Johnny Nee (1890)
Ray Chapman (1891)
Steve Gromek (1920)
Georges Maranda (1932)
Dr. Mike Marshall (1943)
Bobby Grich (1949)
Rance Mulliniks (1956)
Jerry Narron (1956)
Don Cooper (1956)
Delino DeShields (1969)
Ray King (1974)
Matt Holliday (1980)
Armando Galarraga (1982)
Mitch Garver (1991)
Johnny Nee was a long-time minor league manager and scout.
Walker Cooper (1915)
Jim Busby (1927)
Gene Freese (1934)
Reno Bertoia (1935)
Bruce Sutter (1953)
Ramon Romero (1959)
Randy Ready (1960)
Brian Boehringer (1969)
Jason Giambi (1971)
Mike Cameron (1973)
Carl Pavano (1976)
Jeff Francis (1981)
Jeff Francoeur (1984)
Chris Paddack (1996)
Jhoan Duran (1998)
Three players named Jeff were born on this day. In addition to the two listed above, this is also the birthday of Jeff Hoffman of the Cincinnati Reds.
Kitty Bransfield (1875)
Al Todd (1902)
Johnny McCarthy (1910)
Johnny Mize (1913)
Alvin Dark (1922)
Dick Schofield (1935)
Jim Hannan (1940)
Jim Lefebvre (1942)
Tony Conigliaro (1945)
Joe Keough (1946)
Ross Grimsley (1950)
Bob Gorinski (1952)
Jeff Montgomery (1962)
Craig Shipley (1963)
Allan Anderson (1964)
Rob Radlosky (1974)
Alfonso Soriano (1976)
Eric Gagne (1976)
Brayan Pena (1982)
Francisco Rodriguez (1982)
Edwin Encarnacion (1983)
Jon Lester (1984)
Jhoulys Chacin (1988)
George Shoch (1859)
Phil Masi (1916)
Jiro Noguchi (1920)
Early Wynn (1920)
Ralph Branca (1926)
Lenny Green (1933)
Lee Walls (1933)
Ruben Amaro (1936)
Don Gullett (1951)
Norm Charlton (1963)
Dan Naulty (1970)
Marlon Anderson (1974)
Brian Bass (1982)
Anthony Slama (1984)
Kevin Gausman (1991)
Jiro Noguchi was one of the greatest pitchers in the early days of Japanese professional baseball, winning 237 games with an ERA of 1.96.
Ban Johnson (1864)
Bob Carruthers (1864)
Bill Dahlen (1870)
Jack Norworth (1879)
Art Fletcher (1885)
Rube Foster (1888)
Riggs Stephenson (1898)
Luke Sewell (1901)
Jack Kramer (1918)
Earl Battey (1935)
Bud Bloomfield (1936)
Charlie Hough (1948)
Jim Gantner (1953)
Bob Dernier (1957)
Ron Kittle (1958)
Milt Thompson (1959)
Henry Cotto (1961)
John Russell (1961)
Danny Jackson (1962)
Jeff Fassero (1963)
Brian Runge (1970)
Fred Rath (1973)
Mark Redman (1974)
Eduardo Escobar (1989)
C. J. Cron (1990)
Jose Iglesias (1990)
Danny Ortiz (1990)
Ban Johnson was one of the founders of and the first president of the American League.
Jack Norworth wrote the lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
Rube Foster was a player, manager, and owner in the Negro Leagues, eventually becoming president of the Negro National League.
Brian Runge was a major league umpire from 1999-2012. He is the son of major league umpire Paul Runge and the grandson of major league umpire Ed Runge.
Oddly, there are three players born on this day who go by their initials: J. P. Arencibia, C. J. Cron, and A. J. Cole.
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to freealonzo.
Tommy Corcoran (1869)
Ernest Lanigan (1873)
Al Bridwell (1884)
Ossie Vitt (1890)
George Selkirk (1908)
Gabe Paul (1910)
Herman Franks (1914)
Don McMahon (1930)
Tito Fuentes (1944)
Charlie Manuel (1944)
Ken Reynolds (1947)
Paul Gibson (1960)
Daryl Boston (1963)
Trey Hillman (1963)
Ted Lilly (1976)
Willie Martinez (1978)
Kevin Pillar (1989)
Blake Cederlind (1996)
Ernest Lanigan was the nephew of the Spink brothers who founded The Sporting News. He worked for the publication from the time he was 15. Among other things, he compiled baseball's first encyclopedia, published in 1922, and served as curator, historian, and director of the Hall of Fame from 1946 until his death in 1962.
Gabe Paul was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians (twice), and the New York Yankees.
Trey Hillman was the manager of the Kansas City Royals from 2008-2010.
Blake Cederlind was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 2015, but he did not sign.
Barney Gilligan (1856)
Warren Brown (1894)
Gus Suhr (1906)
Frenchy Bordagaray (1910)
Sid Hudson (1915)
Eddie Einhorn (1936)
Bob Gebhard (1943)
Dick Colpaert (1944)
Larry Barnett (1945)
Gary Lavelle (1949)
Jim Dwyer (1950)
Darren Daulton (1962)
Luis Rivera (1964)
Luis Sojo (1965)
A. J. Burnett (1977)
Michael Restovich (1979)
Alex Meyer (1990)
Warren Brown was a long-time sportswriter, mostly in Chicago. He coined Babe Ruth's famous nickname, "The Sultan of Swat".
Eddie Einhorn was a part-owner of the Chicago White Sox. He was the founder of the TVS networks, which syndicated sports regionally and nationally in the days before twenty-four hour sports stations.
Larry Barnett was a major league umpire from 1969-1999.
Tim Keefe (1857)
Hugh Nicol (1858)
Webster McDonald (1900)
Ethan Allen (1904)
Hank Greenberg (1911)
Joe Reichler (1915)
Sherry Robertson (1919)
Earl Torgeson (1924)
Carl Scheib (1927)
Bill Bethea (1942)
Rick Albert (1951)
LaMarr Hoyt (1955)
Bob Owchinko (1955)
Fernando Tatis (1975)
Dallas Keuchel (1988)
LaMonte Wade (1994)
Submarine-style pitcher Webster McDonald pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1920-1940.
Joe Reichler was a long-time sportswriter and later worked in the commissioner's office. He was the editor of several editions of The Baseball Encyclopedia.
Roy Majtyka was a long-time minor-league manager, winning 1,832 games.
Rick Albert has been a minor-league coach or manager in the Braves' organization since 1978.
We would like to wish a very happy birthday to mrs. bhiggum and to Mrs. Beau.
Pud Galvin (1856)
Barry McCormick (1874)
Walter Holke (1892)
Lloyd Brown (1904)
Ben Chapman (1908)
Jo-Jo Moore (1908)
Ned Garver (1925)
Nellie Fox (1927)
Gene Lamont (1946)
Manny Trillo (1950)
Luis Quintana (1951)
Jeff Little (1954)
Wallace Johnson (1956)
Charlie Lea (1956)
Rickey Henderson (1958)
Rich Renteria (1961)
Marty Pevey (1962)
There have been 32 major league players with the first name “Jesus”, including ex-Twins Jesus Vega and Jesus “Bombo” Rivera and one whose birthday is today, Manny Trillo. There have been no major league players with the last name “Christ", although there have been two minor leaguers with that last name: John Christ, who was in the Cleveland organization from 1999-2001, and Mike Christ, who was in the Seattle organization from 1984-1988. There have been 23 players whose first name was “Christian” (honorable mention to Cristian Guzman), 20 players whose middle name was “Christian” (including ex-Twins Marcus Jensen, David Lamb, and Kevin Maas), and two players whose last name was “Christian”. We would be remiss if we did not also mention 1980s journeyman catcher Steve Christmas, as well as Matt Holliday. Howmanyofme.com says there are 85 people in the United States named Mary Christmas.
The staff of Happy Birthday would like to wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas.
Jack Manning (1853)
Harry Stovey (1856)
Jimmy Williams (1876)
Branch Rickey (1881)
Fred Merkle (1888)
Butch Henline (1894)
George Pipgras (1899)
Gabby Hartnett (1900)
Spud Davis (1904)
Eddie Leishman (1910)
Julio Becquer (1931)
Oscar Gamble (1949)
Cecil Cooper (1949)
Jose DeLeon (1960)
Augie Ojeda (1974)
Aubrey Huff (1976)
David De Jesus (1979)
James Shields (1981)
David Wright (1982)
Eddie Leishman was twice the Minor League Executive of the Year.
We would also like to wish a very happy anniversary to spookymilk and mrs. milk.
