Infield: Leo Durocher (1925-45) is best remembered as a manager, and that’s as it should be because he was a better manager than he was a ballplayer. Not to say he was a bad ballplayer. He was a weak hitter but a good fielder, and of course he had that quality that we could euphemistically call “scrappiness.” He sure convinced people he could play – in 1938 he received MVP votes while batting .219 with no power, no speed and a lousy on-base percentage for a seventh-place team. He played with Ruth and Gehrig on the Yankees and he started for the Gas House Gang Cardinals, and he was player-manager in Brooklyn as the Dodgers started to turn things around. He will be turning double plays with a man who is his temperamental opposite, Laughing Larry Doyle (1907-20), one of those nice guys whom Leo was convinced were predestined to finish last. In truth, Doyle played for some very fine teams, including three New York Giants pennant winners. He was a .290 hitter with lots of doubles and triples, and in the deadball era that made him a very good offensive player. National League MVP in 1912. First baseman Leon Durham (1980-89) was a good hitter, with a .277 average and enough walks and home runs to make that a very effective .277. In the 1984 NLCS, with the Cubs on the verge of finally making it to the World Series, he made an error – allowing a ground ball to roll between his legs – that allowed the Padres to tie the decisive Game 5, which San Diego went on to win. (Two years later his predecessor at the position, Bill Buckner, would make a similar misplay in the World Series for the Red Sox.) Third baseman Len Dondero (1929) batted .194 for the Browns in a brief major-league career.
Outfield: Center fielder Len Dykstra (1985-96) was, in many ways, similar to Pete Rose – a leadoff batter who played every game as though someone was holding his family hostage and threatening to kill everyone if he didn’t play hard. He played with about a pound of tobacco in his cheek, and Andy Van Slyke once said that center field looked like “a toxic waste dump” when Dykstra was out there. Dykstra’s name has been a constant in steroid revelations, and he nearly killed himself and teammate Darren Daulton in a drunken driving accident. He was a good batter – he’d hit .300 in a good year, with lots of walks and doubles – and in 136 postseason games with the Mets and Phillies he batted .321 with a .433 on-base percentage and a .661 slugging percentage, including four home runs in the 1993 World Series. After his playing career was over, he continued his Pete Rose imitation, associating with a bunch of low-lifes, tax cheats and shysters and ending up bankrupt and dogged by allegations of fraud. Larry Doby (1947-59) was also a center fielder but will move to right on this team. Doby, the first black player in the American League, was a Hall of Famer with the Indians and an even better player than Dykstra (and a more likeable fellow, too). In various seasons he led the AL in runs, RBI, home runs (twice), on-base percentage and slugging. Left fielder Lefty Davis (1901-07) batted .261 and ran reasonably well.
Catcher: Leo Dixon (1925-29) was a very bad hitter. He batted .206 with no power, and that was in a huge offensive era.
Rotation: Larry Dierker (1964-77) was a good pitcher who people always thought should be better. He pitched nine games in the rookie leagues, then got called up to the Houston Astros and made his big-league debut on his 18th birthday. He never spent another day in the minors. Other pitchers were in awe of the young kid’s stuff – his fastball, his curveball, his mechanics, his composure – and he had a fine career, winning 20 games in 1969 and pitching a no-hitter in ’76. He won 139 games in his career, but his ERA was basically league average and he was done by age 30 because of arm problems. Leon Day was a Negro League star who was eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He was an overpowering pitcher and a good hitter, frequently compared to Don Newcombe, and though he was just 31 years old when Jackie Robinson broke the color line, he never pitched in the majors. Leo Dickerman (1923-25) had a career record of 19-27, but his ERA was basically league average. Louis Drucke (1909-12) was a promising young pitcher for John McGraw’s Giants, but his career was cut short when he ruptured an arm muscle in what is described as “a subway accident.” No details are provided, but the basic concept sounds extraordinarily painful. Lance Davis (2001) is a lefty who pitched 1,500 innings in the minors and won almost 100 games. He got one shot in the majors, spent most of 2001 in the Cincinnati Reds’ rotation and did pretty well, but it wasn’t enough to convince anyone to give him another chance.
Bullpen: Closer Luis DeLeon (1981-89) was the player to be named later who the Cardinals sent to the Padres to complete the Garry Templeton-for-Ozzie Smith deal. His first two years in San Diego were fantastic – he worked 213 innings of relief with an ERA of 2.37. After that he went downhill fast. Larry Demery (1974-77) was a promising young right-hander for the Pirates whose career ended because of arm troubles before he turned 25. Lino Donoso (1955-56) was a Cuban lefty who pitched in the Negro Leagues, the Mexican League, the Pacific Coast League and – briefly and ineffectively – in the majors for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lum Davenport (1921-24) went 1-4 with the Chicago White Sox but managed to spread it out over four different seasons. Logan Drake (1922-24) pitched at the same time as Lum Davenport, and in the same league, and he had the same type of career – an 0-1 record for Cleveland spread out over three seasons. Larry Duff (1922), whose real name was Cecil Elba Duff, won 14 games for our hometown Norfolk Tars back in 1925, so he’s got that going for him. In his brief career with the White Sox in 1922, he didn’t do so well. He was, however, a teammate of Lum Davenport, so the two of them and Logan Drake will have a lot to talk about. Lenny DiNardo (2004- ) is a contemporary lefty whose career seems to have run aground at age 30.
Bench: Infielder Lee Dressen (1914-18), who is apparently no relation to Chuck, had a long and pretty decent minor-league career, and a short, forgettable one in the majors. Lee DeMontreville (1903) was once, while in the minors, seriously injured in a trolley accident. Our road secretary’s job will be to keep DeMontreville and Louis Drucke off of public transportation. Backup catcher Lew Drill (1902-04) played at Georgetown University and was signed by the Washington Senators. He was a decent hitter who will get his share of time behind the plate on this team, but didn’t play long, in part because he had a nice post-baseball career waiting for him – he got his law degree and became the U.S. Attorney for the state of Minnesota. Lucas Duda (2010- ), of whom the camptown ladies sing, is a promising corner outfielder who is just hitting his prime with the Mets. Luis Durango (2009- ) is a young outfielder who has won a couple of minor-league batting titles and has now made his way up to the San Diego Padres.
Manager: Leo “The Lip” as player-manager, of course. Durocher was famous for his battles with umpires and once said that he wanted “scratching, diving, hungry ballplayers who come to kill you.” He and Lenny Dykstra will get along famously. Durocher was a great manager who was famous for his ability to get the most out of his players. He played a crucial role in the development of the young Willie Mays, and his tenacity as a manager was important to Jackie Robinson’s arrival in Brooklyn. When several Dodgers circulated a petition making it clear that they had no intention of having a black man as a teammate, Durocher gathered the team together, told them that Jackie Robinson could help them win more games (and make more money). Then he suggested that anyone who didn’t want to be benefit from that should simply let him know so that they could be accommodated with a trade to another team whose tails the Dodgers would be kicking for the next decade. Durocher was also a drinker, a gambler and a womanizer who liked to hang out with Hollywood stars. He was a fascinating, sometimes self-destructive, man and an outstanding manager.
Outfield: Center fielder Len Dykstra (1985-96) was, in many ways, similar to Pete Rose – a leadoff batter who played every game as though someone was holding his family hostage and threatening to kill everyone if he didn’t play hard. He played with about a pound of tobacco in his cheek, and Andy Van Slyke once said that center field looked like “a toxic waste dump” when Dykstra was out there. Dykstra’s name has been a constant in steroid revelations, and he nearly killed himself and teammate Darren Daulton in a drunken driving accident. He was a good batter – he’d hit .300 in a good year, with lots of walks and doubles – and in 136 postseason games with the Mets and Phillies he batted .321 with a .433 on-base percentage and a .661 slugging percentage, including four home runs in the 1993 World Series. After his playing career was over, he continued his Pete Rose imitation, associating with a bunch of low-lifes, tax cheats and shysters and ending up bankrupt and dogged by allegations of fraud. Larry Doby (1947-59) was also a center fielder but will move to right on this team. Doby, the first black player in the American League, was a Hall of Famer with the Indians and an even better player than Dykstra (and a more likeable fellow, too). In various seasons he led the AL in runs, RBI, home runs (twice), on-base percentage and slugging. Left fielder Lefty Davis (1901-07) batted .261 and ran reasonably well.
Catcher: Leo Dixon (1925-29) was a very bad hitter. He batted .206 with no power, and that was in a huge offensive era.
Rotation: Larry Dierker (1964-77) was a good pitcher who people always thought should be better. He pitched nine games in the rookie leagues, then got called up to the Houston Astros and made his big-league debut on his 18th birthday. He never spent another day in the minors. Other pitchers were in awe of the young kid’s stuff – his fastball, his curveball, his mechanics, his composure – and he had a fine career, winning 20 games in 1969 and pitching a no-hitter in ’76. He won 139 games in his career, but his ERA was basically league average and he was done by age 30 because of arm problems. Leon Day was a Negro League star who was eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He was an overpowering pitcher and a good hitter, frequently compared to Don Newcombe, and though he was just 31 years old when Jackie Robinson broke the color line, he never pitched in the majors. Leo Dickerman (1923-25) had a career record of 19-27, but his ERA was basically league average. Louis Drucke (1909-12) was a promising young pitcher for John McGraw’s Giants, but his career was cut short when he ruptured an arm muscle in what is described as “a subway accident.” No details are provided, but the basic concept sounds extraordinarily painful. Lance Davis (2001) is a lefty who pitched 1,500 innings in the minors and won almost 100 games. He got one shot in the majors, spent most of 2001 in the Cincinnati Reds’ rotation and did pretty well, but it wasn’t enough to convince anyone to give him another chance.
Bullpen: Closer Luis DeLeon (1981-89) was the player to be named later who the Cardinals sent to the Padres to complete the Garry Templeton-for-Ozzie Smith deal. His first two years in San Diego were fantastic – he worked 213 innings of relief with an ERA of 2.37. After that he went downhill fast. Larry Demery (1974-77) was a promising young right-hander for the Pirates whose career ended because of arm troubles before he turned 25. Lino Donoso (1955-56) was a Cuban lefty who pitched in the Negro Leagues, the Mexican League, the Pacific Coast League and – briefly and ineffectively – in the majors for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lum Davenport (1921-24) went 1-4 with the Chicago White Sox but managed to spread it out over four different seasons. Logan Drake (1922-24) pitched at the same time as Lum Davenport, and in the same league, and he had the same type of career – an 0-1 record for Cleveland spread out over three seasons. Larry Duff (1922), whose real name was Cecil Elba Duff, won 14 games for our hometown Norfolk Tars back in 1925, so he’s got that going for him. In his brief career with the White Sox in 1922, he didn’t do so well. He was, however, a teammate of Lum Davenport, so the two of them and Logan Drake will have a lot to talk about. Lenny DiNardo (2004- ) is a contemporary lefty whose career seems to have run aground at age 30.
Bench: Infielder Lee Dressen (1914-18), who is apparently no relation to Chuck, had a long and pretty decent minor-league career, and a short, forgettable one in the majors. Lee DeMontreville (1903) was once, while in the minors, seriously injured in a trolley accident. Our road secretary’s job will be to keep DeMontreville and Louis Drucke off of public transportation. Backup catcher Lew Drill (1902-04) played at Georgetown University and was signed by the Washington Senators. He was a decent hitter who will get his share of time behind the plate on this team, but didn’t play long, in part because he had a nice post-baseball career waiting for him – he got his law degree and became the U.S. Attorney for the state of Minnesota. Lucas Duda (2010- ), of whom the camptown ladies sing, is a promising corner outfielder who is just hitting his prime with the Mets. Luis Durango (2009- ) is a young outfielder who has won a couple of minor-league batting titles and has now made his way up to the San Diego Padres.
Manager: Leo “The Lip” as player-manager, of course. Durocher was famous for his battles with umpires and once said that he wanted “scratching, diving, hungry ballplayers who come to kill you.” He and Lenny Dykstra will get along famously. Durocher was a great manager who was famous for his ability to get the most out of his players. He played a crucial role in the development of the young Willie Mays, and his tenacity as a manager was important to Jackie Robinson’s arrival in Brooklyn. When several Dodgers circulated a petition making it clear that they had no intention of having a black man as a teammate, Durocher gathered the team together, told them that Jackie Robinson could help them win more games (and make more money). Then he suggested that anyone who didn’t want to be benefit from that should simply let him know so that they could be accommodated with a trade to another team whose tails the Dodgers would be kicking for the next decade. Durocher was also a drinker, a gambler and a womanizer who liked to hang out with Hollywood stars. He was a fascinating, sometimes self-destructive, man and an outstanding manager.
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