February 19, 1953: US Marine flyer Ted Williams, who is serving his second tour of duty in the US military, successfully lands his burning F-9 panther jet when he returns from a bombing raid in North Korea; the next day Williams was back in the sky and he flew a total of 39 missions in the Korean War before he was discharged in July, 1953. [...]

February 18, 1993: The Red Sox sign 10-year veteran relief pitcher, and Dan Duquette's little league battery mate, Jeff Russell to a two year contract as the closer for the team; Russell appears in 51 games with 33 saves and an ERA of 2.70, but falters the following season and is traded to Texas in July 1994. [...]

February 17, 1971: he Boston Red Sox announce that they have signed All-Star left fielder Carl Yastrzemski to the largest contract in the history of MLB: a three-year contract that will pay Yaz a total of $500,000 spread over three years; it should be noted that the minimum annual salary in 2014 under the basic agreement is $500,000! [...]

February 16, 1953: The Boston Braves trade slugging first baseman Earl Torgeson to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Russ Meyer, then trade Meyer to the Reds for first baseman Joe Adcock; it is their last transaction as the Boston Braves because in less than one month they will announce that the team is moving to Milwaukee for the 1953 season. [...]

February 15, 2000: The Boston Red Sox sign outfielder Carl Everett to a three-year contract valued at over $20 million; Everett got off to a fine start in 2000, slugging 35 home runs and making the AL All-Star team, but his rocky relationship with teammates and the media made him a liability, and the Red Sox traded him to the Texas Rangers for Darren Oliver [...]