Today in baseball history: December 22

There have been just over 23,000 players in the 100+ year history of the major leagues. Every one of them could be placed in the league’s smallest stadium and the place would be barely two-thirds full.

Just 63 of them were born on December 22.

Eight have topped 10+ WAR in their careers:

• Steve Carlton, left-handed pitcher, 90.2, Hall of Famer

• Lonnie Smith, outfielder, 38.5

• Steve Garvey, infielder, 38.0

• Matty Alou, outfielder, 23.1

• Mike Jackson, right-handed pitcher, 18.8

• Zack Britton, left-handed pitcher, 14.0

• Glenn Wilson, outfielder, 13.1

• Ken Landreaux, outfielder, 10.3

His playing career may not have amounted to as much success (totaling 6.9 WAR over 11 seasons), but Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack was also born today.

December 22 also happens to be my uncle’s birthday. Happy birthday Harvey!

Some highlights and events that took place on this day:

1921: Socks Seybold dies at age 51 in a car accident. Seybold’s 16 home runs in 1902 had been the American League home run record before Babe Ruth surpassed the mark in 1919.

1995: An investment group headed by Bill DeWitt Jr. purchases the St. Louis Cardinals from Anheuser-Busch for $150 million, saving the team from relocating.

1999: Hideki Irabu is traded to the Montreal Expos for a trio of minor league pitchers. Irabu had publicly fallen out of favor with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, but still, the deal was viewed as a complete steal by the Yankees around the league. Irabu would win just two games over his two seasons in Montreal before being released for disciplinary reasons.

1999: Atlanta Braves reliever John Rocker makes headlines following a Sports Illustrated interview in which he attacks multiple racial and ethnic groups. Calls to discipline him come from every corner of the sports and cultural landscape. MLB eventually suspended Rocker for 28 games, though an arbitrator reduced it to 14.

2001: The Texas Rangers sign Chan-Ho Park away from the Los Angeles Dodgers, agreeing to a five-year, $65 million contract with the Korean right-hander.

2009: The Yankees acquire Javier Vázquez and Boone Logan from the Braves for Melky Cabrera, Michael Dunn, and Arodys Vizcaino. Vázquez had pitched for the Yankees in 2004, when he made his lone All-Star appearance, and was coming off a 2009 season in which he’d finish 4th in NL Cy Young voting. The results wouldn’t repeat in 2010.

2010: The driver responsible for the April 2009 deaths of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others is sentenced to 51 years in jail.

2011: The Washington Nationals trade four minor leaguers to Oakland for left-handed pitcher Gio González, who had just made his first All-Star appearance. González would win 86 games and post a 3.62 ERA over the next seven seasons with the Nats.

2012: Ryan Freel is found dead at the age of 36 from an apparent suicide. The victim of multiple head injuries that cut his career short, Freel’s family would donate his brain to studies being conducted at Boston University. He would be the first MLB player diagnosed with CTE.

2013: Alex Cabrera, despite playing at 41 years old, sets the Venezuelan Winter League single-season home run mark with his 21st homer. Cabrera had previously shared the NPB single-season record (55) for 12 years with Tuffy Rhodes and Sadaharu Oh before Wladimir Balentien hit 60 in 2013.