The Kansas City Royal's outfielder Alex Gordon was born on this day in 1984.
Gordon has played his whole impressive career with the Royals starting in 2007. He is a three time all-star and a four time gold glove winner. Of course, he also was part of the 2015 Royals World Series championship team (don't remind me).
He is regarded as one of the good guys of the game who is both modest and hard working. He is today's baseball birthday quote of the day,
"Alex is the best left fielder in the game, yet there's no ego with him, because he just wants to win."
--Luke Hochever, on Alex Gordon
Happy Birthday to a man who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, Vladimir Guerrero.
Great power hitter, clutch hitter, incredible arm,--he should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer. I know he will get in next year but it seems wrong that he did not make it this year.
One of the great characteristics of Vladimir was his ability to swing at anything and actually make contact.
In honor of his legacy and his ability to swing and make contact with anything, he gets our Baseball Birthday Quote of the Day. A poem from Rex Hudler
"Vlad swings from his head to his toes, where he hits it no one knows."
--Rex Hudler, talking about the hitting of Vladimir Guerrero
No big birthdays in baseball today so we are dedicating today's quote to the most wonderful two words in the English Language---"Spring Training"
Here is a great spring training quote from Bo Jackson
"Because 85% of the fans have artificial hips."
--Bo Jackson, on why he got a standing ovation at a spring training game after hip surgery
Happy Birthday to an all-time baseball original---both a great pitcher and a hilarious quotemaker---Dan Quisenberry.
Quisenberry was an all-time great relief pitcher who was 5th all-time in saves when he retired. He spent most of his career with the Royals---making three all-star appearances, five times Rolaids Relief pitcher of the year and five times saves leader.
He was famous for his submarine delivery and his quick wit.
Speaking of his wit, here are a few of his classic quotes listed below.
"Our fielders have to catch a lot of balls or at least deflect them to someone who can."
--on the Royals Defense
"We're parasites. We live off the people who spend two hours on the field."
--on Relief Pitching
"I'm just a garbage man. I come into the games and clean other people's messes."
--on relief pitching.
Lots more Quisenberrry quotes at www.baseballquotations.com
Happy Birthday to Babe Ruth. The Bambino was born on this day in 1895. Fair to say that he is the most famous player in baseball history.
We have over 100 quotes about him at www.baseballquotations.com
Here is a small sampling:
"The only sports legend I ever saw who lived up to his advanced billing was Babe Ruth."
--Jimmy Breslin
"To try to capture Babe Ruth with cold stats would be like trying to keep up with him on a night out."
--Bill Broeg
"I didn't room with him. I roomed with him suitcase."
Ping Bodie
"All the lie about him are true."
--Jimmy Dykes
"I always felt like a kid at the circus whenever I saw him hit a home run."
--Herb Pennock
A great day in baseball birthday history featuring the February 5th birthday of the one and only Hank Aaron. In his honor, we are not focusing on one quote but we have half a dozen great quotes about this all-time great.
First the numbers---Career lasted from '54-'76, 25 All-Star Apperances, MVP, 3 x Gold Glove, 2 x Batting Champion, 4 x Home Run Leader...Major League Career Records---leader in total bases, RBI's, extra base hits or yeah, also second (ahem, really first) in Home Runs. Voted to the Hall of Fame in 1982 with 97.83 percent of the vote. I'm passing on the obvious comment of the morons who represented that 2.17 percent who didn't vote for him.
On to the quotes:
"Slapping a rattlesnake across the face with the back of your hand is safer than trying to fool Hank Aaron."
--Turk Farrell
"I'd pitch just as I would to any other hitter, but I wouldn't be damn fool enough to get rid of the ball."
--Tug McGraw, on pitching to Aaron with the bases loaded
"He's the last guy I want to see coming up there."
--Sandy Koufax
"It took me 17 years to get 3000 hits. I did it one day on the golf course."
--Hank Aaron
"Magic is the only word used to describe that swing."
--Bobby Thompson
"He got credit but never enough."
--Willie Mays
Lots more Aaron quotes at www.baseballquotations.com
Dan Plesac, Stan Papi and Joe Sparma were all born on February 4th. Other notable players born today include Doug Fister, Chris Bando, and Gary Allenson. Of all the players born on this day, the only one to play in the all-star game was Dan Plesac. He did it three times.
Dan Plesac
Born--2/4/62
"No pitcher in baseball pitched better than a healthy Dan Plesac."
--Tom Trebelhorn
Joe Sparma
Born--2/4/42
"Joe's thinking like a pitcher, not like a guy throwing a ball through a brick wall."
--Bill Freehan
Stan Papi
Born--2/4/51
"I've never heard a crowd in the big leagues ever clap for me before. On Opening Day, when I was with Boston, I got a standing boo."
--Stan Papi, on playing for the Expos
Do you love baseball quotes? All these quotes and over eleven thousand others are available for your viewing pleasure at www.baseballquotations.com
