If Your Birthday is January 2nd...

 


...you share it with David Cone. He is among that select circle -- alongside Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden -- to have starred for both the Yankees and Mets. His 1999 perfect game is one of many highlights from his 17-year career that also included a pair of 20-win seasons and two National League strikeout titles.

Pretty impressive for a Kansas City native whose hometown Royals clearly didn't realize his potential when they traded him to the Mets in 1987 after just 11 major league appearances. These days, "Coney" is a Yankees TV commentator and studio analyst and also works for ESPN.  My images are from the 2014 BAT Dinner in Manhattan and the 2013 Old Timers Day in the Bronx.


Fernando Tatis Jr.  is the rare son of a former big leaguer to outshine his parent.  (His namesake father made history, when, as a Cardinal, he hit two grand slams in the same inning of a 1999 game.) The Padres outfielder is a five tool player, excelling in all aspects of the game -- including the 2021 National League home run title -- but his resume will always be tainted by a PED-suspension that covered parts of the 2022 and '23 seasons -- causing him to miss San Diego's run to the NLCS.  He missed the rest of 2023 recovering from injuries in a motorcycle crash.

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