Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

Harrison Bader is quickly becoming the moving companies' best friend.  The onetime Cardinal outfielder -- who has also called The Bronx, Cincinnati, Queens, Minnesota and Philadelphia home this decade -- is heading west after agreeing to a two-year deal with the Giants. Fresh off the best two-month stretch of his career, when he hit .305 with (for the first time) an OPS above .800, he'll bring his energy and good defense to one of the league's hardest parks to hit, Oracle in San Francisco. Rolling back through my archive, here are snaps of Bader... suiting up for the Cardinals, Mets and Phillies:  

...you share it with Daniel Schneeman , a lefty-hitting outfielder who was a Guardians regular in 2025 -- but whose .206 average and just 41 RBI in 131 games doesn't guarantee a regular job this coming season.  The Brigham Young product looked more like a top prospect when I saw him in action for AAA Columbus in 2024, where he hit .294.  Addison Russell , who had his best year in 2016, when the Cubs erased their 108-year championship drought. But he never blossomed into stardom as teammates Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant did. And a 2019 suspension for domestic abuse soured his reputation and led to the Cubs sending him to the minors mid-season and non-tendering him that winter.  Since then, he's played in Mexico and Korea, but never received an offer to return to MLB. Rounding out today's birthday circle: Jeff Samardzija was a run-of-the-mill pitcher with the Cubs and Giants during the 2010s.  What else would you call an 80 - 104 record over parts of ...

Rolling it back to April 10th, 2016 : the Mets, defending their first National League pennant in 15 years, host the division rival Phillies.  Zooming in on their ace Matt Harvey , fresh off a 13-9 season and an under 3.00 ERA, expectations couldn't be higher at the young season began.  On this afternoon, Harvey didn't pitch badly -- giving up three runs over six innings -- in a 6-3 loss to their division rivals.  But the year didn't go well for Harvey, who struggled to a 4-10 record (in fact, he never again reached double digit victories).  Even though the Mets again earned a Wild Card, their post-season run ended in a single night at the hands of the Giants' Madison Bumgarner.   While Mets fans saw the charismatic and swaggering Harvey as a longterm star, he never pitched well enough to place his name alongside franchise legends such as Seaver, Koosman and Gooden.  "The Dark Knight" had very few bright days left in his Mets tenure. Mets fans  

  ...you share it with Albert Pujols .  The 2001 National League Rookie of the Year went on to win three MVP awards and two World Series rings during a dozen Cardinals seasons -- tack on another decade with the Angels and a partial season as a Dodger and you've 703 homers, over 2200 RBIs and a .296 lifetime average that screams, "First ballot Hall of Famer." When Albert gets his call from the Hall -- most likely, two years from now -- he'll join another Cardinals legend born on January 16th, the iconic pitcher, broadcaster and larger-than-life character Dizzy Dean .  Try and find the movie The Pride of St. Louis  on TCM or some other retro-focused stream.  It does a good job of telling Dean's life story -- as does his Cooperstown plaque.

The biggest story in baseball as we enter mid-January, is the deal that brings Alex Bregman to the Cubs.  Five years, $175 million and a no-trade contract for the longtime Astros star who spent 2025 with the Red Sox.  He'll fit in nicely as Kyle Tucker's replacement -- a big bat for the middle of Chicago's lineup.  Plus, his value is enhanced by his clubhouse leadership; the Cubs, even with Craig Counsel as manager, still need to learn how to win consistently and do something big in the post-season.  After reaching the post-season in all eight of his full seasons with the Astros, Bregman was there again as a Red Sock in '25. I didn't catch Bregman in action for Boston, so these Houston photos (taken in a 2019 game against the Yankees) will have to do.  

We'll start on Saturday with the late Willie McCovey , who teamed with Willie Mays to give the 1960s Giants the most feared home run duo in baseball.  Those 521 career homers (all but 46 with San Francisco) helped punch hit his ticket to Cooperstown.  The 1959 NL Rookie of the Year led the league in homers three times and RBI twice. His 44 is part of the gallery of retired numbers at Oracle Park (it was still AT&T when I visited in 2014). (Below:) Oscar Gonzalez  flashed good power when he broke in with the 2022 Guardians.  But his numbers faded the following season and he was soon back in the minors, and more recently, Japan.  I caught Gonzalez in 2024 with the Yankees AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre farm club.   Sunday 's duo pack speed and power.  Elly de la Cruz , the Reds dynamic infielder, led the NL with 67 stolen bases in 2024, the year he made his first All Star game.  (My image is from the spring of 2023, as he was about to "graduate" fr...