Happy 92nd birthday to the late, great Hank Aaron. Gets my vote for greatest hitter ever. He never played for the Dodgers but he hit 95 homers against them - second most against any team. And he homered the most off 2 Dodger pitchers - Don Drysdale (17) and Claude Osteen (14).
Happy 98th birthday to the late Don Hoak. Nicknamed “Tiger,” Hoak played 2 of his 11 MLB seasons for Brooklyn. He earned WS rings with the 1955 Dodgers and 1960 Pirates. He later worked as a broadcaster and coach before passing away from a heart attack at age 41.
Happy 46th birthday to Steve Schmoll. A University of Maryland, College Park alumnus, Schmoll signed with the Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 2003 and made his big league debut with LA in 2005. He appeared in all 48 games of his MLB career that season, picking up 3 saves.
Happy 67th birthday to Pat Perry. Perry played 6 years in the MLB with 4 different clubs, spending his final big league season with the Dodgers in 1990. Used exclusively as a reliever, he finished his career with 6 saves and won more than he lost with a 12-10 record.
Happy 132nd birthday to the late Norman Rockwell. Rockwell was a beloved painter of Americana whose art often featured baseball. Some of his most popular works were found on Saturday Evening Post covers, such as his 1949 painting “Bottom of the 6th” that included the Dodgers.
Happy 123rd birthday to the late Joe Stripp. Stripp was an 11 year big league veteran who played 6 of those seasons with Brooklyn during the 1930s - an notably rough era in Dodger history. He was a solid hitter, though, batting above .300 in 4 of those years.
