Met Hunter

I could have added Baylor. Since he has been, we have to include old friend Sammy Perlozzo, coaching for (Deliverance banjo music please) Charlie Manuel's Phucking Phils.

Post season bound Phillies-Brian Schneider, Wilson Valdez, Juan Samuel (coach). Brewers-Carlos Gomez, Francisco Rodriguez. Cardinals-Octavio Dotel, Jose Oquendo (coach). Diamondbacks-Henry Blanco, J.J. Putz. Tigers-Omir Santos. Rangers-Endy Chavez, Darren O'Day, Darren Oliver, Mike Maddux (coach). MFYs-Luis Ayala, Raul Valdes. Long Island Ducks-Tyler Walker, Kevin Baez (manager), Bud Harrelson (coach). Had to throw that one in there.

Not exactly a Ted Williams move. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK then. 19 instances. As we know dates of births can be subjective, Especially foreign born. Mr. Grimm, I just went through each season on your site starting in 1962. DOBs and debuts are listed back to back. Old school research for those not completely computer fluent.

UMBD makes these lists easy to compile.

It should also be noted that the first instance this occured was the Charles/Johnson/Greer combo, when Greer made his obscure September callup appearance at the very end of '93.

After yesterday's debut of Chris Schwinden and Val Pascucci, I figured the book was closed on this year's Met debuts and 50 seasons of Mets were complete. So for fun I decided to look up how many times a player made their Met debut that also became the date a future Met was born. I found 19 instances that this occured: July 6,1963 Jesse Gonder-Lance Johnson July 21,1965 Gary Kolb-Mike Bordick Jun 18,1966 Bob Friend-Sandy Alomar Jr May 12,1967 Ed Charles/Bob 'Rocky' Johnson-Kenny Greer April 8,1969 Rod Gaspar-Pete Walker September 7,1969 Jim Gosger-Darren Bragg September 15,1971 Buzz Capra/John Milner/Don Rose-Jason Hardtke April 15,1972 Rusty Staub/Jim Fregosi-Ricky Otero July 11,1972 Bill Sudakis-Mark Little April 8,1975 Gene Clines/Joe Torre/Dave Kingman/Del Unser-Timo Perez September 12,1975 Roy Staiger-Luis Castillo July 7,1977 Paul Siebert-Andy Green September 13,1977-Roy Lee Jackson-Grant Roberts September 29,1977 Doc Medich-Heath Bell May 20,1978 Dale Murray-Wilson Valdez September 5,1978 Gil Flores-Matt Watson April 20,1979 Frank Taveras-Shawn Green April 12,1980 Mark Bomback-Danny Garcia April 29,1981 Bob Bailor-Omir Santos So far, there are no instances that a Met made their debut or was born on the same date an exMet died. Nor the trifecta of a Met debut, future Met birth and an exMet death. The hat trick.

Ray(Knight) Jeff(In)nis Rick(White) Josh(Satin)

Raul Valdes called up by MFYs. Who would have thought that exMet lefty Valdes would make his MFY debut before exMet lefty Feliciano? In baseball, you never know.

North Dakota South Dakota Idaho Wyoming Montana Not sure anyone famous from those states.

Don't know if any of you care or not, but I've located and met up with 1962 Met Choo Choo Coleman. He should be making a few appearances in the NY area in the coming months, which I'm sure will make some of his former teammates very happy. He's been out of the spotlight some 45 years now.

Check the handicapping at Saratoga section of the NY Post and you'll see Paul's opinion every day.

Howie Rose brought up both the game total and the no hitters a couple nights ago. Did mention the spring training no hitter thrown by Gary Kroll and Gordie Richardson back in the day. Howie seems to be gushing lately over the Mets and I'm ok with it.

Don't overlook Kirk Gibson for this award.

Two shorties that come to mind are John Cangelosi and Ricky Otero.

That's not a mole. I call it the Cocoa Puff.

I wonder if the 2000 walks Babe Ruth had may have kept him out of the 3000 hit club. Or those 6 years he wasted pitching for the Red Sox and winning them championships. Good luck catching his 1300+ extra base hits Captain Amazing. I wonder if the death blow and early retirement at age 36 kept Lou Gehrig out of the 3000 hit club as well as the 500 home run club. I wonder if he even knew such a club existed and if anyone cared. I wonder if the ankle injury Joe DiMaggio had kept him out of the 3000 hit club. Or the fact that he had class and dignity as a pro to hang em up while he still resembled the player that he was. I wonder if Mickey Mantle would say something like "If i knew 3000 hits was such a big deal, I would have done it", or would have just said 'fuck it' and got shitfaced. I wonder if ARod is actually jealous of El Capitain, as some have said, or will the tables turn when its all said and done and he too is in the 3000 hit club as well as the 700 home run, and Jeter can just go fuck himself.

I think what bothers me most is that I have so much more respect for an exclusive club that includes all players and not just those graced from above to wear the pinstrpes and the damned interocking NY. I always liked that no MFYs were in there. And I love how the MFY media shills are so amzed at how DJ could acheive such a feat while playing for just one team. I picture them saying Craig who? Whats a Yaz?

It's funny, I knew about that error but forgot when you brought this subject up awhile back. Who wants a borderline error for your 3000th hit instead of a nice clean extra base hit. On a side note, could these local Jeter suckasses on sports radio stop referring to this as a record? It's an accomplishment and a milestone, not a record. And oh by the way, he's not the first to do it. That may actually surprise some of the experts.

So a few years ago, the Baseball Hall of Fame creates a Fathers Day Classic. Its a game on Fathers Day with ex big leaguers and HOFers. The 2010 game pitted Bob Feller's squad vs. Harmon Killebrew's. As we know both of those men died before the next Classic. So who was in this year's game last month? Dick Williams. That game is either jinxed or Doubleday Field is becoming the final appearance for HOFers in their Field of Dreams.

I have a lasting image of Nino from the late 70s. My brother and I made an impromptu banner, after we realized it was Banner Day. As we walked through the bullpen, Nino was sitting there with that giant fro and gave us one of the laziest hellos on record.

lol. I just found another piece of info that has Billy being born in 1948. I agree. Who the hell knows.

Someone updated his date of death on his wiki page as June 28. They also have his correct year of birth being 1949. There are a load of players that have different years of birth then what they gave MLB. Willard Hunter, Clarence Coleman, Gil Flores to name a few.

Looking at the article, I notice it said Billy was 62. His given date of birth with MLB would make him only sixty. Looks like Billy was among the players that were older then they said. That seemed to have happened alot back then.

Robert Harvey "Billy" Baldwin was one of the talented and lucky ones who made it to the major leagues. The former Buchtel High School baseball star, who played briefly for the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets, died at age 62 last week at Elms Assisted Living in Hudson after suffering a variety of health problems. Andrea Rice, his sister, said her older brother will be missed. "He was a gifted and talented athlete that had a wonderful laugh," Rice said. "We are really going to miss him." Old friends and teammates fondly remembered Mr. Baldwin. Ike Grant, one of his childhood friends, said Mr. Baldwin loved baseball. "Billy was a heck of a guy. We would go out every day and throw the ball around, baseball or football, whether there was sunshine, rain or snow," Grant said. Douglas Lee was a basketball teammate at Perkins Middle School in 1964 and 1965. "He was a real personable, very friendly guy. He was a down-to-earth person and a heck of an all-around athlete," Lee said. Mr. Baldwin played youth baseball with Tim Flossie, Firestone football coach. "We played together for the South Akron Cubs in the G League when we were little. He was really good and I was not surprised he became a pro player," Flossie said. "I followed his career in high school through the pros." John Sarver, Ellet baseball coach, played against Mr. Baldwin in the Akron Class AA Baseball League after Baldwin's pro career ended. "Billy was kind of a loner, but a very happy guy. He would joke with you and he loved talking baseball," Sarver said. "He was the best player I saw in the league." One of Sarver's most vivid memories of Mr. Baldwin was an astonishing home run he hit at Summit Lake Park. "The ball he hit would have hit the road if it had not hit a light pole," Sarver said. "The ball was still going up when it hit the pole." Sarver was in awe of Mr. Baldwin's hitting talent. "He could hit the ball anywhere. I was throwing batting practice to him one time and he said for me to throw the ball anywhere except low and away. So I wondered why and threw him one just to see what would happen. Thank goodness I was throwing behind the L-screen on the mound, because he smashed one back at me and said, 'Don't throw me low and outside! I already know how to hit those,' " Sarver said. Born in Tazewell, Va., Mr. Baldwin played at Buchtel High and went on to Southern University on scholarships for baseball, football and soccer. In 1972, Mr. Baldwin was signed as a amateur free agent by the Tigers. In 1974, he was the Class AA Florida State League Most Valuable Player, leading the league in hits and triples. He was called up to the Tigers and debuted on July 29, 1975, in a game against the New York Yankees at Shea Stadium. (Yankee Stadium was being refurbished in 1974-75.) That night, Baldwin got his first big-league hit. He played in 30 games for the Tigers that season, hitting .221 with four home runs, eight RBI and two stolen bases. Before the 1976 season, Mr. Baldwin and legendary Tigers left-hander Mickey Lolich were dealt to the New York Mets for outfielder Rusty Staub. Mr. Baldwin spent most of the season at Class AAA Tidewater, hitting .271 with 17 home runs and 72 RBI. After being recalled by the Mets in September, he hit .273 with a homer and five RBI in 24 games in what turned out to be his final season in the big leagues. Mr. Baldwin had the biggest thrill of his pro career on Sept. 24 against the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium, when he hit a walk-off home run off former Tigers teammate Joe Coleman. He remained in the Mets organization until he was released in 1979, when he signed that spring with the Indians organization but never played for the Tribe. In his two big league seasons, Mr. Baldwin hit .231 with five home runs and 13 RBI. The family is holding private services at 4 p.m. Friday at Rhoden Memorial Home at 1101 Palmetto Ave. A public gathering for friends and family will start about 5:30 p.m. at the New Seasons banquet room at 1495 S. Hawkins Ave.