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.

“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly.

Today in baseball history:

• 1883 – New York Gothams owner John B. Day proposes a resolution to prohibit a team from signing a player who has broken the reserve clause of his contract. This resolution, eventually adopted by both the American Association and National League, effectively changes the reserve clause from a device to protect owners from their own greediness to a vindictive weapon to be used against uncooperative players. (2)
• 1890 – At the American Association annual meeting in Louisville, the Philadelphia Athletics are expelled for violating the league’s constitution. A new team in Philadelphia is admitted, plus entries from Boston, Washington and Chicago, replacing Syracuse, Toledo and Rochester. (2)
• 1934 – The Chicago Cubs acquire future Hall of Fame infielder Fred Lindstrom and pitcher Larry French from the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Babe Herman and pitchers Guy Bush and Jim Weaver. (2)
• 1957 – After 22 seasons, Larry Goetz is unwillingly “retired” as a National League umpire by Warren Giles. The discharged arbiter had been critical of the Senior Circuit because of the league’s refusal to include umpires in the players’ pension fund. (2)
• 1960 – The American League proposes that both leagues expand to nine teams in 1961 and begin interleague play. There will be expansion in the American League in 1961, but interleague play will not arrive until 1997. (1,2)
• 1983 – The Players’ Association fires executive director Kenneth Moffett after barely a year in the job and chooses Donald Fehr as his successor. (2)
• 2017 – According to a report in the magazine Forbes, Major League Baseball revenues in 2017 grew for the 15th consecutive year and passed the $10 billion threshold for the first time. The growing value of television rights and increasing ratings are the primary reasons behind this growth, in spite of a slight decline in attendance at ballparks. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Dick Bartell, Lew Burdette, Joe Nathan, Austin Romine*,

Today in History:

• 845 – First King of all Brittany, Nominoe defeats Frankish King Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon, near Redon.
• 1220 – Frederick II crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Honorius III.
• 1492 – Ship Pinta under Martín Alonso Pinzón separates from Christopher Columbus’s fleet.
• 1574 – Discovery of uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands off Chile by Spanish sailor Juan Fernández – later famous home of marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk (inspired Robinson Crusoe story).
• 1943 – The Cairo Conference: FDR, Churchill and Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek meet in Egypt to discuss ways to defeat Japan.
• 1963 – President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in an open-topped motorcade in Dallas, Texas.
• 1968 – First interracial TV kiss (Star Trek – Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura).
• 1987 – Two Chicago TV stations are hijacked by an unknown pirate dressed as Max Headroom.

• 1989 – Conjunction of Venus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and the Moon.

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. We are trying to set the record as straight as possible. But it isn’t brain surgery.

Also, the ‘history’ segment is highly edited for space and interest. Of course a great many other things happened on those days. We try to follow up on the interesting or unfamiliar ones.

Thanks for reading.