Issue #496
The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!
⚾ Welcome! ⚾
Holiday season brings some pretty light days for baseball news. I didn’t see any transactions of note yesterday, so I’ll highlight instead this helpful roundup article by the MLB team beat writers: Each team's prospect to watch for 2026.
Today’s Trivia Question
One of today's Birthday Boys (see below) is Roy White. His 233 stolen bases rank sixth all-time for the New York Yankees. How many of the guys who are the top five in SB for the Yankees can you name?
Counting Down the Days to 2026
A temporary new feature here at the Baseball Buffet… players by uniform number!
We are now 5 days away from turning the page on the year. Lots of players have worn the #5 for a year or two, here or there. But here are some of the most prominent to do so for extended periods:
1B Albert Pujols - Cardinals (2001-11, 22), Angels (2012-21)
C Johnny Bench - Reds (1967-83)
3B George Brett - Royals (1975-93)
OF Joe DiMaggio - Yankees (1937-42, 46-51)
3B Brooks Robinson - Orioles (1957-77)
1B Hank Greenberg - Tigers (1934-41, 45-46), Pirates (1947)
1B Jeff Bagwell - Astros (1991-2005)
1B Freddie Freeman - Braves (2010-21), Dodgers (2022-25)
SS Lou Boudreau - Indians (1939-50)
3B David Wright - Mets (2004-2018)
OF Brian Downing - Angels (1978-90)
SS/3B Vern Stephens - Browns (1942-47), Red Sox (1948-52)
SS Nomar Garciaparra - Red Sox (1996-2004) and three other clubs
SS Corey Seager - Dodgers (2015-21), Rangers (2022-25)
3B Bill Madlock - Pirates (1979-85)
1B/3B George Scott - Red Sox (1966-71, 79), Brewers (1972-76)
OF Ron Gant - Braves (1987-93) and four other clubs
On this day in baseball history…
Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history. All quoted descriptions are from baseball-reference.com.
📅 On December 27…
1874: Cuba has its first game. “The first documented baseball game in Cuba takes place in a field known as Palmar de Junco, in the province of Matanzas. In the match, called after seven innings due to darkness, the Habana team defeats that of Matanzas with the unbalanced score of 51 to 9 runs.”
1984: The Yankees sign Ed Whitson. “Free agent pitcher Ed Whitson, who went 14-8 for the National League champion San Diego Padres, begins a nightmarish association with the New York Yankees by signing a five-year $4.4 million contract. By the middle of his second year with the club, Whitson gets so rattled in Yankee Stadium that manager Lou Piniella will refuse to use him in home games, only pitching him on the road. The Yankees will ship him back to San Diego, where he will have four more solid seasons.”
2001: The Mets trade for Mo Vaughn. “The New York Mets continue to stay busy this off-season, acquiring slugging first baseman Mo Vaughn from the Anaheim Angels in exchange for starter Kevin Appier and cash. Vaughn will join Roberto Alomar, Roger Cedeño, and Shawn Estes as the newest members of the Shea Squad.”
2004: Moises Alou joins his dad. “Free agent OF Moises Alou, who hit .293 with 39 home runs and 106 RBI for the Chicago Cubs, is signed by the San Francisco Giants to a one-year contract with an option for a second year. It will be the second time Alou will be managed by his dad Felipe as he did playing with the Montreal Expos from 1992 to 1996.”
2012: Hideki Matsui retires. “OF Hideki Matsui announces his retirement at a press conference in New York, NY. He had hit .304 with 332 home runs as a three-time MVP during his prime in Japan, then added 175 homers, a World Series MVP award and a .282 average winding down his career in the US.”
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Cole Hamels (1983)
First-round draft pick (17th overall) in 2002 by the Phillies
15-year major league pitching career, spanning from 2006-2020, the first 10 years with the Phillies, then finishing his career mostly with the Rangers and Cubs
Four-time All-Star
Had 200+ K in five seasons
Was NLCS MVP and World Series MVP in 2008 when the Phillies won the championship over the Rays
Overall had a 163-122 (.572) record, 2,560 strikeouts, a 3.43 ERA, and a 123 ERA+
Roy White (1943)
15-year major league career, spanning from 1965-1979, all with the New York Yankees
Two-time All-Star, and received down ballot AL MVP votes four times
Had a modest combination of power and speed, with 15+ HR four times and 20+ SB four times with a high of 31 SB in 1976
Led the AL with 99 walks in 1972 and 104 runs in 1976
Was a good defensive LF, leading the AL in LF assists twice, LF putouts eight times, and LF fielding percentage five times
Overall had 160 HR, 233 SB, 964 runs, a .271/.360/.404 slash line, and a 121 OPS+
Michael Bourn (1982)
11-year major league career, spanning from 2006-2016, for the Astros, Indians, Braves, and three other clubs
Two-time All-Star, and was a good defensive CF and won two Gold Glove Awards
A speedster on the bases, he had 40+ SB five times, including leading the NL each year from 2009-2011 with SB totals of 61, 52, and 61.
Didn't have much power, with only 36 HR in 5,323 plate appearances, but had 10+ triples four times including leading the AL with 10 triples in 2014
Overall he had 341 SB, a .266 average, and a .329 OBP
Rick Porcello (1988)
First-round draft pick (27th overall) in 2007 by the Tigers
12-year major league pitching career, spanning from 2009-2020, mostly with the Tigers and Red Sox
Won 14+ games six times, including 2016 when he had his career year going 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA and 189 strikeouts for the Tigers, taking home the AL Cy Young Award
Overall had a 150-125 (.545) record, a 4.40 ERA, and a 99 ERA+
Dean Palmer (1968)
14-year major league career, spanning from 1989-2003, all with the Rangers, Tigers, and Royals
A slugging 3B, he had 20+ HR seven times, with highs of 38 HR in 1996 and 1999
Had 100+ RBI four times, including in his one All-Star campaign when he posted a career-high 119 RBI to go with 34 HR and a .278 average
Overall had 275 HR, a .251/.324/.472 slash line, and a 107 OPS+
Craig Reynolds (1952)
First-round draft pick (22nd overall) in 1971 by the Pirates
15-year major league career, spanning from 1975-1989, mostly with the Astros
Was a fairly good defensive SS, and an All-Star in both 1978 when he hit a career-high .292, and then again in 1979 when he had a career-high 12 SB
He didn't have much power with only 42 HR in 4,863 plate appearances, but did lead the NL in strike-shortened 1981 with 12 triples in only 87 games
Currently active players who were born on December 27 include Jordan Montgomery (free agent), CHW Tim Elko, TEX Jonah Bride, Brady Feigl (free agent), Kyle Tyler (free agent), and Dylan Floro (free agent).
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of the new features I’m starting up during the offseason is a baseball-related quote of the day. These will include quotes by players or managers that are insightful or funny, and interesting quotes from others about the game itself. I’ll try to mix it up over time.
I thought I’d circle back to one of yesterday’s Birthday Boys, Hall of Famer Nellie Fox, for today’s batch of quotes (which were sourced from The Baseball Almanac):
"All small men, all non-power hitters, must learn to bunt well. It's half your game."
"I don't think anyone ever liked to play more than I did."
"If a ballplayer is satisfied, he's going to slip. You have to keep fighting to improve."
"(Jim) Landis is such a good player because he plays every day as if he expects to be sent to the minors next week."
"(Al) Lopez is a great believer in speed and hustle, in the go-go style of baseball. No other manager is so determined a foe of stodgy baseball, lack of hustle and slipshod practices and so powerful an advocate of the unexpected."
"No one had to tell me I was never going to be a home run hitter. I was hitting the same ball as the rest of the players, but when the big guys cracked one, it went out of the park. Mine went out of the infield."
Today’s Trivia Answer
Roy White had 233 stolen bases, and that ranks sixth all-time for the Yankees. Here are their top-five in SB:
358 - Derek Jeter
326 - Rickey Henderson
274 - Brett Gardner
251 - Willie Randolph
248 - Hal Chase
Good Reads
Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.
The 15 most extreme Statcast plays of the year, by David Adler at MLB, 12/26/2025
Each team's prospect to watch for 2026, by MLB writers, 12/26/2025
Best baseball scenes from non-baseball films, by Matt Monagan at MLB, 12/26/2025
Examining the underrated aspects of Ohtani's offensive greatness, by Brent Maguire at MLB, 12/26/2025
See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!
How did you like this edition of Now Taking the Field?
Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.
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