On this day in 1977 Alexander Gonzalez was born in Cagua, Venezuela. The Marlins signed him as a 17-year-old amateur free agent in 1994 and he made his first big league appearance in 1998, playing the first 25 of his 1559 major league games.

Gonzalez has only made one career All Star appearance (his first full MLB season in 1999), but he's still had a very good major league career. He's played 14 big league seasons as a member of six franchises, and is widely regarded as a very good defensive shortstop.

Gonzalez is projected to be something of a utility man for the 2013 Brewers, which would mean the end of a rather bizarre statistic: Gonzalez is one of just three players in major league history who have played at least 1500 games at shortstop without ever appearing at another position:

Thanks to the B-Ref Play Index for reminding me that Gonzalez turns 36 today. We'd also like to wish a happy birthday to 1971-73 Brewer Rick Auerbach, who turns 63. We covered his birthday in this space last year.