If Your Birthday is April 8th...

...you share it with Jeff McNeil. The Mets 2nd baseman -- who started in left field in last night's season opener -- looks to bounce back in '22 after failing to hit .300 for the first time in his four-year career.

Zach Eflin came to the Phillies in the 2014 deal that sent franchise icon Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers. He turned in three good seasons as a starting pitcher (2018-'20) before his 2021 was sidetracked by a knee problem.

Jo Adell is one of the Angels outfield prospects the club expects to take over for the just-released Justin Upton. He showed promise in 2021, with seven home runs in 130 at-bats. 

Yonder Alonso starred at the University of Miami before spending parts of 10 seasons in the majors, where he belted exactly 100 home runs. The brother-in-law of Padres star Manny Machado has launched a second career as a studio analyst with MLB Network.

...And we remember a pair of Hall of Famers who died far too young:

Gary Carter earned his place in Cooperstown starring for the
Expos and Mets -- where he hit a walk off homer in his first game with the club in 1985. A year later, he was one of the leaders as the Mets won their most recent World Series title. Runner-up for the 1975 NL Rookie of the Year, he was an 11-time all star. 

I last saw Gary in an on-field ceremony before a 2007 Mets exhibition game (he's wearing a dark blue vest) that saluted the organization's minor league managers and coaches. Later, while managing in serving as baseball coach for Palm Beach Atlantic University, he was diagnosed with brain cancer that took him in 2012 -- nine years after he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. 

Catfish Hunter was not only one of the greatest pitchers of the 1970s, but the first big money free agent. An arbitrator ruled that A's owner Charlie Finley failed to pay the premium for an annuity included in his contract, thus voiding his contract after the 1974 season. For the first time ever, a superstar was able to choose his team and name his price.  George Steinbrenner brought him to New York for an unprecedented five-year $3.35 million deal, where he won 23 and threw 30 complete games his first season. Hunter faded as the decade rolled on, but he still contributed to three pennants and two World Series champions. Between Oakland and the Bronx, he earned five rings! He died of ALS in 1999.

 

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