Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

...you share it with Matt Williams .   A gifted 3rd baseman who hit for power, he won four Gold Gloves while cracking 378 home runs over 17 seasons.  (Do you remember 1994, when he was on pace to challenge Roger Maris' record when the players struck in early August?)  Matt was on pennant winners with all three of the teams where he played (Giants, Indians and D'backs) and won a ring with Arizona in 2001.  Before his two year run as Nationals manager, he spent three years coaching with the Diamondbacks. Williams is joined on 11/28 by  Jose Trevino .  The defense-first catcher made the All Star team in 2022, after the Rangers traded him to the Yankees.  But injuries wrecked his 2023 and '24, before he was traded to the Reds.

The Mets and Rangers officially lit the Hot Stove on Saturday night.  In the kind of deal that usually takes place at the winter meetings, a pair of high priced veterans changed teams:  Brandon Nimmo heads to Texas,  Marcus Semien will now call Flushing home. Both players had off-seasons in 2025; both clubs were eager to shake up their rosters after finishing out of the playoff picture. Nimmo has five years and just over $100 million left on his deal; he'll likely replace the non-tendered Adolis Garcia in the Rangers outfield.  Semien, with $72 million remaining the next three years, probably claims 2nd base with the Mets, after the veteran Jeff McNeil and several younger players failed to lock down the position. Nimmo often talked about how he loved being a Met; 10 seasons in Citi Field after being the club's 1st round draft pick in 2011; he often talked about being a career Met and hold some of its offensive records. Semien (seen here with the 2019 A's), who won ...

...you share it with Stan Musial , very simply the greatest ballplayer in St. Louis history.  For 22 seasons, Stan the Man was the model of consistency, productivity and sportsmanship -- admired and respected around baseball and adored in his adopted home town. More than sixty years after he retired, he is celebrated at the current Busch Stadium with a pair of statues, as well as a display across the street at the St. Louis Baseball Museum.   The stats were amazing: 3630 hits, 1815 at home, 1815 on the road. 475 home runs... 7 National League batting titles, 3 MVP awards, 24 All Star Game selections and a spot on the MLB  All-Century Team in 1999. Perhaps the only bad luck Stan had was to not play in the World Series as television became the game's principle media outlet.  After 1946 -- when his Cardinals defeated Ted Williams' Red Sox -- the Dodgers, Braves and Giants kept winning pennants, and kept Musial's clubs out of the spotlight. Visit the Baseball Hall of Fam...

One of the best reasons to watch minor league ball is the chance to see the stars of the future.  Sounds like a cliche?  Well, there's plenty of fact to back the perception.  I was on hand in Syracuse July 20th, 2023 when the Triple A Mets hosted the Blue Jays' top farm club, the Buffalo Bisons.  Two summers before Toronto emerged as AL champions, three key players on that team were starring at AAA. Three players, a third of Blue Jays' future starting lineup. First and foremost, it's Addison Barger.   The power hitting outfielder had an OK season for Buffalo, hitting .250 with eight homers -- hardly a prediction of future stardom.  But 21 homers and 34 doubles just set the table for a powerhouse post-season; Barger hit .367 in 17 post-season games, including a sizzling .480 in the World Series. That's deserving of a couple of photos taken from the 3rd base photo well. Ernie Clement also jumped from Buffalo to Toronto -- and like Barger, took his game up a ...

...you share it with Francisco Lindor .  The Mets shortstop made his fifth All Star game in 2025, when, for the second time, he surpassed both 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases.   Speaking of shortstops, Freddy Galvis shares 11/14 with Lindor.  He's best known for his six-plus years with the Phillies -- three of them (2015-'17) as a starter after Jimmy Rollins was traded to the Dodgers.  He later moved on to the Padres, Blue Jays, Reds and Orioles, before returning to the Phillies as a backup late in the 2021 season. Spencer Horwitz  also gets his cake and candles today.  I captured him rounding the bases after a 2023 home run for the Blue Jays' Buffalo farm club (against Syracuse).  He made the majors for the first time that year, and landed in Pittsburgh last winter after a three way trade involving Toronto, Cleveland and the Pirates.