Happy ’80s Birthday to Reggie!
How good to you have to be to attempt to kill the head of state of an ally and still get into the Hall of Fame?
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jim Sundberg, who won 6 Gold Gloves in 16 years behind the plate for the Rangers, Royals, Cubs, and Brewers
He was overshadowed by Fisk, Munson and Bench but he was a damn good catcher.
Happy ’80s Birthday to former Royals pitcher Dennis Leonard, who won 92 games between 1976 and 1980 with 78 complete games and 19 shutouts.
Dude was a helluva pitcher.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Erik Hanson, who was the first righty in Mariners’ history to strike out 200 or more batters in a season.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Andre David, who played 38 games for the Twins over two seasons and hit his only big league homer of Hall of Famer Jack Morris.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Jim Farr, who appeared in five games for the 1982 Rangers.
5/18/82
The Yankees sign Bobby Bonds as a free agent.
He hits .179 in 28 games in Triple-A and he’s done.
5/18/89
The Seibu Lions purchase Orestes Destrade from the Pirates.
He hits 154 homers in four seasons in Japan and returns to the States to lay for the Marlins.
5/18/84
Benny Distefano goes 1 for 3 with a triple off Pete Falcone in his big league debut.
The lefty-thrower catches three games for the Pirates in 1989.
5/18/89
Matt Kinzer throws 3.1 scoreless innings in his big league debut against the Astros.
The Purdue grad pitches in nine games in his big league career.
5/18/80
Rick Langford gets knocked out of his start against the Blue Jays in the 5th inning.
5/18/81
Fernando Valenzuela finally loses a game.
The Phillies beat the Dodgers 4-0 and Fernando’s ERA jumps all the way to 0.90.
5/18/82
Larry Herndon hits 3 bombs and drives in 7 in an 11-9 win over the A’s.
5/18/83
Rich Dotson throws a one-hitter against the Orioles and loses the game 1 – 0. Baltimore’s one hit is a home run by Disco Dan Ford.
5/18/83
Greg Brock homers twice and drives in six in a 13-3 win over the Expos.
5/18/83
Jack Clark homers and drives in six in an 8-1 win over the Phillies.
5/18/83
Ted Simmons goes 4 for 4 and drives in six in a 7-6 win over Toronto.
At this point, Simba is hitting .426 in May. He’d finish the month batting .394.
5/18/86
Eddie Murray goes 4 for 5 and drives in seven in a 13-4 win over Oakland.
5/18/88
Dave Stewart sets a record by committing his 12th balk of the year. He finishes the year with 16.
The Year of the Balk was fun, wasn’t it?
5/18/81
The Tigers release Duffy Dyer and his career is over. He spends 14 years in the bigs and won a ring with the Mets in 1969.
5/18/84
Bery Blyleven is jogging in the outfield before the game and sprains his ankle when he steps on a baseball.
The injury forces him to miss three weeks.
Powered by BlueHost
Monetize your website with Monumetric!
From Jack Morris to Len Barker, here are the wins leaders for every major league…
From Robin Yount to Chili Davis, here are the hits leaders for every major league…
From Mike Schmidt to Carmelo Martinez, here is the home run leader for every major…
An excerpt from Patrick Montgomery's new book, Baseball's Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who…