If Your Birthday is August 7th


Did you realize that no current Baseball Hall of Famer has an August 7th birthday? That could well change over the next 20 years if Mike Trout (above) continues to play at the level he has since joining the Angels. The two-time American League MVP and 2012 Rookie of the Year is a .306 hitter with more than 230 career homers and turns 27 today. If he's not the best player in baseball today, he's in a very select circle alongside perhaps Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. Maybe the only thing wrong on the back of his baseball card is that he's yet to play in a World Series. 
There's another iconic name on today's cake and candles list: Don Larsen. Please ignore the losing career record or that he never won more than 11 games in any regular season. The self-professed "imperfect man" threw the first and only World Series perfect game in baseball history. It was October 8th, 1956, and Larsen, who never made it out of the 2nd inning when he started game two of the World Series against the Dodgers, got another crack at them in game five. This time, his performance was unworldly. Total domination -- not one Dodger reached base. Seven of them struck out, including Dale Mitchell, the last of the 27 consecutive batters Larsen retired. Spotless. Perfect. Wish a happy 88th to Don Larsen, a fixture in recent years at Yankee Stadium's Old Timers Day.


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