Today in baseball history: January 1

In the major leagues' 100+ year history, just over 23,000 players have appeared in an official game. If every one of them were in the league’s smallest stadium, it would be barely two-thirds full.

65 of those players were born on January 1. Just seven of those accumulated more than 10 WAR in their careers:

• Tim Keefe, right-handed pitcher, 86.9

• Hank Greenberg, first baseman/outfielder, 55.5

• Earl Torgeson, first baseman, 33.1

• Webster McDonald, right-handed pitcher, 23.1

• Dallas Keuchel, left-handed pitcher, 18.9

• Ned Garvin, right-handed pitcher, 14.6

• LaMarr Hoyt, right-handed pitcher, 12.1

Keefe (1964, Veteran’s Committee) and Greenberg (1956, BBWAA vote) were elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Some highlights and events that took place on this day:

1927: After 18 seasons with the Brooklyn Robins, outfielder Zack Wheat is released. The future Hall of Famer would play one more season with the Philadelphia Athletics before retiring.

1929: Cool Papa Bell hits the first three-homer game in Cuban professional baseball. All three were inside-the-park homers, a feat that’s never been achieved in MLB.

1961: The Tigers announced that their home stadium would be renamed Tigers Park.

2009: MLB Network debuts.

2009: Wrigley Field plays host to an NHL game between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wing. Attendance and television viewership are so impressive other stadiums begin lining up to follow suit in what’s become an annual event.

2020: Don Larsen, author of the only perfect game in World Series history, dies at age 90.