And the second involves celebrities and even our own JG...so how can it connect with ballplayers??
Hmmmmm.
Edit: My guess is it has something to do with being born in or having lived in New Jersey. (Thanks to Wikipedia confirming a few... )
Bingo! All those players (and other people listed) were born in New Jersey.
Final clue for the first question: The active player who has this thing in common is Mike Maroth. There was a good bit of publicity surrounding him when he acquired this. The last pitcher before him to join this group was Brian Kingman in the early-80s.
) 
