Baseball Birthdays This Weekend

If your birthday is Friday the 17th, you share it with Carlos Pena.  The power-hitting 1st baseman, who peaked with a 46-homer season with the '07 Rays, is now a top commentator for MLB Network.

There's also Ben Gamel.  Once a top Yankees prospect, he's bounced between six big league clubs, most recently the Padres.  Unable to land an MLB roster spot this spring, he's now enjoying a big season for the Mets AAA club in Syracuse, where he's hitting over .300 with an OPS above 1.0.

Gamel and Pena share their birthday with the late Negro Leagues legend Cool Papa Bell.

Onto Saturday the 18th, with Mister October:
Reggie Jackson crushed 563 home runs over 21 seasons with a knack for grabbing the headlines.  The slugging star of the A's early '70s dynasty, he was among the first of the stars to take advantage of free agency, jumping to the Yankees in 1977 just in time to clash with manager Billy Martin.  While that disfunctional relationship -- co-starring owner George Steinbrenner -- turned into a tabloid-fueling soap opera, Jackson left his mark on the Yankees with four division titles, three pennants and two World Series titles in the Bronx, especially 1977, where he made history with three home runs in the clinching game six.

Sharing the date is Nelson Figueroa, who pitched for a half dozen National League teams during the '00s and '10s.  The native New York is best remembered for his pair of seasons on the mound with the Mets, where he later returned as a TV studio analyst.  These days, he's seen on WPIX channel 11 in his hometown.

And we remember the greatest fielding 3rd baseman ever, the Orioles' Brooks Robinson.  The MVP of the 1970 World Series, he dazzled fans for more than 20 years, making 18 All Star teams and earning 16 Gold Gloves. (My image is from the 2008 All Star Parade that run up Avenue of the Americas in New York in front of my office.)

(Below:) Sunday the 19th begins with Jiman Choi.  The South Korean import brought left power to the Rays from 2018-'22.  After struggling last season with the Pirates and Padres, he's currently Ben Gamel's teammate on the Mets Syracuse farm club.
And we remember a pair of past stars born on May 19th:
  • Curt Simmons, the talented lefthander whose two most productive seasons came on pennant winners: he went 17-8 for the 1950 Phillies Whiz Kids and won 18 for the 1964 Cardinals.
  • Gil McDougald, the 1951 American League Rookie of the Year who played his entire 10-year career as a Yankee.  This six-time All Star enjoyed a successful second career as head baseball coach at Fordham University, whose campus is just over four miles north of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.



 

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