Today's Birthday Team is in the middle of the pack in the Birthday League, which seems about right.

C/Manager: Johnny Oates
1B: Lew Fonseca
2B: Danny O'Connell
3B: Bill Stein
SS: Jose Uribe
LF: Rusty Greer
CF: Sam Mele
RF: Mike Tiernan

SP: Joe Benz
SP: Mike Krukow
SP: Andy Hawkins
SP: Bernie Boland
SP: Mike Smithson
RP: Dave Smith

The local pet store is running a: Snake Deal

Up at THT: 11 things I didn't know about Earl Weaver. Contains some overlap w/ my book's info on him, but plenty of it isn't from the book. (All hail the best dWAR team ever!)

Also, since we're talking about dead Hall of Famers, can you name the Hall of Famer who died 20 years ago today before clicking on this historical bit at THT?

Today's minor league note: The borough of Phoenixville (PA), outside of Philadelphia, is conducting a feasibility study for a minor league ballpark, with the idea of pursuing either a NY-P team or an indy ball team.

I suppose there's a reason for this, but for the life of me I can't figure it out.

-- MWE

Phoenixville has been rejuvenating itself for 20 years now. It is home to the Colonial Theater, of "The Blob" fame (they run a blobfest every year). Like all the rundown river towns up the Schuykill River from Philly, they hit hard times as Industrial America went poof. It's an hour in the middle of the night to the Philly ballpark (quite possibly 2 hours trying to get to a weeknight game) and a good hour or so from Reading. It sits on the border of wealthy Montgomery and Chester counties, with well over a million people between them. P'ville has available land I believe, from abandoned steel mills.

EDIT: That general area is where a lot new homes are being built, so there are lots of kids in the general area.

Phoenixville is the hometown of Mike Piazza. I always thought of it as more part of the Pottstown area than part of the Philly area, though it's quite close to King of Prussia on the map.

I believe it's incredibly inconvenient to get to the Philly sports stadiums from the northwest, compared to most of the other Philly suburb areas, so it makes sense to put an indy league team there. The Lansdale/Perkasie area would be another candidate but they don't have all the abandoned-steel-mill real estate mentioned by Edmundo, and it's fairly close to Allentown so the team would look unappealing compared to the IronPigs.

I'm guessing this Phoenixville team would end up in the Frontier League which thrives on teams located very close to MLB cities. The Lake Erie Crushers for Cleveland. The Washington Wild Things for Pittsburgh. The Florence Freedom for Cincinnati. There are multiple teams near St. Louis and Chicago.

Article in the St. Louis PD about Mike Matheny's financial troubles that led to a managerial career.

Birthday League Update:

January 5           70  47  .598 ----  
January 17          67  46  .593  1.0  
January 14          66  49  .574  3.0        
January 23          65  50  .565  4.0   
January 28          63  49  .563  4.5

News and notes:
* January 11 has won seven in a row and 9 of 10.
* January 17 has won six in a row and 9 of 10. The Sailors were 42-39 at the end of June, and have gone 25-7 since to move within a game of first place.
* Hank Greenberg (January 1) leads the league in SLG (.604), OBP (.432), and RC/27 (10.2). In the last ten days, Greenberg is 14-for-27 with 6 walks, 13 RBI, and 2 HR.
* Other stars over the past ten days: Chili Davis (January 17) 15-for-33, 2 HR, 14 RBI. Charlie Spikes (January 23) 4 HR. Tim Stoddard (January 24) 10 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 9 K, 2 Wins, 2 Saves. Mark Littell (January 17) 2 GS, 16 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 20 K, 2 Wins.
* Cold over the past ten days: Ted Kazanski (January 25) 2-for-27. Jeff Samardzija (January 23) 8 IP, 18 H, 8 BB, 16 ER, 2 Losses. Chauncey Fisher (January 8) 9 IP, 23 H, 12 ER, 2 Losses.
* Speedster watch: Otis Nixon (January 9) has 103 steals in 116 games. Max Carey (January 11) has 100 steals in 117 games.
* Under the radar star: Ivan DeJesus (January 9) is playing every day, hitting .307, has stolen 37 bases at a 95% success rate, and is second in the league in RBI with 83.
* Jeff Suppan (January 2) has won his 16th game to retake the league lead in wins.
* Bill Doak (January 28) leads the league with a 2.22 ERA.
* Donn Pall (January 11) leads the league in games finished (49) and saves (23).
* Dizzy Dean (January 16) leads the league with a 5.91 K/BB ratio. Greg Swindell (January 2) is second at 3.94.

Standings, stats, leaders, and box scores here.