If Your Birthday is June 20th...

...you share it with Carlos Lee, the power-hitting outfielder/DH whose 358 are the most for any player born in Panama.  Lee's  17 grand slams, rank him seventh in MLB history (tied with Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams); seven of them with the Astros asre a club record he shares with Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman.   
  • Other names tied to June 20th include longtime Orioles catcher Andy Etchebarren; present day Orioles reliever Felix Bautista; 1990s Cardinals pitcher Donovan Osborne; Dickie Thon, who played 15 seasons in the majors, mainly with the Astros and Phllies; and Cuban native Kendrys Morales, whose US baseball career was changed forever after he stomped on the plate after a 2010 walk off home run. That resulting broken leg took him almost two years for him to recover.

 
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wayback: 70 Years Ago Today

Image
September 2nd, 1955 :  Whitey Ford takes a no-hitter into the 7th inning, while Yogi Berra adds two hits and Mickey Mantle crushes a three-run homer as the Yankees beat the Washington Senators 4-2 . It's also a big day for Billy Martin .  Back from a year and an half of active duty in the Army, the shortstop goes 2-for-4 as the Yanks stay a half-game back of the league-leading White Sox. (They would regain 1st place on the 16th and go on to their 21st American League pennant.   Martin would hit .300 over the final 22 games.) The Monument Park plaques are from a 2021 visit to Yankee Stadium.  The image of Whitey and Yogi up top is from the 2012 Old Timers Day at the Stadium.
Read more

If Your Birthday is September 5th...

Image
...you celebrate it with  Bill Mazeroski , the first player to end a World Series with a walk-off home run. 65 years ago next month, leading off the last of the 9th in game seven against the Yankees, he crushed Ralph Terry's second pitch over the left field wall, giving Pittsburgh perhaps its greatest baseball moment. A gifted defensive player with more modest offensive skills, Maz remains one of the more controversial inductees of the Hall of Fame. A statue, depicting his joyful scamper around the bases following that 1960 home run, is one of several outside PNC Park in Pittsburgh. And below,  Pablo Lopez  , who earlier this season, added his name to the nearly 170 who have played for both the Yankees and Mets. The utilityman got into 24 games for Bronx Bombers -- highlighted by driving in the go-ahead run against the Royals on June  12th,  His Mets tenure was microscopic -- he pinch ran for JD Martinez (and scored a run) in the September 1st, 2024 game against...
Read more

If Your Birthday is August 22nd...

Image
...you share it with  Carl Yastrzemski , the Red Sox beloved "Yaz."  His 23 Boston seasons were highlighted by 1967, when he won the AL Triple Crown while leading the "Impossible Dream" Red Sox to the franchise's first pennant since 1946.  His Hall of Fame stat line: 452 homers, 1844 RBI and a lifetime .285 average. Yaz succeeded Ted Williams patrolling left field at Fenway Park -- combined, their tenure spanned 42 years. While you know many of the accomplishments of his career, there was one that surprised even me: in 1989, he became the first former Little League ballplayer to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame . Yaz is among the Red Sox legends honored with giant numbers and plaques outside their spring training home, Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers, Florida.
Read more