If Your Birthday is April 22nd...

 

...you share it with a future Hall of Fame manager.  Terry Francona helped break the Red Sox curse, leading Boston to World Series titles in 2004 (when they became the first MLB team to rally from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS) and 2007. From '04 through 2020, his teams posted winning records in 17 consecutive seasons. And with a Guardians club led by baseball's most overlooked superstar Jose Ramirez, he's poised to do it again this summer. 

That's such stark contrast to Francona's first job, where all of his Phillies clubs between 1997 and 2000 posted losing records.

Kevin Kiermaier is the Rays' defensively gifted center fielder.  The three-time Gold Glove winner (2015, '16 and '19) is off to a slow start with the bat this year. Now on the "wrong" side of 30, he might find himself being traded for younger (and cheaper) reinforcements.

And coming up tomorrow, the 23rd:

Andruw Jones might be the most interesting current case of whether someone can play himself out of the Hall of Fame.  A 10-time Gold Glove winner with the Braves, and, in 1996, the youngest player ever to homer in a World Series game, Jones' first 10-1/2 seasons had him on the fast track to Cooperstown. How could you not say that for a defensive ace who averaged 31 homers and 93 RBIs a year for the consistent winners from Atlanta. But he left his A-game behind once he left for the Dodgers as a 2008 free agent. Apparently, the lingering memory of Jones as a has-been with the Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox and Yankees has overpowered the excellence of his time with the Braves.

Hopefully, in his remaining years on the Hall of Fame ballot, voters will again look upon his excellence -- and not focus on the seasons of decline.

Let's remember the first former Mets player to later take the field with the Yankees. Long before Doc, Daryl or El Duque crossed the Triboro Bridge, Leon "Duke Carmel was a promising New York native who shared a nickname with Duke Snider and was briefly his teammate on the '63 Mets. After slipping back to the minors, Carmel played his final six big league games with the 1965 Yankees, alongside such beloved names as Mantle, Maris, Howard and Ford. Duke passed away in 2021; I found a nice tribute to him on the Ultimate Mets Database site.

One more name worth including... a player you likely never heard of:

Rich Thompson spent 14 years in the minors, and only had two brief runs in the majors -- six games with the '04 Rays and 23 with the 2012 Rays. Otherwise, he chased his dream through towns from Altoona to Tucson, Allentown to Durham. A singles-hitting outfielder who hit .280 in the minors, his skills were better suited for baseball in the '70s and '80s, when speed and defense were more valued. Thompson even spent time in New York City, playing for the Blue Jays low-A affiliate The Queens Kings, whose home was Jack Kaiser Stadium on the campus of St. Johns University.

I saw Thompson play several times with Phillies farm clubs, including the 2010 Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.