Today In Brewer History: Happy Birthday, Don McMahon

On this day in 1930 Don McMahon was born in Brooklyn, New York. He signed with the Boston Braves as an amateur free agent in 1950 but missed almost two full years while serving in the military, and by the time he made his major league debut in 1957 the Braves had already moved to Milwaukee.

McMahon was thrust into a pennant race in his major league debut season in 1957 and was up to the challenge, posting a 1.54 ERA in 32 relief appearances during the regular season and throwing five scoreless innings as the Braves beat the Yankees in the World Series. All told he posted a 3.34 ERA over 233 relief outings as a Brave, was an NL All Star in 1958 and led all of baseball with 49 games finished and 19 saves in 1959.

The Houston Colt .45's (Astros) purchased McMahon from the Braves in 1962 but his career was far from over: He went on to pitch 18 major league seasons as a member of seven teams. When he retired following the 1974 season his 874 pitching appearances were the third most in major league history.

McMahon died of a heart attack in 1987 or he would have turned 83 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:

• 2009 Brewer Jason Bourgeois, who turns 31.
• 1995-96 Brewer Kevin Wickander, who turns 48. We covered his birthday in this space last year.
  
• Daryl Boston, 2008 inductee into the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame. He turns 50.
• 1973 Brewer Ken Reynolds, who turns 66.