New York-Penn League Birthdays on April 27, 2019

Monongalia County Ballpark - Home of the WV Black Bears (photo by author)

There are a total of 14 birthdays today of former New York-Penn (know as PONY prior to 1957) League prospects. Here is the complete list. You can link to more information about each player by clicking on their names.

Normally, I only list one or two, but it was a slow day yesterday, so I researched the entire birthday list at Baseball Reference.

Bill Higdon (Bradford Blue Wings, 1946). Born in 1924. Died April 30, 1986. Played in 11 games for the 1949 Chicago White Sox.

Frank Wurm (Olean Oilers, 1942). Born in 1924. Died September 19, 1993. Pitched in one game for the 1944 Brooklyn Dodgers.

Fred Koenig (Hamilton Cardinals, 1951). Born in 1931. Died Januayr 12, 1993. Played 13 seasons in the minor leagues.

Credits: O-Pee-Chee via The Trading Card Database

Willie Upshaw (Oneonta Yankees, 1975). Happy 62nd birthday. Played ten seasons in the majors with the Toronto Blue Jays (1978, 1980-87) and the Cleveland Indians (1988).

Brian Giles (Little Falls Mets, 1978). Happy 59th birthday. Played six seasons in the majors with the New York Mets (1981-83), Milwaukee Brewers (1985), Chicago White Sox (1986), and Seattle Mariners (1990).

Bill Kazmierczak (Geneva Cubs, 1986). Happy 55th birthday. Played four seasons in the minor leagues.

Bob MacDonald (St. Catharines Blue Jays, 1987). Happy 54th birthday. Played six seasons in the majors with the Toronto Blue Jays (1990-92), Detroit Tigers (1993), New York Yankees (1995), New York Mets (1996).

Bob Ayrault (Batavia Clippers, 1989). Happy 53rd birthday. Played in the majors during two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies (1992-93) and the Seattle Mariners (1993).

Eric Hillman (Little Falls Mets, 1987. Happy 53rd birthday. Played three seasons for the New York Mets (1992-94)

Credits: ProCards via The Trading Card Database

Tom Singer (St. Catharines Blue Jays, 1990). Happy 50th birthday. Played five seasons in the minor leagues (1990-94).

Casey Janssen (Auburn Doubledays, 2004). Happy 38th birthday. Played nine years in the major leagues with the Toronto Blue Jay (2006-07, '09-'14) and Washington Nationals (2015).

Anthony Hewitt (Williamsport Crosscutters, 2009). Happy 30th birthday. Played eight years in the minor leagues.

Cody Dickson (Jamestown Jammers, 2013). Happy 27th birthday. Played five seasons in the minor leagues.

J.D. Davis (Tri-City ValleyCats, 2014) Happy 26th birthday. Davis is in his third year playing in the majors (Houston Astros, 2017-18) and New York Mets (2019).

Source: Baseball Refernce



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