Jersey Born - My Birthday Edition

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

With today, May 4, being my birthday, I thought I would take a selfish look at what Jersey Born players share my birthday. I only found TWO.



Joe Borowski (Bayonne, NJ) b.1971

Cubs/Indians/Marlins/Orioles/NYY/TBD/Atlanta

Career Highlights: Has a 1-0 post season record with 3 saves in 11 games with Cleveland and Chicago (N). Lead the AL in saves with 45 in 2007 while with the Indians.

Frank Bruggy (Elizabeth, NJ) b. 1891

Catcher - Athletics/Phillies/Reds 1921-25

Career Highlights: Went 2-5 in his ML debut for the Phillies versus the NY Giants. Also in the lineup that day was fellow Jersey Born player Dots Miller (1B), Casey Stengal (RF), Cy Williams (CF) and Irish Meusel (RF).


 

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.


George Case (Trenton, NJ) Peddie School
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/casege01.shtml 

Outfielder - Senators/Indians 1937-1947
Career Highlights: Case was a 3-time All-Star who lead AL in stolen bases 6 times. In a July 4, 1940 doubleheader at home in Washington against the Philadelphia A's, Case was 9-10 at the plate. His average went from .287 to .307 as a result.

Jersey Born - Father and Son Edition

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Bill Laxton (Camden, NJ) Padres/Mariners/Tigers/Phillies/Indians 1970-1977

Brett Laxton (Stratford, NJ) Royals/Athletics 1999-2000

Career Highlights (Dad): Was traded from PIT to PHL with Don Money and Woodie Fryman for Jim Bunning; Traded from the Mets with Rusty Staub to DET for Mickey Lolich. In ML debut against first ever batter, he hit Richie Hebner with a pitch.   

Career Lowlight (Son): In ML debut (6/21/1999) against Detroit, entered with bases loaded and threw a wild pitch to allow Luis Polonia to score and the next batter, Juan Encarnacion, hit a SF to allow another run to score. He then struck out Dean Palmer to end the inning. He was later dealt to KC for Jeremy Giambi.

Jersey Born - Military Brats Born

Some of our Jersey Born players are from military families and merely were born in our great state while their family was serving our country.

Rich Croushore (Lakehurst, NJ) Mount Vernon, TX H.S.
Cardinals/Rockies/RedSox 1998-2000

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/crousri01.shtml 

Career Highlights: Gave up a triple to Mike Piazza, the fifth batter in his MLB debut, that drove in 2 runs. These were 2 of the 5 runs Piazza drove in during his brief stint in Miami.

Croushore was 2-4 in his career at the plate.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Johnny Briggs (Paterson, NJ) Eastside HS
Phillies/Brewers/Twins 1964-1975

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/briggjo02.shtml 

Career Lowlight: Has the lowest career batting average of any NJ born player with over 1,000 hits (.253)

Career Highlight: After being traded by the Phillies early in 1971 to the Brewers, he hit 21 HR in only 375 ABs.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Barney Schultz (Burlington, NJ) Burlington HS
Cubs/Cardinals/Tigers 1955-1965

Career Highlights: Pitching for St. Louis, went 3 innings for the save in Game 1 of the 1964 World Series vs the Yankees. Every game regular season game he pitched was in relief.  

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Bill (Froggy) Hands (Hackensack, NJ) Rutherford High School

Cubs/Twins/Rangers/Giants 1965-1975

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/handsbi01.shtml#trans 

Career Highlights: Won 20 games for the 1969 Cubs and cannot be blamed for the Chicago collapse, as he went 4-3 in September-October with 5 CG. Cubbies scored only 3 runs in those losses as he posted a 2.62 ERA in those losses.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Leon "Goose" Goslin (Salem, NJ) Senators/Tigers/Browns 1921-1938

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gosligo01.shtml 

Career Highlights: First Jersey Born player born in the 20th century in MLB history with any significant impact. Had 100 or RBI in 12 seasons with a career batting average of .316. Won batting title in 1928 for while playing LF for the Washington Senators.
Goslin appeared in 5 World Series (3 with WAS and 2 with DET). In the 1924 WS, he had 3 HR, 7 RBI and 11 hits as the Senators beat the Giants in 7 games. In Game 4, Goose was 4-4 with 4 RBI.  

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

John "Dots" Miller (Kearny, NJ) Pirates/Cardinals/Phillies 1909-1921

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/milledo02.shtml 

Career Highlights: Miller had 4 RBI and 3 SB in the 1909 World Series as a member of the winning Pittsburgh Pirates.

Reportedly, he got the nickname "Dots" after someone asked Miller's thick-accented teammate Honus Wagner where they could find John Miller. Wagner pointed to Miller and replied, "Dots (That's) Miller."

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Jack Armstrong (Englewood, NJ) Neptune, NJ High School Reds/Marlins/Indians/Rangers 1988-1994

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/armstja01.shtml

Career Highlights: Started the 1990 All-Star Game in Wrigley Field and had 2 K's and gave up 1 hit. In the 1990 World Series for the victorious Reds, Armstrong pitched 3 scoreless innings against Oakland in Game 2. With Cincinnati was down 4-3, he kept the Reds in the game pitching 3 scoreless innings. In the 7th, he struck out Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Another first Jersey Born category to be profiled, a manager.

Jack McKeon "Trader Jack" (South Amboy, NJ) KC/OAK/SDP/CIN/FLA 1973-2011
http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/mckeoja99.shtml

Career Highlights: Beat the New York Yankees in six games to win the 2003 World Series. Managed his son-in-law Greg Booker when with the Padres. McKeon's overall winning percentage is .515.

McKeon got his nickname while holding the position of GM for the Padres for ten years. He was known for quickly turning around teams by utilizing many trades.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Here is our first Hall of Famer to be profiled on Jersey Born.

Joe "Ducky" Medwick (Carteret, NJ) Cardinals/Dodgers/Giants/Braves 1932-1948
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/medwijo01.shtml 

Career Highlights: It is difficult to highlight an all-time great in a few words, but here we go. His MVP year of 1937 was as good a year as you can have .374 avg 31 HR 154 RBI.

Ducky had 11 hits in the 1934 WS for the victorious Cardinals against Detroit and was famously removed from a blowout win in Game 7 by Commissioner Landis for his own safety after Medwick kind of went "Jersey" on the Tiger 3B Marv Owen, as Ducky tripled.

Medwick was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968, his final year of eligibility.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

The O'Brien Twins (South Amboy, NJ)

Eddie O'Brien - Pirates 1953-1958
Johnny O'Brien - Pirates/Braves/Cardinals 1953-1959

Career Highlights: Brothers became the first twins in major league history to play for the same team in the same game. They were bonus babies, which meant they went straight to the major league roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates, bypassing the minors after attending Seattle University.

The O'Briens were regulars in the 1953 season, Johnny served in the military in 1954 and Eddie did not play at all (bonus baby rule was you have to be on a roster, but do not have to play).

Johnny dabbled as a pitcher, appearing in 25 games with a 5.61 ERA and 1-3 record.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Ray Narleski (Camden, NJ)
Indians/Tigers 1954-1959
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/narlera01.shtml 

Career Highlights: In 1955 for Cleveland, was 9-1, with an AL leading 60 games pitched and lead the league in saves, with 19. Pitched in 1954 World Series against New York Giants, giving up two runs in two appearances. Was involved in a five-player trade that included Billy Martin.

His father, Bill, played a couple of seasons with the Red Sox (1929-30).

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.



Joe Cunningham (Paterson, NJ)
Cardinals/WhiteSox/Senators 1954-1966

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cunnijo01.shtml

Career Highlights: In 1959, finished second to Hank Aaron in the NL batting race, 10 points behind Hammerin' Hank (.355 to .345), but lead the league in OBP (.453)

From 1957-62, played in an average of 133 games/year and batted .305 over that period.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.

Brant Alyea (Passaic, NJ)
Twins/Senators/Athletics/Cardinals 1965-1972

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/alyeabr01.shtml

Career Highlight: Cover Boy on Sporting News.
Started two games and appeared in the third of the 1970 LCS as the starting LF and PH for the Minnesota twins going 0-7 with 2 BB annd 3 K's. Was traded by Oakland to St. Louis in May '72 only to be returned by the the Cards in August. 

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.


Allie Clark (South Amboy, NJ)
Indians/Athletics/Yankees/WhiteSox 1947-1953

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clarkal01.shtml

Career Highlights: Was member of back-to-back World Series champions.

In 1947, he pinched hit for Yogi Berra in Game 7 with a single, driving in Phil Rizzuto.

The following season, he was a member of the last Cleveland Indians team to win the World Series. In his only appearance, he was 0-3, but had a sac bunt that lead to a run in a Game 2 victory.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.



Danny O'Connell (Hoboken, NJ)
Braves/Giants/Pirates/Senators 1950-1962

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/o'conda02.shtml

Career Highlight: As a rookie in 1950, became a starting infielder for the Pirates and doubled and drove in Ralph Kiner in his first MLB at-bat.

His .292 avg had him finish 3rd in the NL ROY voting.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.


John Orsino (Teaneck, NJ)

Orioles/Giants/Senators 1961-1967
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/orsinjo01.shtml

Career Highlight: With SF, pinched hit for Don Larsen in the 1962 World Series and grounded into a double play off Whitey Ford. Was the full-time starting catcher for the Orioles in 1963, belting 19 home runs.

Jersey Born

A look at Garden State-born Major League Baseball Players. Some you will know and some are unknown to us all, but represented Jersey in the show.


Eddie Kasko (Linden, NJ)
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kaskoed01.shtml

Reds/Cardinals/Colt.45's/Astros/Red Sox 1957-1966

Career Highlight: Was the SS for the 1961 pennant winning Reds. Batted .318 in the World Series, hitting safely in all five games.