Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

While I take time for some late summer travel, enjoy my previous posts.  Catch up with players or ballparks you might have missed by using the search engine in the top right corner of this page.  Keep in mind, there are more than 3500 posts and well over 5000 photos on this site, all in celebration of baseball.  Feel free to type in a comment if something catches your attention.   Regardless, enjoy this late summer break and stay safe.  I'll be back on Labor Day.  

...you share it with one of baseball's most recognizable mustaches -- and greatest relief pitchers -- ever.  Rollie Fingers was the A's closer before the term was popularized.  Landing in the Oakland bullpen after struggling as a starter, he finished games the old fashioned way -- in multiple innings.  341 career saves are impressive; so are working over 100 innings a season in nine of then seasons between 1971 and '80. Justin Upton  played 16 years in the majors -- breaking in at age 19 with the Diamondbacks.  The four-time All Star and four-time 30-homer hitter later played with the Braves, Padres, Tigers Angels and Mariners. Also in today's birthday circle : Max Muncy, the versatile Dodgers infielder who has hit 20 more homers in each of his five (non-COVID) seasons with L.A. Gary Matthews Junior spent a dozen years in MLB, but never quite matched the stardom his father enjoyed. Albert Belle put up Cooperstown-caliber numbers during the bulk of his 12-year c...

Mickey Rivers goes 5-for-5 and drives in three (including the go-ahead run in the Top of the 7th), as the Yankees outscore the White Sox 8-3 .  More vitally, they pass the Red Sox and take over the AL East lead. Also worth noting: Graig Nettles had a three-hit night, including a three-run homer; Mike Torres tossed a complete game, scattering 11 Chicago hits at Comiskey Park;  Billy Martin's club will stay on top of the division for the rest of the regular season and roll past the Royals and Dodgers for their first World Series title in 15 years. ( My image of Mickey Rivers is from the Yankees 2015 Old Timers Day. )  

Circling the drain in the AL East after losing eight straight and falling nine and a half games back of the final Wild Card spot, the Yankees are making changes.  Two top prospects are coming to the Bronx from Scranton Wilkes-Barre; another has been promoted to Scranton from Somerset. Everson Pereira  (above) was having a very good year at Somerset -- and then ramped up his game even more in 35 games in AAA.  Eight homers, 33 RBI and a .937 OPS look even more impressive when compared to the revolving door of left fielders who've seen time with the 2023 Yankees.  Oswald Peraza has right handed power (16 homers in 63 games and a good glove.  With Josh Donaldson out of the picture and DJ LeMahieu looking like a ghost of himself, he should get a chance to claim his place in the club's future. Fans saw plenty of Jasson Dominguez on TV during spring training -- and on the YES Network series spotlighting minor league prospects -- but at age 20, he needs to finish th...

Wednesday night, I was on hand as Binghamton hosted Portland.  And while the buzz was all about highly touted Mets acquisitions LuisAngel Acuna and Drew Gilbert, another storyline grabbed me during the game: We had sons of veteran major leaguers on the opposing teams, both wearing #10.  Mateo Gil 's dad Benji played and now coaches for the Angels.  The younger Gil (an infielder like his dad) had a pair of hits for the Rumble Ponies. Elih Marrero , son of the onetime Cardinals and Marlins catcher (who had a brief late career stop with the Mets), was behind the plate for the Sea Dogs, Boston's AA affiliate and went 3-for-3, including a home run to left-center which he gleefully pointed to while circling the bases.  

The Phillies set a 20th century franchise record with their 13th consecutive win, outscoring the Expos 7-5 at Olympic Stadium .  And here's that night's starting battery -- reunited last Friday night at the first game of 2023's Alumni Weekend --  Jim Kaat and Bob Boone . Boone had a pretty good night, with two hits, including an RBI double that capped a come-from-behind five-run 8th inning rally.  Kaat... not so much; he was tagged for four runs in four innings.   (Warren Brusstar was credited with the win in relief.) Davey Johnson's pinch hit triple drove home Greg Luzinski with the go-ahead run.  Larry Bowa went 3-for-6 and raised hit batting average to .284.  Jay Johnstone, was the rightfielder and had two hits.  Tim McCarver and Tommy Hutton, both future broadcasters, also appeared in the game.  In case you were wondering, between them Kaat and Boone appeared in 3162 major league games! The Phils tied their record winning streak with an...

I picked the right night to make my first visit this season to Citizens Bank Park.  The Phillies kicked off their Alumni Weekend with a charity promotion.   Tai's Tacos -- named for and benefiting a favorite charity of pitcher Taijuan Walker -- raised money for Turning Points for Children.  On a night he wasn't scheduled to pitch, Walker gave away tacos for donations and posed with fans.   Lefthanders old and young were in the house:  Hall of Famer Jim Kaat , a Phillie from 1976-'79, threw out the first pitch.  The next six innings were capably handled by Cristopher Sanchez , who won his first game since being recalled from Lehigh Valley. Trea Turner continued his recent turnaround with three hits, including an RBI single in the six-run 2nd inning. And there were contributions from a couple more "phresh" faces : Outfielder Weston Wilson  (standing with Nick Castellanos) continued to make the most of his debut week in the majors.  After homer...

...you share it with Pablo Sandoval , one of the nine players who earned rings on all three Giants teams to win the World Series during the 2010s.  The energetic and outgoing 3rd baseman took the money and ran after the 2014 title -- signing a lucrative free agent contract with the Red Sox, and saw his production plummet.  Boston was so unhappy that they released him in the middle of 2017 -- only to resign with the Giants and again become a vital cog.  He retired after the 2021 season with a .278 lifetime average. Melky Cabrera  spent 15 years in the majors, highlighted by being the regular center field on the Yankees last World Series champs, 2009.  "The Melk Man" moved around quite a bit over the years, with time also spent with the White Sox, Royals, Pirates, Giants, Braves, Indians and Blue Jays -- where I caught this image during a pre-game workout in 2014. Below:   Al Pedrique  enjoyed a good run as a minor league manager in the Yankees farm...

  This proved to be the last game when Gil Hodges and Duke Snider were both in the Dodgers starting lineup.  Snider, batting third, homered but Hodges (in the seventh slot) was held hitless (though he walked and scored) and made his only error of the season. Pitcher Don Drysdale  crushed a 2nd inning grand slam off Don Nottebart to put the Dodgers ahead to stay in a 10-6 win over the Braves . The next time Duke and Gil would be in the same starting lineup would be April 20th, 1963, when they were both with the Mets. My images of the Coliseum are from March 2008, when the Dodgers celebrated their 50th L.A. anniversary by playing an exhibition game (against the Red Sox) in their first West Coast home park.

  When the Mets traded away veteran outfielders such as Tommy Pham and Mark Canha just before the deadline, Rafael Ortega was a surprise call-up to Queens -- especially with him hitting just .230 at Syracuse as fans wondered why top prospect Ronnie Mauricio was held back with roster space available. A onetime Yankee prospect, who'd seen brief MLB time with several clubs, including NL East rivals Miami and Atlanta, the Venezuela native made his Mets debut in Wednesday night's game against the Royals. (Below)  Jonathan Arauz 's 14 home runs and 14 doubles paved the way for his promotion last week from Syracuse to the "big" Mets.  After spending parts of 2020 and '21 with the Red Sox and nine games last season with the Orioles, the switch hitter might get his best shot yet to stick as the organization seemingly holds open auditions while pivoting toward 2025. Dom Hamel   is another Met prospect whose name is worth circling.   A third round 2021 pick from Dall...

  ...you share it with several familiar New York baseball names.  Let's start with Domingo Germán .  Back on June 28th, the Yankees righthander became the fourth pitcher in franchise history to throw a perfect game. ( Ironically all four Yanks to do so have first names beginning with the letter D: as he joined Don Larsen, David Wells and David Cone .) But his career has been a story of peaks and valleys: in 2016, Germán became the first pitcher in major league history with nine or more strikeouts and no hits allowed in his first MLB start.  He went  18-4 and seemingly claimed stardom in 2019, only to have his season end with a lengthy domestic violence suspension that also wiped out his 2020.  The Dominican native lost 10 games earlier this season for excessive stickiness.  And earlier this week, he went on the restricted list when he entered alcohol rehab.   Cleon Jones  made his Mets debut in a 1963 game at the Polo Grounds. ...

At least mine and 4888 others, as Luisangel Acuna made his debut in the Mets organization. The highly touted infield prospect, and younger brother of Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Junior, was the Mets' return for Max Scherzer in the weekend's blockbuster trade. Media attention had already made his name and face familiar to fans in Binghamton.  That got the autograph collectors out early --  before the pre-game stretching. The debut came with family ties for Acuna -- whose father Ronald Senior played for Binghamton from 2002-2004.  It was a low key night with plenty of positives.  Leading off and playing shortstop, Luisangel went 0 for 4 but hit the ball hard his first three times up.  His first two at bats ended with hard hit fly balls to the warning track; then a hard hit grounder to the shortstop, and a pop up to short right.  He worked the count, didn't swing impulsively and, most impressively when we're talking about Baseball 2023. he didn't strike ...