Baseball Birthdays This Weekend

They begin on Friday the 3rd with Davey Lopes, the 2nd baseman in the most durable infield in baseball history.  Along with 3rd baseman Ron Cey, shortstop Bill Russell and 1st baseman Steve Garvey, they played together for a record 810 games over 8-1/2 seasons between 1973 and '81.  A reliable base stealer, he swiped 557 -- while his success rate of 83% ranks third behind only Tim Raines and Willie Wilson.

Miguel Cairo celebrates on Saturday.  The well-traveled infielder played for nine teams over 17 seasons.  He only appeared in 29 games for the 2009 Phillies, when I snapped my only photo of him -- and he barely stayed in the image, after dropping the bat and heading to 1st base following a walk.  These days, the Venezuela native is the Nationals bench coach.

Also on the May 4th birthday list:

• Ben Grieve, the 1998 American League Rookie of the Year who gave the A's three productive season, but faded after being traded to the Rays.  He later played for the Brewers and Cubs.
• Ken Oberkfell, who played 16 big league seasons, the first eight with the Cardinals -- where he was the starting 2nd baseman on their 1982 World Champs.

While Sunday's birthday circle includes:

• Charles Nagy grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut and starred for UConn, but spent 12 of his 13 big league seasons in Cleveland.  The right hander posted double digits in victories eight times during the 1990s.
• Larry Hisle, the power hitting outfielder who came up with the Phillies, but is best remembered for his five mid-career seasons with the Twins.
• Mike Redmond, who caught for the Marlins for seven seasons and later managed the franchise for 2-1/2 years (2013-'15).