Birthdays: 4/3

[chicoruiz]

Reds:

Jay Bruce (25) -Third-youngest Red to reach 100 homers (Bench, Robby).

Alex Grammas (86) -Backup IF for the Reds in the mid-'50s, better known as the third-base coach on the Big Red Machine and a mentor to Dave Concepcion. Happy 86, Alex...

Others:

Gary Pettis (54) -Drew Stubbs minus power. Currently a Rangers coach. On his 1985 Topps baseball card, the player pictured is actually Gary's younger brother.

Harold "Gomer" Hodge -Became an early-season folk hero for the 1971 Indians with a number of timely hits in April, but couldn't make it last. Died in 2007 of Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Wally Moon (82) -The 1954 NL Rookie of the Year, which is pretty impressive when you consider that Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks were rookies that year. Had a good career with the Cards and Dodgers; made three all-star teams and scored that last run at the L.A. Coliseum. Possessor of baseball's most magnificent unibrow; it must be seen to be believed.

Art Ditmar -Soft-tossing righty with the A's and Yankees. Won the last game at Philadelphia's Shibe Park- it must have been an interesting game; Yogi Berra played third and Mantle played shortstop. In 1982, Budweiser aired a commercial in which the announcer mistakenly named Ditmar as the pitcher who gave up Mazeroski's famous homer in the 1960 World Series. Art sued Budweiser for half a million. I'm not sure how the case came out. I'll try to look it up later if I get the time.

[Nathan]

Art Ditmar -Soft-tossing righty with the A's and Yankees. Won the last game at Philadelphia's Shibe Park- it must have been an interesting game; Yogi Berra played third and Mantle played shortstop. In 1982, Budweiser aired a commercial in which the announcer mistakenly named Ditmar as the pitcher who gave up Mazeroski's famous homer in the 1960 World Series. Art sued Budweiser for half a million. I'm not sure how the case came out. I'll try to look it up later if I get the time.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/12/sp...s-lawsuit.html:

Published: October 12, 1988

Art Ditmar, the former Yankee pitcher who was mistakenly identified in a beer commercial as having given up Bill Mazeroski's World Series-winning home run for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960, lost a bid to revive his lawsuit yesterday in Washington. United States District Court Judge Alice M. Batchelder, citing a lack of jurisdiction, let stand a ruling that wrongly being branded a ''gopher ball'' pitcher generally is not a serious enough matter to sustain a libel lawsuit. Ditmar, who retired as a major leaguer in 1962 and became a recreation director in Brook Park, Ohio, sued the beer company and the advertising agency for misidentifying him for throwing a pitch delivered by a teammate, Ralph Terry. In the original broadcast, Chuck Thompson, the announcer, incorrectly said Mazeroski hit Ditmar's pitch, and the original broadcast was aired in the commercial. Ditmar said the commercial held him up to ''undeserved ridicule, humiliation and contempt.'' He said it might have cost him appearance money for playing in baseball old-timers' games and charity golf tournaments. But Judge Batchelder ruled that Ditmar failed to provide more than speculation that the commercial had caused him any financial harm. (AP)

[Bob Borkowski]

Excellent research, Nathan.

[Raisor]

Jay is 26 today

[Bob Borkowski]

Jay is 26 today

Correct.

I'm hoping that by bringing up these birthday threads again, more people can get focused in on chico's original posts from a year ago. He obviously put in a lot of time and effort to prepare them.

[Raisor]

Correct.

I'm hoping that by bringing up these birthday threads again, more people can get focused in on chico's original posts from a year ago. He obviously put in a lot of time and effort to prepare them.

oh wow, didn't realize that it was an old thread