Among the recent news items was a clip that Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, would celebrate his 45th birthday on Sunday, December 25. That piqued my curiosity a bit and I quickly took a peak to determine who else might have a Christmas Day birthday. That is, those with a recognizable name for me. There were many who had been born on that day but almost all were not part of my memory bank. Two who are known to me are actor Humphrey Bogart and Physicist and Mathematician Sir Isaac Newton.

A case can be made that both of these famous men had a connection to baseball. For me Humphrey Bogart’s greatest quote is: “A hot dog at the game beats roast beef at the Ritz.”

Let’s face it, each and every day athletes from all sports struggle with Sir Isaac Newton’s legacy. That is, his three laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation. Players are either using his laws where they can to their advantage but even more often are struggling to overcome them.

There were not many baseball players in the list but two of those Christmas babies were household names in baseball families in their time and in my time. They are Chicago White Sox Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox and the greatest leadoff hitter in MLB history, Hall of Fame member Rickey Henderson.

I then used the Vin Scully method to dig deeper and search for the list of all those in the long history of the Dodgers who were born on Christmas Day. As they were not on the easily accessible list of famous people born on that day, I certainly did not expect to find any Dodger Hall of Fame players or even those with a household name and that suspicion was quickly confirmed.

However, I did find six who are part of Dodger history who were born on December 25, including the aforementioned Rickey Henderson. The other five are truly part of Dodger lore, two having played at least a century ago.

George Haddock (1866-1926)

George Silas Haddock, also known as “Gentleman George”, played for the Brooklyn Grooms in 1892 and 1893. Before coming to Brooklyn, the right-handed pitcher won 34 games with the Boston Reds in 1891 in the final major league season of the American Association.

With the National League and the Brooklyn Grooms in 1892 the Portsmouth, New Hampshire native posted a record of 29-13 for his team that won 95 games. He won eight games with the Grooms in 1893 before moving on the Philadelphia Phillies.

George Haddock
(Image courtesy of thedeadballera.com)

Bull Wagner (1886 – 1967)

William George Wagner, born in Lilley, Michigan, was 25 years old when he broke into the big leagues on June 2, 1913, with the Brooklyn Suberbas. The right-hander pitched for only two seasons in MLB, both with Brooklyn, winning four games over the 1913-14 seasons.

Known as “Bull”, Wagner gave up Cy Williams‘ first career home run, making him the first player in MLB history to give up a homer to someone who would eventually hit 200 or more homers. Williams finished with 251 in his career. He is the same Cy Williams that Vin Scully documented as having to face an infield shift as early as 1920.

Bull Wagner
(Image courtesy of Brooklyn Public Library)

Lloyd Brown (1904-1974)

Left-hander Lloyd Brown was born in Beeville, Texas. He played but one season with the Brooklyn Robins in 1925 as a 20-year-old. Following his debut on July 17 he appeared in 17 games for Brooklyn, starting five of them, and was 0-3, despite a relatively decent 4.12 earned run average.

Brown, nicknamed “Gimpy” went on to spent 30 years in professional baseball, including 12 major league seasons. However, he is best remembered as the pitcher who delivered the most home runs to Lou Gehrig. He served up 15 to the amazing Gehrig, two of them grand slams.

Llotd Brown
(Image courtesy of tradingcarddb.com)

Alta Cohen (1908-2003)

Alta “Schoolboy” Cohen, born in New York, was the son of a Jewish Rabbi. He played parts of three MLB seasons from 1931 through 1933, two of them with the Brooklyn Robins. He played only 10 games with the Robins as a left fielder and had but seven hits.

Cohen enjoyed a successful business career following his retirement from baseball, having founded a successful products company and served on the board of directors of both Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and the Daughters of Israel Geriatric Center. At the time of his death in 2003, he was the oldest living member of the Brooklyn Dodgers Alumni Association.

Alta Cohen
(Image courtesy of jewishbaseballmuseum.com)

Ben Chapman (1908-1993)

William Benjamin Chapman is now best remembered for his racist rant against Jackie Robinson when he managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1947. The scene is immortalized in the movie “42”.

The Nashville, Tennessee native had a good 15 year MLB career making four All-Star teams as an outfielder and four times leading the American League in stolen bases. He played in the 1932 World Series as a member of the New York Yankees. During his career, he hit .302 with an OBP of .383 along with 1985 hits.

Chapman played with the Dodgers in parts of two seasons from 1944 through 1945 until he was traded to the Phillies. In limited action with the Dodgers through 33 games he hit .283 with an OBP of .358.

The racist behavior of Phillies Manager Ben Chapman, right, created much negative publicity, but baseball coaxed Jackie Robinson into posing with him on May 9, 1947.
(Photo courtesy of New York Times)

Rickey Henderson

Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson made a brief stop with the Dodgers in 2003. It was his last stop during a nine-team and 25-year MLB career as the greatest base stealer and leadoff hitter ever to play the game.

The Chicago, Illinois native played only 30 games with the Dodgers and hit .208.

Rickey Henderson
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)