Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

If your birthday is Friday the 17th , you share it with Carlos Pena .  The power-hitting 1st baseman, who peaked with a 46-homer season with the '07 Rays, is now a top commentator for MLB Network. There's also Ben Gamel .   Once a top Yankees prospect, he's bounced between six big league clubs, most recently the Padres.  Unable to land an MLB roster spot this spring, he's now enjoying a big season for the Mets AAA club in Syracuse, where he's hitting over .300 with an OPS above 1.0. Gamel and Pena share their birthday with the late Negro Leagues legend Cool Papa Bell . Onto Saturday the 18th , with Mister October: Reggie Jackson crushed 563 home runs over 21 seasons with a knack for grabbing the headlines.  The slugging star of the A's early '70s dynasty, he was among the first of the stars to take advantage of free agency, jumping to the Yankees in 1977 just in time to clash with manager Billy Martin.  While that disfunctional relationship -- co-starring

Last night's news from Binghamton was mostly encouraging for Mets fans.  Pitcher David Peterson , rehabbing from hip surgery, tossed 5-1/3 shutout innings with eight strikeouts against the Orioles AA club, while top prospect Ryan Clifford (below) made his first appearance with the Rumble Ponies after being promoted from High-A Brooklyn.  While he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, the Mets wanted the Raleigh, North Carolina native to face better competition -- even though he won't turn 21 until late July. While Clifford has played a lot of 1st base, manager Reid Brignac told me before the game, he plans to rotate his the lefty hitter between 1st and the outfield. Back to Peterson, he expects to make two more rehab starts before his time on the 60-day Injured List runs out.  He told reporters he thinks his next one will be Sunday in Syracuse.  

After Sunday night's walk-off homer to beat the Braves, I looked for the right photo of Brandon Nimmo to use -- and this one jumped out at me!  From the March 9th Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals, the Mets outfielder hints at that famous image of Babe Ruth from the 1932 World Series.  Pointing to the outfield to say, "This pitch is going there."  It didn't happen back on that warm March day... but it seemed so right on the morning after his game winning blast off Alan Minter. (Below: a more recent image of Nimmo, in action against the Cubs earlier this month.)  

If  you were born on May 10th , you share this day with a likely future Hall of Famer: Royals catcher Salvador Perez .  The 2015 World Series MVP remains a top receiver and clutch hitter.  With 254 career homers, he stands a good chance of reaching 300.  And his eight all star game appearances (in 12 full seasons) are more than such legends as Roy Campanella, Yadier Molina and Elston Howard.   Also born on 5/10 a pair of familiar faces from the 1960s: the longtime White Sox outfielder Ken Berry , and original New York Met Jim Hickman . Saturday May 11th starts with  Miguel Sano .  The Dominican-born power hitter crushed 25 or more home runs in four of his first six seasons.  But knee problems ended his time with the Twins.  After sitting out 2023, he returned to the majors this year with the Angels. Joining him in the May 11th birthday circle:  Walt Terrell , who won 111 games over 11 years, where he pitched for five teams -- including both New York clubs.  He came to the Mets from Tex

May 7th, 2010 : 47-year-old Jamie Moyer becomes the oldest pitcher ever to throw a complete-game shutout, holding the Braves to two hits (and no walks) in a 7-0 Phillies victory .    Jayson Werth's three-run 3rd inning homer opened the scoring.  Raul Ibanez and Wilson Valdez each drive in a pair in the Phils four-run 5th. Before a Citizens Bank Park crowd of 45, 349, Moyer ends his masterpiece with a 1-2-3 top of the 9th, getting Omar Infante to ground out weakly to shortstop Valdez for the game's final out.  

In a season without a lot of good news so far for Mets fans, last week offered encouragement from a fresh face and a familiar one : Christian Scott   made a splash in his big league debut.  After impressing over the first month at AAA Syracuse, the South Florida native threw 6-2/3 innings of one-run ball Saturday night  against the perennial AL contenders, Tampa Bay.  He's virtually assured of making another start in a few days and, with ace Kodai Senga sidelined a few more weeks, will get the chance to give Mets fans a sense of hope for the future.   (Below:) Scott on the mount against Columbus on April 28th, in what might turn out to be his final minor league start. Thursday afternoon, Francisco Lindor came off the bench to provide a pair of two-run doubles as the Mets came from behind and beat the Cubs 7-6 in 10 innings.  After starting the day sidelined with flu-like symptoms that also affected his wife and daughter, the Mets shortstop entered the game in the 6th inning -- the

They begin on Friday the 3rd with Davey Lopes , the 2nd baseman in the most durable infield in baseball history.  Along with 3rd baseman Ron Cey, shortstop Bill Russell and 1st baseman Steve Garvey, they played together for a record 810 games over 8-1/2 seasons between 1973 and '81.  A reliable base stealer, he swiped 557 -- while his success rate of 83% ranks third behind only Tim Raines and Willie Wilson. Miguel Cairo celebrates on Saturday .  The well-traveled infielder played for nine teams over 17 seasons.  He only appeared in 29 games for the 2009 Phillies, when I snapped my only photo of him -- and he barely stayed in the image, after dropping the bat and heading to 1st base following a walk.  These days, the Venezuela native is the Nationals bench coach. Also on the May 4th birthday list: Ben Grieve , the 1998 American League Rookie of the Year who gave the A's three productive season, but faded after being traded to the Rays.  He later played for the Brewers and Cubs.

A double-dose of May Day history from baseball's most prolific leadoff hitter: May 1st, 1991 : Rickey Henderson steals 3rd base off Tim Leary of the Yankees to pass Lou Brock as baseball's alltime stolen base king.  The record-breaking 939th stolen base comes in the bottom of the 4th inning that the A's go on to win 7-4. May 1st, 1992 : Exactly a year to the day after breaking Lou Brock's career stolen base record, Henderson becomes the first major leaguer ever to reach the 1000 mark... He does it in the top of the 1st against pitcher Walt Terrell and catcher Mickey Tettleton in the A's 7-6 victory in Detroit. ( My image of Rickey is from the Yankees 2013 Old Timers Day in the Bronx. )  

Sunday was a nice day for the long ball if you root for New York's teams.  Mark Vientos (above), filling in Flushing while Starling Marte was away on bereavement leave, crushed a two-run walk off homer in the 11th to power the Mets past the Cardinals and prevent being swept over the weekend.  It's hard to say whether the heroics will do much for Vientos' Mets future.  With JD Martinez now ready to be the everyday DH, it's hard to see where the Norwalk CT native fits this club -- even though his bat was sizzling the first month of the minor league season ( .302, five homers and an OPS of .923 ) (Below:) Out in Milwaukee, Anthony Rizzo  ( seen here in 2021 ) went four-for-four, with two doubles, a single and his 300th career homer as the Yankees ran and hid from the Brewers 15-5.  He's just the 161st major leaguer to reach that milestone.  And it came at a vital time.  After showing little power the first three weeks of the season, Rizzo smacked four homers this past

If your birthday is Friday the 26th, you share it with the American League's single-season home run champ, Aaron Judge .  The Yankee captain made history the first game he played  when he followed fellow rookie Tyler Austin's homer in his debut at-bat with one of his own.  It's still the only time in more than 150 years of MLB history this has occurred. 2017's Rookie of the Year and a five-time All Star, Judge just passed Derek Jeter on the Yankees all time home run list -- and is roughly four 35-homer seasons from reaching 400.  As long as he remains healthy, he'll get there. Sharing 4/26 with Aaron Judge is onetime division rival -- and current crosstown rival -- Joey Wendle .  Best known for his four seasons (2019-'22) with Tampa Bay, he was traded just before his walk year to the Marlins, where he put up the worst numbers of his career.  Signing with the Mets last winter, he's filled in at 2nd, short and 3rd so far this season.   Saturday's birthday

It was 11 years ago tonight when Jordany Valdespin 's walk off grand slam -- the first by a Met since Kevin McReynolds in 1991 -- against Josh Wall, lifted the Amazin's to 7 - 3, 10 inning victory over the Dodgers. But things unraveled later that season for the Dominican utility player.  Immature behavior -- such as excessive home run celebrations while the club was trailing -- wore out his welcome with manager Terry Collins.  His production dropped; hitting just .188 in mid-July, he was sent down to the minors.  Three weeks later came a 50-game suspension for using performance enhancing drugs.  He never appeared with the Mets again.  After brief runs with the Marlins in 2014 and '15, Valdespin's big career was over at age 27.  

A former Met and a former Yankee returned to the majors over the weekend.  Francisco Alvarez's thumb injury -- which could sideline him until July -- led to the end of  Tomas Nido 's exile in Syracuse. Rob Refsnyder was also in AAA on April 14th, rehabbing with Worcester when I saw him play Nido and the junior Mets.  Now recovered from a fractured toe, he's gone 4 for 13 -- with three hits and a home run -- since being activated by the Red Sox. One more player worth including:  Danny Mendick , the former White Sox utilityman -- who split 2023 between the Mets and their AAA club in Syracuse -- was called back to Chicago as the weekend concluded.  The Sox were just swept in Philadelphia; their 3-18 record is the worst in the majors after the first 3-1/2 weeks of play.

  If your birthday is April 19th , you share it with Frank Viola .  A standout college pitcher for St. John's, the native New Yorker starred for the Twins for eight seasons, highlighted by being named MVP of the 1987 World Series.  Traded to the Mets three years later, he won 20 in 1990, before his numbers began to fall off.  Winding up his playing days  with the Red Sox, Rays and Reds, Voila spent several years coaching in the Mets minor league system.  My photo is from 2018, when he worked with the young pitchers at AA Binghamton. (Below:) Joe Mauer also starred for the Twins -- though his teams never reached the World Series -- and became the club's greatest home grown star, while punching his ticket to Cooperstown.  The six-time all star, three-time batting champ (and 2009 AL MVP) will be inducted this July. Saturday 's 4/20 birthday circle includes perhaps the greatest homegrown Yankee star never to make it to baseball's Fall Classic.  From 1984-'89  Don Matt

Looks like I picked the right night to see my first game this season in Binghamton.  Not only was the weather perfect (62 and sunny at gametime), but the Rumble Ponies tied a franchise record with 18 combined strikeouts, led by 10 (in five innings of middle relief) from Blade Tidwell , as they held off Reading 3-2.    Tidwell, who'll turn 23 in June, was a 2nd round pick in 2022.  Just before the season, MLB.com ranked him as the Mets 10th best prospect.  According to their TV partner, SNY, Tidwell is number-eight.