If Your Birthday is January 18th...

...you share it with Michael Pineda. Tall and talented, erratic and enigmatic, he gave strong hints of being a future ace to first the Mariners, then the Yankees. But something always stood in the way. First there was a shoulder injury that cost him two full seasons. There was a maddening inconsistency. And then Tommy John surgery that ended his 2017 early -- and closed the books on his time with the Yankees.  Signing with the Twins, he won 11 games in 2019 before being suspended for using a banned substance. Over his three Minnesota seasons, he went 22-13. He spend 2022 in Texas after landing a pre-lockout free agent deal with the Rangers.

Also getting their cake and candles today:

• Brett Lawrie, the Canadian-born infielder who spent six years in the majors with the Blue Jays and A's.
• Mike Lieberthal, who caught for parts of 14 seasons, all but one with the Phillies.
• Brady Anderson, a solid outfielder during the 1990s, who, in 1996 suddenly and briefly blossomed into a slugger, crushing 50 home runs for the Orioles.

And we can never forget Curt Flood, the Cardinals standout center fielder of the 1960s, whose courage in challenging baseball's reserve clause was the first gunshot in the war that eventually upended the economic relationship between players and owners. Sacrificing his career at the age of 31 by refusing a trade to the Phillies, he sat out 1970 and eventually forced a subsequent deal to the Washington Senators. But his skills began to erode and his desire to play had faded. 

With Marvin Miller now enshrined in Cooperstown, wouldn't adding Flood be a proper tribute by players that followed -- who have enjoyed riches and contractual freedoms he could never have dreamt of. Curt Flood died of throat cancer in 1997, two days after turning 59.