If you asked most Yankee fans if the shortstop Rafael Santana played for the Yankees their likely response would be, “No, he played for the Mets.” That’s because the native of the Dominican Republic did spend the vast majority of his six-season big league career with the Amazin’s and he was the starting shortstop on their 1986 World Championship team. What most of us forget is that the Yankees traded for Santana before the 1988 spring training season and he became the team’s starting shortstop for then Manager, Billy Martin. Martin, as usual got fired during the 1988 season and was replaced by Lou Piniella, who stuck with Santana at short for the rest of that year. Rafael hit just .240 for that season and his on base percentage was a putrid .289. He also played very mediocre defense. He then suffered an elbow injury that caused him to miss the entire 1989 season, making it an even easier decision for the Yankee front-office to release him when his contract expired at the end of that year. That explains why Yankee fans have a hard time remembering Santana played in pinstripes.

This hardly remembered but very effective Yankee pitcher from the late 1950s and this current Yankee outfielder prospect were both also born on January 31..