Today in Red Sox History: February 22

Today in Red Sox history, a story I’d never heard involving a car accident and a birthday for one of the team’s most popular recent players.

Today in OTM History

2021: Looking at potential minor-league signings; A year later, it’s all we have to look forward to. Also, nailed the Danny Santana one.

2019: Antoni Flores voted as number nine prospect; It looked like that was the start of something promising, but things have only gone down for Flores since then.

2018: Tyler Thornburg’s comeback; While this season was overwhelmingly positive, this was a rare negative aspect.

2016: Brian Bannister will fix Carlos Marmol; I nailed the Santana thing. I did not nail this one.

Today in Red Sox History

1992: Carlos Quintana gets in car crash in Venezuela; Here’s one I’ve never heard before. Quintana came up to the majors with the Red Sox in 1988 and served as a solid everyday first baseman for two years in ‘90 and ‘91. Prior to the ‘92 season, his brothers were shot at a party and Quintana was rushing them to the hospital when he got in a car accident. The injuries cost Quintana the entire 1992 season, and he couldn’t get back on track in ‘93, his last year in the majors.

Today in Red Sox Birthdays

Happy 39th birthday to Daniel Nava, whose legend precedes him as one of the easiest Red Sox players ever to root for, and whose 2013 season is one of the most underrated from a Red Sox player I can remember.

Happy would-be 91st birthday to Chet Nichols, who started his career by leading the league in ERA in his rookie season with Brooklyn before serving in the military for two years and never really finding that peak again. He spent a few solid seasons in Boston’s bullpen, though, in the early 60s.

Many thanks to Baseball-Reference, NationalPastime.com and Today in Baseball History for assistance here. Also thanks again to Talking Chop for the inspiration for these posts.