On this day in 1954 Rick Manning was born in Niagara Falls, New York. The Indians made him the #2 overall pick in the 1972 draft and he played nine seasons in the outfield in Cleveland before joining the Brewers in the 1983 Gorman Thomas trade.
Manning roved the outfield for parts of five seasons as a Brewer, hitting .237/.295/.345 in 492 games. He's probably best remembered for a 1987 walkoff hit while Paul Molitor was on deck waiting for an opportunity to extend his franchise-record 39 game hitting streak. Manning appeared in just 23 more games after that and it was his final major league season.
Manning turns 58 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday to:
- 1995 Brewer Mike Thomas, who turns 43.
- 1995-97 Brewer Jamie McAndrew, who turns 45.
- Kewaunee, Wisconsin native and UW-Oshkosh alum Terry Jorgensen, who turns 46. He played three major league seasons with the Twins between 1989-93.
- 1980 Brewer John Flinn, who turns 58.
- Lamar Johnson, 2005 inductee into the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame. He turns 62.
Today is also the 41st anniversary of Darrell Porter's 1971 Brewer debut, where he became the (at the time) youngest player in franchise history. We covered that event in this space last year.