Birthdays: 1/6

[chicoruiz]

Reds:

Norm Charlton (49) -I remember that he has three degrees from Rice, but I forget what degrees. A one-time teammate of recent Red Arthur Rhodes.

Don Gullett (61) -All-state in three sports in high school, he once scored 72 points in a football game and once pitched a seven-inning perfect game in which he struck out 20 of the 21 batters he faced.

Others:

Ruben Amaro (76) -Shared the Phillie shortstop job with Bobby Wine in the early 1960s. Father of the current GM of the same name.

Ralph Branca (86) -One of the reasons I enjoy this project is finding out more about guys like Branca, who I only knew as the "shot heard 'round the world" guy. He was Jewish on his mother's side, and had an aunt and uncle who died at Auschwitz. He and Pee Wee Reese were the two Dodgers that took the lead in welcoming Jackie Robinson to the club. After his playing days, he appeared as a contestant on the game show Concentration, and reigned as champion for 17 days. And one more interesting thing: before the fateful 1951 season he changed his uniform number to 13, and posed for pictures pointing to his number and holding a black cat. Don't tempt fate, Ralph...

Early Wynn -The last active player to have played in the 1930s. Had the most strikeouts of any pitcher in the 1950s. Won a Cy Young Award at age 39. A hard-nosed sumbuck who'd knock you down during batting practice if he caught you digging in.

[Bob Borkowski]

Reds:

Don Gullett (61) -All-state in three sports in high school, he once scored 72 points in a football game and once pitched a seven-inning perfect game in which he struck out 20 of the 21 batters he faced.

Just think about this for a minute...Gullett was in the major leagues for only 9 seasons but he was the member of 6 World Series teams (1970, '72, '75, '76, '77, '78) including, of course, 4 consectutive World Champions ('75 and '76 with the Reds and '77 and '78 with the Yankees).