Really good outfield on today's Birthday Team, as well as a couple solid starting pitchers. Awful GM, though.

C: Joe Garagiola
1B: Earl Sheely
2B: Mike McGeary
3B: Lenny Randle
SS: Chick Fulmer
LF: Chick Hafey
CF: Chet Lemon
RF: Dom DiMaggio

SP: Don Wilson
SP: Pat Dobson
SP: Monk Dubiel
SP: Jerry Walker
SP: Tim Redding
RP: Don Stanhouse

Manager: Pants Rowland
General Manager: Cam Bonifay
Play-By-Play: Jim Durham

a couple solid starting pitchers.

Pat Dobson had consecutive seasons about as similar as possible, in terms of his performance.

1971 - 282 IP 116 ERA+ 1.102 WHIP 7.9 H/9 0.8 HR/9 2.97 K/BB 2.9 WAR
1972 - 268 IP 116 ERA+ 1.077 WHIP 7.4 H/9 0.4 HR/9 2.33 K/BB 2.7 WAR

1971 he went 20-8, 1972 16-18. The difference of course was run support. In 1971 he got 5.14 runs/start, all but 5 starts getting 3+ runs, and 7+ runs 11 times. In 1972 he got 2.90 runs/start, getting fewer than 3 runs in 17 starts, and 7+ only twice.

It's surprising to see Dom DiMaggio shifted over to RF considering that he was an elite defender in CF and that Lemon played more games in RF. But it's the right call. As good as Dom was in CF, Chet was even better.

Good lungs at third too.

Didn't Hafey have one of the great arms of the 30s? My thought is that today's outfield would be fine however they're arranged, but that if they played together today they'd probably go Lemon-DiMaggio-Hafey.

what the hell is the IOC doing?


i can kind of understand taking baseball out of the olympics considering the lack of major leaguers and the overall lack of interest, but why the hell would they get rid of wrestling? forget for a second that wrestling has a history going back to ancient greece, and just focus on the fact that it's the perfect sport for an international competition. you can be competitive in it regardless of whether you come from a country with money or without, with more than 1 billion people or with less than 1 million, whether you're from africa or siberia, or iran or brazil, whether you're 120 lbs or 280, you can compete and you can win.

it is unfathomable to me that this could even be considered, let alone be done.

oh, and this is from the new york times article on the issue:

Among the sports that wrestling must compete with for future inclusion are climbing, rollerblading and wakeboarding.

someone needs to be fargo'd for this.

Birthday League Update:

February 5          57  30  .655 ----  
February 6          52  30  .634  2.5        
January 31          50  37  .575  7.0 
February 22         50  37  .575  7.0  
February 3          48  37  .565  8.0        
February 1          48  37  .565  8.0        
February 18         48  37  .565  8.0

News and notes:
* February 21 has lost 11 of 12 and is now 22-62. At least one member of the team isn't complaining, though.
* The January 29 Ravens went 4-18 in June. The February 21 Manifestos were 5-18 in June.
* After a 28-29 start to the season, the February 3 Big Boppers have won 20 of 28 to vault themselves into contention.
* The story of the league has, predictably, been the incredible performance of Babe Ruth (February 6). Ruth leads the league in HR (31), RBI (67), R (89), BB (80), IBB (13), Longest Hitting Streak (20), SLG (.807), OBP (.501), RC/27 (17.3), TB (238), HR vs LHP (9), HR vs RHP (22), Wins (13), Winning Pct (1.000), CG (9), and Run Support (5.94). One could safely assume that much of Ruth's run support is coming from his own bat.
* Honus Wagner (February 24) leads the league in doubles (31) and is second in stolen bases (36). Billy Hamilton (February 15) has swiped 41 bags.
* Nolan Ryan (January 31) has 163 strikeouts, 70 more than a three-way tie for second place.

Stats, standings, box scores, and leaderboards here.

Yes, I'm fully aware I'm going to hell for the Luther Taylor joke. It was admittedly ill-advised, but it's tough to come up with a bright side for a team that's playing .260 ball.

It's been decades since I genuinely cared about the Olympics. I don't care about gymnastics or swimming or track and field, and it doesn't really matter to me that the best athletes in the world are competing. The best canasta players in the world could be there too - it still wouldn't make canasta something I want to watch.

Sure, I watch basketball, soccer, and occasionally boxing, but I watch that stuff anyway.

You know what would make the Olympics more palatable? Baseball.

Dan, why have the Birthday League teams played such a widely differing number of games? Note that Ruth dominates the statistical categories despite the fact that his team has played five fewer games than some of the other teams.

it's tough to come up with a bright side for a team that's playing .260 ball.

That's the 1962 Mets.

-- MWE

Dan, why have the Birthday League teams played such a widely differing number of games? Note that Ruth dominates the statistical categories despite the fact that his team has played five fewer games than some of the other teams.

Not sure, Tom. The schedule is automated, and I guess that's part of the algorithm.