My Dad was a Christmas baby, and whenever the topic came up my grandmother (his mother) would unfailingly say that he was the best gift she ever received. However, there is a downside to being born on Christmas. Everyone seems to think it’s OK to just get you one gift and write ‘Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday’ on the tag. This was generally the case with my Dad, much to his chagrin.
Baseball has seen it’s fair share of Christmas babies as well, three of whom are enshrined in Cooperstown among the best who ever played the game. Baseball’s first 300 game winner, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Pud Galvin (Career W-L 365-310) was born on this day in 1856. Here’s the list, courtesy of Baseball Reference:
Rk Born Yrs From To ASG G AB R H HR RBI SB BB BA OBP SLG OPS W L ERA WHIP G GS SV IP H HR BB SO 1 Waldis Joaquin 1986 2 2009 2010 0 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.87 1.957 14 0 0 15.1 16 1 14 14 2 Ruben Gotay 1982 4 2004 2008 0 316 726 84 185 12 77 6 60 .255 .315 .371 .685 3 Willy Taveras 1981 7 2004 2010 0 670 2412 358 662 8 128 195 136 .274 .320 .327 .647 4 Hideki Okajima 1975 4 2007 2010 1 16 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 16 8 3.06 1.239 254 0 6 238.0 214 26 81 209 5 Tarrik Brock 1973 1 2000 2000 0 13 12 1 2 0 0 1 4 .167 .375 .167 .542 6 Erik Hiljus 1972 4 1999 2002 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3 4.79 1.468 34 20 0 124.0 134 21 48 99 7 Steve Montgomery 1970 4 1996 2000 0 54 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 2 8 4.98 1.594 72 0 3 90.1 88 20 56 67 8 Scott Bullett 1968 4 1991 1996 0 247 374 49 87 6 42 19 25 .233 .283 .356 .638 9 Bruce Walton 1962 4 1991 1994 0 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 2 0 8.21 1.765 27 0 0 34.0 45 6 15 18 10 Marty Pevey 1962 1 1989 1989 0 13 41 2 9 0 3 0 0 .220 .220 .293 .512 11 Rich Renteria 1961 5 1986 1994 0 184 422 42 100 4 41 2 25 .237 .285 .322 .608 12 Ty Gainey 1960 3 1985 1987 0 57 111 12 24 1 7 4 10 .216 .293 .288 .581 13 Tom OMalley 1960 9 1982 1990 0 466 1213 117 310 13 131 2 133 .256 .329 .340 .670 14 Rickey Henderson HOF 1958 25 1979 2003 10 3081 10961 2295 3055 297 1115 1406 2190 .279 .401 .419 .820 15 Gerry Davis 1958 2 1983 1985 0 49 73 13 22 0 3 1 8 .301 .370 .397 .768 16 Charlie Lea 1956 7 1980 1988 1 128 259 11 29 0 6 0 10 .112 .144 .127 .272 62 48 3.54 1.305 152 144 0 923.1 864 79 341 535 17 Wallace Johnson 1956 9 1981 1990 0 428 569 52 145 5 59 19 52 .255 .316 .332 .648 18 Jeff Little 1954 2 1980 1982 0 7 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 .167 .167 .167 .333 3 1 4.09 1.582 40 2 0 55.0 51 6 36 43 19 Rick Anderson 1953 2 1979 1980 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.75 1.917 6 2 0 12.0 9 1 14 7 20 Julio Gonzalez 1952 7 1977 1983 0 370 969 90 228 4 66 13 36 .235 .269 .297 .566 21 Luis Quintana 1951 2 1974 1975 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 5.03 2.542 22 0 0 19.2 30 2 20 16 22 Manny Trillo 1950 17 1973 1989 4 1780 5950 598 1562 61 571 56 452 .263 .316 .345 .660 23 Gene Lamont 1946 5 1970 1975 0 87 159 15 37 4 14 1 9 .233 .278 .371 .649 24 Dennis Musgraves 1943 1 1965 1965 0 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0.56 1.125 5 1 0 16.0 11 0 7 11 25 Chris Krug 1939 3 1965 1969 0 79 214 17 41 5 25 0 15 .192 .245 .290 .534 26 Jack Hamilton 1938 8 1962 1969 0 218 150 6 16 1 7 0 3 .107 .124 .127 .251 32 40 4.53 1.545 218 65 20 611.2 597 48 348 357 27 Charlie Beamon 1934 3 1956 1958 0 28 17 1 0 0 1 0 1 .000 .056 .000 .056 3 3 3.91 1.402 27 5 0 71.1 64 4 36 45 28 Mike Blyzka 1928 2 1953 1954 0 70 38 2 2 0 1 0 1 .053 .077 .053 .130 3 11 5.58 1.661 70 9 1 180.2 193 8 107 58 29 Frank Baldwin 1928 1 1953 1953 0 16 20 0 2 0 0 0 1 .100 .143 .100 .243 30 Nellie Fox HOF 1927 19 1947 1965 15 2367 9232 1279 2663 35 790 76 719 .288 .348 .363 .710 31 Dick Manville 1926 2 1950 1952 0 12 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 7.11 2.105 12 0 0 19.0 25 2 15 8 32 Ned Garver 1925 14 1948 1961 1 458 827 87 180 7 72 1 76 .218 .283 .283 .566 129 157 3.73 1.353 402 330 12 2477.1 2471 213 881 881 33 Neal Watlington 1922 1 1953 1953 0 21 44 4 7 0 3 0 3 .159 .213 .182 .395 34 Quincy Trouppe 1912 1 1952 1952 0 6 10 1 1 0 0 0 1 .100 .182 .100 .282 35 Greek George 1912 5 1935 1945 0 118 299 15 53 0 24 0 28 .177 .248 .221 .468 36 Ben Chapman 1908 15 1930 1946 4 1717 6478 1144 1958 90 977 287 824 .302 .383 .440 .823 8 6 4.39 1.542 25 16 0 141.1 147 7 71 65 37 Alta Cohen 1908 3 1931 1933 0 29 67 8 13 0 2 0 9 .194 .289 .224 .513 38 Jo-Jo Moore 1908 12 1930 1941 6 1335 5427 809 1615 79 513 46 348 .298 .344 .408 .752 39 Lloyd Brown 1904 12 1925 1940 0 404 552 54 106 4 59 1 38 .192 .245 .284 .530 91 105 4.20 1.470 404 181 21 1693.0 1899 83 590 510 40 Bill Akers 1904 4 1929 1932 0 174 475 64 124 11 69 7 63 .261 .349 .404 .753 41 Red Barnes 1903 4 1927 1930 0 286 836 152 225 8 97 12 95 .269 .347 .404 .752 42 Buster Chatham 1901 2 1930 1931 0 129 448 52 118 6 59 8 43 .263 .331 .400 .730 43 Tom Gulley 1899 3 1923 1926 0 26 58 10 12 0 9 0 8 .207 .303 .345 .648 44 Earl Kunz 1898 1 1923 1923 0 21 12 0 1 0 0 0 0 .083 .083 .083 .167 1 2 5.52 1.577 21 2 1 45.2 48 2 24 12 45 Gene Robertson 1898 9 1919 1930 0 656 2200 311 615 20 249 29 205 .280 .344 .373 .717 46 Allen Elliott 1897 2 1923 1924 0 63 182 21 44 2 29 3 2 .242 .258 .341 .599 47 Frank Ellerbe 1895 6 1919 1924 0 420 1453 179 389 4 152 12 72 .268 .306 .346 .652 48 Herb Hunter 1895 4 1916 1921 0 39 49 8 8 1 4 0 2 .163 .196 .224 .421 49 Karl Kolseth 1892 1 1915 1915 0 6 23 1 6 0 1 0 1 .261 .292 .391 .683 50 Walter Holke 1892 11 1914 1925 0 1212 4456 464 1278 24 487 81 191 .287 .318 .363 .682 0 0 0.00 3.000 1 0 0 0.1 1 0 0 0 51 Bull Wagner 1887 2 1913 1914 0 24 27 1 6 0 1 0 2 .222 .276 .222 .498 4 3 5.64 1.602 24 1 0 83.0 91 5 42 15 52 Morrie Rath 1886 6 1909 1920 0 565 2048 291 521 4 92 83 258 .254 .342 .285 .626 53 Ed Henderson 1884 1 1914 1914 0 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .125 .000 .125 1 1 4.15 1.308 8 2 0 26.0 22 2 12 5 54 Joe McCarthy 1881 2 1905 1906 0 16 39 3 9 0 2 0 2 .231 .268 .282 .550 55 Jim Doyle 1881 2 1910 1911 0 137 485 70 135 5 63 19 40 .278 .336 .410 .746 56 Dick Braggins 1879 1 1901 1901 0 4 13 1 2 0 2 1 0 .154 .154 .154 .308 1 2 4.78 1.844 4 3 0 32.0 44 1 15 1 57 Jim Jones 1876 3 1897 1902 0 90 344 28 79 0 24 9 18 .230 .270 .299 .569 0 1 15.43 2.743 2 1 0 11.2 25 1 7 3 58 Barry McCormick 1874 10 1895 1904 0 989 3645 433 867 15 417 130 280 .238 .297 .303 .600 59 Ted Lewis 1872 6 1896 1901 0 184 552 66 123 0 52 4 38 .223 .273 .252 .525 94 64 3.53 1.345 183 153 4 1405.0 1379 57 511 378 60 Mike Hickey 1871 1 1899 1899 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 61 Alex Jones 1869 4 1889 1903 0 26 79 9 13 0 5 1 8 .165 .241 .177 .419 7 15 3.73 1.378 26 24 0 200.1 199 3 77 65 62 George Haddock 1866 7 1888 1894 0 227 736 114 167 6 83 14 89 .227 .314 .304 .618 95 87 4.07 1.496 204 189 2 1580.0 1650 56 714 599 63 George Mappes 1865 2 1885 1886 0 12 33 3 6 0 0 0 2 .182 .229 .242 .471 64 Joe Quinn 1864 17 1884 1901 0 1769 6883 893 1800 30 796 268 365 .262 .302 .328 .631 65 Vince Dailey 1864 1 1890 1890 0 64 246 41 71 0 32 17 33 .289 .373 .366 .739 0 1 7.71 2.714 2 1 0 7.0 12 0 7 0 66 Pud Galvin HOF 1856 15 1875 1892 0 731 2748 278 552 5 220 23 38 .201 .212 .261 .473 365 310 2.85 1.191 705 688 2 6003.1 6405 121 745 1807 67 Nat Jewett 1844 1 1872 1872 0 2 8 1 1 0 0 0 0 .125 .125 .125 .250
If today’s your birthday, then happy birthday to you and here’s to wishing you get (at least) two gifts from everyone. For the rest of you Merry Christmas to all, and as always thanks for reading.
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2 Responses to Baseball's Christmas Birthdays
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http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/galvipu01.shtml
Pud is a glittering example of the problem with making 300 game winners automatic. He wasn’t a great pitcher, not even close. He pitched in the Dead ball era, so his wins mean more than they would today, but he also logged 305 losses and those count more as well. His career ERA+ is 108, which ranks him #375 all time. Interesting to note he’s tied in ERA+ with Don Sutton, another mediocre pitcher who won 300 games and was inducted to the Hall. Galvin wasn’t inducted until 1965 and was done so by the veterans committee, so the ‘first 300 game winner’ was most likely his ticket in.
A bit surprised that, despite a decent representation of Latinos, there’s not one “Jesus” on this list. For many in Latin America, “Jesus” is an automatic name for a child (male and even female) born on Dec. 25 (including 2 in my wife’s family.