If Your Birthday is February 12th...


 ...you share it with Todd Frazier. The New Jersey native -- and star of Toms River's 1998 Little League World Series champs -- went onto star at Rutgers University before being drafted by Cincinnati, where he made his big league debut. He became a Yankee midway through the 2017 and signed with the Mets as a free agent the following winter. That made him the 132nd player to appear in least one game for both New York teams. He'll be back at Citi Field during 2019, but whether he'll be a 1st or 3rd baseman, or utilityman on this heavily renovated club is yet to be finalized.


Ruben Amaro Junior also has roots in the northeast -- his are from Philadelphia, where he was born and raised. He and his namesake dad are the first father/son duo in Phillies history. And while he never attained stardom, he had some fine moments as Lenny Dykstra's fill in on 1993 NL champs before advancing through the club's front office. Succeeding Pat Gillick as Phillies general manager after the 2008 championship season, Amaro saw the team gradually begin to erode, exiting the post season earlier and earlier. By 2012, the team slipped back to .500. Unable to recapture the magic, Amaro was fired in 2015. Since then, he's coached for the Red Sox and Mets, where this season he'll return to the front office as a member of Brodie Van Wagonen's staff.

Also on today's cake and candles list:
  • Lenny Randle, the speedy infielder whose best years were with Rangers, later played for both the Yankees and Mets.
  • Josh Phegley, a backup catcher this decade with the White Sox and A's.
And we remember:
  • Dom DiMaggio, Joe's younger brother and fellow center fielder who batted a career .298 for the Red Sox over 10 seasons in the '40s and '50s -- and like so many players of The Greatest Generation, lost three prime seasons serving in the Navy during World War II.
Dom is one of the Red Sox players honored in a special Fenway Park display.

While we're on the topic of great, make that Greatest Americans, it's the 210th birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

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