4/4

[chicoruiz]

Reds:

Eric Valent (35) -A Red in 2003. All-time Pac-10 Home run champ, he lost most of his power when he had to start using the wooden bat.

Scott Rolen (37) -Scott was offered a basketball scholarship to Oklahoma State by the great Eddie Sutton. I think a key to our 2012 will be if we can get 100+ games out of him this season.

Others:

Ray Fosse (65) -The first player ever drafted by the Cleveland Indians. Injury-plagued career; everybody remembers the Rose collision, but another bad one was in 1974 when he fractured a vertebra trying to break up a clubhouse fight between Reggie Jackson and Bill North.

Mike Epstein (69 ) -Self-proclaimed "Superjew". For some reason, he owned Joe Niekro; in 14 plate appearances he had 7 hits (4 of them homers) and four walks.

Gil Hodges -Won the Bronze Star for courage in World War Two. A controversial omission from the HOF; it's a tough call. Very similar to Tony Perez; steady, productive 1B who was a team leader and beloved by fans (as you probably know, a number of the "Boys of Summer" are very similar to their counterparts on the BRM).

Tris Speaker -"The Gray Eagle". When I was a kid, the all-time outfield was generally considered to be Ruth, Cobb and Speaker; that's how damn old I am... Played so shallow in CF that he'd often cover second base on bunt plays, and made several unassisted double plays by coming in to catch a sinking liner and then beating the runner to second.

[gilpdawg]

I watched Rolen play hoops in high school, being the Indiana High School Hoops aficionado that I am. He was part of what later became sort of a legendary game in the state tournament, where he and another guy, and I can't remember for the life of me who, had this Bird vs. Dominique type duel in the fourth quarter, topped off by Rolen hitting a 30 footer to put the nail in the coffin. Dude could ball.

[Bob Borkowski]

Hey, chico...naming the thread title '4/4' instead of 'Birthdays: 4/4' is a stroke of genius on your part. You will get a bunch more people checking out the thread by using this title I betcha.

And then, once they see how much research you do everyday to come up with these gems, they will become converts like all of the regulars are.

Good job!

[brad1176]

I live close to where Rolen grew up, I got to see him play basketball quite a bit. When he said he was going to play baseball instead of basketball we thought he was nuts! I guess it hows how much we know!

[Scrap Irony]

Rumor has it that, had Kentucky offered a basketball scholarship, Rolen was to go that route. They didn't (thought they are his favorite college team).

[Bob Borkowski]

Gil Hodges -Won the Bronze Star for courage in World War Two. A controversial omission from the HOF; it's a tough call. Very similar to Tony Perez; steady, productive 1B who was a team leader and beloved by fans (as you probably know, a number of the "Boys of Summer" are very similar to their counterparts on the BRM).

Hodges next chance to be considered for the HOF by the Golden Era Veterans Committee is late in 2014.