An extremely deep bullpen on today's Birthday Team. Not much else.

C: Jim Stephens
1B: Art Griggs
2B: Dalton Jones
3B: Jimmy Johnston
SS: Ike Caveney
LF: Luis Polonia
CF: Frank Shugart
RF: Roy Carlyle

SP: Steve Renko
SP: Joe Mays
SP: Bob Priddy
SP: Bob Black
SP: John Sowders
RP: Paul Assenmacher
RP: Dan Wheeler
RP: Mel Rojas

Manager: Doc Edwards
Fun Names: Bots Nekola, Pretzel Pezzullo

Up at THT: Cooperstown and Kenny Lofton. Of allthe legitimate candidates on this year's BBWWAA ballot, Lofton has the worst chance at getting elected. A look at why WAR likes him so much and why popular perception isn't as good.

Also, a baseball historical item notes that baseball owners approved of two big rules changes 40 years ago today. Can you guess what either one was before clicking on the link?

Up at BTF: What do you do with Deacon White?, a new idea I came up with for adjusting shortened schedules.

Can you guess what either one was before clicking on the link?

DH obviously.

and save rule.

Rule V draft?

Clemente was a Rule 5 pick, so it's been around since at least the 50s.

I always see Clemente on the list of notable Rule 5 picks, and then nobody else of note until George Bell 30 years later. Was it scaled back or something and then retooled in the interim? That's always bugged me.

Also, a baseball historical item notes that baseball owners approved of two big rules changes 40 years ago today. Can you guess what either one was before clicking on the link?

DH and saves...and I can honestly say I answered that question without clicking the link!

The save rule was actually added to the rule book beginning with the 1969 season. The 1972 vote made it permanent.

The DH wasn't officially adopted in the AL for another month after the original vote, actually. At the time there was no provision for league-specific playing rules, and the NL was opposed to the DH. Bowie Kuhn and a faction of AL owners were also pushing for interleague play. At a meeting of the owners in Chicago in early January, the NL agreed to allow the AL to adopt the DH individually, which they then did officially on an 8-4 vote.

-- MWE

I always see Clemente on the list of notable Rule 5 picks, and then nobody else of note until George Bell 30 years later. Was it scaled back or something and then retooled in the interim?

It's been around for a long time and has always functioned in more or less the same way; the current incarnation has been around since 1959. In addition to Clemente, The Pirates acquired Dale Long in Rule 5 before the 1951 season, and Roy Face before the 1953 season. It was originally established - along with the Bonus Baby rule that required teams to keep players who received bonuses of at least $4000 on the major league roster for two full seasons - immediately after WWII as a way to prevent rich franchises from gobbling up players and stashing them in the minors.

-- MWE

The Rule 5 draft dates back to the early 1900's in one form or another. Steve Treder wrote an excellent series about this for "The Hardball Times" back in 2008. Among the players selected in this draft are Duffy Lewis, Bobo Newsom (twice), Hack Wilson and Moe Drabowsky (twice).

Anybody know the story on Art Griggs? He was pretty good when he played

Griggs played every day or thereabouts in the PCL for about 11 years and appears to have stayed on the West Coast after he retired. This is completely speculation, but maybe he didn't *want* to play in MLB.