On this day in 1942 Mike Hegan was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 18 when the Yankees signed him as an amateur free agent in 1961 and took the long road to becoming a big league regular: He had appeared in just 86 major league games over eight professional seasons when the expansion Seattle Pilots purchased him.
Hegan appeared in 95 games in the Pilots' lone season in Seattle and had what might have been his best season, hitting .292/.427/.461 over 334 plate appearances. He followed the team to Milwaukee, started at first base in the team's first game as the Brewers and stayed for a season and a half before being sold to the A's in 1971.
A few years later, however, Hegan was back. The Brewers purchased him from the Yankees again in 1974 and he played parts of his final four seasons as a part-time player in Milwaukee. On September 3, 1976 he became the first Brewer ever to hit for the cycle.
Hegan turns 70 today. With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index we'd also like to wish a happy birthday to:
- Nashville Sound Rob Wooten, who turns 27.
- 2008 Brewer CC Sabathia, who turns 32.
- 1998-2007 Brewer Geoff Jenkins, who turns 38. We covered his birthday in this space last year.
- 2001 Brewer and UW-Madison alum Lance Painter, who turns 45.
- 1961 Milwaukee Brave Moe Drabowsky, who would have turned 77.