Infield: First baseman Joe Adcock (1950-66) was a big, brawny fellow who hit prodigious home runs. He was a teammate of Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron with the Milwaukee Braves, and he hit the walk-off home run that ended Harvey Haddix’s legendary perfect game. In one game in 1954, he hit four home runs and a double, and the 18 total bases stood as a single-game record for several decades. Defensively, he was not tremendously mobile but was a sure-handed first baseman. He finished his career with 336 home runs and 1,122 RBI. Third baseman Jimmy Austin (1909-29) was a slick-fielding, strong-armed, enthusiastic player who was an average hitter at best in the deadball era. (Don’t let the dates fool you – his career, for all intents and purposes, ended in the early 1920s, but he remained as a coach with the St. Louis Browns and he was so popular that he would occasionally be re-activated for one game just so he could go out and take the field once a year.) For a few years during his playing career, Austin was the Browns’ “Sunday manager,” running things once a week while the devout Branch Rickey stayed home to observe the Sabbath. Second baseman Jerry Adair (1958-70) was a great fielder and a weak hitter. Shortstop Jim Anderson (1978-84) wasn’t a bad fielder, and he made Jerry Adair look like Jimmie Foxx by comparison. After the California Angels won the division title in 1979, Anderson celebrated by pouring a beer over Richard Nixon’s head. It’s not clear whether Nixon turned up in the clubhouse or whether Anderson sought him out at San Clemente to douse him.
Outfield: Left fielder Jesus Alou (1963-79) was the fourth best outfielder in his own family, behind brothers Matty and Felipe and nephew Moises. He was a .280 hitter, which sounds OK, but he didn’t draw walks, wasn’t a good baserunner and had no power. He was the first Latino ballplayer named Jesus to hit the majors, and apparently some broadcasters were afraid that his name was somehow blasphemous, so they tried referring to him as “Jay Alou,” but Jesus balked at that, pointed out that it was a common name in the Dominican, and insisted that they call him by his proper name (pronounced “Hey-ZOOS,” of course.) Center fielder Honest John Anderson (1894-1908) led the NL with 22 home runs and a .494 slugging percentage in 1898. In 1908, he led the AL with 39 stolen bases. This makes him one of five players in the 20th century to have been a league leader in both steals and home runs (along with Willie Mays, Chuck Klein, Ty Cobb and Jimmy Sheckard). He also has the distinction of being the first (and easily the best) major-leaguer born in Norway. Right fielder Jeff Abbott (1997-2001) hit .320 or so at every stop in the minors, but he never did enough in the majors to hold down a fulltime job.
Catcher: Jimmy Archer (1904-18) was a light-hitting catcher with a reputation for a strong throwing arm. He was a respected player and a member of two pennant winners.
Rotation: Johnny Antonelli (1948-61) was a lefty who bided his time as a teenaged bonus baby with the Braves and then came into his own with the New York (and later San Francisco) Giants. He won 20 games twice, led the league in ERA in 1954 and twice led the league in shutouts. He pitched masterfully in the Giants’ sweep of the 1954 World Series, beating Cleveland 3-1 in Game 2 and getting the final five outs of the decisive Game 4. Johnny Allen (1932-44) and Joaquin Andujar (1976-88) are the resident hotheads in the rotation. Allen was a very good pitcher, with a career record of 142-75. He was a temperamental Southern boy who was working as a bellhop at a hotel when he convinced legendary Yankees scout Paul Krichell to give him a tryout. He went 17-4 as a rookie, but he eventually wore out his welcome in New York. He later went 15-1 in Cleveland, setting a record for winning percentage that would stand until Roy Face took it away. His temper was so well known that opposing players would look for ways to piss him off. A favorite was complaining to the umpire that they were distracted by some item of jewelry he was wearing, or some part of his uniform – because they knew it would cause him to blow his stack and lose his composure on the mound. They used to do the same thing to Andujar, with similar results. He wasn’t quite as good as Allen, but he was good. He drove managers up the wall in Cincinnati and Houston before he finally arrived in St. Louis and Whitey Herzog essentially told him, “Act as crazy as you want, as long as you take a regular turn in the rotation and get people out.” He was the ace of the staff for the World Series champs of 1982, and he won 20 games in ’84 and ’85, but in the disastrous seventh game of the 1985 World Series, Herzog made the mistake of bringing Andujar into a situation that had already become quite volatile, and Andujar ended up going all Mount Vesuvius, charging at the plate umpire with his fists raised and getting ejected. He went to Oakland and pitched well the next year, but the decline had set in. Among other things, he was famous for his insistence that he was a great hitter (in spite of considerable evidence to the contrary) and his propensity for saying quasi-profound thing such as, “There is one word to describe baseball, and that word is ‘You never know.’ " Jim Abbott (1989-99) was born without a right hand but went on to become a successful left-handed pitcher – an All-American at Michigan, a gold medalist in the Olympics and a fine major-leaguer who won 87 games, finished third in the 1991 Cy Young voting and pitched a no-hitter. In a neat little tribute, at baseballreference.com lists him as “Bats: Left” and “Throws: Left,” then adds “Fields: Left as well.” (And, yes, it says the same thing under Pete Gray.) He actually fielded his position quite well, balancing his mitt on the stump of his right wrist and then slipping it onto his left hand during the follow-through and ending up in position to field any comebackers. Upon fielding a grounder, he would flip the ball just high enough to allow him to slip the glove off, then catch the ball and make the throw. For whatever it’s worth, Abbott had a higher lifetime fielding percentage than Jim Kaat or Greg Maddux, who won 34 Gold Gloves between them. Jack Armstrong (1988-94) had a great name for a pitcher. In 1990, he began the season 11-3 and started the all-star game for the NL. He went 1-6 the rest of the way, and then went 22-46 for the rest of his career.
Bullpen: Jack Aker (1964-74) saved 32 games for the A's in 1966, which stood as a major-league record for a few years. He had some good seasons, finished with 47 wins, 123 saves and a 3.28 ERA. John Axford (2009- ) emerged out of nowhere as the Brewers' closer in 2010 and has been very effective in that role, leading the National League with 46 saves in 2011. We'll see if he can sustain it, but if he does he could push Aker aside and claim the closer role on this team. Juan “Sasquatch” Acevedo (1995-2003) had a big year in Double-A at age 24, got marked as a hot prospect and spent the next decade failing to live up to that label, though in truth he did a fairly successful job of morphing from a disappointing starter into an occasionally effective reliever. He finished with 53 career saves. Juan Agosto (1981-93) was never a fulltime closer but always picked up a few saves here and there. He was frequently good, and when he wasn’t he was willing to work as a guy who could eat up some innings during blowout losses (earning the nickname “Juan Digusto” in some quarters). Jim Acker (1983-92) was a respectable middle reliever in Toronto and Atlanta for many years. Lefty Jerry Augustine (1975-84) came up as a starter, shifted to the bullpen and spent a decade as one of the nondescript arms in the Milwaukee Brewers’ arsenal. Jose Alvarez (1981-89) pitched briefly for Atlanta in 1981 and ’82, knocked around the minors for the next five years, and then returned to the Braves as a highly effective reliever for a couple of years at the end of the decade.
Bench: Backup catcher Joe (The Immortal) Azcue (1960-72) was billed as a “can’t miss” star, but he was actually very ordinary. Best known for his nickname, and for the fact that he sat out the 1971 season in a contract dispute and spend the year pouring concrete rather than accept the Angels’ contract offer. Joey Amalfitano (1954-67) was a light-hitting middle infielder who later managed the Cubs. Outfielder Jermaine Allensworth (1996-99) was one of those guys who looked like a really good player but really wasn’t one. Utility infielder Jose Altuve (2011- ) batted .276 and showed some speed as an Astros rookie. He doesn't get on base much, but he's young and could improve. J.P. Arencibia (2010- ), another backup catcher, hits home runs and does nothing else. He strikes out a lot, does not walk, and his career average thus far is .213. But in 478 career at-bats, he's got 25 home runs and 82 RBI, so there is some value in that.
Manager: Joe Altobelli managed the 1983 World Series champion Orioles. He will be assisted by Amalfitano, and on Sundays he will turn the team over to Jimmy Austin.
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