You might be concerned about Steve Garvey at third base for today's Birthday Team and you'd probably be right. But it wouldn't be as disastrous as Lonnie Smith doing anything anywhere with a baseball glove.

C: Elrod Hendricks (7.5 WAR)
1B: Matty Alou (23.1 WAR)
2B: Bill Boyd (1.9 WAR)
3B: Steve Garvey (38.1 WAR)
SS: Hervey McClellan (-2.7 WAR)
LF: Lonnie Smith (38.5 WAR)
CF: Ken Landreaux (10.4 WAR)
RF: Glenn Wilson (13.1 WAR)

SP: Steve Carlton (90.2 WAR)
SP: Zach Britton (14.5 WAR)
SP: Tom Underwood (9.9 WAR)
SP: David Nied (2.7 WAR)
SP: Greg Smith (1.8 WAR)
RP: Michael Jackson (18.9 WAR)

Manager: Connie Mack
Fun names: Buster Burrell, Pop Tate, Wes Obermueller
Not that one: Gary Cooper

You might be concerned about Steve Garvey at third base for today's Birthday Team and you'd probably be right.

Well, today's Birthday Team manager certainly knew his strong infields.

Lonnie Smith had more WAR than Steve Garvey, and in 3500 fewer career plate appearances.

Lonnie Smith had more WAR than Steve Garvey

He had 2+ WAR seasons for five different teams, and had I not looked I wouldn't have been able to name the five teams.

EDIT: I'm also noticing he played in the World Series for four different teams... I can't imagine many others have done that.

At the time, much was made of the fact that Lonnie won World Series with three different franchises in 1980, '82 and '85.

Ryan Freel also born today, kind of a super-sub type. You could play him at 2B instead of Boyd. (no offense to players' skills from the 1870's)

He had 2+ WAR seasons for five different teams, and had I not looked I wouldn't have been able to name the five teams.

Phillies, Cardinals, Royals, Braves, Pirates? Played in the World Series with the first four, I believe.

EDIT: Nailed it. But I totally forgot about his 44-game stint in Baltimore at the end of his career.

Ryan Freel also born today, kind of a super-sub type.

Sadly, today is the anniversary of his suicide, not his birth.

I'm more bemused by the 5'9" (on a good day) 160 (he might have been lighter) Matty Alou at 1B. He did have 150 starts there so he definitely qualifies but he made even less sense there than Miguel Cairo did.

I'm not sure what the crieteria would be exactly, but we need some sort of Matty Alou -- Felix Millan style All-Star team.

Sadly, today is the anniversary of his suicide, not his birth.

Yikes, sorry, I botched that link. Just read the story, I guess the extent of his head injuries can't be known but it sounds like so many NFL players' suicides.

He may not be a starter on today's team, but an NPB player who is celebrating a birthday is SoftBank Hawks outfielder Yuya Hasegawa. Hasegawa has played for the Hawks since 2007, and has been a member of seven Japan Series champions. He is a four-time All-Star and was the 2013 Pacific League batting champion. Hasegawa hit .341/.392/.510 with 19 home tuns that season, a career year. He has never topped 10 homers in any other season. His career line is .289/.365/.409. Hasegawa hasn't been a starter since 2016, but he's been an important role player for Softbank's current streak of four straight Japan Series champions. He hit only .224 this season, but was in the news when he tested positive for COVID in August; he made it back to play in the Japan Series. He was eligible to be a free agent at the end of the season, but last week signed a one-year deal to stay with SoftBank, taking a pay cut, saying “I might go elsewhere and get more opportunities to play, and maybe I could get a contract on good terms, but I thought it wasn’t the case. It’s not like me.”

I'm not sure what the crieteria would be exactly, but we need some sort of Matty Alou -- Felix Millan style All-Star team.

5'9" and under, 175 lbs and under?

Problem is, our best 9 players will all be 2B.

Talk about an unbalanced roster. 14 players born 12/22 have > 1,000 plate appearances. Nine are OF or 1B, three are catchers (Hendricks, Mack, Allanson), and one is Steve Carlton. The one middle infielder, McClellan, slashed .221/.267/.292; Carlton, at .201/.223/.259, wasn't much worse!

There’s something a wee bit queer in the case of Charley Herzog

NTTAWWT.

At the time, much was made of the fact that Lonnie won World Series with three different franchises in 1980, '82 and '85.

In my All-80s League (OOTP), I limited such players to only one incarnation, so I have Lonnie playing for the '82 Cardinals only (6.2 WAR, second only to 1989 with the Braves [8.8]). The '80 Phillies and the '85 Royals were p!ssed, obviously, and threatened to strike, until I reminded them that the league only existed in the mind of a chubby, middle-aged guy with time on his hands. (The move had an interesting upside: Pat Sheridan, who is from Michigan and actually played Little League with my older brother, took Lonnie's spot in the OF with the '85 Royals!)