Happy Birthday, Ed Whitson!

Eric Show wasn't the only pitcher for the Padres in the 80s born on May 19th. His former rotation-mate Ed Whitson was once a year older to the day. Whitson served two tours of duty in San Diego, sandwiching his infamously disastrous time with the Yankees. In his early career, he spent time in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Cleveland. The list of players he was traded with and for during his career reads like a who's who of 70s and 80s baseball. In '79, he was traded from the Pirates to the Giants with others for Bill Madlock- who had won two batting titles and would go on to win two more, the original Dave Roberts and Lenny Randle, who is best known for punching his manager in the face and trying to blow a fair ball foul. After the '81 season, Whitson was sent to Cleveland for Joe Posnanski's favorite player Duane Kuiper. A year later, he came to San Diego for Juan Eichelberger (that name keeps coming up, doesn't it, WG?) and Broderick Perkins. After his rocky time in New York which involved Whitson doing some manager punching of his own (but it was Billy Martin so it doesn't count), he came back to the Padres in exchange for Tim Stoddard and spent his final 5 1/2 seasons there. He now spends his days in Dublin, Ohio, where he serves as a volunteer coach for his son's high school team.