This day in baseball ● On this day
December 15
The record for December 15 in baseball history — 56 births and 32 deaths.
No milestones or firsts are on record for December 15 — but the players below were born and lost on it.
Born on this day
b. December 15, 1860 · Pitcher across three clubs, 1884 to 1886.
b. December 15, 1863 · Left fielder who batted .253 across three clubs, 1890 to 1893.
b. December 15, 1868 · Pitcher who batted .223 across six clubs, 1890 to 1897.
b. December 15, 1882 · Caught 462 games and hit .358 in 1906 during a nine-season career spread over sixteen years.
b. December 15, 1902 · Pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, 1931 to 1931.
b. December 15, 1913 · Pitcher across two clubs, 1934 to 1940.
b. December 15, 1918 · Pitcher for the Baltimore Elite Giants, 1946 to 1948.
b. December 15, 1920 · Was the last surviving member of the 1948 Cleveland champions and lived to be a hundred.
b. December 15, 1923 · Pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, 1944 to 1944.
b. December 15, 1929 · Won 20 games at thirty-two and threw seven shutouts the following season.
b. December 15, 1944 · Never played in the major leagues, caught in the Detroit farm system for seven years, and managed for twenty-two.
b. December 15, 1944 · Was Rookie of the Year in 1968 with a 2.05 earned run average and lost 21 games five years later.
b. December 15, 1946 · Third baseman who batted .260 across three clubs, 1974 to 1985.
b. December 15, 1948 · Pitcher across two clubs, 1972 to 1981.
b. December 15, 1950 · Pitcher for the California Angels, 1975 to 1975.
b. December 15, 1967 · First baseman who won the 1995 MVP award, hitting 328 home runs across three clubs.
b. December 15, 1975 · Center fielder across two clubs, 1998 to 2000.
b. December 15, 1976 · Second baseman who batted .281 across five clubs, 2003 to 2011.
b. December 15, 1981 · Third baseman across three clubs, 2007 to 2009.
b. December 15, 1984 · Left fielder for the Colorado Rockies, 2011 to 2011.
b. December 15, 1994 · First baseman across two clubs, 2022 to 2022.
b. December 15, 1996 · Second baseman who won National League Rookie of the Year for Cincinnati in 2021.
b. December 15, 1999 · Pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, 2023 to 2023.
b. December 15, 1999 · Pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 2025 to 2025.
56 players were born on December 15; these are the 24 best known.
Died on this day
d. December 15, 1921 · Left fielder for the Detroit Wolverines, 1884 to 1884.
d. December 15, 1932 · Pitcher across two clubs, 1886 to 1889.
d. December 15, 1940 · Scored 1,697 runs in 1,594 games, a rate no other long-career player has matched, and his 198 runs in 1894 are still the most in a season.
d. December 15, 1944 · First baseman for the Kansas City Cowboys, 1884 to 1884.
d. December 15, 1949 · Pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters, 1905 to 1905.
d. December 15, 1953 · Moved Babe Ruth from the pitching rotation to the outfield in 1918, then ran the Yankees for a quarter of a century.
d. December 15, 1958 · Pitcher for the Brooklyn Robins, 1918 to 1918.
d. December 15, 1961 · Was deaf from the age of three, stole 596 bases, and played fourteen years in the majors.
d. December 15, 1965 · Pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, 1941 to 1943.
d. December 15, 1968 · Third baseman for the St. Louis Browns, 1932 to 1932.
d. December 15, 1975 · Third baseman for the Boston Braves, 1930 to 1931.
d. December 15, 1979 · Batted .301 with 1,092 walks in sixteen seasons for the Cubs and played in four losing World Series.
d. December 15, 1981 · Pitcher across two clubs, 1919 to 1926.
d. December 15, 1984 · Baseball figure for the St. Louis Browns, 1913 to 1913.
d. December 15, 1990 · Center fielder for the New York Highlanders, 1912 to 1912.
d. December 15, 1992 · Pitcher across three clubs, 1941 to 1947.
d. December 15, 1995 · Right fielder for the Washington Black Senators, 1938 to 1938.
d. December 15, 1998 · Catcher whose nineteen-year professional career produced only 98 major league games, followed by three decades of coaching.
d. December 15, 1999 · Third baseman who batted .273 across two clubs, 1948 to 1952.
d. December 15, 2000 · Shortstop for the Detroit Tigers, 1944 to 1944.
d. December 15, 2002 · First baseman who batted .264 across six clubs, 1958 to 1969.
d. December 15, 2003 · Second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, 1945 to 1945.
d. December 15, 2010 · Struck out 348 in 1946 and gave up nearly four seasons to the Navy, enlisting two days after Pearl Harbor.
d. December 15, 2011 · Third baseman who batted .260 across four clubs, 1952 to 1962.
32 players died on December 15; these are the 24 best known.