May Day

It's not that we forgot. It's just that yesterday's post ran a little long, so we saved this tidbit for the off day. Saturday was Carlos May's 60th birthday. Regular readers of The Update know the significance of that, but for you newbies out there, we'll explain. Carlos wore number 17, so the back of his uniform read "May 17" -- which is his birthday. There have been 11 other Major Leaguers with the last name of May, but none of them was born in May. Don August was born in July, and Javerro January was born in October. Since no other Big Leaguer has had a last name that was the same as a month, that makes Carlos (missing thumb and all) the only player in MLB history to wear his birthday on the back of his uniform. Remember that fact. You can win a bar bet with it.

Other tidbits before the White Sox return to action:

• The Sox are one of only four teams to have a winning record at home and on the road. The Angels, Marlins, and Diamondbacks are the others.
• The entire A.L. Central has a winning record within the division except for Detroit.
• The Sox have a winning record against the Central, the West, and the N.L., but a losing record against the East.

Finally, The Update notes that Steve Rosenbloom, columnist for The Chicago Tribune, wrote in his blog about the Magic Numbers for the Sox and Cubs and wondered if it were crazy to be calculating them so early in the season. Steve, we're way ahead of you. We started doing this in April 2005 when the Sox had a Magic Number of 141, and have been counting down ever since then. It's not too early. To the contrary, in the words of Carole King, "It's too late, baby. " Go Sox!