If Your Birthday is June 28th...

...you share it with Reds 2nd baseman Brandon Phillips. His combination of speed and power have kept him near the top of his position for the past decade. But one place you're not likely to find him anytime soon is the post-season.
Last winter, Phillips turned down a possible trade to the Nats, who instead went on fill their hole at 2nd base with Daniel Murphy. I was surprised -- maybe you were, too. Sure, it's nice developing roots in a community where you've played for a decade. But with Reds in full "rebuild" mode and the Nationals one of the league's most powerful teams, Phillips' decision remains puzzling.
While no Baseball Hall of Famers have June 28th birthday, some well known names share this date.

  • Mark Grace, a .303 lifetime batter in a 2245-game career with the Cubs and Diamondbacks. A promising broadcasting career was derailed by a DUI arrest and conviction. These days (right), he's a coach on Chip Hale's Arizona Diamondbacks staff.
  • Don Baylor, a hard-nosed player who holds the record for being hit by pitches (255). Talk about a birthday worth remembering, he broke the old mark for getting plunked the day he turned 38. The well-traveled outfielder-DH was also the first-ever manager of the Colorado Rockies.
  • Chris Speier, an effective shortstop during his 19-year career mainly with the Giants and Expos. He's also the father of longtime big league reliever Justin Speier.
  • Al Downing, the first African-American pitcher in New York Yankees history. After pitching briefly in 1961 and '62, the lefty won 13 games in 1963 and '64, the final two pennants of the Mantle-Ford dynasty.
    His numbers fell off as the decade rolled on and the aging team declined. The Yankees swapped him to the A's in 1970, he quickly moved onto the Brewers before enjoying a resurgence with the Dodgers during the early and mid-1970s. Al's most famous moment came in 1974 -- for throwing the pitch that Hank Aaron crushed for the record-setting 715th home run of his career. Following his playing days, Downing went into broadcasting. He served as an analyst on Dodger cable-TV and radio broadcasts and also did some work for CBS radio's network package. But he maintains his Yankee ties and is a regular participant in the team's Old Timers Day. That's where I caught up with him earlier this month.

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