FW: The Flip Wilsons

Infield: Second baseman Frank White (1973-90) was a fantastic defenseive second baseman and was a decent enough hitter — .255 career, with 400 doubles and 160 home runs, 886 RBI and 912 runs. Overall a very fine player and a key guy on the Kansas City Royals teams that won consistently for a decade, culminating with the World Series title in 1985. He was the most successful graduate of the Royals’ innovative “Baseball Academy,” which was designed to take undrafted players who were good athletes but limited baseball backgrounds and to develop them into ballplayers. First baseman Fred Whitfield (1962-70) was a first baseman with some pop – he would hit 25 home runs in a good season. Other than that, he didn’t do much, and most of his teams generally found someone better to play first base and push him aside. Third baseman Fred Waterman (1871-75) was a fine player in baseball’s earliest days immediately after the Civil War and before any “major leagues” had emerged. He played just a handful of games in the National Association, generally recognized as the first “major league,” though he did have 101 hits in 303 career at-bats, good for a career average of .333. His photograph at baseballreference.com shows a gentleman in a suitcoat and bow tie who actually bears at least a passing resemblance to John Wilkes Booth. Shortstop Fred Warner (1875-84) played in the same era but wasn’t nearly as good as Waterman.

Outfield: Center fielder Farmer Weaver (1888-94) was a West Virginia boy who most likely did grow up on a farm, though it is unclear whether he also knew how to weave. He was a versatile player with some speed and he played several different positions, but his most common spot was center field. Right fielder Frank Welch (1919-27), nicknamed “Bugger” for some reason, spent most of his career playing for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s during the period when they were making the transition from cash-depleted sad sacks back toward respectability. He hung around long enough to play with Lefty Grove and Mickey Cochrane, but he was done before the Foxx-Grove-Cochrane dynasty took root. Left fielder Frank “Squash” Wilson (1924-28) did little to distinguish himself in his brief major-league career, but his presence in left does give the team an outfield consisting of a Farmer flanked by Squash and Bugger.

Catcher: Fleet Walker (1884), while not well known, is a key figure in baseball history. Playing for Toledo in the American Association, he was the most prominent of a handful of black players who made an inroads into the major leagues in their formative period. A college man, he was a good hitter and a strong catcher with a good reputation for handling pitchers. Some people weren’t comfortable with their presence, and there was an incident in which Cap Anson, the biggest star in the game, threatened to boycott games against Toledo rather than share a ballfield with a black man. This incident is often pointed to as the precise moment when baseball's de facto color line was drawn, and while that analysis is an oversimplification, the fact remains that Moses Fleetwood Walker was the last black player in the majors before Jackie Robinson in 1947. (It has been said that for a half-century, he was the answer to two baseball trivia questions: Who was the first black player in the majors? And who was the last black player in the majors?)

Rotation: Negro League right-hander Frank Wickware had one of the best fastball of the ‘teens. He hailed from the same hometown as Walter Johnson – Coffeyville, Kansas – and the two men had some noteworthy pitchers’ duels in exhibition games. He changed teams frequently, going where the money was, and there was one instance when two different teams vying for a league championship were surprised to learn that Wickware had agreed to pitch for both teams. The game was held up by a protest over which team had the rights to use him. He will be looked to for a heavy workload on this staff, as the rest of the rotation is as thin as tissue. Frank Wills (1983-91), not to be confused with the security guard who rattled the doorknob that led to Watergate and the resignation of Richard Nixon, was a first-round draft pick of the Kasnas City Royals who never developed into an effective pitcher at the major-league level. He spent most of his career in the bullpen but did manage a few dozen starts. Finished with a 22-26 record and a 5.06 ERA. Lefty Fin Wilson (1914-15) pitched briefly for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League. He wasn’t great, but he was better than his 1-9 career record would indicate. He also batted .324 for his career, which counts for something. Frank Woodward (1918-23) had a fine career in the minors but never fully established himself in the majors. He finished with a career record of 9-15, spread out over four teams and five seasons. Frank Watt (1931), nicknamed Kilowatt, had seasons with 28 and 20 wins in the minors but didn’t make it to the majors until he was 28, at which point he went 5-5 as a swingman with a weak Phillies team.

Bullpen: Closer Frank Williams (1984-89) forged a pretty fair major-league career into a life that included a humble beginning and a tragic end. He and his twin brother were abandoned as infants and bounced around the Foster Care system in the Pacific Northwest, going through several dreadful homes before finally landing with a stable and loving family. He made it to the majors with the Giants in 1984 and spent his entire career as a reliever, except for one start as a rookie in which he threw a complete game shutout (OK, it was rain-shortened to five innings, but it still counts as a complete game and a shutout). He pitched 333 games – mostly middle relief, though he did have eight saves – and was still pitching well when he sustained a broken neck and other injuries in a car accident. The injuries ended his career and sent his life into a tailspin. His drinking habit and reckless nature devolved into severe alcoholism, and his marriage fell apart. Upon learning that his birth parents were part of an aboriginal tribe in British Columbia, he moved to Vancouver and worked construction jobs when he could find them, along with his twin brother, who had also been injured in an accident. Williams’ drug and alcohol habits worsened, and he spent time living on the street and in flophouses. Shortly after his brother died in a fire, Williams suffered a heart attack and died at age 50. Floyd Weaver (1962-71) spent a lot more time in the minors than in the majors. He was born in Ben Franklin, Texas, went to high school in Pecan Gap, Texas, and ultimately died in Powderly, Texas, thus cornering the market on small towns with quaint names. Fred Wenz (1968-70) was nicknamed “Fireball,” but that may have referred less to his fastball than to his propensity for tossing gasoline on the fire by giving up home runs. Fred Waters (1955-56) was a lefty who had a pretty decent rookie year for the Pirates, with a 2.82 ERA in 23 games, but he walked twice as many as he struck out. Despite the promising results, he ended up back in the minors and continued to pitch well there for several more years. Fred Woodcock (1892) was a 19th-century lefty with a name that would make Beavis and Butt-Head snicker uncontrollably. Floyd Wooldridge (1955) was a swingman who spent some time with the Cardinals, but when you give up 91 baseunners and strike out just 14 in 58 innings, you don’t stick around long. Fred Winchell (1909), who may or may not have been related to either Walter or Paul, was 0-3 with a 6.28 ERA for the Indians.

Bench: Negro League second baseman Frank Warfield was a 5-foot-7 speedster who was known primarily for his fielding prowess and his baserunning. Backup catcher Frank “Kid” Withrow (1920-22) didn’t hit much. Outfielder Floyd “What Do You Want” Wicker (1968-71) batted .159 for four teams and had almost twice as many strikeouts as hits. Outfielder Frank Whitney (1876) was nicknamed “Jumbo” despite the fact that he was 5-7 and 152 pounds. Infielder Frank Whitman (1946-48) wasn’t good enough to move the aging Luke Appling off of the White Sox shortstop position.

Manager: Fred Waters managed the low minors in the Minnesota Twins system for many years and had a role in the early development of several generations of players, from Rod Carew and Kirby Puckett. Waters will be assisted by Frank Warfield, who was player-manager of the Baltimore Black Sox team that won the Negro American League title in 1929.

GB: The Heebie GBs

Infield: Third baseman George Brett (1973-93) finished his career with 3,154 hits, and he was just short of 1,600 runs and 1,600 RBI. He hit 300 home runs, stole 200 bases. He won two batting titles, an MVP and a Gold Glove. He batted .337 in 43 postseason games, including .373 in 13 World Series games, and he hit an astonishing home run off Goose Gossage in the 1980 ALCS. But the numbers only tell part of the story. You had to see Brett play to truly get the feel for him. He approached the game with burning intensity (witness his famous charge out of the dugout in response to the Pine Tar Incident) and a childlike joy. He was a force of nature, always hustling (665 doubles and 137 triples), playing the game as though a loss – any loss – was simply unacceptable. A Hall of Famer, and one of the top third basemen of all time. Second baseman Glenn Beckert (1965-75) was a legendarily good hit-and-run man. He batted .283 for his career, never struck out and played the game in a way to satisfy the fundamental purists. He had weaknesses – he didn’t walk either, he had no power, and he was no better than average defensively – but on the whole, he was a good player on a good Chicago Cubs team. First baseman George Henry Burns (1914-29) played at the same time as outfielder George Joseph Burns, which creates inevitable confusion for the modern fan trying to keep them straight. They were actually very distinct players, and both pretty good. George Henry Burns played for five teams and had a career batting average of .307, leading the league in hits before the Lively Ball Era started (178 hits in 1918) and afterward (216 hits in 1926). He averaged almost 50 doubles a year for a five-year stretch in mid-career. Geoff Blum (1999- ) is really a third baseman, but he played enough shortstop to qualify as the starter on this team. He’s a .250 hitter with no walks or speed, but in a good year he’ll hit a dozen home runs. On the plus side, he has a career World Series slugging percentage of 4.000 – in his only World Series at-bat, he hit a walk-off pinch-hit home run in extra innings to help the White Sox beat Houston in 2005.

Outfield: Right fielder George Joseph Burns (1911-25) was several inches shorter than his counterpart at first base. Their careers were almost identical in length (GJB had 2,077 hits in 1,853 games, and GHB had 2,018 hits in 1,860 games), but George Joseph Burns was a speedster, stealing 383 bases. He also drew a lot of walks, leading the league four times. He also led the NL four times in runs, twice in steals, and he was durable enough to step up to the plate 650-700 times per year. Left fielder George Bell (1981-93) was part of the great outfield in Toronto alongside Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield. Bell was the weak link of the three defensively, but he was a powerful slugger who won the 1987 MVP award with 47 home runs and 134 RBI. Center fielder Ginger Beaumont (1899-1910) was a speedster and a defensive standout who also batted .311 for his career. He was a star on the outstanding Pittsburgh teams featuring Hall of Famers Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke, and he ended his career with an appearance in the 1910 World Series with the Cubs.

Catcher: Glenn Borgmann (1972-80) spent most of his career as a backup with the Twins. He didn’t hit much but had a good defensive reputation.

Rotation: Guy Bush (1923-45), a.k.a. The Mississippi Mudcat, won 176 games in his career, including 10 straight seasons in double-digits. He was a good, durable righthander who spent most of his career with the Cubs (but left before the World Series appearance in 1935). George “Grin” Bradley (1875-84), pitching in those Jurassic days after the Civil War, is one of three pitchers in baseball history to have both a 40-loss season and a 40-win season. George “Farmer” Bell (1907-11) was a decent right-handed pitcher who finished with a record of 43-79 because he played for some very bad Brooklyn teams. Gene Bearden (1947-53) went 20-7 with a league-leading 2.43 ERA for the Indians as a rookie in 1948 and capped off his season by throwing a shutout in Game 3 of the World Series. He would never again win in double-digits. He would only have one subsequent ERA below 4.00. He would never again lead the league in anything other than wild pitches. He walked substantially more batters than he ever struck out. But that rookie years was still pretty good. Gary “Ding Dong” Bell (1958-69) was a swingman who won 121 games in his career but is best known to most fans as Jim Bouton’s roommate with the Seattle Pilots in “Ball Four.”

Bullpen: Grant Balfour (2001- ) is an Australian right-hander who has had a couple of fine seasons for the Tampa Rays, but he has also had some seasons in which he struggled. He will start out as the closer on this team. In the 1999 International Cup, Balfour saved three games to help lead Australia to a surprise championship over favored teams from the U.S., Cuba and Japan. George Blaeholder (1925-36) won 104 games in the majors and 129 in the minors, and he is frequently cited as the pitcher who invented the slider (though it is more accurate to say he was one of several pitchers to have played a role in developing the pitch). He has the distinction of having given up Babe Ruth’s 600th home run, which will give him something to talk about with Guy Bush, who gave up #714. Garland “Gob” Buckeye (1918-28) was a fine swingman who played offensive line for several years for the Chicago Cardinals before he devoted himself to baseball in his mid-20s. Greg Booker (1983-90) was a 6-foot-6 righty who had a good run as a middle reliever for the Padres. He was part of the bullpen that played a key role in San Diego’s 1984 pennant. He played for his father-in-law, Jack McKeon, who traded Booker to Minnesota in 1989, presumably creating some interesting talk around the dinner table. Gene Brabender (1966-70) was a 6-foot-5 strongman who, like Gary “Ding Dong” Bell, pitched for the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and was a central figure in Bouton’s “Ball Four.” Bouton described Brabender as a fearsome hulk, generally a nice guy but fond of telling people, “Where I come from, we only argue for a short time—then we hit.” As a prank, Brabender once used railroad spikes to nail Bouton’s shoes to the clubhouse floor. Greg Burke (2009- ) pitched alright for San Diego in 2009, going 3-3 with a 4.14 ERA. He put a lot of runners on base, but he got by with it. Anyways, he went back to the minors after that and hasn't made his way back yet. We'll see if he returns to The Show. George Burpo (1946) pitched worse than Grover Baichley, but Burpo gets the last spot in the bullpen in large part because he has a funny name and we like the idea of a bullpen that has Brabender and Blaeholder, Buckeye and Burpo.

Bench: Outfielder Gus Bell (1950-64) – father of Buddy, grandfather of David – got squeezed out of the starting outfield despite a .281 career average and 206 home runs. He was a four-time all-star and a four-time 100-RBI man. Gates Brown (1963-75) was a part-time outfielder with the Tigers who made his name as a pinch-hitter – 16 of his 84 career home runs came in that role. He was a big, strong guy and a fan favorite who played a valuable role for some really good Detroit teams. First baseman Greg Brock (1982-91) hit 110 home runs for the Dodgers and Brewers, giving this team three very potent lefty sticks off the bench. The best right-handed pinch-hitter will be utility infielder Gene Baker (1953-61), who could hit .270 with a dozen homers in a good season. Backup catcher Gary Bennett (1995-2008) hung around for 13 years without ever becoming a starter.

Manager: George Bamberger had a couple of good seasons with the Brewers in the late 1970s but had some weak seasons later with the Mets and in a second go-round with Milwaukee. Originally a pitching coach, he played a role in the development of players like Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Cecil Cooper, but he didn’t stick around long enough to enjoy the 1982 pennant that they won.

GC: The Gary Coopers

Infield: Second baseman George Cutshaw (1912-23) wasn’t a great hitter, but he was considered to be a remarkable fielder and one of the first who truly mastered the art of the double play pivot (which was not emphasized at all around the turn of the century). Stories about his fielding prowess abound, and teammates such as Casey Stengel and Ty Cobb raved about how Cutshaw’s approach to defensive play at second base changed the way they approached the game. For the GC team, he will be turning double plays with George Carman (1890), who batted .174 in a brief trial with the Philadelphia A’s. The record is too scant to tell how he handled himself in the field, but the team is hoping that he and Cutshaw will developed a nice keystone chemistry. First baseman George Crowe (1952-61) was a Negro League slugger who spent his 30s playing for several National League teams, most notably the Reds. In 1957, filling in for the injured Ted Kluszewski, Crowe hit 31 home runs. But that year, as the fans in Cincy ran an infamous promotion to stuff the All-Star game ballot boxes, Crowe was the only Reds position player who did not start for the NL team, losing out to some guy named Musial. Crowe was a good hitter, and if circumstances had been different – if there had been no color line, if he had been given more than one season as a full-time starter – he might have hit a few hundred home runs in the majors. Third baseman Grey Clarke (1944) was a .300 hitter in a long minor-league career, but he only spent about a half-season in the majors for the White Sox during World War II. He played alright, but he was already in his 30s by that point and the guys who had been drafted would be returning soon, so Clarke’s big-league career was brief.

Outfield: Right fielder Gavy Cravath (1908-20) was a power hitter in the deadball era who took advantage of the Baker Bowl’s cozy dimensions to lead the NL in home runs five times and hit 119 in his career. For many years, he was believed to have held the career home run record before Babe Ruth obliterated it, though later research determined that Roger Connor actually held that distinction. Cravath was a right-handed hitter, but his power was to the opposite field, where the Baker Bowl was a bandbox in right and right-center fields. In 1914, he hit all of his league-leading 17 home runs in his home ballpark. Center fielder George Case (1937-47) was a speedster with the Washington Sen ators who led the league in stolen bases a half-dozen times and frequently partook in exhibitions in which he raced against Jesse Owens, or a racehorse, or some such paragon of fleetness. Left fielder Gino Cimoli (1956-75) was a journeyman who moved around the majors and at various times shared the outfield with Duke Snider, Stan Musial, Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron. As a rookie, he played alongside Snider and Carl Furillo in the Dodgers’ last season in Brooklyn. He was never a star, but was usually functional enough to hold down a position as needed.

Catcher: Hall of Famer Gary Carter (1974-92) was a teriffic defensive catcher who hit 324 home runs in his career and was seen as the on-field leader of the 1986 World Series champion Mets. In addition to his other skills, he was viewed as a fine handler of pitchers. He was a key player in the expansion Expos’ rise to respectability, and his arrival in New York coincided with the development of several talented young pitchers. Generally considered to be one of the top 10 or 12 catchers in major-league history.

Rotation: Gene Conley (1952-63) was a 6-foot-8 righthander who spent his winters playing basketball for the Boston Celtics and was a key reserve on three NBA championship teams. Along with his World Series title with the 1957 Milwaukee Braves, that makes him the only player in history to win both NBA and World Series titles. He was selected to three All-Star Games and was winning pitcher in one and losing pitcher in another. Gustavo Chacin (2004- ) had a promising rookie year for Toronto, going 13-9 with a 3.72 ERA at age 24. Since then, he has been unable to stay healthy and unable to keep his ERA below 5.00. His official bio says Chacin cannot grow hair because of a medical condition called alopecia areata. George Chalmers (1910-16) was a Scottish spitball specialist who went 29-41 over the course of seven seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies. In Game 4 of the 1915 World Series, he lost a fine pitcher’s duel to Ernie Shore of the Red Sox. George Caster (1934-46) was not the general who lost at Little Big Horn. He was a pitcher – middle name Jasper, nickname Ug – who had two 19-loss seasons and a 20-loss season for the Philadelphia A’s between 1937-40. He also holds the distinction of having more career saves (28) than anyone else in the history of the St. Louis Browns. George Cunningham (1916-21) had a losing record for the Detroit Tigers and also tried his hand in the outfield briefly.

Bullpen: Greg Cadaret (1987-98) was a journeyman lefty set-up man for a decade. Not one of those one-out specialists, but a relative workhorse as lefty relievers go. Though he never saved more than three games in a season, he’ll be the closer on this team. George Culver (1966-74) played for six teams but had his best seasons for Houston. Galen Cisco (1961-69) was the captain of the 1957 national champion football team at Ohio State before he moved on to a pro baseball career. He had a couple of hard-luck seasons with the diastrous early 1960s Mets, leading to a career record of 25-56. He went on to a long career as a pitching coach in the majors. Giovanni Carrara (1995-2006) has dual citizenship in Venezuela and Italy and has pitched for both countries in international competition. He had an up-and-down pro career for a decade, but in his good seasons he was pretty good. Gary Christenson (1979-80) was not very effective and pitched just 30 games in the majors, totaling 40 innings of relief – but he did manage to finish with a 3-0 career record. George Cappuzzello (1981-82) pitched about the same amoung as Gary Christenson and pitched far better, but he finished with a 1-2 record. Guy Cantrell (1925-30) pitched pretty well for three teams in a short major-league career.

Bench: Gordy Coleman (1959-67) was Cincinnati’s first baseman in the years after George Crowe. They are both lefty hitters of similar abilities, so look for a spirited competition for playing time. Greg Colbrunn (1992-2004), a righty first baseman will pick up some starts against left-handed pitchers. Colbrunn hit for a decent average but with less power than Coleman or Crowe. He had a long career as a useful role player and was rewarded with a World Series title in Arizona. Outfielder Gene Clines (1970-79) generally got between 200-300 at-bats a year and was a useful sub – not great at anything and not terrible at anything. George Creamer (1878-84) was an infielder-outfielder who didn’t hit much. Catcher Gilly Campbell (1933-38) spent most of his career backing up Hall of Famers Gabby Hartnett and Ernie Lombardi, so he should feel very comfortable here backing up Gary Carter.

Manager: George Creamer will be player-manager. He managed eight games for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1884 and lost all eight. Only two managers in history have lost more games without winning any (two other 19th-century guys who each went 0-11). He will be assisted by Galen Cisco, Gene Clines and a few other GCs who had noteworthy careers as big-league coaches and minor-league managers.