Doubledays' Hot Stove was cooking

AUBURN - The food was served fast and delicious, one one-liner followed another, and applause and laughter filled the room inside the Sunset Restaurant, while outside the snow softened.

The topic, of course, was baseball at the Auburn Doubledays' third annual Hot Stove Dinner, an entirely benevolent mixture of food, folks and fun, to borrow a phrase from another all-American institution.

Nearly 200 people filled the banquet room at the Sunset to bid on dozens of sports memorabilia items in a silent auction, gulp down chicken and roast beef, and listen to guest speakers Carl Gutelius, the team's new general manager and emcee for the night; Dennis Holmberg, the Doubledays' manager for a fourth year this coming season; his new pitching coach Tom Signore; ex-major league pitcher Frank DiPino; and Doubledays board of directors members Tom Ganey and Leo Pinckney.