Tuesday, May 3, 2016

May 3

George Gore (1857)
Garry Herrmann (1859)
Eppa Rixey (1891)
Red Ruffing (1905)
Goose Tatum (1921)
Chuck Hinton (1934)
Chris Cannizzaro (1938)
Davey Lopes (1945)
Dan Iassogna (1969)
Darren Dreifort (1972)
Ryan Dempster (1977)
Ben Revere (1988)

Garry Herrmann was the president of the Cincinnati Reds from 1903-1920 and was chair of the National Commission from its creation in 1903 until the commissioner's office was created in 1920.  It is puzzling that he is not in the Hall of Fame.
Better known as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, Goose Tatum played in the Negro Leagues for several years in the 1940s.
Dan Iassogna has been a major league umpire since 1999.
Outfielder Ben Daniel Revere played for the Twins from 2010-2012.  He was born in Atlanta, went to high school in Lexington, Kentucky, and was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 2007.  He mostly rose one level at a time, playing in rookie ball in 2007, Class A in 2008, advanced A in 2009, AA in 2010, and AAA in 2011 before being called up to the big club because of injuries. He hit over .300 each minor league season, with a high of .379 in Beloit in 2008.  He hit ten triples in each of his first two seasons in the minors, but only hit four in each of the next two seasons.  He had little power and did not draw a lot of walks in the minors (his high was 40 in 2009).  He does have speed, stealing around forty bases a year in the minors.  He wasn’t terrible with Minnesota in 2011, but he wasn’t very good, either, hitting .267/.310/.309.  He started 2012 in Minnesota as a fourth outfielder, but was sent back to Rochester for about a month, then came back and was a regular most of the season.  After the 2012 season, he was traded to Philadelphia for Trevor May and Vance Worley.  As a Twin, he hit .278/.319/.323 with 74 stolen bases in 254 games.  Installed as the regular center fielder for the Phillies, he was hitting .305 in mid-July of 2013 when an injury ended his season.  He was back as the regular center fielder in 2014 and hit .306. He was doing about the same in 2015 when he was traded to Toronto at the end of July.  At the end of the season he was traded to Washington, and at this point has missed almost all of the 2016 season with a rib cage injury, though he has started a rehab stint.  He turns twenty-eight today, and it appears that what he is, is what he's going to be:  a fine defensive player who hits for a high average and steals bases, but does little else.  He's fun to watch, though, and there are players who have had long major league careers with that skill set.  As long as he continues to bat close to .300, which he's done since 2012, he is likely to continue to have a regular job in the big leagues.  If he stops doing that, though, he may fade rather quickly.


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