A rare combination of power and defense behind the plate, Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez was named the American League’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2020 on this day in béisbol after missing the entire previous season with an elbow injury. A tear of the UCL in his right elbow required Tommy John surgery, but Perez bounced back quickly in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He only played in 37 of the team’s 60 games but hit .333 with 11 homers, 32 RBI and a .986 OPS. The Venezuelan native came back stronger in 2021, leading MLB with 48

Carlos Peña has been a familiar face to MLB Network viewers as a vivacious in-studio analyst for more than a decade. But the slugging first baseman was also well known to an inordinate number of fan bases, having played on eight different teams over a 14-year career. On this day in béisbol, December 9, 2010 the Dominican Republic-born, Massachusetts-bred Peña signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Cubs, hoping a monster season in Wrigley Field would lead to a long-term contract and some career stability. The lefty was coming off a four-season stint with the Tampa Bay Rays, where

It was one of the best birthdays ever for Tino Martinez: On the day he turned 28, the Seattle Mariners traded the slugging first baseman to the Yankees, who promptly signed him to a five-year, $20.25 million contract on this day in béisbol, December 7, 1995. He and his wife also welcomed their third child on this day. Martinez had the unenviable task of replacing Yankees icon Don Mattingly, who retired after the 1995 season. But Martinez soon became a fan favorite in the Bronx thanks to numbers close to Donnie Baseball in his prime: 25 homers, 117 RBI and

Mike Cuellar was a 31-year-old middle of the rotation starter for the Houston Astros when a trade to the Baltimore Orioles on this day in béisbol, December 4, 1968 transformed him into a Cy Young winner. The Cuban native was a barely .500 pitcher with a 42-41 record and decent 2.90 ERA over his first five seasons. But joining the powerhouse Birds — which also boasted a formidable rotation led by future Hall of Fame Jim Palmer and Dave McNally — made him a star. Cuellar averaged nearly 21 wins a season with a 2.99 ERA in his first six

Robinson Cano was five seasons into his 10-year, $240,000,000 contract when the Seattle Mariners’ second baseman was traded to the Mets in a salary dump deal that had closer Edwin Diaz also going to New York on this day in béisbol, December 3, 2018. Cano, 35, had some enjoyed some good years in Seattle after putting up Hall of Fame-worthy numbers in nine years with the Yankees, but he was suspended 80 games for PED use in the middle of the 2018 season. The Mariners front office was looking for some salary relief and included him with Diaz in a

Keith Hernandez was a batting champion, an NL MVP, a clubhouse leader, and a two-time World Series winner with the Cardinals and Mets during his 17-year career. But while he wasn’t a traditional slugging first baseman — he never hit more than 16 homers in a season, and only had more than 100 RBI once — it was his elite defense that made him a star. On this day in béisbol, December 2, the 24-year-old St. Louis first-sacker won the first of his 11 Gold Gloves, the sixth-best in MLB history for position players (Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson leads

After six years in the majors, Giants outfielder Matty Alou had long shown he was hardly the hitter his older brother Felipe was. So when Matty was traded to the Pirates on this day in béisbol, December 1, 1965, for a losing pitcher and a weak-hitting infielder, Pittsburgh was hardly expecting the deal to turn out to be a steal. But Matty Alou, a 25-year-old platoon player and lifetime .260 hitter to that point, paid instant dividends. In his first full season with the Bucs, he won the National League batting title with a .342 average. It was the first

Miguel Tejada was at the tail end of his controversial career when the former AL MVP shortstop signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco Giants on this day in béisbol, November 30, 2010. The Dominican native was arguably the best-hitting shortstop in the American League during his heyday, averaging 29 homers, 118 RBI and a .297 average during his prime years of 2000 to 2006 with the Athletics and the Orioles. Tejada’s later years were marred by injuries and multiple allegations of performance enhancing drug use that were never proven, though he served a one-year probation for lying to