AUBURN - Falcon Park may have been submerged in snow on Saturday night, but that didn't stop over 200 people from gathering down the street to talk about and celebrate baseball.

The Auburn Doubledays held their second Hot Stove Dinner at the Sunset Restaurant.

Auburn manager Dennis Holmberg, 2003 NY-Penn League MVP Vito Chiaravalloti, and Florida Marlins' director of player development Marc DelPiano were the event's featured speakers.

The dinner was revived last year after an almost 30-year absence, and if it's up to Doubledays' general manager Jason Smorol, will continue on an annual basis.

"We definitely want this to stick around," Smorol said. "It needs to be a tradition. It's going to make people think about baseball in the winter time, and we're doing such a good thing for charity.

"It's to have fun, talk about baseball. We want to rekindle the hot stove. People can start talking about trades. What have the Yankees done? What have the Red Sox done? What have the Blue Jays done to keep pace."

Proceeds from the evening were to distributed to the Hillside Children's Center of Auburn, the United Way, and the Leo Pinckney Scholarship fund.

"Besides the weather, it's excellent to be back," said Chiaravalloti, who was Auburn's first baseman - and a triple crown winner - in 2003. "Nothing against the people of Auburn, but they're crazy to put up with this all winter long. I love being back here. I love the town."

After playing for the short-season Doubledays last season, Chiaravalloti says he hopes to move up to a long-season team in 2004.

Charleston or Dunedin are his most likely destinations.

"I'm hoping for Dunedin, obviously, because it's higher up," he said. "My goal is to make a long-season team so that I can get promoted. That's the goal of a baseball player, to make it to the big leagues."

While Chiaravalloti is moving on, Holmberg will be back in the dugout managing the Doubledays for the third consecutive summer.

Holmberg, who has led Auburn to 104 wins and two Pinckney division titles, now has over 950 wins in 27 years with the Blue Jays' organization.

"It's nice to go back to a place that you know, to people that you know," he said. "The surroundings are familiar. You just hope to continue to have the success."

Holmberg was also at last year's hot stove dinner and is a big supporter.

"It's unbelievably fantastic," Holmberg said. "If I was a citizen of the city of Auburn, I would be attending this thing every year. I would be promoting it. This is just a great opportunity to bring everybody together from different corners of baseball and the city, and have a good night out."

DelPiano, an Auburn High grad, is gearing up for the start of spring training in two weeks. He will be in Florida for the duration of the preseason.

Now in his second year as Florida's director of player development, he can only hope his second year is as wonderful as his first, when the Marlins knocked off the Yankees in the World Series.

"It was a great experience," he said. "The best part about being at the World Series was being able to experience that with my family, having my father, my daughter, my friends from the Auburn area down to Miami and New York City and have them be a part of it."

The departures of Ivan Rodriguez and Derek Lee were tough blows, but DelPiano expects Florida to contend again with its good pitching staff, speed and defense-oriented lineup.

Plus, like last season with Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, some of 2004's contributors may not even be at the major-league level yet.

"We've got some good players coming," DelPiano said. "There's a good nucleus at the lower levels that is just starting to get to the upper levels. You're going to find, in the next year or two, some no-name players in our system who are really going to be able to contribute at the big-league level."

Liverpool native and former major-league pitcher John Johnstone was also in attendance.

In addition to a cocktail hour, dinner, and speaker presentations, there was also a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle to help benefit the charities.