A weird pitching staff on today's Birthday Team. None of the pitchers were primarily starters; the rotation is made up entirely of pitchers who generally worked out of the bullpen.

The position players have excellent speed. Moreno stole 50+ bases five times, Williamson swiped 45 bags in 1887, and Furcal has stolen 40+ bases twice.

C: Junior Ortiz
1B: Gene Larkin
2B: Ossie Bluege
3B: Ned Williamson
SS: Rafael Furcal
LF: Jim Greengrass
CF: Omar Moreno
RF: Bill Kuehne

SP: Jack Russell
SP: Arthur Rhodes
SP: Jim Brosnan
SP: Eddie Stack
SP: Mark Grant
RP: Rawly Eastwick

Manager: Heinie Smith
Cult Hero: F.P. Santangelo
Fun Name, Good Hitter: Cuckoo Christensen
Fun Name, Decent Hitter: Hugh High
Fun Name, Bad Hitter: Jay Faatz
Victim of Herman W. Souse: Chief Sockalexis

Oil in WV? Thought that was coal-country.

Black gold, black diamonds...just don't count your oil wells before they gush.

Baseball history thing at THT notes that today is the 40th anniversary of the death of one of the most famous & influential names in all baseball history. Can you guess who it is before clicking on the link?

From #4's link:

1908 Billy Murray introduces a new song: “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

One of the first songs I taught my daughter :)

Oil in WV? Thought that was coal-country.

People forget that the first oil well was in Titusville, PA - Pennsylvania grade crude oil has always been highly prized. The Appalachian Mountains have a long history of oil production, extending from southwestern New York well into West Virginia, with a fairly large belt right around Parkersburg, WV.

-- MWE

The only reason that I know Ossie Bluege is that he was on a baseball card that I got in the early 60s of all time greats. Could this have been the first Fleer set? Anyway, all of them were stolen from me in the mid 80s. Sigh.

#6: Thanks, I was not aware.

27 years ago today, the Royals' Danny Jackson threw a complete-game 5-hitter with his team down 3-1 in the World Series, staving off elimination.

The game lasted from 7:15 to 10:07 Central, which means that the emergency C-section resulting in my birth most likely occurred around the sixth or seventh inning. It's probably a good thing it wasn't two days later; my mom was a Cardinal fan at the time.

The only reason that I know Ossie Bluege is that he was on a baseball card that I got in the early 60s of all time greats. Could this have been the first Fleer set? Anyway, all of them were stolen from me in the mid 80s. Sigh.

I have three prime suspects for you.

The position players have excellent speed. Moreno stole 50+ bases five times, Williamson swiped 45 bags in 1887, and Furcal has stolen 40+ bases twice.

Ossie Bluege was my great-aunt's brother-in-law, and he got me one of the two autographed baseballs that I own, a Twins' team ball c1970. (Ossie worked in the Twins' front office, having managed the old Senators for a while and then run the franchise's farm system.) What I didn't know was that he could play second base, though for a Birthday Team one is allowed to do a little shuffling. He was one of the better-regarded fielding third basemen of his era, sort of a Pie Traynor without the high batting average.

Ossie Bluege was my great-aunt's brother-in-law,

I used to work with Ossie's nephew at a longtime weekend job.

I used to work with Ossie's nephew

Who might have been my cousin, unless it's along some other trail of relations. Six degrees …