12/20/2002 12:23 PM - Kansas City, KS, December 20, 2002 – Adam Ehlert, Kansas City T-Bones general manager, announced today the signing of two players for the upcoming 2003 season.

In an unprecedented event, the T-Bones signed Sean Murphy this afternoon during a live remote broadcast of Kevin Keitzman’s “Between the Lines” sports program on WHB-810. “We thought it would be a fun way to introduce our fans to some of our players, and Sean is a great example of one of our team leaders. I won’t discuss Sean’s salary, but suffice it to say that he’s making less than $3,000 each month—he’s truly playing for the love of the game, and that’s the message we want our fans to understand,” said Ehlert.

Murphy, of Rock Island, Illinois, was one of the league-leading hitters last year in the Northern League, playing in 89 of 90 games for the Duluth-Superior Dukes, and finishing the season with a team-leading .321 batting average and 31 doubles.

The T-Bones also announced the signing of rookie Michael Birmingham, a Kansas City native. Birmingham, 23, will graduate from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff this spring before beginning his professional career.
“Basically, it’s great to have a young kid from Kansas City as one of our first signings. He had such great success here at the Legion and high school levels, and then was hampered by injury in college, and now that he’s healthy, we’re here to give him another chance,” said manager Al Gallagher.

Birmingham was a star at Kansas City, Kansas’ Schagle High School, where he was all- Kansan, and an All-American invitee.