Infield: Jack Clark (1975-92), a.k.a. Jack the Ripper, was one of the best hitters of his generation. He played in parks that didn’t help him, and he was plagued by nagging injuries that always seemed to heal slowly, but the man hit the ball hard. He came up with San Francisco as a passable defensive right fielder, but by the time he moved to St. Louis the injuries had reduced him to an immobile first baseman. He was an ornery cuss who sometimes fought with teammates and managers, and he left the game rather suddenly in his mid-30s after blowing millions on cars and homes and ending up in bankruptcy. But the guy could hit – finished with 340 home runs, 1,100-plus runs and RBI in a career that was consistently sidetracked by injuries. Shortstop Joe Cronin (1926-45) was a .300 hitter who drove in 100 runs eight times and generally had about 40 doubles and a dozen home runs. He was a Hall of Fame shortstop, and as a 26-year-old player-manager he led the Washington Senators to the AL pennant. He later went to the Red Sox and spent 13 years as their player-manager, ushering in the Ted Williams era and winning a pennant in 1946. He served in the team’s front office for several prosperous years thereafter, and capped everything off with a 14-year run as president of the American League. Just in case he didn’t have enough baseball in his life as a player, manager, executive and league president, he married the niece of legendary Senators owner Clark Griffith. Third baseman Jimmy Collins (1895-1908) is also in the Hall of Fame, and for decades after his retirement he was widely recognized as the greatest third baseman of all time. He was a classic turn-of-the-century ballplayer – a great baserunner, superb bunter and an exceptional defensive infielder who is often credited with redefining everything about the way third basemen play the position. He played almost his entire career in Boston, equally split between the Beaneaters in the NL and the Americans in the AL. Second baseman Julio Cruz (1977-86) batted .237 with no power whatsoever. He drew enough walks to make his batting average a little bit less of a drain on the team’s offense, and he had two major plusses to his game – he stole 40-50 bases a year at an 80 percent success rate, and he was a fantastic defensive second baseman.
Outfield: Left fielder Jose Cruz (1970-88) was, for a decade or so, one of the best outfielders in the National League, a fact that was largely hidden by the fact that he played in the Astrodome. In his career, Cruz hit 106 home runs on the road and 59 at home. He batted .300 six times, hit plenty of doubles and stole 30-40 bases a year, and he was a sensational defensive outfielder who somehow never won a Gold Glove. (He also had two brothers, Hector and Tommy, who played in the majors but weren’t nearly as good, and a son, Jose Jr., who could easily have made the bench as a reserve outfielder on this team.) Center fielder Jose Cardenal (1963-80) was a very useful ballplayer for a very long time who was largely overlooked because he was originally billed as a bigger star than he actually turned out to be. Even so, he was a decent hitter with speed and some pop who could play a decent center field. He was a bit flaky and was known to sit out games for odd reasons. He once begged out of a game because he said his eyelid was stuck shut, another time because a cricket in his hotel room had kept him awake all night, and he reportedly once sat out three straight winter league games in the Dominican because his uniform pants weren’t tight enough to suit him. Finally, we go from the staid Jose Cruz to the colorful Jose Cardenal to the often ridiculous right fielder Jose Canseco (1985-2001), whose listed weight of 195 pounds at baseballreference.com suggests that he last stepped on a scale in middle school. These days, he is primarily known for his outsized ego, his many eccentricities (dating Madonna, having fly balls bounce off his skull and over the outfield fence, severely damaging his throwing arm will an ill-fated attempt at pitching), his litany of post-career money-grubbing sideshows (including a boxing match with Danny Bonaduce and a variety of enterprises in which people could pay him money to find out what he ate for lunch) and of course for his steroid use (while other players have fallen all over themselves denying and/or apologizing, Canseco has actually bragged about how many performance-enhancing drugs he used and how he helped spread them around the majors). Putting all of that aside for the next 30 seconds, he was a good ballplayer for many years. He hit 462 home runs and had 1,407 RBI, and while he struck out a lot, he also drew a good number of walks. He ran well, at least until he puffed up like the Michelin Man, and he was the first player to have 40 home runs and 40 steals in the same season. He was Rookie of the Year and won an MVP award. Somewhere in the rule books it is written: If there are three Joses in the outfield, anything goes.
Catcher: Jimmie Coker (1958-67) was a career backup who had a little bit of pop In his bat, but not enough to ever land him much playing time.
Rotation: Jack Chesbro (1899-1909) is famous today as the guy who won a “modern record” 41 games in 1904. He was notorious in his own time for a wild pitch, on the final day of that 41-win season, that cost his team the AL pennant. Both of these characterizations are a bit unfair. After all, if a team finishes in second place, it’s kind of harsh to blame the guy who had 41 wins and a 1.82 ERA (no one else in the league won more than 26 that year). And the “modern record” thing is a bit misleading. In the 19th century, there were 37 instances of pitchers winning 40-60 games in a season, so when Chesbro won 41 in 1904 it’s not as though it was unprecedented or shocking. But decades later, the arbitrary decision was made that “modern baseball” began in 1900, posthumously giving Chesbro a “modern record” that came to look all the more impressive after the “lively ball era” arrived and 30-win seasons went the way of the dinosaur. Taking those two exaggerations out of the equation – the “modern record holder” and the wild pitch that overshadowed 41 victories – we are left with a good, durable spitball specialist who went 198-132 in his career. John Clarkson (1882-1894) probably laughs at the notion of Chesbro holding the single-season record for wins, or maybe he is pissed off about it in the afterlife, depending on his perspective. After all, Clarkson won 53 games in 1885 and won 49 games in 1889, so Chesbro’s 41 wins isn’t even the record for victories by a guy with the initials J.C. For the record, Clarkson went 328-178 in his career, and his 2.81 ERA was more impressive in the context of his time than Chesbro’s 2.68 ERA. Bill James describes how Clarkson used to wear a large, shiny belt buckle and then gyrate on the mound until he could use it to reflect the sun into the batter’s eyes. Joe Coleman Jr. (1965-79) was a bit of a workhorse, too, working 280 innings a year in the era when four-man rotations were going out of vogue, so our rotation is going to eat up some innings. Coleman had two 20-win seasons and finished with a 142-135 record. (His father, Joe Sr., will serve as the team’s pitching coach.) John Candelaria (1975-93) was a 6-foot-7 lefty who went 20-5 and led the NL in ERA at age 23. He was a good pitcher for a decade in Pittsburgh, the ace of the “We Are Family” championship staff in 1979, and then hung around until he was 40 by bouncing around to any team that needed a lefty specialist. He finished his career with a very fine record of 177-122. Jim Colborn (1969-78) won 83 games in his career, which pales next to the other guys in this rotation, but he was a good pitcher – first 20-game winner in Brewers history, first no-hitter in Royals history – and he has had a long, successful career as a pitching coach. (As a bonus, he was once traded for Jose Cardenal.)
Bullpen: It’s a good thing the rotation is stacked, because the bullpen is a bit iffy. Juan Cruz (2001- ) will start out in the closer role. He’s got the gas you want in that role, and he strikes out a batter an inning, but his career ERA is nothing special, he walks a ton of batters and he has the princely sum of three career saves. Joba Chamberlain (2007- ) is a media sensation with the Yankees, and certainly a promising young pitcher. He’s done much better in relief than in the rotation to this point in his career, so we’re penciling him into the set-up role for now, but his future with the J.C.s, as with the Yankees, remains in flux. Jim Corsi (1988-99) excelled in the middle relief and set-up roles for several teams and could be pressed into duty as closer if the guys ahead of him falter. John Curtis (1970-84) was a bespectacled lefty who had a decent career as a junkballer. John Cerutti (1985-91) was a solid lefty swingman for the Blue Jays and later a broadcaster until his sudden death at age 44, on the last day of the 2004 season, due to a previously undiagnosed heart condition. Jose Contreras (2003- ) made big news as a Cuban star defecting to the U.S. and signing with the Yankees. He has had a decent, but hardly noteworthy, career as a starter, and he will join Cerutti in this bullpen as long relievers begging for starts like table scraps. Jim Coates (1956-67) was a role player at the tail end of the great Yankees dynasty, pitching in three consecutive World Series from 1960-62. He apparently had the reputation as a guy who would throw at batters’ heads, which doesn’t go over real well. Coates lives near here, in eastern Virginia, and recently published a memoir, “Always a Yankee.”
Bench: Joe Carter (1983-98) had 396 home runs, drove in 1,400 runs and had ten 100-RBI seasons. He was a good player, but he also had a terrible K-BB ratio, a poor on-base percentage and a dreadful fielding record. He would start on most initial teams, but he’ll be scrambling for playing time here. Outfielder Johnny Callison (1958-73) had a fine career, mostly with the Phillies, leading the NL in doubles once and triples twice, and hitting 20-30 home runs a year in the middle of a pitching-dominated era. Second baseman Joey Cora (1987-98) was a slightly better hitter than Julio Cruz, but his deficiencies in the field keep him from taking the starting job. Joe Cunningham (1954-66) was a first baseman and corner outfielder with a .291 career batting average and a .403 on-base percentage. He’ll get his share of playing time while Jack Clark is nursing injuries. Backup catcher Jim Campanis (1966-73) was the son of longtime Dodgers exec Al Campanis. He had a career batting average of .147 and his defensive stats suggest that Estelle Getty could have stolen second base if Campanis was behind the plate, but his minor-league stats are decent enough that we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he made it to the majors on merit, not nepotism.
Manager: Joe Cantillon had a brief and unsuccessful career as a major-league umpire, had a terrible record for three years managing the Senators (where he helped develop a young chucker named Walter Johnson), and then had a long, successful run as a minor-league manager. He will have the title of manager here, but there’s a nagging suspicion that he’s a figurehead and that Joe Cronin is actually running things.
Outfield: Left fielder Jose Cruz (1970-88) was, for a decade or so, one of the best outfielders in the National League, a fact that was largely hidden by the fact that he played in the Astrodome. In his career, Cruz hit 106 home runs on the road and 59 at home. He batted .300 six times, hit plenty of doubles and stole 30-40 bases a year, and he was a sensational defensive outfielder who somehow never won a Gold Glove. (He also had two brothers, Hector and Tommy, who played in the majors but weren’t nearly as good, and a son, Jose Jr., who could easily have made the bench as a reserve outfielder on this team.) Center fielder Jose Cardenal (1963-80) was a very useful ballplayer for a very long time who was largely overlooked because he was originally billed as a bigger star than he actually turned out to be. Even so, he was a decent hitter with speed and some pop who could play a decent center field. He was a bit flaky and was known to sit out games for odd reasons. He once begged out of a game because he said his eyelid was stuck shut, another time because a cricket in his hotel room had kept him awake all night, and he reportedly once sat out three straight winter league games in the Dominican because his uniform pants weren’t tight enough to suit him. Finally, we go from the staid Jose Cruz to the colorful Jose Cardenal to the often ridiculous right fielder Jose Canseco (1985-2001), whose listed weight of 195 pounds at baseballreference.com suggests that he last stepped on a scale in middle school. These days, he is primarily known for his outsized ego, his many eccentricities (dating Madonna, having fly balls bounce off his skull and over the outfield fence, severely damaging his throwing arm will an ill-fated attempt at pitching), his litany of post-career money-grubbing sideshows (including a boxing match with Danny Bonaduce and a variety of enterprises in which people could pay him money to find out what he ate for lunch) and of course for his steroid use (while other players have fallen all over themselves denying and/or apologizing, Canseco has actually bragged about how many performance-enhancing drugs he used and how he helped spread them around the majors). Putting all of that aside for the next 30 seconds, he was a good ballplayer for many years. He hit 462 home runs and had 1,407 RBI, and while he struck out a lot, he also drew a good number of walks. He ran well, at least until he puffed up like the Michelin Man, and he was the first player to have 40 home runs and 40 steals in the same season. He was Rookie of the Year and won an MVP award. Somewhere in the rule books it is written: If there are three Joses in the outfield, anything goes.
Catcher: Jimmie Coker (1958-67) was a career backup who had a little bit of pop In his bat, but not enough to ever land him much playing time.
Rotation: Jack Chesbro (1899-1909) is famous today as the guy who won a “modern record” 41 games in 1904. He was notorious in his own time for a wild pitch, on the final day of that 41-win season, that cost his team the AL pennant. Both of these characterizations are a bit unfair. After all, if a team finishes in second place, it’s kind of harsh to blame the guy who had 41 wins and a 1.82 ERA (no one else in the league won more than 26 that year). And the “modern record” thing is a bit misleading. In the 19th century, there were 37 instances of pitchers winning 40-60 games in a season, so when Chesbro won 41 in 1904 it’s not as though it was unprecedented or shocking. But decades later, the arbitrary decision was made that “modern baseball” began in 1900, posthumously giving Chesbro a “modern record” that came to look all the more impressive after the “lively ball era” arrived and 30-win seasons went the way of the dinosaur. Taking those two exaggerations out of the equation – the “modern record holder” and the wild pitch that overshadowed 41 victories – we are left with a good, durable spitball specialist who went 198-132 in his career. John Clarkson (1882-1894) probably laughs at the notion of Chesbro holding the single-season record for wins, or maybe he is pissed off about it in the afterlife, depending on his perspective. After all, Clarkson won 53 games in 1885 and won 49 games in 1889, so Chesbro’s 41 wins isn’t even the record for victories by a guy with the initials J.C. For the record, Clarkson went 328-178 in his career, and his 2.81 ERA was more impressive in the context of his time than Chesbro’s 2.68 ERA. Bill James describes how Clarkson used to wear a large, shiny belt buckle and then gyrate on the mound until he could use it to reflect the sun into the batter’s eyes. Joe Coleman Jr. (1965-79) was a bit of a workhorse, too, working 280 innings a year in the era when four-man rotations were going out of vogue, so our rotation is going to eat up some innings. Coleman had two 20-win seasons and finished with a 142-135 record. (His father, Joe Sr., will serve as the team’s pitching coach.) John Candelaria (1975-93) was a 6-foot-7 lefty who went 20-5 and led the NL in ERA at age 23. He was a good pitcher for a decade in Pittsburgh, the ace of the “We Are Family” championship staff in 1979, and then hung around until he was 40 by bouncing around to any team that needed a lefty specialist. He finished his career with a very fine record of 177-122. Jim Colborn (1969-78) won 83 games in his career, which pales next to the other guys in this rotation, but he was a good pitcher – first 20-game winner in Brewers history, first no-hitter in Royals history – and he has had a long, successful career as a pitching coach. (As a bonus, he was once traded for Jose Cardenal.)
Bullpen: It’s a good thing the rotation is stacked, because the bullpen is a bit iffy. Juan Cruz (2001- ) will start out in the closer role. He’s got the gas you want in that role, and he strikes out a batter an inning, but his career ERA is nothing special, he walks a ton of batters and he has the princely sum of three career saves. Joba Chamberlain (2007- ) is a media sensation with the Yankees, and certainly a promising young pitcher. He’s done much better in relief than in the rotation to this point in his career, so we’re penciling him into the set-up role for now, but his future with the J.C.s, as with the Yankees, remains in flux. Jim Corsi (1988-99) excelled in the middle relief and set-up roles for several teams and could be pressed into duty as closer if the guys ahead of him falter. John Curtis (1970-84) was a bespectacled lefty who had a decent career as a junkballer. John Cerutti (1985-91) was a solid lefty swingman for the Blue Jays and later a broadcaster until his sudden death at age 44, on the last day of the 2004 season, due to a previously undiagnosed heart condition. Jose Contreras (2003- ) made big news as a Cuban star defecting to the U.S. and signing with the Yankees. He has had a decent, but hardly noteworthy, career as a starter, and he will join Cerutti in this bullpen as long relievers begging for starts like table scraps. Jim Coates (1956-67) was a role player at the tail end of the great Yankees dynasty, pitching in three consecutive World Series from 1960-62. He apparently had the reputation as a guy who would throw at batters’ heads, which doesn’t go over real well. Coates lives near here, in eastern Virginia, and recently published a memoir, “Always a Yankee.”
Bench: Joe Carter (1983-98) had 396 home runs, drove in 1,400 runs and had ten 100-RBI seasons. He was a good player, but he also had a terrible K-BB ratio, a poor on-base percentage and a dreadful fielding record. He would start on most initial teams, but he’ll be scrambling for playing time here. Outfielder Johnny Callison (1958-73) had a fine career, mostly with the Phillies, leading the NL in doubles once and triples twice, and hitting 20-30 home runs a year in the middle of a pitching-dominated era. Second baseman Joey Cora (1987-98) was a slightly better hitter than Julio Cruz, but his deficiencies in the field keep him from taking the starting job. Joe Cunningham (1954-66) was a first baseman and corner outfielder with a .291 career batting average and a .403 on-base percentage. He’ll get his share of playing time while Jack Clark is nursing injuries. Backup catcher Jim Campanis (1966-73) was the son of longtime Dodgers exec Al Campanis. He had a career batting average of .147 and his defensive stats suggest that Estelle Getty could have stolen second base if Campanis was behind the plate, but his minor-league stats are decent enough that we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he made it to the majors on merit, not nepotism.
Manager: Joe Cantillon had a brief and unsuccessful career as a major-league umpire, had a terrible record for three years managing the Senators (where he helped develop a young chucker named Walter Johnson), and then had a long, successful run as a minor-league manager. He will have the title of manager here, but there’s a nagging suspicion that he’s a figurehead and that Joe Cronin is actually running things.
No comments:
Post a Comment