Today's Birthday Team has nobody above 35 career WAR, but is still pretty solid. That's a good pitching staff and a great Fun Names Crew.

C: Dave Engle (3.8 WAR)
1B: Craig Wilson (3.4 WAR)
2B: Ray Durham (33.8 WAR)
3B: Barry Evans (0.0 WAR)
SS: Luis Valbuena (8.9 WAR)
LF: Bo Jackson (8.3 WAR)
CF: Shane Victorino (31.5 WAR)
RF: Matt Lawton (15.1 WAR)

SP: Frank Killen (34.4 WAR)
SP: Firpo Marberry (30.3 WAR)
SP: Bob Tewksbury (20.8 WAR)
SP: Rich Harden (17.7 WAR)
SP: Craig Swan (12.7 WAR)
RP: Steve Hamilton (11.1 WAR)
RP: Juan Berenguer (9.9 WAR)

Fun names: Moose Grimshaw, Mikie Mahtook, Alamazoo Jennings, Win Ballou, Tacks Latimer, Dud Branom
Manager: Mordecai Davidson
Not that one: Carlos Valderrama

Happy birthday, Bo!

This is a fun, deep team. Mark Lewis would *probably* be a better SS option, though he finished with negative WAR. Superscout Clyde Sukeforth would form a fine catching platoon with Engle (and manage). 1880's Patrick Gillespie would, if he got over the future shock, be a cromulent 4th outfielder. Mahtook and Harold Castro would add Tigers flair to the back of the bench.

Rounding out the pitching staff, active hurlers Chase Anderson, Alec Mills, and Kyle Crick would pair nicely with left-handed relievers Leo Kiely (50's) and Gary Wayne (90's).

That's a full 25-man roster. Sukeforth would face a hard choice in deciding how best to deploy Marberry.

Has Mordecai come back as a name? It should.

I remember Juan Berenguer threw as hard as anyone I've ever seen. I also remember him trying to throw three fastballs by Jesse Barfield on the Monday Night game of the week. The third fastball was deposited about 15 rows back in the upper deck of Tiger Stadium.

An NPB player who merits consideration for today's birthday team is Hawks pitcher Kazumi Saito, who was one of the best pitchers in Japan in the early 2000s. He had shoulder problems that limited his effectiveness early in his career, and pitched his last game at age 29 when he couldn't make a comeback after two more shoulder surgeries. But from 2003 to 2007 he put up some eye popping numbers - two Sawamura Awards (the first Pacific League pitcher to win two Sawamura Awards), two Best Nine, two ERA titles, two wins titles. I know starting pitcher winning percentage isn't a favorite stat around here, but for his career he was 79-23, a .775 winning percentage. He went 20-3 in 2003, and 16-1 in 2005. He won 16 straight games in 2003, which at the time was a NPB record, and then won his first 15 decisions in 2005.

favorite in-person Bo memory: a Royals-O's DH in Baltimore, where Bo hit a ball to the power alley in left-center and got a triple. the power alleys were short at the old Memorial stadium (I remember a 360 sign out there), and the ball didn't bounce around out there. fastest baseball player I've ever seen once he hit 1st base.