If Your Birthday is January 2nd...

...you share it with one of baseball's brightest young stars, Fernando Tatis Jr of the Padres. In 2019, limited to just 80 games by a delayed call-up and a season-ending injury, he belted 22 homers, hit .317 and posted on OPS of .969. OK, he's got a few things to work on -- cutting down 110 strikeouts in a half-season would be a good start. But when you talk "upside," there are very few players with his level of potential.

Also on today's cake and card list:


  • Edgar Martinez, the Mariners Hall of Fame DH. A .312 lifetime hitter with a career on base percentage of .418, he checked off all my boxes as to whether he belonged in Cooperstown. Fortunately, the writers finally got it right in his 10th year on the ballot.
  • David Cone stands in a very exclusive circle. He starred for two New York teams -- twice leading the NL in strikeouts a Mets and famously tossing a perfect game as a Yankee. The Kansas City native is now a member of the Yankees television team.
And we remember:
  • Ralph "Red" Kress, a versatile infielder of the 1930's, who played most of his career with the Browns and Senators, but also had a New York connection: he played one game for the 1946 Giants and was a member of Casey Stengel's inaugural Mets coaching staff in 1962. Sadly, he died less than two months after that season ended.
  • Pinky Whitney, a .295 lifetime hitter, who played a lot of good baseball on some really bad Braves and Phillies teams during the 1930s.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Avenue and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two...
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore...
Read more

Spring Training Flashbacks: Subway Series, Florida Style - 2016

Image
It's a return visit to the Mets' Florida home in Port St. Lucie, this time for a 2016 showdown with the Yankees. (Below), Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman chat during batting practice. Aaron Judge and Rob Refsnyder have their game faces on in the dugout... though neither would be in the starting lineup. (Above) A couple of Brooklyn natives that made their mark in New York baseball -- Lee Mazzilli and John Franco. (Below) Mets pitcher Josh Smoker makes friends by signing a few autographs. (Above) Mets reliever Jeurys Familia; (Below) 2nd baseman Neil Walker (Above) Curtis Granderson, one of the select few players to star for both the Yankees and Mets, getting ready for his third summer at Citi Field. (Below) Aaron Hicks came to the Yankees in a trade the previous November. 3rd baseman Chase Headley enjoying the Grapefruit League vibe, even against Mets ace Jacob deGrom. (Above) Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes watches where he hit one... so does Joe Girardi from the visitor's dugou...
Read more