Birthdays: 2/16

[chicoruiz]

Reds:

Tim Costo (43) -Former 1st-round pick of Cleveland. We traded Reggie Jefferson, a pretty good 1B, to get him, but he never did hit. We eventually sent him back to the Indians for Mark Lewis.

Dwayne Henry (50) -Big righthanded reliever who pitched well for us in '92 and '93. Went to Japan in '94.

Terry Crowley (65) -Pinch-hitting specialist on the BRM. Mostly an Oriole; he was the first DH in Oriole history, and he remains with the club, serving in various capacities.

Others:

Jerry Hairston Sr. (66) -One of the 3 three-generation big-league families. Like Crowley, he was mostly a pinch-hitter. Broke up a Milt Wilcox perfect game with two outs in the ninth in 1983.

Creepy Crespi -An interesting story. Crespi had a good year with the Cards in 1941 and an OK year in 1942. Then he got drafted. He was granted a deferment due to being the sole support of his mother but he refused the deferment; he said he wanted to do his part just like everyone else. He later broke his leg in the Army, then broke it again in the army hospital (he crashed his wheelchair while racing another patient). Then, to top things off, a nurse accidentally treated his bandages with boric acid that was 100 times stronger than it was supposed to be. Anyway, according to Marty Marion, Crespi ended up having 23 surgeries on his leg, and that was pretty much it for his playing career.

He was, by his calculations, a few months short of qualifying for his major league pension, so he tried to get a coaching job, but no one would hire him. He eventually became a budget analyst for McDonnell Douglass, and worked there for 20 years. When he retired from that job, he was going through some of his old paperwork and found that, lo and behold, during some of the time he thought he was on the 'retired" list, he was actually on the DL, and therefore qualified for his pension. And good for him...

[cumberlandreds]

Great story about Crespi! Most of those guys back then waived any deferment to join up. My dad did this too. He worked on a dairy farm and could have been deferred but chose not to. Good for Crespi to get that pension. Well deserved, I'm sure.

[Bob Borkowski]

Reds:

Tim Costo (43) -Former 1st-round pick of Cleveland. We traded Reggie Jefferson, a pretty good 1B, to get him, but he never did hit. We eventually sent him back to the Indians for Mark Lewis.

Dwayne Henry (50) -Big righthanded reliever who pitched well for us in '92 and '93. Went to Japan in '94.

Terry Crowley (65) -Pinch-hitting specialist on the BRM. Mostly an Oriole; he was the first DH in Oriole history, and he remains with the club, serving in various capacities.

Adding Howie Judson (87) - Howie pitched for the Reds in '53 and '54 and for the Pale Hose for several years before that. His career was pretty underwhelming but here's the thing...he, for a time, wore the wishbone 'C' on the front of his home uniform...in the 50s, no less! That's all it takes to make him a man among men in my estimation. Happy Birthday, Howie.