Belated birthday to the first DH

"The DH, whether you like or don't like it, it's always going to be there."
--Ron Blomberg, the first DH in baseball history

Evidently it was Ron Blomberg's birthday the other day (whoops, I forgot to send a card!). Blomberg, in case you forgot, is the man who clearly loves his little claim to fame as baseball's first DH, way back in on April 6, 1973.

"I jumped in the Hall of Fame through the back door rather than the front door, and I'm just fine with that," he said last week in a telephone interview from his home in Roswell, Ga. "Because this is something they can never take away from me. The DH, whether you like or don't like it, it's always going to be there."

I think his embracing his unique position in the game is pretty cool.

What I also learned about Blomberg:

The Yankees made him the first overall pick in the 1967 draft, giving him an opportunity that was worthy enough to pass up a basketball scholarship to UCLA to play under John Wooden. He said 125 colleges showed interest in him for basketball and another 140 schools contacted him for football.

(Thanks, Dad, for the tip)