the New York Daily News, the daughter of Jackie Robinson thinks Major League Baseball should not retire Roberto Clemente's number 21.
2006: More than 1,000 items of Joe DiMaggio memorabilia, including his 1947 American League MVP Award plaque and a signed photo of Marilyn Monroe, will be auctioned in May.
2011: The Tigers trade P Armando Galarraga, who lost a perfect game due to umpire Mike Joyce's blown call on June 2nd, to the Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league Pitchers Ryan Robowski and Kevin Eichhorn.
2012: Rocked by the loss of DH Victor Martinez to an off-season injury last week, the Tigers react by signing the most prominent free agent remaining on the market 1B Prince Fielder. It takes a 9-year, $214 million contract to land the big slugger. The move is doubly surprising because Detroit was not rumored to be among the teams bidding for Prince, and because they already have one the game's premium first basemen, Miguel Cabrera, signed to a long-term deal.
2018: Four players are elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA: 3B Chipper Jones and 1B Jim Thome both make it on their first attempt, while P Trevor Hoffman and OF Vladimir Guerrero, who had both missed induction by a handful of votes in 2017, make it over the 75% threshold this time.
2018: The Detroit Tigers signed Alexi Amarista as a free agent.
2018: The Detroit Tigers signed James Russell as a free agent.
2018: The Detroit Tigers signed Caleb Thielbar as a free agent.
2018: The Detroit Tigers signed Matt West as a free agent.
2019: The Detroit Tigers selected Kaleb Cowart off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.
Tigers players birthdays:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Joe_Cobb
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cobbjo01.shtml
Joe Cobb 1918.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithru01.shtml
Rufus Smith 1927.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jay_Sborz
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sborzja01.shtml
Jay Sborz 2010.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Andy_Dirks
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dirksan01.shtml
Andy Dirks 2011-2013.
Tigers players who passed away:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bevilmo01.shtml
Monte Beville 1904.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ralph_Young
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/youngra01.shtml
Ralph Young 1915-1921.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/moorebi01.shtml
Bill Moore 1925.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/navarju01.shtml
Julio Navarro 1964-1966.
Baseball Reference
