An almost exclusively modern Birthday Team today. Maybe I'm overrating it because I've seen most of these guys play, but it seems like a good collection of talent, the left side of the infield notwithstanding.

C: Dave Engle
1B: Craig A. Wilson
2B: Ray Durham
3B: Mark Lewis
SS: Luis Valbuena
LF: Bo Jackson
CF: Shane Victorino
RF: Matt Lawton

SP: Frank Killen
SP: Bob Tewksbury
SP: Rich Harden
SP: Craig Swan
SP: Firpo Marberry
RP: Steve Hamilton
RP: Juan Berenguer

Awful Owner/Manager: Mordecai Davidson
Convicted Murderer: Tacks Latimer
Not The Soccer Player: Carlos Valderrama
Fun Name: Alamazoo Jennings

Had a bit of a 1B/3B logjam with Hal Chase/Sal Bando/Bill Bradley. Checked your dugout from February 13th to see how you handled it...looks like we're on the same page, Bradley to the bench. The last thing this team needs is a disgruntled Chase.

Fun work so far!

That's an athletic outfield today.

I wanted to mention something I noticed yesterday...the SOM disks don't appear to include NA (1871-1875) stats. January 1 lost its ace reliever as a result.

Just FYI.

Yeah, IIRC, I was a bit upset (as an Indians guy) to have to bench Bradley. He was Cleveland baseball for a lot of years. Grew up there, spent a decade as a star player for the franchise, lived there after retirement.

Just happened to be born on the wrong day.

I'm probably stating the obvious, but the birthday league would be awesome. The level of talent on the birthday teams seems to correlate well with actual teams.

And I like the idea of making 12 leagues, one for each month. Perhaps have a 16 team playoff in the end, the 12 winners, plus four at-large choices, which I'm sure would cause no controversy.

My 1998 strat keeper team made it to a one game playoff for the division title. Mark Lewis grounded into two double plays and made an error in a game we lost by one. His remains the only strat card I have ever torn into pieces.

I held an irrational hatred for Rick Mahler for years after he balked in the winning run in the ninth inning of the final game of my '85 APBA season, costing me a playoff spot.

My 1998 strat keeper team made it to a one game playoff for the division title. Mark Lewis grounded into two double plays and made an error in a game we lost by one. His remains the only strat card I have ever torn into pieces.

Several lifetimes ago, when I was in the Air Force, we played lots of SOM to pass the time, IIRC we ended up playing three full seasons worth of games. One of my friends was from eastern Pennsylvania and was a die-hard Philadelphia fan; he was constantly making trades in order to obtain his favorite Phillies.

Anyway, we were playing an early season game one evening and Luzinski was having a brutal game, he had left something like 10 runners on base through his first four at bats. Finally, in the bottom of the 9th, the Bull comes up with the bases loaded, nobody out and his team down by one run. Wally used to talk to his "players" during the games, exorting them to success. Here he was telling Luzinski that all he needed to do was put the ball in play, etc., and things would be okay. Wally rolls the dice and sure enough they came up triple sixes, Lieeout to the Max, which in this case was a game ending triple play.

Ordinarily Wally was the most even tempered person you would want to meet. That night he took Luzinski's SOM card and started tearing it into small pieces. He had it into sixteenths before he realized that there were still 130 games left in the season and he would need that card. The season was finished with the card taped back together.

That's Mark Lewis all right. Who needs a fan favorite like Mickey Morandini when you can sign the ultimate generic mediocrity Mark Lewis to a one-year contract.

Still would be the best infielder on the November 15 team.

I like the idea of 12 leagues, then...

A) A 12-team "Champions League"
B) Two 6-team "Champions Leagues" with a World Series between the winners (maybe divided by Summer/Winter)
C) 16-team playoffs, the 4 at-large teams either determined by best 2nd place records, or some kind of tournament between all the 2nd place finishers

My favourite February team so far is Feb 9. A full lineup of guys I've heard of, including some colourful characters like Vlad Guerrero, Mookie Wilson, John Kruk. One of my dad's favourite players as a kid Vic Wertz, Clete Boyer at third. But my favourite is the aptly named "Specs" Toporcer at short. By far the best lineup in the league so far, but not much pitching.

I've never played strat with real players, but I'm in my 5th season of a fictional league that I play manually. It's amazing how numbers on a card can develop distinct personalities.

LF: Bo Jackson

Not only is today his 50th birthday, but the most famous moment of his life came on his 25th birthday. Had you ever heard that the MNF game against Seattle was on his birthday? I hadn't - but it was.

Not only is today his 50th birthday, but the most famous moment of his life came on his 25th birthday. Had you ever heard that the MNF game against Seattle was on his birthday? I hadn't - but it was.

You're right about it being his most famous moment but when I read that my first thought was "his All Star game homer couldn't have come on his birthday." I'm sure that says more about me than anything else though.

Firpo Marberry was a great pitcher. I once heard him described at the first relief pitcher. Not really true but he was pretty early and very good at it for a long time. Also, extra strokes for being called 'Firpo'.

IIRC, Marberry just hated being called Firpo, but people insisted he looked like Luis Firpo.

In trying to come up with some team names rather than just going by number I came across this.

I think maybe Saints Days might work better...unless Fred Lynn feels alright about playing for the "Pork Rind Appreciators".

Tommy Hanson traded to the Angels for Jordan Walden.

That night he took Luzinski's SOM card and started tearing it into small pieces. He had it into sixteenths before he realized that there were still 130 games left in the season and he would need that card. The season was finished with the card taped back together.

You're not a real Strat player if you've never ripped up a card. I once tore Jarrod Washburn's card in half after a particularly brutal performance. From then on, we referred to anything torn in half as "washburned".

In trying to come up with some team names rather than just going by number I came across this.

I think maybe Saints Days might work better...unless Fred Lynn feels alright about playing for the "Pork Rind Appreciators".

Wait, team names? That's too great.

Billy Klusman died of tuberculosis. He was born on March 24th -- World Tuberculosis Day! And William Coon was born on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

I will have my end of january finished up this weekend, its fun to do but somewhat time consuming. Should I just use the dugout line ups or can I go straight from bbref?

Feel free to just use bbref, Meatwad. If you want to use the Dugout lineups, that's fine, but I'm not picky.

The top 20 guys on most rosters should be pretty obvious, and the other five guys won't matter all that much.

LHP Manny Parra, LHP Daniel Schlereth, and RHP Scott Athcison are among the early non-tenders. The deadline to tender a contract is 11:59 ET tonight.

I think maybe Saints Days might work better...unless Fred Lynn feels alright about playing for the "Pork Rind Appreciators".

Rats, I was hoping this was me.
Guess I'll have to settle for naming my day's team "Operation Frequent Wind" or the "Rodney King Riots."

EDIT: "Elektromotes"? "Botany Bay Cooks"? Or maybe the named-for-the-star route, the "Looies"?

My horrible team was born on National Physician Assistant Day. Maybe we can use the excuse that all our good players are on the disabled list.

Jeff Karstens non-tendered. He just screams future Cub, doesn't he?

I like the idea of 12 leagues, then...

A) A 12-team "Champions League"
B) Two 6-team "Champions Leagues" with a World Series between the winners (maybe divided by Summer/Winter)
C) 16-team playoffs, the 4 at-large teams either determined by best 2nd place records, or some kind of tournament between all the 2nd place finishers

I would lean toward 12 leagues, followed by a 24-team season featuring the first- and second-place teams from each month, with the teams split into spring, summer, autumn, and winter divisions, and capped with 1985-92 style playoffs (2 rounds, best-of-7 in both). But since I'm not actually helping, my opinion probably shouldn't be weighted too heavily.

Nate Schierholtz, Mike Pelfrey non-tendered.

Ryan Sweeney, Jair Jurrjens, Dan Johnson, Peter Moyland non-tendered.

Phil Humber claimed off waivers by Houston.

White Sox nontender...Anthony Carter, who would not even have been eligible for the minimum salary.

So the White Sox had Anthony Carter and once had Chris Carter? Did they ever have Wade Wilson?

I think maybe Saints Days might work better...

I was named for St. Andrew, whose feast day is today.

My birthday team would be the "I Have a Dream" Team. Not bad.