35?  You don't look a day over 40!I hope you’re enjoying your day off, because I know I am. I slept in, watched a little Fox and Friends (still can’t decide if the blonde is hot or not…not the weather guy, silly…the chick), made a big pancake and plan on spending the day trying to drop another 105 on Stanford in my Arizona State dynasty.

What holiday, you ask? You’re at work? What is wrong with you people?

You don’t work on today, of all days.

It’s Henry Blanco’s 35th birthday!

He’s old enough now to run for president. OK, he’s Venezuelan, but think of this. The past couple of years there has been a huge groundswell among Republicans to amend the Constitution to allow naturalized US citizens a chance to run for president. You thought they were doing it for Arnold Schwarzenegger? Screw that, they knew that Hank would be primed for a run in 2008. I’m just not so sure he’d run as a Republican. Well, he’s got two years to worry about that I guess. Right now he’s got more important things to worry about.

Like what size dresses to make Les Walrond and Rich Hill wear on the flight home from Pissburgh tomorrow afternoon.

Last night on the telecast, longtime friend of Desipio Len Kasper noted that not only does Henry know about the Hank White Fan Club, but that he “appreciates it.”

And why not? Hank came to Chicago with a reputation as a good catch, no hit, catcher. But since the All-Star break last year (when he switched numbers from 9 to 24), Hank has hit .279 (61-219) with 11 homers and 51 RBI. It’s the most productive stretch of his career.

His HWEqBA (Hank White Equivalent Batting Average — which awards “hits” for things like hard hit balls that end up as outs, bad calls by umpires, good looking swings, etc.) is an astounding .553 over the same time span.

To put that into perspective, aging Cardinals “slugger” Albert Pujols’ HWEqBA is .247 since last year’s All-Star Game. Further proof that HGH makes lots of weakly hit balls fall in for hits. He should be ashamed.

As for us in the fan club, we just want to thank Hank for never letting us down. He always plays hard, he has that cool fist pump he does on big inning ending strikeouts before he spikes the ball halfway between home plate and the mound. He is singlehandly keeping the mullet in fashion. He keeps Carlos entertained in the dugout and smacks him around, when needed, on the mound.

The Cubs have had some illustrious backup catchers over the years. Guys like Gabor Bako (punchless hack), Tim Blackwell (creepy mustache), Barry Foote (creepy everything), Steve Lake (hepatitis) and Hector Villanueva (somewhat Hank-like, but the Hec Newhouse Fan Club just never took off.)

But Hank has, by far, been the best of the bunch. So today, on his 35th birthday, we celebrate by spending the day in this comfortable pose.

Hey Hank!  It's your birthday!  It's your birthday!  You gotta nap like it's your birthday!

Viva Hank White!