If Your Birthday is December 8th..


...you share it with Josh Donaldson, a rare late bloomer who burst into stardom at age 27. The power-hitting 3rd baseman was the AL's 2015 MVP with the Blue Jays, putting up offensive numbers resembling Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews.. He's looking to bounce back after leg injuries resulted in a subpar 2010 for the Twins, where he enters the second of a four-year contract.


Mike Mussina. The Hall of Fame pitcher won 270 games over 18 seasons split between Baltimore and New York, in the always tough AL East. The master of the knuckle curve capped his career with a 20-win season -- becoming the oldest hurler to win 20 for the first time. "Moose" was elected to Cooperstown in 2019, along with Mariano Rivera, his Yankees teammate for eight years.


Vernon Wells, one of the American League's best outfielders during the first decade of this century.  A four-time .300 hitter and three time 30 home run man, he starred for the Blue Jays, before tailing off after a 2011 trade to the Angels. He finished his career with the 2013 Yankees.


Kyle Drabek could be the poster child of top prospects that didn't pan out. A first round draft choice of the Phillies, he was the key piece in the trade that brought Roy Halladay to Philadelphia. While Doc became a Philadelphia legend, Drabek struggled with injuries and won just eight games for Toronto.


And we remember Hank Thompson, the Negro League star, first Black player in St. Louis Browns history -- and, along with Monte Irvin, one of the first two to break the color barrier for the New York Giants. After making history playing alongside Irvin and Willie Mays in Baseball's first all Black outfield, Thompson moved to 3rd base, and was a Polo Grounds mainstay through 1956. His post-baseball life was short and unhappy: he spent four years in prison after an armed robbery conviction and died of a seizure in 1969 at age 43.


 

 


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