{"id":682635,"date":"2026-04-25T18:06:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/682635\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T18:06:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:06:48","slug":"making-an-all-star-team-of-yankees-with-april-birthdays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/682635\/","title":{"rendered":"Making an All-Star team of Yankees with April birthdays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in August, I began a series here at Pinstripe Alley where I was going to put together an All-Star Yankee team of players who were born in a given month<\/a>. Since then, we as a staff have started doing daily posts<\/a> for the year 2026, highlighting a Yankee from history whose birthday happens to land on that day. So what better way to put a cap on a month\u2019s worth of birthday posts then by using the all-month teams as a way to look back on who we covered? And maybe some we didn\u2019t cover who shared a birthday with someone else?<\/p>\n

With that in mind, here are my choices for the All-April Birthday Yankee Team. Also, we haven\u2019t always named a manager to go with these clubs, but April presents a perfect opportunity with Hall of Fame skipper Joe McCarthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pitcher: Catfish Hunter (April 8th birthday post<\/a>)<\/p>\n

There are a couple of decent pitching options for April, including my No. 2 choice Phil Niekro<\/a>. However, the pitcher for this team probably has to be Catfish. Other than his ridiculous 1975, Hunter\u2019s Yankee tenure didn\u2019t come during his prime, but everyone who played for the team in that era credits him for helping turn the team culture into a championship-winning one by the end of 1970s.<\/p>\n

\"N.Y.<\/a><\/p>\n

Catcher: Bob Watson (April 10th birthday post<\/a>)<\/p>\n

OK, so Watson only played 10 career MLB games at catcher, and all came well before his stint with the Yankees. However, there\u2019s not a ton of other good option for backstops, and Team April can also rely on him for his front office expertice.<\/p>\n

First Baseman: Don Mattingly (April 20th birthday post<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Between Watson and the guy who we\u2019re putting at DH later on, first base for the April team has some pretty good depth. However, there\u2019s only one choice for this team\u2019s starter we can make: Donnie Baseball.<\/p>\n

Second Baseman: Spike Owen<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t profile Owen as part of the Birthday Series and he more played on the left side of the infield in his career, but middle infield depth for the April team is pretty shallow. He was a 13-year big-leaguer in the \u201980s and \u201990s, most notably with the Mariners, Red Sox, and Expos, and in 1993, he was one of the Yankees\u2019 last regulars at shortstop before a guy named Derek came along.<\/p>\n

As frustrating as his MLB career has often been, he\u2019s a pretty clear no-doubt pick for April\u2019s shortstop, considering who we picked for second base.<\/p>\n

Third Baseman: Wid Conroy (April 5th Birthday Post<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Conroy was a NL pennant-winning player with the 103-win 1902 Pirates, in the final year before the World Series came into existence. He then hopped over to the AL to play with the then New York Highlanders in their first year of existence in 1903.<\/p>\n

Left Field: David Justice (April 14th birthday post<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The 2000 trade for Justice deservedly goes down as one of the best midseason deals in team history. He provided a much needed spark to the Yankees\u2019 lineup, allowing them to complete a World Series three-peat.<\/p>\n

Center Field: Carlos Beltr\u00e1n (April 24th birthday post<\/a>)<\/p>\n

OK yes, Beltr\u00e1n wasn\u2019t much of a center fielder when he finally came to the Yankees, as his three years in the Bronx came in his age 37-39 years. However, he was an excellent center fielder in his prime, which helped him gain election into the Hall of Fame in this year\u2019s class.<\/p>\n

Right Field: Aaron Judge (you\u2019ll never believe who the birthday post is for tomorrow – Ed.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard of that guy.<\/p>\n

Designated Hitter: Mark Teixeira (April 11th birthday post<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u201cTex\u201d probably could\u2019ve been the starting first baseman for a lot of the other month\u2019s teams. However with Mattingly around, we\u2019ll just stick Teixeira over at DH.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s my personal picks for April, but less us know how would line up a Yankees\u2019 team with April birthdays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in August, I began a series here at Pinstripe Alley where I was going to put together…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,40665,4,1690,62,2548,2547,7660,142,38397],"class_list":["post-682635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-yankees","tag-baseball","tag-just-for-fun","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkyankees","tag-pinstripe-alley-discussions","tag-yankees","tag-yankees-history"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116466682992622389","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}