An excellent Birthday Team today, one of the best we've seen in months. There's a ton of infield depth.

C: Biz Mackey (25.7 WAR)
1B: Ray Boone (25.8 WAR)
2B: Davy Force (17.1 WAR)
3B: Alex Rodriguez (117.5 WAR)
SS: Joe Tinker (53.2 WAR)
LF: Don Lock (12.0 WAR)
CF: Tom Goodwin (8.5 WAR)
RF: Ryan Flaherty (1.1 WAR)

SP: Max Scherzer (63.6 WAR)
SP: Rube Walberg (36.7 WAR)
SP: Shane Rawley (20.8 WAR)
SP: Brad Keller (8.1 WAR)
SP: Charley Hall (5.7 WAR)
RP: Yoervis Medina (2.8 WAR)

Manager/backup infielder: Leo Durocher (4.3 WAR)
Backup C: Jack Hiatt (8.5 WAR)
Backup infielder: Bump Wills (16.5 WAR)
Backup infielder: Rich Dauer (14.4 WAR)
Backup infielder: Shea Hillenbrand (6.3 WAR)
General Manager: Ed Short
Umpire: Harry Wendlestedt
-5.3 career WAR: Enrique Wilson (-5.3 WAR)
-7.2 career WAR: Jim Lillie (-7.2 WAR)
Fleet's brother: Welday Walker (-0.1 WAR)
Fun names: Moose Baxter, Irish McIlveen
Big in Japan: Brian Sikorski (-0.1 WAR)
Shot on the team bus while in drag: Kyle Denney (-0.6 WAR)

I never would have imagined Bump Wills is credited with 16.5 bWAR, or that he was more-or-less a regular for six years. On the other hand, he was in the other division in the other league, and those were my college years and I was so involved with my studies....

SP: Rube Walberg (36.7 WAR)

You could put together a hell of a "all-Rube" rotation. Marquard, Waddell, Walberg. Team them up with the "Babes" on offense, and you'd have an unbeatable nickname team.

1B: Ray Boone (25.8 WAR)

The Boones came close to having three generations of World Series champions, but neither Brett (1999, Braves) nor Aaron (2003, Yankees) could get over the hump in the Fall Classic.

Brett can't be faulted for the Yankees' sweep of the Braves in '99: He reached base 8 times in the four games but scored just once, and led all players with a .538/.571/.846 line.

Aaron was just 3-for-23 in the 2003 Series, which the Yankees lost in 6 games to the Marlins, his lone homer providing some cushion in the 9th inning of a 6-1 win that put the Yanks up 2 games to 1.

Bob had an excellent Series in 1980, going .412/.500/.529 and reaching base in all six games as the Phillies defeated the Royals for their first-ever championship.

Grandpappy Ray was lucky to see action in the postseason: no "playoffs" in those days, and he had just five regular-season plate appearances in 1948, the year the Indians and Red Sox tied at 96-58 after 154 games and thus played one more for the pennant. Ray got into game 5 as a pinch-hitter with the Indians down six runs in the 8th inning, and struck out against Warren Spahn. That was his only postseason at-bat, as he was traded to Detroit in 1953, one year before the 116-win Indians team, and was a member of the '59 pennant-winning White Sox but was traded during the season.

I was so involved with my studies....

My friends and I devoted many research hours to find the cheapest, digestible beer

Only one "t" in Bret Boone.

I'd have never guessed Shane Rawley had 20+ WAR. Not that I remembered anything about Rawley other than his name, he was a leftie and I was pretty sure he was mostly a Phillie. He was a pretty average pitcher but he made it to nearly 1900 innings which is a lot.

Along the way I also discover that the movie "Shane" came out a few years earlier than I realized -- 1953. Rawley was born in 1955. Baseball has had a lot of Shanes over the years, including several current, but Rawley appears to be the first and the only one born at a time that he was likely named directly after the movie.