Tag Archives: Hall of Famers

Happy Birthday–April 27

Hi Myers (1889)
Allan Sothoron (1893)
Rogers Hornsby (1896)
Horace Stoneham (1903)
Enos Slaughter (1916)
John Rice (1918)
Greg Kosc (1949)
Willie Upshaw (1957)
Patrick Lennon (1968)
Frank Catalanotto (1974)
Benj Sampson (1975)
Chris Carpenter (1975)
Pedro Feliz (1975)
Luis Perdomo (1984)

 Horace Stoneham was the owner of the Giants from 1936-1976.

John Rice was an American League umpire from 1955-1973.

Greg Kosc was an American League umpire from 1976-1999.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 27

Happy Birthday–April 26

Jack Barry (1887)
Ray Caldwell (1888)
Hack Wilson (1900)
Bernard Malamud (1914)
Virgil Trucks (1917)
Sal Maglie (1917)
Ron Northey (1920)
Granny Hamner (1927)
Amos Otis (1947)
Tom Norton (1950)
Mike Scott (1955)
Steve Lombardozzi (1960)
Curtis Wilkerson (1961)
Brian Anderson (1972)
Geoff Blum (1973)
Kosuke Fukudome (1977)
Joe Crede (1978)
Alejandro Machado (1982)

Bernard Malamud, of course, wrote the book "The Natural".  He probably wrote some other books as well.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 26

Happy Birthday–April 25

John Henry “Pop” Lloyd (1884)
George Fiall (1900)
Bill Grieve (1900)
Roy Parmelee (1907)
Bobby Estalella (1911)
Red Flaherty (1917)
Ed Vargo (1930)
Lew Krausse (1943)
Kerry Taylor (1950)
Greg Wells (1954)
Larry Pashnick (1956)
Tony Phillips (1959)
Darren Holmes (1966)
Joe Buck (1969)
Brad Clontz (1971)
Jacque Jones (1975)
Garrett Mock (1983)
J. P. Howell (1983)

Shortstop Pop Lloyd was called the Black Honus Wagner.

A member of the basketball hall of fame as part of the “Renaissance Five” team, shortstop George Fiall played in the Negro Leagues from 1918-1931.

Bill Grieve was an American League umpire from 1938-1955.

Red Flaherty was an American League umpire from 1953-1973.

Ed Vargo was a National League umpire from 1960-1983 and was an umpire supervisor from 1984-1997.

Kerry Taylor played for the GCL Twins in 1968.  He then went into the Army and was killed in the Vietnam War.

The son of Hall of Famer Jack Buck, some sources say that Joe Buck is also a professional baseball broadcaster.

Garrett Mock was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 2002, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 25

Happy Birthday–April 24

Bob Ewing (1873)
Howard Ehmke (1894)
Harry Harper (1895)
Andy Cooper (1896)
Ed Musial (1922)
Frank Lucchesi (1927)
Lou DiMuro (1931)
Terry Tata (1940)
Ivan Murrell (1943)
Bill Singer (1944)
Pat Zachry (1952)
Bill Krueger (1958)
Mike Blowers (1965)
Omar Vizquel (1967)
Todd Jones (1968)
Chipper Jones (1972)
John Barnes (1976)
Carlos Beltran (1977)
Miss SBG (2007)

Andy Cooper pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1920-1939.  He managed the Kansas City Monarchs to four consecutive Negro American League Championships from 1937-1940.  He also holds the Negro Leagues career record for saves with 29.

The brother of Stan Musial, Ed Musial played in the minors in 1941 and from 1946-1950.

Frank Lucchesi managed in the minors for twenty-three seasons and in the majors for seven seasons.

Lou DiMuro was an American League umpire from 1963-1982.

Terry Tata was a National League umpire from 1973-1999.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 24

Happy Birthday–April 20

Germany Smith (1863)
Tommy Dowd (1869)
Charlie Hemphill (1876)
Charlie Smith (1880)
Mike Mowrey (1884)
Dave Bancroft (1891)
Roy Hofheinz (1912)
Preston Gomez (1923)
Tom Hutton (1946)
Milt Wilcox (1950)
Doug Clarey (1954)
Floyd Chiffer (1956)
Don Mattingly (1961)
Greg Brummett (1967)
Dan Smith (1969)
Todd Hollandsworth (1973)

Judge Roy Hofheinz was the leader of a group that brought an expansion team to Houston.

Dan Smith was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 1987, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 20

Happy Birthday–April 18

Frank Navin (1871)
Sam Crawford (1880)
Duffy Lewis (1888)
Jack Scott (1892)
Steve Blass (1942)
Mike Paul (1945)
Doug Flynn (1951)
Bobby Castillo (1955)
Rich Bordi (1959)
Jim Eisenreich (1959)
Dennis Rasmussen (1959)
Steve Dunn (1970)
Rico Brogna (1970)
Brian Buscher (1981)
Miguel Cabrera (1983)
Billy Butler (1986)

Frank Navin was the owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1908-1935.

Rich Bordi was drafted by Minnesota in the fifth round in 1977, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. CarterHayes.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 18

Happy Birthday–April 17

Alexander Cartwright (1820)
Cap Anson (1852)
Tom Needham (1879)
Jake Daubert (1884)
Buzz Arlitt (1912)
Solly Hemus (1923)
Tsutomu Wakamatsu (1947)
Denny Walling (1954)
Craig Worthington (1965)
Marquis Grissom (1967)
Gary Bennett (1972)
Ryan Raburn (1981)

Alexander Cartwright was instrumental in developing the rules for the game of baseball.

Buzz Arlitt was a star in the low minors from 1934-1941, and probably would have been for several more years had World War II not intervened.  He had a career average of .319 with a slugging average of .480, but never played above Class C.

Tsutomu Wakamatsu was a star in Japan from 1971-1989, making the all-star team eleven times.  His career average of .319 is second to Leron Lee on the all-time list of players with at least four thousand at-bats.

There do not appear to be any major league players with connections to the Minnesota Twins who were born on this day.

Happy Birthday–April 16

Dutch Leonard (1892)
Paul Waner (1903)
Babe Phelps (1908)
Pete Hughes (1915)
Pete Suder (1916)
Joe Bauman (1922)
Rich Rollins (1938)
Bernie Allen (1939)
Garry Roggenburk (1940)
Jim Lonborg (1942)
Bob Montgomery (1944)
Bruce Bochy (1955)
Curt Young (1960)
Fernando Vina (1969)
Antonio Alfonseca (1972)
Kelly Dransfeldt (1975)

Pete Hughes was a star in the low minors from 1937-1952.  His incomplete career numbers are a .350 average and a .637 slugging percentage, but for some reason he never played above Class B.

Joe Bauman hit 72 home runs for Roswell in the Longhorn League in 1954.

Kelly Dransfeldt was drafted by Minnesota in the seventh round in 1993, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 16

Happy Birthday–April 14

Cannonball Redding (1890)
Marvin Miller (1917)
Gordon Gillespie (1926)
Don Mueller (1927)
Marty Keough (1934)
Pete Rose (1941)
Joe Lahoud (1947)
Ron Schueler (1948)
Greg Maddux (1966)
David Justice (1966)
Greg Myers (1966)
Mike Trombley (1967)
Brad Ausmus (1969)
Steve Avery (1970)
Gregg Zaun (1971)
Kyle Farnsworth (1976)

Cannonball Redding was a star pitcher in the Negro Leagues.

Marvin Miller was the head of the Major League Baseball Players association from 1966-1983.

Gordon Gillespie holds the record for most wins by a college baseball coach.

It must be kind of a bummer for a big league ballplayer to not only not be the best player born on the day and year he was born, but to not even be the best player with his first name born on the day and year he was born.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 14