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Ryan Clifford

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Not only do the Mets have one of MLB's best records, but their farm system is brimming with promising young hitters.  Ryan Clifford is one of them.  Binghamton's power-hitting 1st baseman shares Eastern League player of the week honors with teammate Jonah Tong (who retired all 20 batters he faced Saturday night while teaming with TJ Shook for the club's first-ever perfect game). Clifford, who came to New York along with the also promising Drew Gilbert in 2023 for Justin Verlander, went 9-for-19 last week -- with three home runs (two of which powered come-from-behind wins) and nine RBIs -- against the Phillies' AA club from Reading. I caught the Rumble Ponies' games on Wednesday and Sunday and liked what I saw.  Having his 24 and 19 home runs the last two seasons, Clifford could be positioning himself as a potential replacement, should Pete Alonso leave at the end of his current two-year contract.  Or, Clifford might be trade bait if the Mets feel the greater need i...
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If Your Birthday is May 9th...

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  ...you share it with Tommy Edman .   I first saw this Stanford grad during Grapefruit League play in 2019 -- where he wore #82 while trying to make the Cardinals.  Instead, he landed at their AAA club Memphis, where he hit over .300 for the first two months to earn his promotion to the majors -- and donning #19.   Traded from St. Louis to the Dodgers at the 2024 deadline, the versatile infielder-outfielder homered in both last fall's NLCS (where he was named MVP) and World Series.  That helped earn him a new contract with L.A. that runs through 2029.   Also in our May 9th birthday circle:  Prince Fielder , who hit 319 homers over his big league career -- the exact same total as his father Cecil. Chase Headley , who split his 12 year career between the Padres and Yankees.  2012 was his best season, when he led the NL with 115 RBI and finished fifth for MVP.  ( This image is from 2015, his second Bronx season .) And we remembe...
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Wayback: Souvenir

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Here's an item I've held onto since the late-'70s.  From the Phillies Veterans Stadium era, this keyring is made of a soft metal and features a different image on each side. The first depicts  Philadelphia Phil and Phillis,  the mascots that ushered in "The Vet" when ballclub moved in, in 1971.  (And were supplanted by the arrival of the Phanatic in 1978.)  On the other side, it's a replica of Veterans Stadium.  Have you ever seen one of these?  I'm not sure whether this was a game-day giveaway or came in a promotional package to one of the radio stations where I was then working.  It served me well for a couple of years until it began picking up some dents and lost its tightness.  Not long after, it was retired to a box filled with old yearbooks and other mementos.   Kinda nice that it's not your usual fragile, disposable plastic.   Do you collect items like these?  Feel free to share your own collectables story in a...
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If Your Birthday is May 2nd...

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  ...you share it with Luis Torrens .  Since joining the Mets last June (just before their 2024 London Series against the Phillies), he's done a fine job filling in for Francisco Alvarez. Among his highlights was are a two-home run game last June 5th against Washington and an April 18th double that pushed the Mets ahead of Philadelphia. While Torrens is on his fourth big league club, Jarrod Saltalamacchia  easily beat that total.  He appeared for seven different teams -- including the 2014 Marlins -- over 12 seasons. I snapped this image from the photo well just outside the visitors dugout at Citi Field. ( In case you're curious, Saltalamacchia's 14 letters make it the longest single word surname in baseball history .)
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Random Images

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Eugenio Suarez made history on Sunday, becoming just the 19th player ever to hit four home runs in the same game -- and at age 33, the oldest ever to accomplish that feat... The MLB home run leader with 10 so far in '25, the Diamondbacks 3rd baseman was with the Reds when I snapped these photos back in 2019. Home runs are our common thread -- Marlins rookie catcher   Augustin Ramirez  smacked a pair of them on Sunday;  he's off to a fast start with 9 hits in his first 19 at bats for the Miami (including three home runs) .  The power hitting catcher was with AA Somerset when I first saw him in 2023 -- he was traded to Miami at last year's deadline for Jazz Chisholm Jr. The Yankees have produced a bumper crop of good hitting catchers lately; besides Ramirez, Austin Wells graduated to the Bronx last summer where he was the runner up for American League Rookie of the Year; Ben Rice has filled in capably for Giancarlo Stanton as the Yankees DH.  And onetime indy bal...
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If Your Birthday is April 25th...

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...you share it with Luis Cessa .  The Mexican reliever spent parts of six seasons (2016-'21)  with the Yankees, where he was the first player ever to wear #85.   And there's an even bigger Yankee birthday on Saturday (the 26th) -- belonging to the player with the biggest number on the field... Aaron Judge   has been making history since the day he arrived in the Bronx -- when he and Tyler Austin homered in their first big league at-bats -- in back-to-back plate appearances. That’s still the only time that’s ever been done in almost 150 years of MLB history    Since then, he's reset the American League single season home run record, won the 2017 Rookie of the Year and a pair of MVP titles.  Already having passed 320 home runs, he's on his way -- as long as he stays healthy -- to ranking with the franchise's greatest names.  When he extended his Yankees deal after testing free agency in the winter of 2023, he was named team Captain and elevate...
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Wayback: 10 Years Ago This Week

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Winding it back a decade -- it's April 23rd, 2015 as the Phillies host the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.  Plenty of laughs thanks to the Phanatic, but otherwise, a tough day for the Phils.  Four years after winning their fifth consecutive NL East title, the roster has turned over, the big stars such as Utley, Howard, Hamels and Rollins are gone and the hoped-for infusion of new blood hasn't worked. There's a different face in the home dugout: Ryne Sandberg is now the manager.  But the Hall of Fame player's experience hasn't rubbed off on his troops .  16 games into the young season, they're struggling at 5-11.  And even the Marlins aren't going to make it easy on this day. I'd forgotten that Ichiro had played for Miami.  Had you? While his peak days in Seattle (and then the Yankees) were behind him, he still appeared in 153 games that year for the Marlins -- his first of three seasons in "the Sun and Fun capital." Look who else was calling Mi...
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