This Day in Braves History: January 28

Jan 28, 2023 - 1:00 PM

Braves Franchise History

1980 - Hank Aaron refuses an award from commissioner Bowie Kuhn honoring him for his 715th home run. Aaron’s stance is that baseball’s treatment of retired black ballplayers falls far short of what is needed.

MLB History

1901 - The American League formally organizes as a major league after having been a top minor league in 1900. The Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Athletics, and Boston Americans join along with the Washington Nationals, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox. The player limit is 14 per team and the schedule will be 140 games.

1907 - In an effort to reduce playing-date conflicts between the leagues, NL President Harry Pullman and AL President Ban Johnson meet to plan schedules. The result reduces conflicting dates to 27.

1949 - The New York Giants sign their first black players, Monte Irvin and Ford Smith. Both are assigned to the Jersey City Giants of the International League.

1958 - The San Francisco Giants trade Gail Harris and Ozzie Virgil to the Detroit Tigers for Jim Finigan and cash. Virgil is the first black player to suit up for the Tigers.

1962 - Edd Roush and Bill MeKechnie are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee

1968 - Goose Goslin and Kiki Cuyler are elected to the Hall of Fame by a unanimous vote of the Special Veterans Committee.

1973 - The Special Veterans Committee elects Mickey Welch, George Kelly and umpire Billy Evans to the Hall of Fame.

1974 - Sam Thompson, Jim Bottomley and umpire Jocko Conlan are elected to the Hall of Fame again by the Special Veterans Committee.

1992 - The Detroit Tigers and Cecil Fielder avoid arbitration by agreeing to a $4.5 million deal which at the time is the largest single season deal in league history.

2006 - In a three team deal, Cleveland acquires reliever Guillermo Mota, catcher Kelly Shoppach, infielder Andy Marte and a player to be named later from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for outfielder Coco Crisp, reliever David Riske and catcher Josh Bard. Cleveland also sends reliever Arthur Rhodes to the Phillies in exchange for outfielder Jason Michaels.

2010 - Outfielder Jim Edmonds signs a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers in a comeback attempt. He last played in the majors during the 2008 season with the Cubs.

2013 - The Los Angeles Dodgers announce the launch of their own regional sports network on Time Warner Cable, SportsNet LA.

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Information for this article was found via Baseball Reference, Nationalpastime.com and Today in Baseball History.