Readers’ Research – Same Birthday Matchups
Posted by Raphy on October 22, 2010
MLB Trade Rumors has an interesting post about Robinson Cano and Darren O'Day who are both celebrating their 28 birthdays today. The article finishes with the following statement:
" Interestingly enough, Cano and O'Day have never faced each other. It seems unlikely that Ron Washington would bring the sidearmer in to face Cano, who bats left-handed, but as observers of the 2010 postseason will tell you, stranger things have happened. It'd be fitting if the two met for the first time tonight as they celebrate their 28th birthdays with the season at stake."
Cano and O'day have never faced each other. How about other players born on the same day? Have a pitcher and batter both born on the same day in the same year ever faced off? Has it ever happened on the players' birthday? I look forward to your responses.
October 22nd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
I'm sure it's happened other times, but you don't even have to look past Robinson Cano. He twice faced Carlos Torres on August 28th of this year, who was also born on the same day.
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Honorable mention for the two 1994 MVPs born the same day: Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell?
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Similarly, Rick Wilkins and Scott Servais were traded for each other (with Luis Gonzalez mixed in). Wilkins and Servais were both born on 06/04/67.
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:40 pm
It's probably more common than people think, given the logic of the "Birthday Problem".
If we knew how many distinct batters a pitcher faces each year (this might be rather low, if he pitches through the same lineups over and over), and the distribution of ages across MLB (there's maybe 15-20 years separating the oldest and youngest players, and I imagine that the distribution resembles the normal curve), that would help to solve the problem.
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Actually, ages probably aren't normally distributed, but there seems to be a large concentration of players in their middle to late 20s, no?
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Here's a few same-birthdate matchups:
-- Postseason: Pitcher Pete Schourek struck out against pitcher John Cummings (both born on 5/10/69) on Oct. 3, 1995, in game 1 of the NLDS between the Reds and Dodgers. (Schourek also batted against Cummings on July 9 that year.)
-- Pitchers Glendon Rusch and Kris Benson, both born on 11/7/74.
Benson went to bat 6 times against Rusch and went 0-5 with a sac bunt; Rusch went 2 for 6 against Benson.
-- Buck Martinez and Tom Walker, both born on 11/7/48.
-- Frank Quilici and Milt Pappas, both born 5/11/39.
-- Bob Heise and Vic Albury, born 5/12/47.
As far as the matchup occurring on their birthday, I haven't found one yet, but I've got one that twice fell just a day after their birthday:
-- Hosken Powell vs. Dennis Martinez (born 5/14/55) faced each other on 5/15/78 and 5/15/81.
Two more came within 10 days of their birthday:
-- Ken Oberkfell and Ubaldo Heredia (born 5/4/56) facing off on 5/12;
-- Bobby Witt and Bill Bean (born 5/11/64) facing off on 5/20.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Rats! Thought I had one. George "Lefty" Dockins, born 5/5/17, started for the Cardinals on 5/5/45 against the Cubs, whose regular shortstop, Lennie Merullo, also born 5/5/17, did not play between late April and mid-May. I haven't been able to find out whether Merullo was on the DL, suspended, or what.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I remember reading in a hockey preview back in the 1980s about a line where all three forwards were born on the same day...in the same hospital. It must have been on St-Denis day, because the line was called "Les 3 Denis".
Scott Servais, of course, should not be confused with Scott Service.
October 22nd, 2010 at 5:08 pm
That is amazing about Thomas and Bagwell. Who do you all think is better? It's almost too close to call...
October 22nd, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Derek Jeter and Jason Kendall were born on the same day. Obviously they can't "face" each other because they're both position players, but they've been on the same field numerous times.
How many players have been teammates with someone born on the same day, I wonder?
October 22nd, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Greg, I don't think the birthday problem is relevant. Assuming birthdays are evenly distributed, the chance that any two randomly chosen people have the same birthday (such as the two starting pitchers in any given game) is 1/365. (Ignoring leap years, but you get my point.) I just mean the same day of the year; if you include the year then the probability is considerably lower (and harder to eyeball, since birthdays of MLB players active at any one moment are surely not evenly distributed over years).
On the other hand, the birthday problem does say that for any given 25-man MLB roster, there is a better than even chance that two guys on the roster share a birthday. What's the largest number of teammates ever to share a birthday?
October 22nd, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Most of you know this, but ...
Stan Musial and Ken Griffey, Jr. were both born on November 21 (1920 and 1969, respectively) in the town of Donora, PA.
HOFer Freddie Lindstrom was also born on that day, in 1905.
October 22nd, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Okay, this is really strange:
Barry Lyons: Born June 3, 1960, in Biloxi, MS
Steve Lyons: Born June 3, 1960, in Tacoma, WA
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Fantastic sleuthing everybody, I am really impressed.
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:25 pm
In the Arizona Fall League this year, two Mesa teammates, Matt Rizzotti and Andrew Romine, were born 12/24/85, with a third, Chris Carpenter, born 12/26/85.
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Nice catch, Tuna!
There have been 14 MLB players with the last name Lyons, so the odds aren't too steep against 2 having the same birthday. But to have 2 of the 3 longest-lasting Lyonses born on the exact same date is a pretty big coincidence.
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Here's one, featuring two guys who are hardly household names: Geoff Zahn & Art Kusnyer--both born 19 December 1945--faced each other in two different games, the first on 22 September 1978, the second on 1 October, 1978. Both also played for the Angels, alas not simultaneously.
October 22nd, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Pitcher Charlie Lea and pinch-hitter Wallace Johnson were longtime teammates who shared the birthdate of Christmas Day, 1956. They were teammates on Montreal from 1981-84 and 1987.
Lea and Johnson also both played for the 1980 AA Memphis Chicks, though at different times and with vastly different fortunes. Lea was promoted to AAA after winning all 9 of his starts, with 3 shutouts, an 0.84 ERA, no HRs and 34 hits in 75 IP. Johnson, brought up to AA at the end of the year after hitting .334 in A ball, went 1 for 14.
Lea, born in Orleans, France, is one of just 9 MLB players (and 2 pitchers) from that country, according to B-R. With 62 wins and 29 hits, Lea ranks 1st and 5th in those categories among French-born major leaguers. And bringing this thread all way back around to the 2010 postseason ... The French-born leader in OPS is also the only French-born manager in MLB history, Bruce Bochy, who had a modest .685 OPS in almost 900 PAs. But although Lea started 10 games against Bochy's Padres from 1980-84, Bochy never batted against Lea.
October 22nd, 2010 at 9:17 pm
This one is just up my alley! I'm on someone else's computer right now, so I'm not as comfortable doing look-ups. I play the birthday game with 25-man rosters every so often. In fact, I did it just after the NLDS and ALDS rosters were set. Some of the 8 teams had birthday matches (but none of them had two guys born on the same date). I call these matches "twins" with a lower-case "t". But as luck would have it, the Minnesota Twins were the only one of the 8 teams that had multiple twin sets. If I were using my usual computer, I'd check the 25-man rosters of the four teams alive at this moment. (In the time it has taken me to read these messages and start this one, the Rangers have jumped to a 5-1 lead over the Yankees, so the Yankees may be done by tonight.)
Because I've memorized enough players' birthdates, I noticed right away after Roy Oswalt was traded to the Phillies that he was born on the exact same date as Aaron Rowand, Aug. 29, 1977. Although Oswalt will be facing Rowand's team tomorrow, I doubt if Rowand will come to bat against him unless the Giants run out of left-handeded pinch hitters or Torres needs to come out of the game for some reason.
The Phillies have had two pitchers born on January 27, 1983, at two different times - Gavin Floyd and Mike Zagurski. Elizardo Ramirez, who spent some time with the team between the time these guys were with the team, was born the day after. I attended my first Phillies game so long ago that the team now has someone born on that day - Antonio Bastardo, born on September 21, 1985.
Someone else mentioned Dennis Martinez. His birthday is the same day as at least one other pitcher who has thrown a perfect game - Roy Halladay.
There have only been 11 major leaguers born on February 29. But they include two players with the first name of Al short for Albert (Rosen and Autry), two with the middle name of Leonard (John Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin and Albert Leonard Rosen, who are arguably the two most famous of the Leap Year babies), and two with the last name of Long (Bill and Terrence, who are also the two most recent). Al Autry and Steve Mingori, another one born on Feb. 29, were in spring training together with the Royals at least one year in the mid-1970s, but they were never regular season teammates. Autry eventually appeared in only one major league game, which was after he got traded to the Braves.
October 22nd, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Speaking of Dec. 19 (the birthday of Zahn & Kusnyer, @17 above) --
The only HOFer with that birthday was Al Kaline, born on 1934-12-19.
Tony Taylor was born on the same day 1 year later.
Taylor and Kaline were teammates on the Tigers from 1971-73; they won the 1972 AL East title and played 4 ALCS games together.
Kaline collected 3,007 MLB hits, Taylor 2,007.
October 22nd, 2010 at 10:08 pm
And speaking of the man of the hour (sorry, NYY fans):
Colby Lewis has twice faced Humberto Quintero. Both were born on August 2, 1979.
Aug. 2 is clearly a birthday for pitchers, not hitters.
Grady Sizemore is the only accomplished hitter born on Aug. 2 (he has more HRs than all the other hitters put together), whereas there are 2 pitchers with 180+ wins (Tim Wakefield, Red Ames) and 2 more with 100+ saves (Huston Street, Tom Burgmeier).
October 22nd, 2010 at 10:47 pm
12. I believe Musial was a high school teammate of Junior's grandfather.
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Aug. 2 is clearly not good for the Yankees, either. Not only Colby Lewis' birth, but the captain's death...
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Actually, Munson died the SAME DAY Lewis was born.
October 23rd, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Thinking of December babies (re: #s 17 & 20 above), thought I'd look at Christmas Day birthdates and discovered at least one pair of Xmas-born players who faced each other as pitcher/batter. Lloyd Brown b. Dec 25, 1904 in Opa-Locka, FL (he should receive some sort of bonus based on place of birth)faced Bill "Bump" Akers (b. same date in Chattanooga, TN) on three different occasions in three different seasons. Brown, pitching for the Senators, faced Akers, playing shortstop for the Tigers, on September 18, 1929; September 20, 1930; and May 8, 1931.
October 24th, 2010 at 2:48 am
1962 WS Game 4 (10/8/62)
Oct. 20 bday matchup: Juan Marichal k's Mickey Mantle in 2 PA.
April 21 bday matchup: Duke Carmel 1 for 3 off Warren Spahn on 8/31/63.
Jan. 31 bday matchup: 9 PA for Fred Kendall off Nolan Ryan.
April 14 bday: 22 PA for David Justice off Greg Maddux
Nov. 7 bday: 29 PA for Dick Stuart off Jim Kaat.
October 24th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Wow. A lot of interesting facts! Great job guys.
October 24th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Also, I forgot to mention that I knew it was Joe Pepitone's 70th birthday a few weeks ago when a lot of people (myself included) were marking John Lennon's 70th. I had read years ago that the two of them were born on the same date, October 9, 1940.
On July 17, 2008, I visited Bethesda, MD, not far from Washington, DC, and not far from where I formerly lived. I pointed out to my companion the site of a restaurant where I had attended a party on what I remembered being the Thursday after John Lennon murdered, which would have been December 11, 1980. Later that day, I read that the Phillies had traded for Joe Blanton. When I looked up his statistics, I noted that he was born on that date about which I had been reminiscing a few hours earlier - December 11, 1980. Yes, it probably made me feel old.