Birthdays- 10/31

[chicoruiz]

Reds:

Ed Taubensee (42) Unusually tall for a catcher; his great year was 1999.

Mike Smith (48) -This is Texas Mike, not Mississippi Mike. I could never keep them straight. I remember one of them is famous for ordering a salad at a restaurant and asking the waitress to "put some of them neutrons on it".

Others:

Mike Napoli (30)

Steve Trachsel (41) -Sloooow-working pitcher who lasted 16 years in the bigs despite only having about three good years.

Fred McGriff (48) -"Crime Dog" hit the first home run in the Skydome.

Mickey Rivers (63) -For someone as fast as he was supposed to be, I was surprised looking at his stats how few bases he stole in most years. Now a racehorse trainer.

Ken Keltner -Cleveland 3B who made a couple of outstanding plays on DiMaggio the day his 56-game hitting streak ended.

[Bob Borkowski]

Ken Keltner -Cleveland 3B who made a couple of outstanding plays on DiMaggio the day his 56-game hitting streak ended.

In 1938, as part of a publicity stunt by the 'Come to Cleveland Committee', Indians' catchers Frankie Pytlak and Hank Helf successfully caught baseballs dropped by Keltner from Cleveland's 708-foot-tall Terminal Tower. This feat broke the 555-foot 30-year-old record set by Washington Senator catcher Gabby Street at the Washington Monument.