#49 Brian McRae

About the Front: I've never been crazy about batting practice/spring training jerseys with a logo on the breast, rather than a team name insignia across the chest. They just look kind of empty and plain to me.

About the Back: Hal and Brian McRae were the fifth father-son manager-player combination in the majors, following Connie and Earle Mack, Yogi and Dale Berra, and Cal Ripken Sr. and Cal Jr. and Billy. They've since been joined by Felipe and Moises Alou and Bob and Aaron Boone.

Triple Play:

1. Prior to the start of the 1995 season, the Royals traded Brian to the Cubs for pitcher Derek Wallace and a minor leaguer. He proceeded to have the two best seasons of his career, batting a cumulative .282/.354/432 with 70 doubles, 29 home runs, 114 RBI, and 64 steals in 81 attempts.

2. Do you remember McRae playing out the string in 1999 with the Mets, Rockies, and Blue Jays, ultimately getting benched in favor of Vernon Wells? I sure don't. Baseball right around the turn of the century was a blind spot for me.

3. Brian spent five years working for MLB.com radio and also appeared on ESPN's Baseball Tonight.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: McRae was one of those players that I thought was a bigger star than he actually was. I guess that has something to do with the notoriety he got from playing for his dad, and from stealing bases and hitting for a bit of power back when the "back of baseball card stats" were the ones that people noticed.

Bill James Said: "A convert to switch hitting, he is still a vastly better righthanded than lefthanded hitter." That pattern held throughout Brian's career, as he hit .290/.337/.416 righty and .250/.328/.388 lefty.

On This Date in 1993: August 2. A train crashed in a tunnel at Vega de Anzo, Spain, killing 12 people.