Tag Archives: Hall of Famers

Happy Birthday–January 8

Bob Clarke (1903)
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 Philadelphia Phillies.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 8

Happy Birthday–January 7

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)
Tucker Barnhart (1991)

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 7

Happy Birthday–January 6

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.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 6

Happy Birthday–January 5

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.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 5

Happy Birthday–January 2

Jose Mendez (1885)
Red Kress (1905)
Pinky Whitney (1905)
Ted Strong (1914)
Jim Essian (1951)
David Cone (1963)
Edgar Martinez (1963)

Greg Swindell (1965)
Royce Clayton (1970)
Rick Greene (1971)
Jeff Suppan (1975)
Aaron Barrett (1988)
Felix Jorge (1994)
Fernando Tatis (1999)

Ted Strong was a star in the Negro Leagues, making the all-star team seven times.
Aaron Barrett was drafted by Minnesota in the 20th round in 2008 but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 2

Happy Birthday–January 1

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 was a minor-league coach or manager in the Braves' organization.

We would like to wish a very happy birthday to mrs. bhiggum and to Mrs. Beau.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 1

Happy Birthday–December 28

Count Sensenderfer (1847)
Ted Lyons (1900)

Tommy Bridges (1906)
Bill Lee (1946)
Aurelio Rodriguez (1947)
John Milner (1949)
Ray Knight (1952)
Zane Smith (1960)
Carl Willis (1960)
Benny Agbayani (1971)
Melvin Nieves (1971)
Einar Diaz (1972)
B. J. Ryan (1975)
Bill Hall (1979)
Austin Barnes (1989)

Count Sensenderfer (given name John Phillips Jenkins Sensenderfer) played for the Philadelphia Athletics in the National Association from 1871-1874.  He holds the record for most at-bats without drawing a walk, 234.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 28

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.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 25

Happy Birthday–December 22

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.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 22