TR: The Teddy Roosevelts

Infield: Shortstop Topper Rigney (1922-27) was an exciting player for a few years – a .300 hitter who drew lots of walks and ran well. OK, granted, everyone hit .300 at that time, and the good ones hit .350, but still, he was a pretty fair player for four or five years for the Tigers. Career on-base percentage of .388, which is 30 points above the league average, and he was good for three dozen or so sac bunts a year. Then he just sort of fell off the face of the Earth. His given name was Emory Elmo Rigney, so on the one hand it’s a shame he went by a nickname. On the bright side, it’s a great nickname. First baseman Tommy Raub (1903-06) played a few dozen games for the Cubs in ’03 and a few dozen games for the Cardinals in ’06. That was his full major-league career. In 162 at-bats, he knocked out six triples. He had a long career in various minor leagues. Second baseman Tom Ragland (1971-73) was a journeyman utility infielder who couldn’t hit. Third baseman Tony Roig (1953-56) was also a utility infielder who couldn’t hit. If you add together the career stats for Roig, Ragland and Raub, they have 141 hits. Topper Rigney topped that (pun intended) in four separate seasons. 

Outfield: Left fielder Tim Raines (1979-2002) will bat leadoff on this team. He was one of the great leadoff batters of all time. His career on-base percentage was .385, and he stole 808 bases with an incredible 85 percent success rate. It all added up to more than 1,500 runs. He has never been fully appreciated, in part because he was overshadowed by Rickey Henderson and in part because he spent his prime  years in Montreal, but he was a star by any measure. Center fielder Tike Redman (2000-07) was a  hot prospect with the Pirates, but when he was given a full-time job he didn’t hit enough to hold onto it. At that point he began to bounce from organization to organization, spending most of his time in Triple-A, and when that ran out he played in independent leagues and in Mexico. Right fielder Tommie Reynolds (1963-72) was a heck of a hitter in the minors – .300 with power. But it never translated to the majors - .226 without power.

Catcher: Ted Radcliffe is the stuff of legend. Known as “Double Duty” because he would sometimes catch one game of a doubleheader and pitch the other, he will be the primary catcher on this team. One sees a lot of fanciful claims about his long career – 4,000 hits, 500 pitching victories, etc. – and it’s hard to know how seriously to take them. This much is known: The man lived to be 103  years old. Also, as a side note, his full name is Theodore Roosevelt Radcliffe, so he is a T.R. among T.R.s. Look for him to log some pitching innings on this staff, as well.

Rotation: Toad Ramsey (1885-90) was a lefty who won 38 games in 1886 and another 37 the next year. As a teen he had worked as a bricklayer, and according to some accounts an old finger injury caused him to grip the ball in a distinctive way that created an accidental knuckleball. He drank  heavily, and after his two big seasons he went 13-63 over the next three years. His career record was 113-124. Tim Redding (2001-09) was a righty who showed some  promise when he came up with Houston, but he got hurt and was done in his early 30s. Todd Ritchie (1997-2004) went 15-9 for a bad Pittsburgh Pirates team at age 27. Other than that year, his career record was 28-45. Thomas “Shotgun” Rogers (1917-21) won 15 games as a part-time pitcher for the Browns and the Philadelphia A’s. After a couple of years in the minors, he got a shot with the Yankees and  got clobbered in a few games in 1921. He returned to the minors and was a solid pitcher into his late 30s. Todd Redmond (2012- ) has been a solid Triiple-A pitcher for several years but in his only major-league start he got knocked out in the fourth inning. Still in his late-20s, but if he’s going to get a foothold in the majors he needs to figure something out pretty quicklky. The rotation is very thin, particularly at the back end, and the guess is that Double Duty Radcliffe will get some starts; he is the top catcher, but he also rivals the Toad as the best pitcher on this staff.

Bullpen: While we’re at it, don’t be surprised to see the Double Duty man come in to close some games out when it’s close. As it is, Tyson Ross (2010- ) is the nominal closer here, despite his 5.33 ERA, because the save he recorded as a rookie is the only save by anyone in this bullpen. Trevor Rosenthal (2012- ) is a flame-throwing kid who made a big impression in a late-season call-up for the Cardinals in 2012. He seems poised to move into the closer role very, very soon.Tyler Robertson (2012- ) is another hard-throwing kid just getting started. As a rookie, he worked as a lefty one-out specialist for the Twins with mixed results. We’ll see if he can work his way into a bigger role. Tink Riviere (1921-25) went 1-0 for the Cardinals in 2001 and got pounded in three games for the White Sox in 1925. We don’t know why he was called Tink. Tommy Reis (1938) had a career record of 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA. On the bright side, (a.) he won 198 games in the minors, and (b.) he lived to the age of 95. Todd Revenig (1992) made a couple of appearances with the A’s at age 23, working two shutout innings. He got hurt, went back to the minors, pitched in Mexico and then in Taiwan, but never got back to the majors. He retired with a career ERA of 0.00. Lefty Todd Rizzo (1998-99) was a lefty who went 0-2 with a 12.38 ERA. 

Bench: Tony “Pug” Rensa (1930-39) will be the backup catcher, and he’ll get plenty of work as Double Duty Radcliffe is shifted back and forth to the mound. Rensa was a decent contact hitter but nothing special. Infielder Tom Reilly (1908-09) was basically a career minor-league who spent a month with the Cardinals in 1908 and then had eight at-bats in the majors after that. Infielder Tony Rodriguez (1998) was a speedster who never established himself in the majors. Outfielder Tim Raines Jr. (2001-04) got his father’s name but not his father’s ability. He and his father were briefly teammates in Baltimore in 2001, joining the Griffeys as the only father-son teammates in baseball history. Trayvon Robinson (2011- ) is a young outfielder who strikes out a whole lot. He will need to get a handle on that if he wants to crack the starting lineup for the Roosevelts.

Manager: Tom Runnels had a brief managerial run with the Expos, in between the popular Buck Rodgers and the very popular Felipe Alou. Runnells tried to inspire his players one day during spring training by strutting onto the field in Marine fatigues, but that only succeeded in making people scratch their heads in confusion. His record was 68-81 in parts of two seasons. Other than that he has managed in the minors and coached in the big leagues.