Happy ’80s Birthday to Rafael Ramirez. An intense scientific study recently proved that it’s impossible to think of Ramirez without hearing Skip Carey saying, “So here’s Raffy…” It simply can’t be done.
Bruce Kison was born on this day in 1950. He incited two separate bench-clearing brawls in one game in May of 1980. Dude was not afraid to throw inside. He passed away in 2018.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Big John Mayberry, who hit 30 bombs for the Blue Jays in 1980. His 255 career homers are the most for anyone born on February 18th. Just so you know…
Happy ’80s Birthday to catcher Marc Hill, who spent 14 years in the big leagues between St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle and the White Sox.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Manny Mota!
Manny only had 8 at-bats in the ’80s, but we still love him. He also pinch-hit for Pedro Borbon.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Kevin Tapani, who spent 13 seasons in the bigs and won a World Series with the Twins
Happy ’80s Birthday to LaVel Freeman, who won back-to-back minor league batting titles, including batting an amazing .395 in AA El Paso in 1987. Unfortunately, he never really got a shot at the big league level. He played in just two games for the Brewers in 1989.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jerry Morales, who signed as an amateur free-agent when he was 17-years-old and spent 14 years in the big leagues, earning an All-Star nod in 1977.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Bob Fallon, who pitched in 13 games over 2 seasons with the White Sox in 1984 and ’85.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Rocky Childress, who was a 21st round pick of the Phillies in 1980 and spent parts of four years in the big leagues with Philadelphia and Houston.
Jeff McKnight was born OTD in 1963.
Jeff made his big league debut with the Mets in 1989 and played until 1991994. He passed away in 2015.
2/18/82
The Royals trade Jeff Cornell to the Giants for Dennis Littlejohn.
Littlejohn never resurfaced in the big leagues, but Cornell pitched in 23 games for the Giants in 1984.
2/18/81
The Expos sign Ray Burris as a free agent.
He wins 17 games over three seasons in Montreal and pitched until 1987.
2/18/81
The Oakland A’s sign Dave Hudgens as a free agent.
Hudgens appears in 6 games for Oakland in 1983 and later coached at the major and minor league level for a number of years.
2/18/86
The Mariners sign Ross Jones as a free agent.
Jones plays at three different levels for Seattle in 1986, including the major leagues and spent some tine with the Royals in 1987.
2/18/86
The Rangers sign Dale Mohorcic as a free agent.
He makes his big league debut that season and wins while also notching 7 saves and served as the team’s closer in 1987.
2/18/86
The Tigers sign Harry Spilman as a free agent.
He hits .245 in his lone season in Detroit, then moves on to San Francisco before finishing his career with the Astros.
2/18/86
The Dodgers sign Jose Vizcaino as an amateur free agent and Harry Caray immediately begins trying to pronounce his name. He never succeeds.
2/18/88
The Padres sign Dickie Thon as a free agent.
He hits .264 for the Pads in 95 games and spends the next two seasons in Philadelphia.
2/18/88
The Oakland A’s sign Johnny Guzman as an amateur free agent.
He appears in a handful of games in 1991 and ’92 and picks up his only big league win in 1991 against the Tigers.
2/18/81
The Indians release Manny Sanguillen.
Manny was sent to Cleveland along with Bert Blyleven the previous December in exchange for Gary Alexander, Victor Cruz, Bob Owchinko, and Rafael Vasquez.
He sits out 1981, then hits .357 for the Broncos de Reynosa in the Mexican League in 1982 and retires.
We lost Harry on this day in 1998. Please raise a Bud in his honor
We lost John Kibler OTD in 2010.
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