Chipper, The Mick and... Freddy ?

Not long ago there was a heckuva lot of speculation on whether Chipper Jones would even play this season. With his longtime Manager and mentor, Bobby Cox, retiring... Chipper on the heal from a host of nagging injuries and all.. most fans were wondering. Well, he's playing and off to a fabulous beginning for the 2011 campaign.

Chipper has already reached a couple of very cool milestones in his career and has provided a steady thump to the middle of the Braves batting order, batting a solid .327 and ranking among the NL Leaders in RBIs with 12. He led Atlanta to a Double Header sweep over NL East rivals NY Mets yesterday. The Brave Nation couldn't be prouder of the future Hall of Famer.

Bet ya didn't know that Today marks the Anniversary of Mickey Mantle's very first game in the Major Leagues. Yep, 'Ol No. 7 notched a hit way back in 1951 and helped the Yankees beat their Boston Red Sox rivals 5-0.

Of course, the Mick went on to do some pretty great things! Funny, Chipper and Mickey, 2 of the Greatest Switch Hitters in History with a couple of cartoon like names : ) There was nothing funny about Mickey's legendary Home Run that also occurred on this date in 1953. He blasted a cartoon like moon shot that cleared the bleachers in old Griffith Stadium that measured... 565 feet!

Ok, back to the present. The YH for today is none other than former NL Batting Champ Freddy Sanchez. Freddy is Mr. Steady for the SF Giants and is slowly pulling his team back toward the top in the NL West. This guy is a real throwback player that knows how to get the ball in play when you need it.

Freddy tied the game in the sixth inning with a double and then sent the Diamondbacks back to their locker room with an "L" when he iced the game in the seventh with a 2 run single. The Giants won 5-3. Nice Job Freddy!