If Your Birthday is January 2nd...

...you share it with one of baseball's brightest young stars, Fernando Tatis Jr of the Padres. In 2019, limited to just 80 games by a delayed call-up and a season-ending injury, he belted 22 homers, hit .317 and posted on OPS of .969. OK, he's got a few things to work on -- cutting down 110 strikeouts in a half-season would be a good start. But when you talk "upside," there are very few players with his level of potential.

Also on today's cake and card list:


  • Edgar Martinez, the Mariners Hall of Fame DH. A .312 lifetime hitter with a career on base percentage of .418, he checked off all my boxes as to whether he belonged in Cooperstown. Fortunately, the writers finally got it right in his 10th year on the ballot.
  • David Cone stands in a very exclusive circle. He starred for two New York teams -- twice leading the NL in strikeouts a Mets and famously tossing a perfect game as a Yankee. The Kansas City native is now a member of the Yankees television team.
And we remember:
  • Ralph "Red" Kress, a versatile infielder of the 1930's, who played most of his career with the Browns and Senators, but also had a New York connection: he played one game for the 1946 Giants and was a member of Casey Stengel's inaugural Mets coaching staff in 1962. Sadly, he died less than two months after that season ended.
  • Pinky Whitney, a .295 lifetime hitter, who played a lot of good baseball on some really bad Braves and Phillies teams during the 1930s.


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