Infield: Shortstop Willie Wells, the Negro League star known as “El Diablo” (or “Devil”), was a slick fielder and a good hitter with power and speed. Generally regarded as the second best shortstop in Negro League history (behind John Henry Lloyd), and selected by Bill James as one of the 100 best baseball players in history. Wells was one of the first professional players to use a batting helmet, donning a construction worker’s hat after suffering a concussion when he got beaned. Woody Woodward (1963-71) was a shortstop, too, a decent-field, miserable-hit shortstop. He’s not about to move Wells off that position, but he played four games at first base – well, he appeared in four games at first base, a total of six defensive innings – and he is apparently the only person in history with the initials WW to play first base. So he’s starting there for us, but don’t expect him to keep the job for long. Third baseman Warren White (1871-84) played a few games here and there, a total of 168 games spread across six seasons for five or six different teams. Second baseman Whitey Wietelmann (1939-47) was a minor-league veteran who played sporadically in the majors and finally became regular when the real players went off to World War II. When he was done in the majors, he went back to the minors and became a fixture in San Diego. When the Padres entered the majors as an expansion team, Wietelmann was on the coaching staff, and he spent more than a decade with the organization in various coaching and scouting capacities. They called him Mr. Indispensible.
Outfield: Center fielder Willie Wilson (1976-94) was the fastest player of his generation. He was lightning fast, on the bases and in the outfield, taking full advantage of the artificial turf in Kansas City to slap and chop at pitches and leg out hits. He led the league in triples five times and led the league at various times in batting average, hits, runs and stolen bases. He stole 668 bases in his career and probably could have had a few hundred more, but he resented that people thought of him only as a speedster and not as a well-rounded ballplayer, so he tried to downplay that element of his game a bit, even though it was his best asset. Also to that end, in mid-career he decided that he wanted to hit the ball harder, to hit line drives and long fly balls instead of the little slap hits, so he started using a heavier bat and hit a couple of extra home runs per year while only losing about 30 or 40 points off his batting average, which he apparently thought was a fair tradeoff. He was one of the most prominent players caught up in baseball’s cocaine problems during the 1980s. Right fielder Wally Westlake (1947-56) was a .270 hitter with a little bit of power. He drove in 104 runs for the 1949 Pirates. Left fielder Walt Wilmot (1888-98) was a switch-hitter who stole a lot of bases and hit a lot of triples. During a game in 1894, a fire broke out in the grandstands in Chicago and Wilmot was credited with saving lives by using his bat to knock down the fence and allow fans onto the field.
Catcher: Wes Westrum (1947-57) was a mainstay on some fine New York Giants teams, winning two pennants and a World Series. He was a good hitter and a fine handler of pitchers, and after he retired he worked as a coach and manager – in fact, he managed the Mets in between Casey’s lovable losers and Gil Hodges’ Amazin’ champs.
Rotation: Whit Wyatt (1929-45) was a very ordinary pitcher for several years, but once he learned a changeup to complement his outstanding fastball, he became a key pitcher in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ rotations of the 1940s, winning 22 games in ’41. Will “Whoop-La” White (1877-88) was a 19th-century workhorse who won 40 games for Cincinnati in 1882 and 43 the next year. He finished his career with a record of 229-166 and an ERA of 2.28, which partly reflects the era in which he pitched but which also suggests that he was a pretty darn good pitcher. Woody Williams (1993-2007) very quietly won 132 games in his career, highlighted by an 18-9 record for the Cardinals in 2003. He was never an ace but frequently a solid middle-of-the-rotation guy, the role he’ll be filling here. Wally Whitehurst (1989-96) was a forgettable swingman for the Mets in the early 1990s. Weldon Wyckoff (1913-18) got knocked around for a few years, losing 22 games for the 1915 Philadelphia A’s. He finished his career with one relief appearance for the 1918 Red Sox but did not get to be a part of the World Series championship that year.
Bullpen: Closer Wilbur Wood (1961-78) was a fascinating pitcher, a rubber-armed knuckleballer who could serve as a workhorse starter (his 376 innings pitcher in 1972 is the highest total since 1917) or a workhorse reliever (led the AL in appearances three straight years from 1968-70). He would certainly help this team’s rotation, having won 90 games between 1971-74, but the need in the bullpen is far more glaring, and after all, he did have 57 saves in his career. Lefty Wesley Wright (2008- ), whose full name is Dequam LaWesley Wright, is a lefty with a strong arm. He has made almost 400 appearances in the majors with a 4.16 ERA and almost a strikeout per inning. He spent 2016 back in the minors and could be running out of time in the majors. Walter Wilson (1945) was a fine minor-league pitcher who spent a year with the Tigers during World War II. Whitey Wilshere (1934-36) was a native of upstate New York who managed to die in Cooperstown, which is as close as he was ever going to get to the Hall of Fame. Woody Wheaton (1943-44) had a fine minor-league career as both an outfielder and a pitcher but only made it to the majors during World War II. Wally Wolf (1969-70) has a name that sounds like he should be the mascot for a breakfast cereal. His real name was Walter Beck Wolf, which means that (intentionally or not) he was named after a pitcher from an earlier generation, Walter “Boom Boom” Beck. Wes Whisler (2009- ) is a lefty who has yet to distinguish himself in the majors, to put it gently. In the minors, he was part of a Charlotte Knights pitching staff that also included Jack Egbert and Jimmy Gobble, leading Mike and Joe to conclude that Egbert, Gobble and Whisler would make a great name for a sad sack law firm in a TV sitcom. (Lance Broadway was also on that pitching staff, and we figured he would be the hotshot young lawyer trying to use the down-and-out firm as a stepping stone.)
Bench: Outfielder Walt Williams (1964-75) was called “No-Neck,” for the obvious reason. He was a short, squat guy who looked like someone had dropped a bowling ball atop his collarbone. He wasn’t a bad hitter, actually, and if the coaching staff can get Wally Westlake to fill the hole at first base, look for No-Neck to take over a corner outfield spot. Another possibility to take the starting first base job is backup catcher Wabishaw Wiley, a Negro League veteran who was a pretty fair hitter. He had a long career and played for some great teams, and as an added bonus, he was a practicing dentist. Wiley played some first base during his career in addition to catching, and he's certainly a better player than Woody Woodward, so we're guessing it won't take long for him to take over at first base. Walt Weiss (1988-2000) batted .250 and fielded competently at shortstop, which was good enough to win the AL Rookie of the Year award. His rookie year was indicative of the career that lay ahead. He played in 13 postseason series, mostly for the A’s (early in his career) and the Braves (late). Welday Walker (1884) was an outfielder whose middle name was Wilberforce. More important, he was the brother of Fleet Walker, which means that he was one of the early black players who got a few games in before the color line was drawn. Infielder-outfielder Whitey Witt (1916-26) will room with Whitt Wyatt, just to confuse the hotel desk clerks. Witt was a pretty decent hitter, the leadoff batter for Babe Ruth’s pennant-winning Yankees in 1922 and ’23.
Manager: Will White, who managed the 1884 Cincinnati Red Stockings, takes the lead role, with assistance from Wes Westrum and Mr. Indispensible.
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