If Your Birthday is September 8th...

...you share it with Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.  Now in his 11th big league season, and fourth in the Bronx, he's already passed 2000 career strikeouts and should reach 150 victories early next year.  On a roster with too many underachievers, the Southern California native and two-time Cy Young runner-up has been a rock of consistency.  
It's not a stretch to expect that should Cole remain at this level of performance for another three or four years, that he'll be a lock for the Hall of Fame.  So, it's rather fitting I used a photo of him from 2021, the year the Yankees wore a memorial patch for the franchise's greatest pitcher, Cooperstown honoree Whitey Ford.

 

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