Born on the Same Day - 2/25/1940

Another installment in my "Born on the Same Day" series, featuring players who were born on the same day (!) and year. 

This is post #14 in the series: Ron Santo and Danny Cater - both born on 2/25/1940.

Ron Santo was the Cubs' regular 3rd baseman from 1960 to 1973. Along the way, he finished 4th in ROY voting, was an All-Star in 9 of his final 11 seasons with the Cubs, won 4 Gold Gloves, led the NL in walks 4 times and triples once, topped 30 homers 4 times, and 100 RBI 4 times.

He played his final season (1974) for the White Sox, dividing his time between DH and backing up 2B and 3B.


Danny Cater began his career with the Phillies in 1964 as a part-time left fielder and pinch-hitter. He was a regular for the next 6 seasons with the White Sox (1965-66), Athletics (1966-69), and Yankees (1970). In 1971 Cater divided his time between 1B and 3B for the Yankees, backing up John Ellis and Jerry Kenney.

He moved on to the Red Sox for 3 more seasons, before wrapping up with the Cardinals in 1975. Cater's last significant playing time came in 1972, when he started 82 games at 1st base (essentially whenever Carl Yastrzemski moved out to left field). That role would be filled by youngster Cecil Cooper beginning in 1973.

Final Card: Jim Weaver

Here is the final card for Angels' pitcher Jim Weaver (#134). The Angels had a lot of young pitchers come up in 1967, but unlike Clyde Wright, Marty Pattin, Tom Burgmeier, and Rickey Clark (all ultimately with longer careers than Weaver), Topps managed to include Weaver in a card set prior to 1969. He shared an Angels' Rookies card in the 1968 set.

Weaver was signed by the Indians in 1958, and pitched in their minor-league system from 1958-66 (missing the '62 and '63 seasons while in military service).

In 1967 he was traded twice, first to the Astros in January (with catcher Doc Edwards and outfielder Jim Landis) for outfielder Lee Maye and catcher Ken Retzer. After 24 starts for Houston's AAA team, in August he was sent to the Angels for shortstop Hector Torres. Weaver made his major-league debut with the Angels in August 1967. He appeared in 13 games (2 starts).

Jim split the 1968 season between the Angels and their AAA team. He pitched in 14 games (all in relief), the last coming on June 29th. That was his last game in the bigs.

The back of his card indicates he was assigned to the minors in November 1968, where he would play the entire 1969 season. He also played for a double-A team in 1970 before retiring.