by Kevin Burton
Steve Mingori was an excellent left-handed relief pitcher for Cleveland and Kansas City in the American League. He finished a 10-year career with an ERA of 3.03.
I always thought of him as a “minus” pitcher. That means in my baseball board games, if a certain number came up and Mingori was pitching, that would be an automatic out, no matter what the hitting chart said.
That’s a designation I gave if a pitcher had an ERA under 3.00. Mingori had that most years, and would have for his career if not for one disastrous outing for Kansas City against the Yankees.
On Aug. 20, 1979, his final season in the majors, Mingori gave up eight earned runs in just 1 1/3 innings. If my calculations are correct, if Mingori had called in sick that day, he would have finished his career with a 2.91 ERA.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because Mingori was born on leap day. Of course.
Thursday comes once a week and Page 7 usually ignores it by not posting. But Leap Day, Feb. 29, comes only once every four years and we cannot overlook it.
So we are, leaping into an array of data and anecdotes about Leap Day.
I had a friend, now deceased, who was born on Leap Day. Like Mingori, he was left-handed. If you knew him, you’d say oh yeah he would be born on Leap Day. He was a contrarian on several levels.
Leap Day babies are called Leapers or Leaplings. My spell check likes Leapers better, so I’ll go with Leaplings. There are multiple Facebook groups for Leaplings. Many report both their ages, i.e. someone born in 1968 would be 14/56 today.
From Facebook and You Tube accounts it seems pretty equal between Leaplings choosing to celebrate their birthday Feb. 28 in off years, and those who pick March 1. A lot of them celebrate both days. And why not!
The oldest Leapling I could find turns 25/100 today. She has a different approach. Here’s her story from ABC News:
“Mary Forsythe was born on Feb. 29, 1924 – Leap Day. Since leap years come around every four years, she will technically celebrate her 25th birthday this year.
Forsythe said that her quadrennial birthday presents a special opportunity.
“I always thought I was blessed,” said Forsythe, who explained that in non-leap years, she would celebrate the occasion two or three times over. “It was so much fun. We celebrated whenever we wanted to.”
“She specifically recalled one year in which she went with her husband William Wayne Forsythe to a diner that offered free breakfast to anyone celebrating a birthday, on his birthdate, March 6. She said when the server questioned their story — that the day marked both of their birthdays — she had her justification ready.”
“His birthday is March 6, and mine is Feb. 29. And there is no 29th on the calendar this year. So, mine is March 6,” she recalled saying. The couple ate free that day.”
. I gather that Spanish speakers born on Feb. 29 must choose March 1(or later) to celebrate in off years. Why?
Well the Spanish word for birthday is “cumpleanos” which literally means completing of the year. When you get to Feb. 28, and your birthday is the 29th, you haven’t quite completed that year, have you?
Your odds of being born on Leap Day are 1/1461. Your odds of bring born and also dying on Leap day are 1 / 2,134,521, according to Temple University mathematics professor John Allen Paulos. Most estimates say there are about five million Leaplings in the world. There are more than 200,000 in the US, according to Newsweek.
For most of us Leap Day is a fun anomaly, forgotten as soon as the calendar turns to March. For Leaplings though, there are nuisances that last all year.
“The DMV doesn’t recognize February 29, so our expiration date is the day before our birthday or the day after our birthday. Birth certificates get altered to say February 28 or March 1. It wreaks havoc. It really does,” Raenell Dawn, co-founder of the Honor Society of Leap Year Babies, told NPR in 2020. “When we go online to sign up for something, February 29 is not an option. And when we put in our February 29 and our year, which is a leap year, a little window pops up and says, invalid date, or, please enter valid date.”
With such annoyances as a constant, who would blame these Texans for making the whole thing into a party?
“In February 1988, the town of Anthony, Texas, declared itself ‘leap year capital of the world’ thanks to Mary Ann Brown and Birdie Lewis,” wrote Joy Saha in salon.com. “Brown and Lewis, who were both born on leap day, proposed a festival to celebrate the unique day. The four-day-long shindig remains a popular attraction today, with folks from all over the world traveling to Texas to enjoy live music, good food and endless fun.”
Who knows how many mothers this week instructed their doctors to induce labor so as to avoid a Feb. 29 birthday. But some families revel in the novelty of Leap Day.
We have this from Mental Floss:
“With the arrival of daughter Jade on Feb. 29, 2012 at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, Louise and David Estes completed a milestone in planned pregnancies. Jade was their third child to be born on Leap Day.”
“Jade’s two siblings, Xavier and Remington, were born in 2004 and 2008, respectively. The Estes told The Daily Herald that while Xavier and Remington arrived via happenstance, Jade’s birth was planned so the trio could share in the exclusivity that comes with being a “Leapling.”
“Amazingly, the Estes only managed to tie the record for most children born on Leap Day. In 1960, 1964, and 1968, Karin Henriksen of Norway delivered three boys, earning them a slot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
“Even more incredible—though not apparently Guinness-worthy—was Christine McDonnell, who managed to birth one set of twins in 1956 and another set in 1960, both on Leap Day, the latter landing her on the front page of Dublin-area newspapers.”
Big band leader and saxophonist Jimmy Dorsey, singer and talk show host Dinah Shore and Montreal Canadiens hockey player Henri Richard are among the celebrities who had Leap Day birthdays.
Newsweek spoke with some everyday people in 2020 to get their take on what it’s like to have a Feb. 29 birthday. A sampling:
Zac Chambers, 8 Leap Years old
What is it like having a birthday on Leap Day?
Having a birthday every four years makes me feel a little jealous/bitter against people who get to have a birthday every year. When February 29 actually comes, I get way more excited than I probably should. I’ve been thinking about it all month.
Shane Billings, 8 Leap Years old
How do you feel about being born on a day that only comes every four years?
It’s a mixed bag. The phenomenon of Leap Year gets some people so perplexed, sometimes I have to demystify it before they have a meltdown. Some years it can feel like, instead of a birthday, I celebrate my “annual anticlimax.” But generally, Leap Year feels like my simple, special detail—like a birthmark or a person with two different color eyes. When I was younger, February 29 felt like a cosmic little window would open up, and somehow I might be imbued with luck or special power. Now I think it feels special simply because it’s so rare.
Sarah Reck, 9 Leap Years old
What bothers you about having a Leap Day birth date?
There aren’t many Leap Day birthday cards out there. I actually made my own postcards this year out of a watercolor frog I drew. I got them printed and am sending them out to friends as a birthday treat to myself. A little reminder that the day is here this year. I know a lot of people who make a big deal out of their birthdays every year, some celebrating for days, or a weekend, or a week or claiming the entire month. I get a little irked about people making a big deal when they have a birthday every year, especially if it’s not a milestone birthday. Sometimes I think that I—and others born on Leap Day—are the only ones who can really make a big deal out of it.
Lanre Animashaun, 8 Leap Years old
Do you still get excited when your actual birthday comes?
You know what, it used to feel special. Like I was a special breed of human, that I was destined for greatness. Every Leap Year that rolled around felt big, and it was met with joyous anticipation. Now at 32, it’s just another birthday to me.
I have saved my favorite Leap Day bit for last. It’s from salon.com:
“A French satirical newspaper called La Bougie du Sapeur (or Sapper’s Candle), was first published in 1980, and only publishes once every four years. Despite being the world’s least frequently published newspaper ever, the paper sold an astounding 200,000 copies when it was last published in 2020. The paper is named after an old French comic book character who was born on leap day.”
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