If Your Birthday is August 12th...

...you share it with Julio Urias, the Dodgers Mexican-born lefty whose story has overtones of his countryman Fernando Valenzuela.  Just 19 when he debuted in 2016, he came into his own in COVID-shortened 2020; won 20 last season and has been just as impressive this year.
Ian Happ has been a familiar face in the Cubs outfield since 2017.  This year, he's traded power for hits and isn't likely to match last season's career-high 25 homers.

Jose Tabata is a classic example of a "can't miss" prospect who missed.  Highly touted as he rose through the Yankees farm system, he went to the Pirates as the key piece in a 2008 deal for Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady.  But after a promising 2010 Pittsburgh debut, he couldn't hold onto a regular job. After a 2015 mid-season trade to the Dodgers, he was sent to the minors, and never again made it back to the show.  Tabata wasn't thrilled when I zoomed in on him just before an at-bat for the Pirates' Indianapolis farm club in 2010.

Ryan Weber has pitched for six different clubs over parts of eight seasons. In 2022, he's had a couple of brief stints with the Yankees while spending most of this year pitching at Scranton, where he's posted an impressive 2.20 ERA.

We remember Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson , the greatest pitcher in Giants franchise history.  He won 373 games over his remarkable career -- including 30 or more four times -- earning not just a place in Cooperstown, but as a member of the Hall of Fame's very first class in 1936.  Sadly, he didn't live to enjoy that honor.  Mathewson's service in World War I, where he was exposed to chemical gas, led to tuberculosis, and his death in 1925 at the young age of 45.

Playing in an era before the adoption of uniform numbers, Mathewson's name is accompanied by an NY alongside those Giants who've had their numbers retired.

 

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