Month-End TTM Roundup: 2/1 - 2/27

 

Received On: 02/06/2021

My first return for February is one I've already blogged about, but I didn't say much about Steve Carlton at the time, so I'm fixing that now.

Carlton was originally signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent back in 1963 out of Miami Dade College. After a few years in the minors he made his MLB debut with the Cards in 1965 and he'd immediately go on to be one of the game's finest. He won his first World Series ring with the Cards in 1967 and then set the record for the most strikeouts in a single 9-inning game with 19 (later broken by Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood) in 1969, a game against the Mets that the Cards somehow lost. Carlton eventually wound up traded to the Phillies before the 1972 season following a contract dispute with the Cards and he led the league in several major categories en route to his first ever Cy Young Award. He'd pick up three more Cy Youngs and another World Series title with the Phillies. Following his Phillies tenure he'd go from team to team before retiring in 1989. At the time of his retirement he'd set a fair number of records, especially for a southpaw, including the most strikeouts by a lefty pitcher, and he was even ahead of Nolan Ryan for most strikeouts in a career (although Ryan and others later passed Carlton). Naturally he was elected into the baseball HoF.

Received On: 02/11/2021

Next up is a return from Alex Bregman.

Bregman was drafted by the Houston Astros in the first round of the 2015 MLB Player Draft out of Louisiana State University. Bregman was immediately considered one of the brightest prospects in the game and eventually made his MLB debut in 2016, roughly a year after being drafted. He'd go on to immediately become an elite young star as he was selected to the All Star Game twice in 2018 and 2019, and he won his first World Series ring with the Astros in 2017. Bregman is still just entering his prime (turns 27 this March) and he's already considered one of the best defensive infielders in the game, and if his offense ticks back up again who knows where he could be down the line. Definitely a fun and pleasant return that came the fuck out of nowhere.

Received On: 02/13/2021

Here's a return from former NHL centre Curt Bennett.

Bennett was originally drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the 1968 NHL Player Draft out of Brown University. The Canada-native made his NHL debut in the 1970-71 season and would soon get his first taste of playoff hockey. But before long he was traded to the New York Rangers, then was traded to the Atlanta Flames where he got more ice time than ever before and he became one of the most prominent fixtures of the team. He was with the Flames for about five and a half seasons and most of them were some of the best of his career. He'd later bounce around from a couple of teams and even wound up as a player-coach in Japan. Pretty cool.

Received On: 02/25/2021

My last return in February was from Ron Greschner.

Greschner was drafted by the Rangers in the the second round of the 1974 NHL Player Draft. He'd go on to enjoy a 16-year tenure entirely with the Rangers and was a fixture for them throughout the 70's and early-to-mid 80's before retiring in the late 80's. The defenseman notably set a few team records such as being the youngest defenseman to score three goals in a single game, as well as playing in the second most games for the club in team history.

And those were my returns this past month. Big thanks to Mr. Carlton, Bregman, Bennett and Greschner for the autographs.

And as always thank you (the readers) for stopping by. Take care.

2021 TTM Count: 8

Sources:

*https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/carltst01.shtml

*https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bregmal01.shtml

*https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/b/bennecu01.html

*https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/grescro01.html