Blow Out the Candles September 18

Hall of Fame Cubs 2nd baseman Ryne Sandberg is celebrating his 53rd birthday today.

 1983 Topps #83

Career highlights and awards
10× All-Star selection (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987,1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993)
9× Gold Glove Award winner (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991)
7× Silver Slugger Award winner (1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992)
1984 NL MVP
1990 Home Run Derby winner
Chicago Cubs #23 retired

 

Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman is celebrating his 79th birthday today.

 2008 UD Masterpieces #44

Scotty Bowman is the winningest coach in NHL history with 1,244 victories and an astounding .654 winning percentage. His nine Stanley Cup bench wins ranks first all-time. 

Voice actress June Foray is celebrating her 95th birthday today.

Of her many characters I most associate June with:

CRUNCH CREW!

Here's two linebackers who are in the Hall of Fame but before that they were both members of the "CRUNCH CREW!".

1990 Score #554

1990 Score #552

Blow Out the Candles September 16

Milwaukee Brewers Hall of Famer  Robin Yount is celebrating his 57th birthday today.

Career statistics
Batting average .285
Hits 3,142
Home runs 251
Runs batted in 1,406
Career highlights and awards
3× All-Star (1980, 1982, 1983)
Gold Glove Award winner (1982)
3× Silver Slugger Award winner (1980, 1982, 1989)
2× AL MVP (1982, 1989)
Milwaukee Brewers #19 retired
Milwaukee Brewers all time hit leader
Milwaukee Brewers all time home run leader

Expos great Tim Raines is celebrating his 53rd birthday today.

Career highlights and awards
7× All-Star selection (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984,1985, 1986, 1987)
3× World Series champion (1996, 1998, 2005)
Silver Slugger Award winner (1986)
1986 NL batting title
1987 MLB All-Star Game MVP
Montreal Expos #30 retired

Pitcher Orel Hershiser is celebrating his 54th birthday today.

Career statistics
Win–loss record 204–150
Earned run average 3.48
Strikeouts 2,014

Career highlights and awards

3× All-Star (1987, 1988, 1989)
World Series champion (1988)
Gold Glove Award (1988)
Silver Slugger Award (1993)
NL Cy Young Award (1988)
World Series MVP (1988)
Babe Ruth Award (1988)
NLCS MVP (1988)
ALCS MVP (1995)

Random Relic

Hard to believe that relic cards have been around now for more than a decade.

This shiny beauty celebrates the Human Vacuum Cleaner on his 1964 card.

 2002 Topps ArchivesReserve Reprint #TRR-BR

I've mentioned this before but on theses reprints Topps chose to include the stats from the year the card came out.  A couple of notable stats.  Check out how many games Brooks appeared in from 1960 to 1964, just about every one.  I'm not sure what happened in 1963 but Brooks stepped it up in 64 raising his average  by 66 points and his power numbers substantially.  The Orioles won 97 games but finished in third place, a game behind the White Sox and two in back of the Yankees.

Blow Out the Candles September 15

Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino is celebrating his 51st birthday today.

 1984 Topps #123

Career NFL statistics
Pass attempts 8,358
Pass completions 4,967
Percentage 59.4
TD-INT 420-252
Passing yards 61,361
QB Rating 86.4

Dan with favorite targets Clayton and Duper

Hall of Fame defensive tackle, actor and broadcaster Merlin Olsen was born in Logan, Utah on this date in 1940.

1969 Topps #34

 1972 Topps #181

Career highlights and awards
14× Pro Bowl (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966,1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973,1974, 1975)
6× First-team All-Pro selection (1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)
3× Second-team All-Pro selection (1965,1973, 1974)
NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
NFL 1970s All-Decade Team
NFL 1960s All-Decade Team
1974 Bert Bell Award
1968 Pro Bowl MVP
1962 NFL Rookie of the Year
1961 Outland Trophy
2× All-American (1960, 1961)
St. Louis Rams #74 Retired

The Fearsome Foursome

Lamar Lundy. Merlin Olsen, Rosie Greer, Deacon Jones

Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry is celebrating his 74th birthday today.

 1968 Topps #85

"He should be in the Hall of Fame with a tube of KY jelly attached to his plaque." - Gene Mauch

"When you walk by, he smells like a drugstore." - Billy Martin

"I'd always have it (grease( in at least two places, in case the umpires would ask me to wipe one off. I never wanted to be caught out there with anything though, it wouldn't be professional."

Former player and current Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville is celebrating his 54th birthday today.

Coach Q is very intense when game time comes:

But Q also knows how to party: