If Your Birthday is April 29th....

...you share it with Scott Kingery. A sizzling 2018 spring training led to his jumping to the Phillies from Double A. Instead of just handing him a regular job at 2nd or 3rd base or the outfield, Gabe Kapler decided to turn him into Philadelphia's version of Ben Zobrist.  If anything, that held back his progress. For 2020, with Cesar Hernandez and Mikael Franco released, he appeared ready to be Joe Girardi's everyday 2nd baseman -- until everything went on hold.

Also on today's cake and candles list:
  • Rookie Davis, the onetime Yankee prospect who pitched briefly for the Reds and Pirates. His given name, BTW, is William.
  • Chad Huffman, an outfielder-1st baseman whose 21 major league games came with an almost seven-year gap: nine with the 2010 Yankees, and a dozen with the '17 Cardinals.
  • Kelly Shoppach, a catcher who spent parts of nine seasons in the majors, but only one (2008 with Cleveland) as a regular.
  • John Vander Wal, played 14 seasons, split among eight different clubs spanning the early 1990s Expos to 42 games with the 2004 Reds. His career highlight came with the 1995 Rockies, where he set the single season record with 28 pinch hits.
We've got an April 29th Hall of Famer:
  • Luis Aparicio, the legendary Venezuelan shortstop who played on pennant winners with the '59 White Sox and the World Champion '66 Orioles. A 10-time All Star, he led the American League in stolen bases nine straight seasons.
And we remember:
  • Ed Charles, the smooth-fielding, poetry-writing 3rd baseman on the World Champion 1969 Mets.




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