Tuesday, December 1, 2009

PD: The Phyllis Dillers





Infield: Patsy Dougherty (1902-11) led the American League in runs twice and in stolen bases once. He won a World Series title with the Red Sox in 1903 and the White Sox in 1906. He was an outfielder but he could be stretched to play third base, and we need to stretch him. Likewise, Paul Dade (1975-80) was primarily an outfielder and occasional third baseman, but he could be stretched to play second, and we’re stretching him to cover that hole in the infield. He was a .270 hitter who could run a little bit and made decent contact. That’s about the best you could say for him. Infield defense isn’t the strong suit here. First baseman Pat Dodson (1986-88) batted .202 in a 52-game big-league career with the Red Sox, but he did hit 10 home runs in 99 at-bats. That sounds about right, actually. In the minors, he hit a few homers but never managed much of an average. Paddy Driscoll (1917) mostly played second and third but could be stretched to play short. He’ll be playing short. He batted .107 in his brief major-league career. (Actually, considering that Driscoll played pro football and made the Hall of Fame as a quarterback, it’s probably most accurate to say he was a football player who could be stretched to play baseball.)

Outfield: Left fielder Pat Duncan (1915-24) could play a little. His first full season in the majors was 1919, and he drove in eight runs during the World Series for the Reds, who of course, beat the tanking White Sox. He batted .300 for his career and hit a lot of doubles. Right fielder Patsy Donovan (1890-1907) was a slap-hitter who batted .300, stole 500 bases and scored 100 runs per year, all of which made him a slightly above-average player in that time and place. He was a respected gentleman in an era of roughnecks and rowdies. Center fielder Pete Donnelly (1871) batted .206 as a 21-year-old. That was his entire major-league career.

Catcher: Pete Daley (1955-61) batted .239 in his career, most of which was spent with the Red Sox.

Rotation: Paul Derringer (1931-45), who had a great name for a pitcher, won 223 games. He pitched on four pennant winners and two World Series champions. He came up with the Cardinals team around the time of the Gas House Gang but was traded to Cincinnati, which had been terrible, and his first season with the Reds he went 7-25 even though his ERA was better than league average. Derringer was a key part of the reason the Reds turned things around, and he had four seasons between 20-25 victories for them. Pete Donohue (1921-32) pitched for the Reds immediately before Derringer. He wasn’t quite as good, but he wasn’t bad either, and he won 134 games along the way, including three 20-win seasons. Pat Dobson (1967-77) won 20 games also. It was in 1971, as part of Earl Weaver’s famous staff with four 20-game winners (Dobson, Palmer, McNally, Cuellar). Dobson was basically a .500 pitcher, but if you put a good team behind him he could do well, and he won 122 games in his career. Shufflin’ Phil Douglas (1912-22) won 94 games and had a career ERA of 2.80. He was leading the National League in ERA in 1922 when he was banned from the game under suspicion of attempting to throw games because of a spat with his manager, John McGraw. (The spat seemed to stem from the fact that McGraw wanted Douglas to get his rampant alcoholism under control.) Paul Dean (1934-43) was never really known as “Daffy,” but he was Dizzy’s brother and some people thought he needed a funny nickname, too. He wasn’t as good as his brother, but he was good. Threw a no-hitter in 1934 in the second game of a doubleheader, after his brother had thrown a one-hitter in the first game. In the 1934 World Series, Paul Dean won games 3 and 6, and Dizzy won games 1 and 7 as the Cardinals beat Detroit. Paul won 19 games at age 21, and then another 19 at age 22, but he developed arm trouble and finished with a 50-34 record.

Bullpen: Peaches Davis (1936-39) gave up a lot of hits, but not many walks and very few strikeouts. He’ll start out as the closer, because someone’s got to. Pat Darcy (1974-76) pitched for the Big Red Machine and gave up a long fly ball that would have gone foul if Carlton Fisk hadn’t wave it fair. Pedro Dibut (1924-25) was a very fine Cuban pitcher who was actually the first player to cross over from the Negro Leagues to the majors. He wasn’t actually black, of course, and someone obviously decided that his pigment was sufficiently pale to play in the majors. He went 3-0 for Cincinnati and had a career 2.21 ERA. He is in the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame. Pea Ridge Day (1924-31) had two saves in his career. He also had a 5-7 record and a 5.30 ERA, though he won 128 games in the minors. Phil Dumatrait (2007- ) has yet to prove that he can get anyone out at the big-league level, but he’s a lefty so he’ll probably get more chances. Smiling Pete Daniels (1890-98) had the kind of career that makes you wonder what he had to smile about, other than the fact that he was in the majors. Pete Daglia (1932) won 144 games in the minors, two in the majors.

Bench: Pat Donahue (1908-10) is the backup catcher and a .212 hitter. Pete Dalena (1989) was a decent hitter in the minors but didn’t do anything that made him stick in the bigs. Puchy Delgado (1977) was a very fast outfielder who couldn’t hit much. Paul Dicken (1964-66) was given 13 at-bats in the majors, all pinch-hitting appearances. He made outs 13 times. Six of them were strikeouts. Pat Duff (1906) was given one at-bat in the majors. As a pinch-hitter. He made an out, but apparently put the ball in play.

Manager: Patsy Donovan had a long career as a manager, coach and scout. He was the guy the Red Sox sent to look at young George Herman Ruth (and who wired back to them that they needed to sign this kid “at any price.”) Also coached at a prep school in New England where one of his players was George Herbert Walker Bush.

No comments:

Post a Comment