Happy birthday to Logan Forsythe and five former Friars. It's entirely possible that the list of players born on this date could become six former Friars before too long, seeing as how the Yankees have been sniffing around about Forsythe.
A supplemental first-rounder in 2008, the 27-year-old Forsythe has appeared in 228 games for the Padres over the past three seasons. He's been plagued with injuries, spending time on the disabled list all three years for various maladies including knee surgery, a broken bone in his foot, and plantar fasciitis. Forsythe hit well in a career-high 91 games in 2012, but sandwiched it with two disappointing odd years. To date, he has hit .241/ .310/ .349 in 685 at-bats, and has 28 doubles, five triples, and a dozen homers under his belt. Forsythe has stolen 17 bases while being caught only four times - a feat that's even more impressive when you consider how ravaged the lower half of his body has been.
The quintet of Padres players born on January 14 who preceded Forsythe includes:
- Starting pitcher Sonny Siebert turns 77 today. A veteran of 12 major league seasons, Siebert joined the Padres before the 1975 season and started six of his 399 career games before being traded to Oakland for Ted Kubiak. He was 3-2 with a 4.39 ERA during his brief stay in San Diego.
- Infielder Dave Campbell is now 72 years old. "Soup" played all but 100 of his 428 career games with the early-'70s Padres. He was the team's starting second baseman in 1970 before settling into a utility role. He's best known for his second career as a broadcaster. Campbell spent 11 years in the booth for the Padres before he was fired after the 1988 season, and went on to be a fixture at ESPN for 20 years.
- Utilityman Derrel Thomas has 63 candles to contend with. He spent four seasons with the Padres, first from 1972 through 1974, and then again in 1978. The light-hitting Thomas stuck around the majors for 15 seasons on the strength of his versatility; he played at least six games at every position except pitcher.
- Left-handed reliever Danny Boone is turning 60. Boone posted a 2.84 ERA in 63.1 innings over 37 games as a rookie for the Padres in 1981. The descendent of the famed frontiersman of the same name split the next season between San Diego and Houston, spent the entirety of both 1983 and '84 in AAA, and was out of the game hanging drywall until resurfacing in 1990 to sign with the Orioles. He pitched a no-hitter for AAA Rochester, earned a September roster spot with Baltimore, and pitched the final four games of his big league career. He attempted another comeback in 1995 as a replacement player for the Padres, but thankfully the strike was ended before his services were needed.
- Shortstop Gary Green is the youngest of the bunch, turning a mere 52. He was a first-round pick in 1984 and made his debut with San Diego in 1986, batting .212/ .235/ .242 in 33 at-bats over 13 games. Green made it back for 15 more games in 1989 before the Padres lost him to the Rangers in the minor league draft. He got 88 at-bats in a career-high 62 games for Texas in 1990, and played in only eight games each of the next two seasons. His career had such a little impact on me that I forgot he was a Padre until after I wrote the original version of this post. His name looked familiar, so I checked him out, stood corrected, and came back here to blurb him and change all mentions of "four" to "five".
Have a good one, gentlemen. Here's to many more.
