Tag Archives: Hall of Famers

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 26

Morgan Bulkeley (1837)
Judy Johnson (1899)
Dad A (1922)
Stu Miller (1927)
Al Jackson (1935)
Wayne Causey (1936)
Ray Sadecki (1940)
Carlton Fisk (1947)
Chris Chambliss (1948)
Dave Rader (1948)
Mario Mendoza (1950)
Ozzie Smith (1954)
Mike Sodders (1958)
Storm Davis (1961)
Jeff King (1964)
Esteban Beltre (1967)
Omar Infante (1981)
Yohan Pino (1983)
Mike Minor (1987)

Morgan Bulkeley was the first president of the National League.

Mike Sodders was a first-round draft choice for the Twins in 1981. A star third baseman at Arizona State, he never could adjust to wooden bats, never hit, and never made the major leagues.

Dad A was a Twins fan since the team started, and was a baseball fan before that. He coached, he ran the public address system, and he was on the board of the local baseball association. One of the many gifts he gave me is a love of baseball. He would have been one hundred one years old today.  Rest in peace, Dad.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 25

Pud Galvin (1856)
Barry McCormick (1874)
Walter Holke (1892)
Lloyd Brown (1904)
Ben Chapman (1908)
Jo-Jo Moore (1908)
Quincy Trouppe (1912)
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 35 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 24 players whose first name was “Christian” (honorable mention to Cristian Guzman), 24 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.  Radaris.com says there are at least 280 people in the United States named Mary Christmas.

The staff of Happy Birthday would like to wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 22

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Connie Mack (1862)
Matty Alou (1938)
Elrod Hendricks (1940)
Steve Carlton (1944)
Hiroyuki Yamazaki (1946)
Charley Taylor (1947)
Steve Garvey (1948)
Tom Underwood (1953)
Ken Landreaux (1954)
Lonnie Smith (1955)
Glenn Wilson (1958)
George Wright (1958)
Jeff A (1958)
Andy Allanson (1961)
Mike Jackson (1964)
Jason Lane (1976)
Zack Britton (1987)

Second baseman Hiroyuki Yamazaki was a five-time all-star in Japan over a twenty-year career.

Charley Taylor was a minor-league pitching coach for over thirty years in the Houston Astros organization.

Steve Garvey was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1966, but did not sign.

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Happy Birthday–December 21

Cy Williams (1887)
Josh Gibson (1911)
Bob Rush (1925)
Howie Reed (1936)
Paul Casanova (1941)
Elliott Maddox (1947)
Dave Kingman (1948)
Joaquin Andujar (1952)
Tom Henke (1957)
Roger McDowell (1960)
Andy Van Slyke (1960)
Dustin Hermanson (1972)
LaTroy Hawkins (1972)
D’Angelo Jimenez (1977)
Freddy Sanchez (1977)
Philip Humber (1982)
Danny Duffy (1988)

Josh Gibson is generally considered to have been the greatest batter in Negro League history.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to hungry joe’s wife, peckish jane.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 20

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.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 19

Ford Frick (1894)
Al Kaline (1934)
Tony Taylor (1935)
Walt Williams (1943)
Rob Gardner (1944)
Geoff Zahn (1945)
Kevin Stanfield (1955)
Stu Cliburn (1956)
Stan Cliburn (1956)
Tom Lawless (1956)
Clay Parker (1962)
Bill Wegman (1962)
Mike Fetters (1964)
Chito Martinez (1965)
Russell Branyan (1975)
Rafael Soriano (1979)
Ian Kennedy (1984)
Aaron Loup (1987)

Ford Frick was the president of the National League from 1934-1951 and commissioner of baseball from 1951-1965.

Clay Parker was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-first round in 1984, but did not sign.

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Happy Birthday–December 18

Ty Cobb (1886)
Dick Coffman (1906)
Gino Cimoli (1929)
Moose Skowron (1930)
Zoilo Versalles (1939)
Steve Hovley (1944)
Drew Coble (1947)
Roy Howell (1953)
Jim Clancy (1955)
Scott Bailes (1961)
Willie Blair (1965)
Joe Randa (1969)
Jose Rodriguez (1974)
Byron Buxton (1993)
Ronald Acuna (1997)

Drew Coble was an American League umpire from 1982-1999.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to cheaptoy.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 14

John Anderson (1873)
Lefty Tyler (1889)
Bob Weiland (1905)
Eddie Smith (1913)
Rusty Peters (1914)
Bobby Adams (1921)
Sam Jones (1925)
Bob Clear (1927)
Pete Whisenant (1929)
Jim Roland (1942)
Jerry May (1943)
Greg Goossen (1945)
Bill Buckner (1949)
Craig Biggio (1965)
Ken Hill (1965)
Scott Hatteberg (1969)
Marcus Jensen (1972)
Billy Koch (1974)
Rodrigo Lopez (1975)
Dave Gassner (1978)

Bob Clear was in baseball from 1945-1987 as a minor league player and manager, major league coach, and as a scout.

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Happy Birthday–December 13

Jack Taylor (1873)
Hank Majeski (1916)
Larry Doby (1923)
Shotgun Shuba (1924)
Carl Erskine (1926)
Billy Loes (1929)
Bubba Morton (1931)
Lindy McDaniel (1935)
J. C. Martin (1936)
Ron Taylor (1937)
Ferguson Jenkins (1942)
Paul Boris (1955)
Dale Berra (1956)
Mike Mordecai (1967)
Matthew LeCroy (1975)
Ricky Nolasco (1982)

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to spookymilk's mom.

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Happy Birthday–December 11

Old Hoss Radbourn (1854)
Art Wilson (1885)
Fred Toney (1888)
Willie Gisentaner (1899)
Swish Nicholson (1914)
Hal Brown (1924)
Lee Maye (1934)
Mike Henneman (1961)
Thomas Howard (1964)
Jay Bell (1965)
Derek Bell (1968)
Frankie Rodriguez (1972)
Joe Blanton (1980)
Dalton Pompey (1992)

In 2014, Dalton Pompey became the first big leaguer ever to have the given first name "Dalton".  In case anyone remembers Dalton Jones (whose birthday was yesterday), his given first name was James.

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