Birthdays- 10/19

[chicoruiz]

Reds:

Jeff Austin (35) -As I've said before, I was totally wrong about this guy- I was convinced he'd come around.

German Barranca (55)

Others:

Michael Young (35) A great player. His cousin was a WBO world boxing champion.

Dirty Al Gallagher (66) -Full name: Alan Mitchell Edward George Patrick Henry Gallagher. Managed in the independent leagues until recently.

Sandy Alomar (68) -Obviously Sandy Sr., the patriarch of the Alomar family.

Walt Bond -Played his entire major league career after being diagnosed with leukemia; it finally claimed him at age 29.

Fred Snodgrass -Famous for dropping a fly ball in the 1912 World Series; nobody remembers that he made a terrific catch on the very next play.

Mordecai Brown -Didn't get started till he was 26 but still won 239 games; pitched successfully in semi-pro games into his 50s.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Mordecai Brown -Didn't get started till he was 26 but still won 239 games; pitched successfully in semi-pro games into his 50s.

Happy 135th! Most here know, but for those who don't... he suffered two separate injuries to his right hand. The first and most famous trauma came when he was feeding material into the farm's feed chopper. He slipped and his hand was mangled by the knives, severing much of his index finger and damaging the others. A doctor repaired the rest of his hand as best he could. While it was still healing, the injury was further aggravated by a fall he took, which broke several finger bones. They were not re-set properly, especially the middle finger, and he kept quiet about this clumsy accident until he was well into adulthood.

He learned to pitch, as many children did, by aiming rocks at knotholes on the barn wall and other wooden surfaces. Over time, with constant practice, he developed great control. As a "bonus", the manner in which he had to grip the ball (see photo) resulted in an unusual amount of spin. This allowed him to throw an effective curve ball, and a deceptive fast ball and change-up. The extra topspin made it difficult for batters to connect solidly. In short, he "threw ground balls", and was exceptionally effective

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Mordecai_Brown_3_fingers.JPG

[chicoruiz]

Bob O'Farrell was the National League MVP in 1926, and threw Babe Ruth out at second to record the final out of the World Series that year. What Babe Ruth was doing trying to steal second with two outs in the last inning of the last game of the World Series is open to conjecture. Anyway, O'Farrell later replaced Rogers Hornsby as manager of the Cardinals, much to their relief, I'm sure...