If Your Birthday is August 30th...

...you share it with a pair of pitchers that combined for 343 wins and four World Series appearances.  Lefty Cliff Lee (above) made it to the big stage with the '09 Phillies and 2011 Rangers.  But his best season came in Cleveland, when he won the Cy Young Award, going 22-3 on a team that failed to reach the post-season.

Adam Wainwright was a Cardinal for his entire career -- notching 200 victories, including in 19 two different seasons, when he was the runner-up for the Cy. 

Who else stands in our August 30th birthday circle?
  • Roberto Hernandez, the well traveled pitcher once known as Fausto Carmona, who was Lee's teammate for several seasons with the Indians.
  • Marlon Byrd, the well traveled outfielder who was Lee's teammate on the 2014 Phillies.
And we remember:
  • Tug McGraw, the effervescent reliever who divided his career between the Mets and Phillies, and pitched on each franchise's first-ever World Series champions: 1969 in Flushing and 1980 in Philadelphia.
  • Ted Williams, considered by many to be the greatest akk-around hitter in baseball history.  Not only a hero on the field, but a military pilot who gave up 4-1/2 seasons at the peak of his career to serve during World War II and the Korean War.  He remained in top form past the age of 40, winning the 1958 AL batting title, and going out on a high note: homering in the last at-bat of his career on September 28th, 1960.
Later in the holiday weekend.
  • We remember Hall of Famer Frank Robinson on Saturday the 31st.  The greatest home-grown player in Reds history, he became the first player to win an MVP in each league.  His second, in 1966, came as he took the Triple Crown for the first Orioles club to win a World Series.  Robinson broke another barrier in 1973 as the game's first Black manager.
  • Sunday's birthday spotlight shines of Garry Maddox, one of the game's greatest defensive centerfielders.  A .285 career hitter, he's also the career WAR leader for players born 9/01 whose careers began in the 20th or 21st centuries.
  • Monday, Labor Day, belongs to Willy Adames.  The Brewers' power-hitting shortstop has crushed 20 or more homers in each of his last six full seasons.  And just like Maddox, he's the career WAR leader for players sharing his birthday whose careers began after 1900.

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