Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Dennis Eckersley were born on this day. Here's how they did against each other

National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and 3,000 hit club member Dave Winfield turns 65 today. He was born on October 3, 1951, the very same day that Bobby Thompson hit his famous "Shot Heard 'Round The World"; I remember that from repeatedly reading Winfield's autobiography as a pre-teen. The other thing from that book that really stands out to me all these years later is that Nate Colbert loved Cutty Sark, but that's neither here nor there. I should get a copy of that and read it again one of these days. I'll be sure to let you know when I do, because I know how much people are looking forward to my review of a 28-year-old book.

One thing I did not know was that Winfield shares his birthday with another Hall-of-Famer, Dennis Eckersley. I feel like I must have noticed it in years past, since I have checked Baseball Reference's birthdays page nearly every day for the better part of this last decade, but it never stuck with me. However, this time it stood out to me, so I checked to see how the two fared head to head.

Winfield was 11-for-37 with three doubles and three RBI, walking twice and striking out six times against Eckersley. That was good for a slash line of .297/.333/.378 (.712), which falls right into a unique zone of being evenly matched, in which Winfield hit better against Eckersley than the average batter did, while Eckersley handled Winfield better than the average pitcher did.