January 28

January 28 - Goose becomes Golden

January 28, 2025

January 28 Cooperstown Calls:

1962 — Edd Roush and Bill McKechnie are added to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee.

1968 — Goose Goslin, a former Washington Senator and Detroit Tigers Tiger outfielder who retired with a career .316 batting average after playing in five World Series, and Kiki Cuyler, a .321 career hitter who won four stolen base crowns while running the bases for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs, are elected into the Hall of Fame by a unanimous vote of the Veterans Committee. Goslin believed his enshrinement in Cooperstown was helped by his interview that was shared in Lawrence Ritter’s 1966 book, The Glory of Their Times: The Story Of The Early Days Of Baseball Told By The Men Who Played It. Listen to todays podcast on Goslin here.

1974, the Veterans Committee elects Sam Thompson, Jim Bottomley and umpire Jocko Conlan to the Hall of Fame.

TODAY ON THE DAILY HIGHLIGHT

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Today’s Highlighted Reels:

Jackie Robinson Radio Show Mail Bag
Home Run Derby Episode 20 Willie Mays vs Jim Lemon
Bill Stern Sports Newsreel January 28, 1949 with Jerry Colonna
Bob Elson Interviews Frank Lane on January 28, 1981
Bob Elson Interviews Bucky Dent on January 28, 1979

Trivia:

Who was the first National League player to hit 40 homeruns in a season?

Ed Williamson

Rogers Hornsby

Johnny Mize

Mel Ott

Hack Wilson

Hint: The answer is below

COOL FACT . . . If we highlight an event, player milestone there is an audio vault on Classic Baseball Broadcast. Games, interviews and more to take a deeper dive.

January 28, 1847 in New York, NY . . .George Wright was baseball’s first franchise player. His older brother Harry was asked to form the first pro team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, and the first player Harry recruited was George, a shortstop. The Wrights transferred operations to Boston when the National Association was formed, and won four of five pennants. George was the team’s sparkplug, Harry the manager. They joined the National League in its first season, 1876, and won pennants in 1877 and 1878, with George leading the league in at-bats. George managed Providence to a pennant in 1879, with Harry’s Boston club finishing second.

Born: January 28, 1891 in Pittsburgh, PA. Bill Doak played his Rookie year in Cincinnati in 1912 with the Reds. He only played in one game that season with the Reds, pitching in two innings. He went on to play another 15 years in St. Louis and in Brooklyn, winning 169 games and collecting 16 Saves. Doak's main pitch, the spitball, earned him the nickname "Spittin' Bill". When the pitch was outlawed in 1920, Doak was one of 17 pitchers allowed to continue throwing the spitball. Doak made his most lasting contribution to baseball by innovating the design of the baseball glove. In 1920, he suggested to Rawlings that a web should be laced between the first finger and thumb, saying it would create a natural pocket. The Bill Doak glove soon replaced all other baseball gloves and is the standard to this day.

January 28, 1901 The American League formally organizes as a major league, having been a top minor league in 1900: the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Athletics, and Boston Americans are admitted to join the Washington Nationals, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago White Sox. Three of the original clubs – Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo – are dropped. League power aggregates in Ban Johnson as trustee for all ballpark leases and majority stockholdings, and with authority to buy out refractory franchises. The player limit is 14 per team, and the schedule will be 140 games. American League contracts give the Players Protective Association what it asked for, with five-year limits on the rights to player services.

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January 28 1949 — The New York Giants sign their first black players: Negro League players Monte Irvin and Ford Smith. Both men are assigned to the Jersey City Giants (International League). Irvin will star for the Giants, but Smith will never make the major leagues.

January 28, 1958, Brooklyn Dodgers star Roy Campanella is paralyzed after suffering a broken neck and a damaged spinal cord when his rented 1957 Chevrolet sedan hit a telephone pole in an early morning auto accident on Long Island. Campanella suffers permanent paralysis of his legs, ending his career. In 10 seasons with the Dodgers, the 36 year-old Dodger catcher, who has won three MVP awards (1951, ’53, ’55) , Campy hit 242 home runs and was named to five All-Star teams. Campanella also starred in the Negro leagues. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.

January 28, 1982, the Baltimore Orioles trade third baseman Doug DeCinces – the successor to Brooks Robinson – and pitcher Jeff Schneider to the California Angels for outfielder Dan Ford. DeCinces will have a career year hitting 30 home runs and batting 300. DeCinces was traded to make room for a Rookie Cal Ripken J Jr.

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Quote of the day:

Leon Goslin was tabbed "Goose" while still in the minor leagues, because of his beak-like nose and gawky physical features. Goslin used a closed batting stance, and once joked that he would have "hit .500 if he could have seen over his nose."

Hall of Famer - Goose Goslin

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