Infield: Lou Boudreau (1938-52) was a great shortstop and a fine team leader. He was a .295 hitter who would have 45 doubles in a good season despite the fact that he wasn’t very fast, so you know he hit the ball hard. He drew 85-95 walks, too, and was an outstanding defensive shortstop. He was the American League MVP in 1948, when he batted .355 and led the Indians to a World Series championship. First baseman Lu Blue (1921-33) arrived just as the “lively ball era” was kicking into high gear, but he was never a power hitter. Instead, he would hit around .290-.300 and draw 100 walks, putting him on base enough to score 100 runs six times. Third baseman Les Bell (1923-31) had his best season in 1926 when he was one of the key players on the Cardinals team that beat the Yankees in the World Series. He batted .325 that season, with 33 doubles, 14 triples and 17 home runs. Take that season out of his career record and he looks like a very consistent, very average hitter. Second baseman Lou Bierbauer (1886-98) was a pretty mundane hitter but looks like he was pretty sharp with the glove, based on what we can glean from 19th-century fielding stats.
Outfield: Left fielder Lou Brock is in the Hall of Fame, and center fielder Lyman Bostock was a potential batting champ who was gunned down in his prime, but right fielder Lance Berkman (1999- ) is the prize of the outfield. Berkman starts with a .300 average and 100 walks per year, then spikes it with 40-50 doubles and 30-40 home runs per year. He drove in his 1,000th run in 2009, and scored his 1,000th run in 2010. He appeared to be running out of gas but is now having a resurgent season with the Cardinals in 2011 and might yet push his career numbers toward the Hall of Fame level. Brock (1961-79) was a good, durable player. He wasn’t very strong in the field, and his strikeout-walk ratio wasn’t really what you’d want for a leadoff guy, but he had 3,000 hits, 1,600 runs and was a fantastic baserunner who held the single-season and career records for stolen bases until Rickey Henderson blew by them. The Cardinals aquired him in one of the most famously lopsided trades in baseball history; the Cubs, discouraged that he could not handle center field, dealt him to the St. Louis in June of 1964, and Brock immediately batted .348 for the rest of the season and led the Cardinals to the World Series title. In all, he played in three World Series with the Cardinals, batting .300 against the Yankees in ’64, .414 against the Red Sox in ’67 and .464 against the Tigers in ’68. In 21 World Series games, he scored 16 runs, drove in 13 and stole 14 bases. Hard to complain about that. Bostock (1975-78) was a line drive hitter who batted .323 in 1976, then followed that up with .336 in 1977. He was batting .296 late in the 1978 season when he was shot to death in Gary, Ind. Bostock was riding in a car with a woman who was a childhood friend. The woman’s husband, who was both estranged and deranged, attempted to shoot her and hit Bostock instead, killing him at age 27. He died with a .311 career batting average.
Catcher: Larry Brown was a Negro League standout who didn't hit much - .260 with no power - but was a sensational glove man.
Rotation: Lew Burdette (1950-67) was the Milwaukee Braves’ right-handed counterpart to Warren Spahn. He wasn’t nearly as good as Spahn, but he was talented and durable enough to win 203 games. He gave up a lot of hits but almost no walks. Lady Baldwin (1884-90) went 42-13 for Detroit in 1886, and in the rest of his career he was 31-28. A good lefty, but almost half of his career innings came in one season. He can be called The First Lady of Major League Baseball (and we suppose Lady Bee Britton would the second). Len Barker (1976-87) is a cautionary tale. He arrived in the majors at age 20, and by 21 he was billed as a rising star. He developed into an erratic but occasionally very good starter, winning 19 games in 1980 and throwing a perfect game in ’81. Late in the 1983 season, he was struggling along in Cleveland with an 8-13 record and a 5.11 ERA, but the Braves – looking for a boost in the pennant drive – decided that Len Barker was the answer, so they gave the Indians a package of players. Barker went 1-3 for Atlanta that fall, then went 7-8 and 2-9 the next two years. Meanwhile, one of the players Atlanta gave up was a young center fielder named Brett Butler, who went on to score about 1,400 runs, and another of the players Atlanta gave up was a young third baseman named Brook Jacoby, who would hit 120 home runs, and oh yeah, Atlanta had to toss in $150,000 in addition to the players, so that deal really sucked for the Braves. Larry Benton (1923-35) was a .500 pitcher (127-128 lifetime) with a league average ERA, but on a good team he could win you some games (25-9 for the 1928 Giants, for example), and this team should score some runs. Lloyd Brown (1925-40) is not crazy and he can do anything he sets his mind to. (Inside joke for “Seinfeld” fans.) He was actually a lefty, nicknamed Gimpy, who went 91-105 while pitching for some pretty bad teams around the American League. He was at least as good as Larry Benton, so if these two guys get some run support they could be part of a fairly deep rotation.
Bullpen: Closer Larry Bearnarth (1963-71) was with the Mets in between the disastrous expansion team and the Miracle of ’69. Larry Bradford (1977-81) was a lefty who pitched pretty well in 100 games for the Braves. In 1998, he died of a heart attack while attending a Braves game at Turner Field. Lance Broadway (2007- ) is a young guy who has yet to really make his mark in the majors, but Mike and Joe like him because he’s got a great name, especially if you say it with a confident swagger like a cocky young man introducing himself: “Broadway … Lance Broadway.” Lou Brissie (1947-53) was a pretty decent lefty with a great story. As a teen, he had attracted the attention of Connie Mack, but World War II interrupted, and while serving as a paratrooper, Brissie was almost killed by an artillery burst that shattered his left leg. He required more than 20 operations and had to wear a metal brace on his leg, but he returned to baseball and played for Connie Mack. He eventually won 44 games in the majors. (If you did not have a copy of “Strange But True Baseball Stories” as a kid, you truly missed out.) Les Backman (1909-10) was 9-18 for the Cardinals. Lynn Brenton (1913-21) was 5-12 for the Indians and the Reds. Larry Burchart (1969) was 0-2 for the Indians. None of them were as interesting as Lou Brissie, or if they were, it has been lost to the history books.
Bench: Shortstop Larry Bowa (1970-85) didn’t make many errors, so he won a couple of Gold Gloves, but in truth he didn’t have a great arm or much range. He could hit .280 in a good year, so he played in several all-star games, but he didn’t walk and had no power, so he wasn’t very productive. That said, he was a fiery guy who played long enough to accumulate 2,100 hits, almost 1,000 runs and more than 300 steals, so there were certainly times when he helped his teams. He ain’t budging Boudreau off of shortstop, though. Larry Biitner (1970-83) was a lefty-swinging outfielder who could be a valuable guy in the right role off the bench. Larry Bigbie (2001-06) had a brief run as a productive major-league hitter. Lance Blankenship (1988-93) was a utility player who batted .222 but with as many walks as hits, so he was on base quite a bit and was a valuable role player. Backup catcher Lou Berberet (1954-60) was a stocky guy who bounced around the American League for a few years playing semi-regularly. He was a .230 hitter with a little bit of pop and a good arm.
Manager: Lou Boudreau won 1,162 games and a World Series title. He’s the player-manager, acing Bowa out for that role as well as the starting shortstop job.
Outfield: Left fielder Lou Brock is in the Hall of Fame, and center fielder Lyman Bostock was a potential batting champ who was gunned down in his prime, but right fielder Lance Berkman (1999- ) is the prize of the outfield. Berkman starts with a .300 average and 100 walks per year, then spikes it with 40-50 doubles and 30-40 home runs per year. He drove in his 1,000th run in 2009, and scored his 1,000th run in 2010. He appeared to be running out of gas but is now having a resurgent season with the Cardinals in 2011 and might yet push his career numbers toward the Hall of Fame level. Brock (1961-79) was a good, durable player. He wasn’t very strong in the field, and his strikeout-walk ratio wasn’t really what you’d want for a leadoff guy, but he had 3,000 hits, 1,600 runs and was a fantastic baserunner who held the single-season and career records for stolen bases until Rickey Henderson blew by them. The Cardinals aquired him in one of the most famously lopsided trades in baseball history; the Cubs, discouraged that he could not handle center field, dealt him to the St. Louis in June of 1964, and Brock immediately batted .348 for the rest of the season and led the Cardinals to the World Series title. In all, he played in three World Series with the Cardinals, batting .300 against the Yankees in ’64, .414 against the Red Sox in ’67 and .464 against the Tigers in ’68. In 21 World Series games, he scored 16 runs, drove in 13 and stole 14 bases. Hard to complain about that. Bostock (1975-78) was a line drive hitter who batted .323 in 1976, then followed that up with .336 in 1977. He was batting .296 late in the 1978 season when he was shot to death in Gary, Ind. Bostock was riding in a car with a woman who was a childhood friend. The woman’s husband, who was both estranged and deranged, attempted to shoot her and hit Bostock instead, killing him at age 27. He died with a .311 career batting average.
Catcher: Larry Brown was a Negro League standout who didn't hit much - .260 with no power - but was a sensational glove man.
Rotation: Lew Burdette (1950-67) was the Milwaukee Braves’ right-handed counterpart to Warren Spahn. He wasn’t nearly as good as Spahn, but he was talented and durable enough to win 203 games. He gave up a lot of hits but almost no walks. Lady Baldwin (1884-90) went 42-13 for Detroit in 1886, and in the rest of his career he was 31-28. A good lefty, but almost half of his career innings came in one season. He can be called The First Lady of Major League Baseball (and we suppose Lady Bee Britton would the second). Len Barker (1976-87) is a cautionary tale. He arrived in the majors at age 20, and by 21 he was billed as a rising star. He developed into an erratic but occasionally very good starter, winning 19 games in 1980 and throwing a perfect game in ’81. Late in the 1983 season, he was struggling along in Cleveland with an 8-13 record and a 5.11 ERA, but the Braves – looking for a boost in the pennant drive – decided that Len Barker was the answer, so they gave the Indians a package of players. Barker went 1-3 for Atlanta that fall, then went 7-8 and 2-9 the next two years. Meanwhile, one of the players Atlanta gave up was a young center fielder named Brett Butler, who went on to score about 1,400 runs, and another of the players Atlanta gave up was a young third baseman named Brook Jacoby, who would hit 120 home runs, and oh yeah, Atlanta had to toss in $150,000 in addition to the players, so that deal really sucked for the Braves. Larry Benton (1923-35) was a .500 pitcher (127-128 lifetime) with a league average ERA, but on a good team he could win you some games (25-9 for the 1928 Giants, for example), and this team should score some runs. Lloyd Brown (1925-40) is not crazy and he can do anything he sets his mind to. (Inside joke for “Seinfeld” fans.) He was actually a lefty, nicknamed Gimpy, who went 91-105 while pitching for some pretty bad teams around the American League. He was at least as good as Larry Benton, so if these two guys get some run support they could be part of a fairly deep rotation.
Bullpen: Closer Larry Bearnarth (1963-71) was with the Mets in between the disastrous expansion team and the Miracle of ’69. Larry Bradford (1977-81) was a lefty who pitched pretty well in 100 games for the Braves. In 1998, he died of a heart attack while attending a Braves game at Turner Field. Lance Broadway (2007- ) is a young guy who has yet to really make his mark in the majors, but Mike and Joe like him because he’s got a great name, especially if you say it with a confident swagger like a cocky young man introducing himself: “Broadway … Lance Broadway.” Lou Brissie (1947-53) was a pretty decent lefty with a great story. As a teen, he had attracted the attention of Connie Mack, but World War II interrupted, and while serving as a paratrooper, Brissie was almost killed by an artillery burst that shattered his left leg. He required more than 20 operations and had to wear a metal brace on his leg, but he returned to baseball and played for Connie Mack. He eventually won 44 games in the majors. (If you did not have a copy of “Strange But True Baseball Stories” as a kid, you truly missed out.) Les Backman (1909-10) was 9-18 for the Cardinals. Lynn Brenton (1913-21) was 5-12 for the Indians and the Reds. Larry Burchart (1969) was 0-2 for the Indians. None of them were as interesting as Lou Brissie, or if they were, it has been lost to the history books.
Bench: Shortstop Larry Bowa (1970-85) didn’t make many errors, so he won a couple of Gold Gloves, but in truth he didn’t have a great arm or much range. He could hit .280 in a good year, so he played in several all-star games, but he didn’t walk and had no power, so he wasn’t very productive. That said, he was a fiery guy who played long enough to accumulate 2,100 hits, almost 1,000 runs and more than 300 steals, so there were certainly times when he helped his teams. He ain’t budging Boudreau off of shortstop, though. Larry Biitner (1970-83) was a lefty-swinging outfielder who could be a valuable guy in the right role off the bench. Larry Bigbie (2001-06) had a brief run as a productive major-league hitter. Lance Blankenship (1988-93) was a utility player who batted .222 but with as many walks as hits, so he was on base quite a bit and was a valuable role player. Backup catcher Lou Berberet (1954-60) was a stocky guy who bounced around the American League for a few years playing semi-regularly. He was a .230 hitter with a little bit of pop and a good arm.
Manager: Lou Boudreau won 1,162 games and a World Series title. He’s the player-manager, acing Bowa out for that role as well as the starting shortstop job.
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