Infield: Third baseman Ed Williamson (1878-90), who also answered to “Ned,” was one of the first stars of major-league baseball. He played for the White Sox in Chicago’s Lake Front Park, with its 196-foot right field fence. The original ground rules dictated that a ball hit over that fence would go as a double, and in 1883 Williamson hit 49 doubles. In 1884 the ground rules changed to make balls over that fence a home run, and he hit 27. Based on those two seasons, heheld the single-season record for doubles (until it was broken four years later) and the single-season record for home runs (until Ruth broke it in 1919). His numbers are unremarkable, but players of his era spoke of Williamson almost reverentially. He was a big fellow, listed at 5-11 and 210 pounds, but he moved nimbly and was tremendously respected. First baseman Edgar Wesley was a Negro League slugger of the 1920s. He was a lefty who batted around .320 and hit with power, and while his name never became well known among modern fans, there are those who argue that he should have been considered by the special committee to select Negro Leaguers for the Hall of Fame. Second baseman Enrique Wilson (1997-2004) was a light-hitting infielder who played for very good teams in Cleveland and New York, making it to two World Series with the Yankees. Shortstop Ed Wheeler (1945) was a decent minor-league hitter with good speed who batted .194 in a brief stay with the Indians.
Outfield: Earl Webb (1925-33) was a fine player who is nonetheless remembered today for just one thing – holding one of the more anomalous records in baseball history. In 1931, playing for the Red Sox, Webb hit 67 doubles, breaking the old record by three. In the next few years, several players – Medwick, Greenberg, Waner, Gehringer – took runs at it but came up short. No one else has managed 60 doubles since the mid-30s. Webb himself never hit more than 30 doubles in any other season; those 67 doubles represent 43 percent of his career total, though it must be noted that he was a good minor-league hitter who did tend to bang a lot of doubles. He didn’t establish himself in the majors until he was 29, was only a regular for a couple of years, and was bounced from the majors two years after he set the record. He returned to the minors and hit well for several more years, finishing a 1,200-game minor-league career with a .333 average. Eddie Waitkus (1941-55) is another player known primarily for one thing – he was shot and almost killed by a deranged fan, in an incident that became the inspiration for the backstory of Roy Hobbs and “The Natural.” Waitkus was a first baseman but will shift to his secondary position of left field for this roster. A .300 hitter with no power who basically never struck out, he came up with the Cubs and drew the obsessive attention of a female fan who apparently could not handle the perceived rejection she felt when he was traded to the Phillies in 1949, so she tracked him down at a hotel, posed as an old friend to lure him to her room, and then shot him in the chest. He missed the rest of the season but returned and resumed his career, winning a pennant with the 1950 Whiz Kid Phillies. Center fielder Ernie Walker (1913-15) was the uncle of Dixie and Harry “The Hat” Walker, who both had fine careers. Uncle Ernie’s major-league career was brief. He had a pretty good year for the Browns at age 23, but when he slumped off in 1915 he dropped out of the majors for good, though he did hit .300 in the minors for several more seasons.
Catcher: This position will be a wicked platoon of lefty Ernie Whitt (1976-91) and righty Earl Williams (1970-77), a pair that could easily combine to hit 30 home runs per season.Whitt spent his prime years in Toronto in a highly effective platoon with Buck Martinez. Whitt never batted 500 times in a season, but he had eight straight years with double-digit home run totals. Williams came up with Atlanta at age 21 and won the Rookie of the Year award after hitting 33 home runs in 1971. He was a .250 hitter who struck out a lot, but he had tremendous power and drew a decent number of walks. He was a poor catcher and even worse when he tried his hand at corner infield, and there was a general perception in baseball that he didn’t work as hard as he could have at improving his game. His career went into decline right at the point when he should have been hitting his stride. He was done at age 28 but still managed to pop 138 home runs.
Rotation: Admit it: If someone challenged you to put together a pitching rotation with the initials “E.W.,” you wouldn’t expect to have two Hall of Famers – one of them the all-time ERA leader, and the other a 300-game winner – backed up by a 200-game winner and a couple of 120-game winners. And yet, that’s what we have here, a quintet that totals 960 career wins. Big Ed Walsh (1904-17) won 195 games for the White Sox and had a career ERA of 1.82, the lowest in history. Of course, he posted that ERA in the heart of the deadball era, but on the other hand, a lot of other great pitchers played at the same time and couldn’t touch that ERA. He went 40-15 in 1908, the last pitcher ever to win 40 games in a season. At his peak he was one of the best and most durable pitchers in the American League, leading the league at one time or another in pretty much every statistical category, and he beat the Cubs twice in 1906 to help the White Sox win the World Series. Early Wynn (1939-63) won 300 games in a career that touched four decades. He started out with the Senators and, after World War II he eventually moved to the Indians and was part of Cleveland’s legendary staffs of the 1950s. He later moved to the White Sox, winning 22 games and a Cy Young Award at age 39. He won 20 games five times, pitched in six all-star games and received MVP votes in eight different seasons. Lefty Earl Whitehill (1923-39) won 218 games, mostly for the Tigers though his biggest season (22-8 in 1933) came for the Senators. Like Wynn, he was a tough guy with a nasty temper and one hell of a competitor. In 1933, he shut out the New York Giants in Game 3 to become the last pitcher ever to win a World Series game for the Washington Senators. Earl Wilson (1959-70) won 121 games in his career, mostly winning 11-13 games a year but spiking it to win 18 in 1966 and 22 in 1967. He was a big, strong guy who had 35 home runs and 111 RBI in 740 at-bats (though his average was below .200 and he struck out 271 times). Eddie Lee Whitson (1977-91) won 126 games in a journeyman career that finally settled in San Diego. He is best remembered, however, for an incident that occurred when he was with the Yankees in 1985 – a brawl with manager Billy Martin that began (no surprise) in the hotel bar, rolled out into the lobby and finally finished in a third-floor hallway. At one point, two teammates attempted to break up the fight, restraining Whitson and pinning his arms. Martin took the opportunity to get in a couple of quick shots against the defenseless pitcher, so Whitson did the only thing he could do to defend himself: He kicked Martin in the crotch, sending the manager rolling on the floor and vowing to kill him. By the time the brawl was finished, Martin had a broken arm and two cracked ribs. Martin was fired in the aftermath of the incident.
Bullpen: Closer Eddie Watt (1966-75) had a fine career for the great Baltimore Orioles teams that won four pennants and two World Series titles. He saved 80 games in his career and finished with a 2.91 ERA. He was never overpowering, but consistently good for several years. Ed Wright (1945-52) came up as a starter with the Boston Braves and did alright, but he eventually shifted to the bullpen and did not pitch as well. Ed “Satchelfoot” Wells (1923-34) was a teammate of Cobb in Detroit and a teammate of Ruth and Gehrig in New York. His career was split about evenly between the rotation and the bullpen, but he’s not about to crack this team’s rotation, so he’ll be a stalwart in the pen. Ernie White (1940-48) was another lefty swingman. He came up with the Cardinals and had a couple of outstanding seasons, going 17-7 at age 24 in 1941 and shutting out the powerhouse Yankees in Game 3 of the 1942 World Series. He missed 1944-45 while serving in World War II, and when he came back he struggled to stay in the league for a few years with the Boston Braves. Ernie Wingard (1924-26) was a tall, skinny left who hung around some bad St. Louis Browns teams for a few years, walking three times as many batters as he struck out. Ed Walsh Jr. (1928-32) had his father’s genes but not his wondrous arm. Multiply Ed Walsh Sr.’s ERA by three and you’ve more or less got Ed Jr.’s ERA. Ehren Wasserman (2007-08) was a fine minor-league pitcher but unable to establish himself in the majors.
Bench: The bench starts with whichever platoon catcher isn’t starting, and to be honest, Earl Williams might see some work at other positions to try and get his bat into the lineup a bit more often. Corner infielder Eddie Williams (1986-98) was a power-hitting prospect who never became a full-time starter in the majors, though he did have a couple of pretty good years in limited roles with the Padres. He hit 199 home runs in the minors and lit up the Pacific Coast League for several years whenever he was sent down. Outfielder Eddie Wilson (1936-37) hit relatively well in his two shots with the Brooklyn Dodgers but couldn’t gain a foothold. He is believed to be no relation to the fellow of the same name who later became the leader of the 1960s band Eddie and the Crusiers. Utility infielder Ed Wheeler (1902) had 2,000 hits in the minors and an even dozen in the bigs. Ed Whiting (1882-86) was a catcher who also played some outfield. His presence on the roster will provide some flexibility allowing Earl Williams to pinch-hit. Whiting also played under the name Harry Zieber, and we’re sure there’s a story behind that.
Manager: Earl Weaver, the brilliant and tempermental manager of the Baltimore Orioles, might actually enjoy this team. It has power hitters, a strong platoon combination and a sturdy pitching rotation, all hallmarks of Weaver’s best teams, and it even features that third catcher he always liked to have around. Two key players here, Earl Williams and Eddie Watt, actually played for Weaver. He won three pennants and a World Series title, had a .583 winning percentage, and was well ahead of the curve when it came to tracking statistics and basing game strategies on what he learned. He loved to pick up some spare part that had been discarded by other teams and find a way to make use of that player’s strengths while avoiding his weaknesses. A baseball visionary. Wicked temper, though.
Outfield: Earl Webb (1925-33) was a fine player who is nonetheless remembered today for just one thing – holding one of the more anomalous records in baseball history. In 1931, playing for the Red Sox, Webb hit 67 doubles, breaking the old record by three. In the next few years, several players – Medwick, Greenberg, Waner, Gehringer – took runs at it but came up short. No one else has managed 60 doubles since the mid-30s. Webb himself never hit more than 30 doubles in any other season; those 67 doubles represent 43 percent of his career total, though it must be noted that he was a good minor-league hitter who did tend to bang a lot of doubles. He didn’t establish himself in the majors until he was 29, was only a regular for a couple of years, and was bounced from the majors two years after he set the record. He returned to the minors and hit well for several more years, finishing a 1,200-game minor-league career with a .333 average. Eddie Waitkus (1941-55) is another player known primarily for one thing – he was shot and almost killed by a deranged fan, in an incident that became the inspiration for the backstory of Roy Hobbs and “The Natural.” Waitkus was a first baseman but will shift to his secondary position of left field for this roster. A .300 hitter with no power who basically never struck out, he came up with the Cubs and drew the obsessive attention of a female fan who apparently could not handle the perceived rejection she felt when he was traded to the Phillies in 1949, so she tracked him down at a hotel, posed as an old friend to lure him to her room, and then shot him in the chest. He missed the rest of the season but returned and resumed his career, winning a pennant with the 1950 Whiz Kid Phillies. Center fielder Ernie Walker (1913-15) was the uncle of Dixie and Harry “The Hat” Walker, who both had fine careers. Uncle Ernie’s major-league career was brief. He had a pretty good year for the Browns at age 23, but when he slumped off in 1915 he dropped out of the majors for good, though he did hit .300 in the minors for several more seasons.
Catcher: This position will be a wicked platoon of lefty Ernie Whitt (1976-91) and righty Earl Williams (1970-77), a pair that could easily combine to hit 30 home runs per season.Whitt spent his prime years in Toronto in a highly effective platoon with Buck Martinez. Whitt never batted 500 times in a season, but he had eight straight years with double-digit home run totals. Williams came up with Atlanta at age 21 and won the Rookie of the Year award after hitting 33 home runs in 1971. He was a .250 hitter who struck out a lot, but he had tremendous power and drew a decent number of walks. He was a poor catcher and even worse when he tried his hand at corner infield, and there was a general perception in baseball that he didn’t work as hard as he could have at improving his game. His career went into decline right at the point when he should have been hitting his stride. He was done at age 28 but still managed to pop 138 home runs.
Rotation: Admit it: If someone challenged you to put together a pitching rotation with the initials “E.W.,” you wouldn’t expect to have two Hall of Famers – one of them the all-time ERA leader, and the other a 300-game winner – backed up by a 200-game winner and a couple of 120-game winners. And yet, that’s what we have here, a quintet that totals 960 career wins. Big Ed Walsh (1904-17) won 195 games for the White Sox and had a career ERA of 1.82, the lowest in history. Of course, he posted that ERA in the heart of the deadball era, but on the other hand, a lot of other great pitchers played at the same time and couldn’t touch that ERA. He went 40-15 in 1908, the last pitcher ever to win 40 games in a season. At his peak he was one of the best and most durable pitchers in the American League, leading the league at one time or another in pretty much every statistical category, and he beat the Cubs twice in 1906 to help the White Sox win the World Series. Early Wynn (1939-63) won 300 games in a career that touched four decades. He started out with the Senators and, after World War II he eventually moved to the Indians and was part of Cleveland’s legendary staffs of the 1950s. He later moved to the White Sox, winning 22 games and a Cy Young Award at age 39. He won 20 games five times, pitched in six all-star games and received MVP votes in eight different seasons. Lefty Earl Whitehill (1923-39) won 218 games, mostly for the Tigers though his biggest season (22-8 in 1933) came for the Senators. Like Wynn, he was a tough guy with a nasty temper and one hell of a competitor. In 1933, he shut out the New York Giants in Game 3 to become the last pitcher ever to win a World Series game for the Washington Senators. Earl Wilson (1959-70) won 121 games in his career, mostly winning 11-13 games a year but spiking it to win 18 in 1966 and 22 in 1967. He was a big, strong guy who had 35 home runs and 111 RBI in 740 at-bats (though his average was below .200 and he struck out 271 times). Eddie Lee Whitson (1977-91) won 126 games in a journeyman career that finally settled in San Diego. He is best remembered, however, for an incident that occurred when he was with the Yankees in 1985 – a brawl with manager Billy Martin that began (no surprise) in the hotel bar, rolled out into the lobby and finally finished in a third-floor hallway. At one point, two teammates attempted to break up the fight, restraining Whitson and pinning his arms. Martin took the opportunity to get in a couple of quick shots against the defenseless pitcher, so Whitson did the only thing he could do to defend himself: He kicked Martin in the crotch, sending the manager rolling on the floor and vowing to kill him. By the time the brawl was finished, Martin had a broken arm and two cracked ribs. Martin was fired in the aftermath of the incident.
Bullpen: Closer Eddie Watt (1966-75) had a fine career for the great Baltimore Orioles teams that won four pennants and two World Series titles. He saved 80 games in his career and finished with a 2.91 ERA. He was never overpowering, but consistently good for several years. Ed Wright (1945-52) came up as a starter with the Boston Braves and did alright, but he eventually shifted to the bullpen and did not pitch as well. Ed “Satchelfoot” Wells (1923-34) was a teammate of Cobb in Detroit and a teammate of Ruth and Gehrig in New York. His career was split about evenly between the rotation and the bullpen, but he’s not about to crack this team’s rotation, so he’ll be a stalwart in the pen. Ernie White (1940-48) was another lefty swingman. He came up with the Cardinals and had a couple of outstanding seasons, going 17-7 at age 24 in 1941 and shutting out the powerhouse Yankees in Game 3 of the 1942 World Series. He missed 1944-45 while serving in World War II, and when he came back he struggled to stay in the league for a few years with the Boston Braves. Ernie Wingard (1924-26) was a tall, skinny left who hung around some bad St. Louis Browns teams for a few years, walking three times as many batters as he struck out. Ed Walsh Jr. (1928-32) had his father’s genes but not his wondrous arm. Multiply Ed Walsh Sr.’s ERA by three and you’ve more or less got Ed Jr.’s ERA. Ehren Wasserman (2007-08) was a fine minor-league pitcher but unable to establish himself in the majors.
Bench: The bench starts with whichever platoon catcher isn’t starting, and to be honest, Earl Williams might see some work at other positions to try and get his bat into the lineup a bit more often. Corner infielder Eddie Williams (1986-98) was a power-hitting prospect who never became a full-time starter in the majors, though he did have a couple of pretty good years in limited roles with the Padres. He hit 199 home runs in the minors and lit up the Pacific Coast League for several years whenever he was sent down. Outfielder Eddie Wilson (1936-37) hit relatively well in his two shots with the Brooklyn Dodgers but couldn’t gain a foothold. He is believed to be no relation to the fellow of the same name who later became the leader of the 1960s band Eddie and the Crusiers. Utility infielder Ed Wheeler (1902) had 2,000 hits in the minors and an even dozen in the bigs. Ed Whiting (1882-86) was a catcher who also played some outfield. His presence on the roster will provide some flexibility allowing Earl Williams to pinch-hit. Whiting also played under the name Harry Zieber, and we’re sure there’s a story behind that.
Manager: Earl Weaver, the brilliant and tempermental manager of the Baltimore Orioles, might actually enjoy this team. It has power hitters, a strong platoon combination and a sturdy pitching rotation, all hallmarks of Weaver’s best teams, and it even features that third catcher he always liked to have around. Two key players here, Earl Williams and Eddie Watt, actually played for Weaver. He won three pennants and a World Series title, had a .583 winning percentage, and was well ahead of the curve when it came to tracking statistics and basing game strategies on what he learned. He loved to pick up some spare part that had been discarded by other teams and find a way to make use of that player’s strengths while avoiding his weaknesses. A baseball visionary. Wicked temper, though.
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