The legendary Hall of Fame Pitcher, Grover Cleveland Alexander was born on this day in 1887.
'Pete' pitched for the Phillies, Cubs and Cardinals from 1911--1930. He still holds the record for most career shutouts by a National League pitcher with 90 and is tied with Christy Mathewson for most wins by a National League pitcher with 373. He was 6 x National League wins leader, 4 x ERA leader, 6 x strikeout leader and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1938.
His most impressive feat was in the 1926 World Series after winning two games, he was forced to come into Game 7 in the 7th inning and bases loaded for the Yankees with Tony Lazzeri at bat. He struck out Lazzeri and pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th inning to secure the 1926 World Series for the Cardinals. It was found out after the game that Alexander was drunk while pitching in the 7th game. This was a scene made famous in the movie The Winning Team where former President Ronald Reagan played Alexander.
He was an all-time great and well deserving of the Baseball Birthday Quote of The Day.
"I'd rather him pitch a crucial game for me drunk than anyone I've ever know sober. He was that good."
--Rogers Hornsby, talking about Grover Cleveland Alexander
Long time Cubs third baseman and Baseball Hall of Famer, Ron Santo was born on February 25, 1940.
Santo was a terrific all around third baseman who was a mainstay on the Cubs from 1960-'73, before spending his final season with the Cross Town Rival, White Sox in 1974.
He had 2254 career hits, was a 9 x all-star, 5 x Gold Glove winner and was the only third baseman in baseball history to have 90 RBI's or more eight years in a row. He entered the Hall of Fame in 2012. He was a long time Cubs announcer who was a great advocate for diabetes awareness. He is greatly missed by the baseball community.
In honor of his great career, he is today's recipient of the Baseball Birthday Quote of the Day.
"I wouldn't take any third baseman in the league over him and that includes the other league too. He's the finest, inspirational type of guy who can pick up an entire ball club."
--Leo Durocher, on Ron Santo
Yesterday, I did not have a chance to post the birthday quote blog and rather than skip the day, I had to go back and recognize Honus Wagner. Wagner was born on February 24th, 1874. He is regarded as one of the all-around greatest ball players of all-time.
He was more than just the most valuable card in all of sports--he is a Hall of Famer with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stats don't do his greatness justice though he had impressive ones including leading the NL in batting 8 times, rbi leader 6 time and finished his career with 3430 hits and a lifetime batting average of .329.
He is well deserving of the Baseball Birthday Quote of the Day,
"So uniformly good was Wagner as a player that it is almost impossible to determine whether his highest point of superiority was in his fielding, his batting average or his base running."
--John McGraw
Elston Howard, one of the most respected catchers in baseball history, was born on this day in 1929.
In his illustrious career, Howard was a 12 x all-star, 6 x World Series Champion, 2 x Gold Glove Award winner and the 1963 American League MVP.
The great legacy of Yankee catchers from Dickey to Berra continued with Howard. He was one of the best and most respected players of his era. He played for the Yankees from 11955-1967 and played from '67 to '68 with the Red Sox. Prior to joining the Yankees, he played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Old Negro Leagues. He was the first African American Player on the Yankees.
In honor of his great career, he is today's recipient of the Baseball Birthday Quote of the Day,
"The Yankees lost more class on the weekend than George Steinbrenner could buy in ten years."
--Red Smith, on the passing of Elston Howard
Hall of Fame Manager George 'Sparky' Anderson was born on February 22nd 1934. What a career and what a guy.
This is about the easiest baseball birthday quote of all-time. Free plug for my website, but we have over 130 quotes (many hilarious) from Sparky Anderson. Just go visit Sparky at www.baseballquotations.com and see the list of over 11,000 other quotes.
So Sparky was the manger of the Big Red Machine from 1970--1978. He won two World Series during his tenure with the Reds. Then with one of the stupidest moves in baseball history, the Reds fired him after the 1978 season.
All he did then was manage the Tigers from 1979--1995, winning the 1984 World Series and being voted Manager of the Year twice. His Number 10 was retied by the Reds. His Number 11 was retired by the Tigers and he was selected by the Veterans Committee for the Hall of Fame in 2000.
He was one of baseball's beloved figures---a great and witty manager who never took himself seriously, but treated his players with great respect. He is greatly missed.
In honor of his great managerial career, he is today's recipient of the Baseball Birthday Quote of the Day.
"The day I got a hit off Koufax was when he knew it was time to retire."
--Sparky Anderson, on his short major league career
"I only had a high school education and believe me, I had to cheat to get that."
"A baseball manager is a necessary evil"
The great Tigers shortstop Alan Trammel was born on this day in 1958. Having witnessed his entire career, the only question I have is why is he not in the Hall of Fame?
He was the model of consistency. Check out the numbers. First of all he played all 19 years of his career with the Tigers, 1984 World Series MVP, 6 All Star Games, 4 Gold Gloves, 7 years of hitting .300 or higher, 3 Silver Sluggers and he ended his career with 2293 hits.
If that is not impressive enough, he and Lou Whitaker, the equally impressive Tigers second baseman, holds the record for most double play combinations in the entire history of baseball. Think about that for a second.
Unfortunately, he is off the ballot after this year so it will be up the veterans committee to make the determination about his Hall of Fame entry. He would have my vote.
Though he is not in the Hall of Fame, he does have the great honor of being the February 21 recipient of the Baseball Birthday Quote of the Day.
"I thought he was as good defensively as anyone I've ever seen with the exception of Ozzie (Smith),"
--Whitey Herzog
One of baseball's top pitcher's, Justin Verlander was born on February 20th, 1975, turning 34 today.
He has spent his entire career with the Tigers from 2005 to the present. Among his many accomplishments is the rare double-double in 2011 of the MVP and Cy Young Award. He was also the Rookie of the Year, led the American League in K's 4 times, pitched in 6 All-Star games and thrown two no hitters.
In many ways, last year was his most impressive year. After several years of injuries, he had a comeback last year with a 16-9 record and a 3.04 ERA, finishing second in the AL Cy Young Award voting to former teammate Rick Porcello.
Of course, many would say his greatest accomplishment is his engagement and pending marriage to Super-Model, Kate Upton.
All these accomplishments make him the idea choice for the prestigious Baseball Quote of the Day honor.
"He's pretty incredible. He's throwing 100 mph in the 8th inning. That's impressive."
--Mark Teixeria
"With Verlander, you can't have a plan."
--Pablo Sandoval
