If Your Birthday is November 11th...

...you share it with P.J. Conlon. The first native of Belfast, Northern Ireland to play in the majors this century (h/t Kevin Kernan of the NY Post), he moved with his family to California when he was just two. He pitched in three games for the 2018 Mets. I caught him on the last of them, July 10th.

Also on our cake and candles list:

  • Jason Grilli, who pitched 15 years in the majors. While he attended Seton Hall University, just outside New York City, the well traveled righty, who appeared for nine different teams, never played for either New York team.
  • Damion Easley reached his peak as the Tigers 2nd baseman in the late ''90s. The native New Yorker, who lived in suburban Mount Vernon until he was 11, finished his career with the Mets, where his highlight was an August 2nd, 2007 inside-the-park home run.
  • Mike Bacsik, whose namesake father pitched for several teams in the mid and late 1970s, played the same position with the Indians, Mets, Rangers and Nats between 2001 and 2007.
  • Danny Rios was the first Yankee born in Spain. (Although, much like P.J. Conlon, he grew up in the USA, after his family came here when he was two.) The righthanded reliever appeared in a pair of games in 1997, before a brief stop with the Royals. He returned to the New York area with the indy league Newark Bears before finishing his career in Mexico and Korea,

And we remember a pair of Hall of Famers born on this date. Interestingly, they were both teammates on some great Pittsburgh teams during the early and middle 1920s.

  • Pie Traynor was baseball's first great third baseman, a defensive standout and lifetime .320 career who played his entire career with the Pirates, who retired his number 20. He enjoyed a successful second career behind a microphone, hosting a nightly sports show on a Pittsburgh station and doing commentary on local Wrestling telecasts.
  • Rabbit Maranville played 2nd and shortstop for 23 seasons, Besides the Pirates, he saw action with the Braves, Dodgers, Cardinals and Cubs -- where he was a player-manager in 1925. A gifted defensive player, he was elected to the Hall in 1954, just months after his death.






 

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