Also of note: Lefty Russell, the other reliever that let the Highlanders back into the game on May 3, 1912, was out of the majors for good by the end of the month. Both Russell and Salmon were 21 years old in 1912.

When the Athletics bought Russell from Baltimore for $12,000 in 1910, it was the most money ever spent in the history of professional baseball for the rights to a player. SABR has an excellent bio of Russell.

I'm not saying today's Birthday Team is shaky, but its ace starter is currently 28 years old, not injured, and in the minor leagues.

C: Eddie Perez
1B: Vic Saier
2B: Miguel Cairo
3B: Ken Oberkfell
SS: Matt Tolbert
LF: Ben Grieve
CF: Jack Tobin
RF/SP: Charlie Hickman

SP: Kevin Slowey
SP: John Tsitouris
SP: John Malarkey
SP: Howie Koplitz
RP: Joe Borowski

Manager: Rene Lachemann
Umpire: Tim Tschida
Quarterback: Rick Leach

I had a bad case of Tsitouris once, but the doctor cleared it up.

Other birthday:

National anthem performer: Dick Dale
Ken Burns talking head: George "Piffle" Will
Sideline reporter: Erin Andrews

Thursday May 4, 1871
Cleveland Forest Citys at Fort Wayne Kekiongas
The first major league game.

Quarterback: Rick Leach

Leach was indeed likely a better quarterback than he was a baseball player. Years ago the Tigers actually had their AAA team here in Evansville for several seasons and Leach played for the Triplets on his way to the big leagues. One night my friends and I ran into Leach and some teammates at a local watering hole after a game and one of the questions we asked him was whether or not he felt he made the right decision choosing baseball over football. Leach didn't hesitate at all in going with baseball, saying that he had had enough of being chased by 250 pound linemen.

he had had enough of being chased by 250 pound linemen.

250 lb linemen? Ah, for the halcyon days of youth...

Austin Jackson Development Watch: He's hitting .311/.392/.511. His walk rate is up (11.7% to 8.2% career), his K's are down (19.4% to 25.7% career) and his power is up (.200 ISO to .122 career). I'm really hoping he takes the next step forward this year, he's certainly off to the kind of start you would hope to see.

I saw Rick Leach play both sports. He was an excellent college quarterback (a contemporary, at Michigan, of Kirk Gibson at Michigan State). But I think he was going to be too small to be an NFL star, even in the days of mere 250lb. linemen. Leach was a mobile QB in an option offense at U of M, a good bit smaller than, say, Phil Simms, his contemporary and a model NFL passer.

Re: the watering hole ... one of Leach's perceived flaws was a tendency towards nightlife, wasn't it? He was IIRC charged with marijuana possession at least once, and once missed a game at Yankee Stadium after claiming he got lost on the subways, like, overnight ... Still, he played ML ball for ten years. He was a contact hitter who wouldn't embarrass you in the outfield, but unlike Gibson, Leach never made much use of his speed in baseball.

He was IIRC charged with marijuana possession at least once, and once missed a game at Yankee Stadium after claiming he got lost on the subways, like, overnight

It apparently went a little deeper than that

Link

Yeah, Leach admits that he used cocaine over the second half of his career. Linky.

Other birthday:

National anthem performer: Dick Dale
Ken Burns talking head: George "Piffle" Will
Sideline reporter: Erin Andrews

Ceremonial first pitch: Rory McIlroy.

komatsu to the twins on waivers. worth the pickup i think, though he's small potatoes.

Game of the day - not much time for recapping today, but here's what we've got:

Yesterday - Royals 4, Yankees 3. I was expecting the mutual birthday game (Reds 4, Cubs 3), which was also the only extra-inning game of the day. But the Yanks' attempted rally in the ninth (12_, nobody out) equalled the Reds' successful one in excitement, and the rest of the game was closer.

Last year's best games really deserve more effort than I can give right now, so I'll try to come back later this evening, or tomorrow if that doesn't work. But the options are either Giants 7, Mets 6 (10), or if you make a subjective adjustment for no-hitters (which is sensible), Twins 1, White Sox 0, which is actually pretty exciting even by no-hitter standards, given the 1-run margin and the 6 walks drawn by the losing team.

Figures - I have time for a GotD post today, but B-R's 5/4/12 page is rather useless at the moment, mostly because it's completely missing the Cubs-Dodgers game, but also because there's a PBP error in the White Sox-Tigers game. Think I'll wait for that to be corrected (hopefully when the site is built again tomorrow, which is usually how this goes) before actually writing it up... but the short version is, yesterday is the best day of the season so far, and by a lot. It's missing a game (and a pretty good one), and it has the #1 spot without it, by a good margin. That's in large part because of the four separate games of at least 11 innings, all of which are among the top 16 of the year to date.

So you all have that to look forward to... tomorrow, once (crosses fingers) B-R gets its stuff together.

Lefty Russell, incidentally, is on the mound for the Cubs as we speak.

Oh, good god, Livan Hernandez just earned the save vs. Colorado.

Game of the day (yesterday): A's 4, Rays 3 (12). Oakland took an early lead on a Josh Reddick home run, and extended it in the third on an RBI single from Kila Ka'aihue (which I almost, but not quite, typed correctly from memory). The Rays countered in the bottom of the third on a solo shot from Elliott Johnson, cutting their deficit in half, and put the tying run at third later in the inning; Oakland re-padded the lead on a Reddick two-out RBI single in the top of the fourth. Tampa equalized the score on a pair of leadoff homers, by Ben Zobrist in the fourth and Carlos Pena in the fifth. The A's put the go-ahead run at third with two outs in the seventh without scoring, and the Rays did the same in the ninth. The tenth saw the best scoring chance from either team in some time, as Oakland loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batsman before stranding all three runners on a strikeout and groundout. Tampa picked up a leadoff double from Sean Rodriguez in the eleventh, and he moved to third on a sacrifice; that brought Johnson to the plate again, and he struck out on a foul bunt (second time I've come across a foul bunt K from Johnson... this week, I think, both times with RISP) before Desmond Jennings flied out to end the inning. Jonny Gomes put the final run on the board with a leadoff homer in the top of the 12th; BJ Upton led off the bottom of the inning with a single, but was erased when Matt Joyce hit into a game-ending double play (on a 3-0 count, no less).

It's 12 innings; it has a few serious scoring threats in extras, but suffers a little from the fact that the Rays never actually led the game. Still, it comes in at 5.58, #9 on the year so far.

Game of the day (last year): Indians 4, A's 3 (12). Apparently May 5 is a good day for 4-3, 12-inning games involving the A's in which the road team wins. The A's threatened briefly in the first; they had a walk, a double, and a single, but a mid-inning GDP prevented any scoring from taking place. Meanwhile, Brett Anderson shut the Indians for a while, going 4 innings without allowing a baserunner until Travis Hafner's infield single (!) in the fifth. Oakland broke through in the bottom of the inning, as Mark Ellis singled, took second on a line drive to the second baseman (no idea how this happened, exactly... actually, the PBP makes it read like a line drive hit the pitcher, then the second baseman picked it up and threw out the hitter. But it's listed as a lineout.) Anyway, Ellis stole third and scored on a 2-out single from Daric Barton. Cleveland countered with a pair of runs in the sixth on three singles, which is also unusual; Lou Marson led off with the first one, then took third on Michael Brantley's hit, and Brantley took second on the throw to third, allowing both of them to score on Asdrubal Cabrera's ensuing knock. Cabrera moved to second on a balk, and two outs later, was thrown out at home trying to score on Hafner's single. The Indians had another chance to extend their lead when Lou Marson led off the eighth with a triple, but two groundouts sandwiched around a strikeout left him on third. The A's took advantage of this reprieve, tying the score in the bottom of the inning on two walks and a Ryan Sweeney double, and the game went to extras at 2-2.

Oakland threatened first, with two singles putting the winning run 90 feet away in the tenth, but Kurt Suzuki fouled out to extinguish the rally. No further runners reached scoring position until the Cleveland twelfth, in which Orlando Cabrera singled, moved to second on a walk by Austin Kearns, and came home on a hit by Jack Hannahan. With Marson at the plate, the Indians tried a double steal, and Kearns was caught at third; Marson then singled in Hannahan to make it a 4-2 lead. The A's didn't go quietly in the bottom of the inning; a Daric Barton walk and singles by Conor Jackson and Ryan Sweeney scored one run and put the tying run at third with two away, but Hideki Matsui popped up to preserve Cleveland's win.

The games aren't identical, but they're very similar - and so are their scores, as last year's effort gets a 5.59.

Going back to 5/4 now... the Cubs-Dodgers game has now officially appeared on B-R, but it has a PBP error, and the White Sox-Tigers PBP error that was there yesterday hasn't been fixed. Still, neither game is a GotD threat, especially not on what is by far the best day of baseball I've yet encountered in either 2011 or 2012, so let's go ahead anyway.

Game of a couple days ago (last year): Angels 5, Red Sox 3 (13). The Angels loaded the bases with one out in the first; it went walk-flyout-steal-single-walk-GDP, with the GDP of course keeping any runs from scoring. That was the only time in the first five innings that either team had a runner in scoring position, as Josh Beckett and Ervin Santana settled in for a while, before both being removed after what I assume was a rain delay in the top of the fifth (B-R doesn't indicate one way or another, but they were both dealing, particularly Santana, who hadn't allowed a hit and had struck out 7 Red Sox). The Angels got a leadoff double from Erick Aybar in the sixth, and eventually moved him to third with another runner on second, but didn't score; the Sox got Jacoby Ellsbury to third in the bottom of the inning, as he reached on a forceout, stole second, and took third on a fly ball before being left on. Los Angeheim finally scored the game's first runs in the top of the seventh on a two-run homer by Vernon Wells. Boston put the tying runs on with one out in the bottom of the inning, but couldn't take advantage; they did better in the eighth, as Jason Varitek led off with a double, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's 2-out infield single, cutting the margin to one. The Angels loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, and cashed in partially on Aybar's sac fly, giving them a two-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth.

Jed Lowrie led off with a walk against Jordan Walden, and moved to second on Mike Cameron's single. With Carl Crawford at the plate, Walden uncorked a wild pitch, and Hank Conger compounded it with a throwing error. When the dust cleared, Lowrie had scored from second, but Cameron had been thrown out trying to take third, leaving the bases empty. Crawford went on to double, and was singled in by Ellsbury, tying the score at 3 and sending the game into extras. Boston rallied slightly with two outs in the tenth, with a walk and a single putting the winning run at third; the Angels got a one-out double from Conger in the eleventh, but couldn't advance the pinch runner. The Sox tried again in the twelfth, as Marco Scutaro singled with one out, and Kevin Youkilis doubled; Scutaro tried for home and was thrown out, and after a Darnell McDonald single moved Youk to third, Lowrie grounded out to end the inning. That sent the game to the top of the thirteenth, which Howie Kendrick led off with an infield hit; two outs later, he moved to third on a Peter Bourjos single, stayed there as a walk to Aybar loaded the bases, and came home with Bourjos behind him on Bobby Abreu's 2-run hit. Boston went in order in the bottom of the inning, as Trevor Bell pitched his fourth scoreless frame of relief; Bell had .525 WPA on the day, which is nice for him.

Game-tying ninth-inning rally, multiple threats in extra innings, winning run finally comes in with two outs... yeah, this one does well. 6.80, making it the fourth-best game of 2011 to date.

Before I name the GotD from Friday, let's look at the day as a whole for a moment. It had a full slate of 15 games, which is always a good start. 10 of the 15 games were either tied or had the lead change hands in the 6th inning or later. 8 of the 15 were decided by one run. 4 went to extra innings (and one of those was decided by 2, but all extra-inning games could obviously have been decided by one run earlier in the game), all of those lasting at least 11. One of the non-extended games ended on a come-from-behind walkoff homer. The four extra-inning games are all among the top 17 of the year so far, and three of the regulation games also make the top 100.

So you know the winner is going to be a good one. And it is...

Marlins 9, Padres 8 (12) ... a game that saw the visiting team score 5 runs in the top of the first, which is not usually a recipe for thrills. [s]Florida[/s] Miami got a 3-run homer from Hanley Ramirez and a 2-run shot from [s]Mike[/s] Giancarlo Stanton that inning. The Padres loaded the bases in the bottom of the frame on two singles and a hit batter, but didn't score. On the other hand, in the third inning, they scored a lot: Will Venable walked, Chase Headley doubled him in, Nick Hundley doubled him in, and Orlando Hudson singled him in. Hudson stole second, and a pair of walks brought starting pitcher Anthony Bass to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Naturally, he tripled in three runs, giving himself a 6-5 lead. And naturally, he promptly blew said lead, as Jose Reyes doubled, took third on a groundout, and scored on a two-out balk by Bass to tie the game at 6. Remarkably, he stayed in the game; even more remarkably, his two-out single in the fifth was the first of three that combined to give San Diego the lead once more.

Bass left the game after six innings, having managed the unusual feat of posting +.351 WPA as a hitter and -.313 WPA as a pitcher in the same game. The Padres' bullpen didn't keep the lead for long; in the top of the seventh, Emilio Bonifacio walked, stole second, and scored the tying run on a 2-out single by Greg Dobbs, who took second on the throw home. This became important because Omar Infante also singled; Dobbs scored from second, and Infante also took an extra base on the throw home; this was less important in hindsight because he didn't score. San Diego put the tying run at third in the bottom of the inning on a single and a pair of wild pitches, but Miami kept its lead until Heath Bell came in to start the ninth. Bell immediately yielded doubles to Jesus Guzman and Cameron Maybin, not only tying the game but also putting the winning run in scoring position with nobody out. A sac bunt, a pair of intentional walks, and a strikeout later, Headley grounded out to defuse the threat and send the game to extras.

The first major rally of the additional innings was from the Padres in the bottom of the eleventh; Maybin walked, moved up on a sac bunt and took third on a forceout of a trail runner, but was stranded when John Baker grounded out to end the inning. Fresh with new life, the Marlins scored quickly on a leadoff walk from Ramirez and an RBI double by Infante; they threatened to score more, but pitcher Steve Cishek was allowed to hit with two runners on and one out, and bunted into a force to defuse the rally. He made up for it with his third consecutive scoreless inning in the bottom of the twelfth, stranding the tying run in scoring position to nail down the win.

Big early comeback, 6 total instances of a team either rallying to tie or taking the lead, a ninth inning comeback that ties the game and almost wins it, and extras? Yes, please. 6.43, the #5 game of 2012 to date.