If Your Birthday is February 23rd

...you share it with the Mets first All Star and Rookie of the Year contender. Ron Hunt ranks among the best "conditional purchases" ever. A Braves minor leaguer who'd never even played Triple-A ball, he impressed the heck out of Casey Stengel and the entire Mets organization during the spring of 1963. Winning the job as the everyday second baseman, his hustle and fundamentally strong play quickly made him stand out from the has-beens and rejects that made up the bulk of those Polo Grounds teams. Hunt finished second to Pete Rose in the voting for Rookie of the Year. A year later, when the Mets moved to Shea Stadium and hosted the All Star Game, Hunt was named the starter at 2nd base. 

Though he only spent four years as a Met, Ron Hunt drew a line in the sand between the "lovable losers" and respectability. 

This date has a definite Mets flavor. Hunt shares his birthday with the Mets second baseman on the Impossible Dream champs of 1969, Ken Boswell; relief pitcher Don Shaw, who broke in with Boswell as a '67 rookie; and Bobby Bonilla, the only native New Yorker among these four -- but likely the one who had the most unhappy experience playing for the Mets.

Across town, February 23rd is the birthdate of the beloved and historic Yankee star Elston Howard. The Yankees first black player, the St. Louis native made his mark in the Bronx, first as a righty-hitting platoon player in the outfield corners and first base, while doubling as Yogi Berra's backup. By 1960, he'd taken over as the club's everyday catcher, with Yogi moving to left field. They combined with Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Blanchard, Moose Skowron and later, Joe Pepitone and Tom Tresh to form the powerful middle of the batting order for five consecutive AL pennant winners (and two World Champions). Howard might be the only Yankee ever whom the fans forgave for becoming a Red Sox. Late in 1967, with the dynasty over and the Yanks going nowhere, he was traded to the Red Sox, where he brought veteran leadership to a club writing its own unlikely success story. Boston won its first pennant in 21 years and Howard appeared in his 10th World Series! Retiring after the '68 season, and long settled in New Jersey, Howard returned to the Yankees as a coach -- and during the managerial tenure of Billy Martin -- a force of calm in a raucous clubhouse. It's likely that Elston would have become the Yanks' skipper sometime during the '80s; sadly, a heart infection took him in 1980 at the young age of 51.

Combine his on-field and coaching accomplishments and Elston Howard ranks as the greatest player born on February 23rd.

(sources: Ron Hunt page is from the New York World Telegram 1963 reprint MEET A MET A DAY; Elston Howard page is from the 1965 Yankees Yearbook)