DW: The D.W. Griffiths

Infield: Third baseman David Wright (2004- ), from right here in Chesapeake, Va., has laid the foundation for a Hall of Fame career. He’s a .300 hitter, good for 40 doubles and 25-30 home runs per year, plus 100 RBI like clockwork. He draws walks, runs well, and while he’s no Brooks Robinson at the hot corner, his defense isn’t terrible. When you add in good looks and charisma, you’ve got a made-to-order superstar in the New York media market. Just now hitting his prime, and it is very conceivable that he will finish his career as one of the top 10 third basemen of all time. Second baseman Davey Williams (1949-55) played his whole career for the New York Giants. In the 1954 World Series, he went 0-for-11 (two walks, two sac bunts) in the four-game sweep of Cleveland. First baseman Daryle Ward (1998-2008) was a decent hitter who has had a solid but unspectacular career, often in platoon roles, for six different teams. He and his father (Gary Ward, an outfielder) are the only father-and-son team in baseball history to both hit for the cycle. He was also the first player in the history of PNC Park in Pittsburgh to hit a home run into the Allegheny River on the fly. Shortstop Dib Williams (1930-35) spent most of his career with the Philadelphia A’s, winning pennants in his first two seasons. He was on the A’s roster when they won the 1930 World Series, though he did not appear in a game, and he batted .320 in the 1931 World Series, which the A’s lost.

Outfield: Right fielder Dave Winfield (1973-95) was an extraordinary specimen – 6-foot-6, strong and fleet, drafted in three different pro sports. You’ve got to think he chose the right one after a Hall of Fame career that included 3,110 hits, 465 home runs, 1,833 RBI and seven Gold Gloves. Side notes to his great career include the time he killed a seagull in Toronto by hitting it with a baseball (he assumed the bird would fly away and avoid the ball, but the bird just sat there and took it) and the bizarre incident that arose when George Steinbrenner, angry that Winfield expected The Boss to live up to the terms of his contract, paid a sleazy private eye to dig up dirt on Winfield. (That stunt got Steinbrenner suspended for three years from the day-to-day operation of the team.) Center fielder Devon White (1985-2001) had good speed, decent power, and he played center field about as well as anyone you’ve ever seen. He was also a .263 hitter with poor command of the strike zone, but he had clear skills that contributed to winning teams. He won three World Series titles, two with Toronto and one with Florida, and he went .296/.365/.450 in 49 postseason games over the course of his career. He had 1,100 runs, 200 home runs, 300 steals and seven Gold Gloves to go with the three championship rings – a guy could do a hell of a lot worse. Left fielder Dixie Walker (1931-49) was a journeyman outfielder until he landed in Brooklyn in mid-career and became wildly popular with the fans (“The People’s Cherce”). A Southern boy, he is widely recognized as one of the instigators of a petition trying to prevent Jackie Robinson joining the Dodgers in 1947, though he reportedly came to accept Robinson as a teammate. Walker was traded away from Brooklyn following that season. He won a batting title at age 33 and an RBI title at 34. (He and his brother, Harry the Hat, were the only brothers to win batting titles. Their father and uncle also played in the majors.) Another side note for Dixie Walker: He is the only player to have been a teammate of both Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson.

Catcher: Deacon White (1871-90) was one of the great and fascinating players from the early days of organized ball, in the years following the Civil War. He earned his nickname by carrying a Bible and behaving in a respectable manner, but he was also feisty and was one of the first players to challenge the restrictions of a standard contract (“No man is gonna sell my carcass unless I get half!”), helping lay the groundwork for the formation of the upstart Players League (which only lasted one season but had a big impact on the development of the sport). A fine catcher, a two-time batting champion, and one of the first players ever to reach 2,000 hits in a career.

Rotation: David Wells (1987-2007) was a big, slovenly lefty whose listed weight of 187 was apparently not updated after middle school. He had a remarkable career, playing for nine teams and putting up a 239-157 record (.604 winning percentage) despite being only slightly better than league average in ERA. He won a World Series title with Toronto and another with the Yankees, and he had a 10-5 postseason record with a very fine 3.17 ERA. He pitched a perfect game for the Yankees in 1997 and later admitted that he pitched the game with a severe hangover from the previous night’s carousing (though it’s not clear whether that is true or Wells was embellishing to keep up his image as a colorful character). He loved baseball history and was a huge fan of Babe Ruth. When the Yankees told him he couldn't wear No. 3, he instead picked 33, and he once bought one of Ruth's old caps at an auction and tried to wear it in a game (Joe Torre made him take it off after one inning because it looked so faded and moth-eaten). Doc White (1901-13) was a solid lefty who led the AL in ERA in 1906 (1.52) and wins in 1907 (27). He won 189 games in his career with a 2.39 ERA (a very good ERA, but not nearly as impressive in the deadball era as it looks today). Don Wilson (1966-74) was a talented young pitcher for the Houston Astros who won 104 games before dying in mid-career at age 29. His career included two no-hitters and a third game in which he was lifted for a pinch-hitter after eight no-hit innings, as well as an 18-strikeout game. He died in January 1975 of carbon-monoxide poisoning – in his idling car in the garage – though it was never clear if his death was a suicide or an accident. The garage was attached to the family home, and his son also died in the incident. The last game of his career had been a two-hit shutout of the Atlanta Braves at the end of the 1974 season. Lefty Dontrelle Willis (2003- ) is another talented young pitcher with emotional problems. Unlike Don Wilson, Willis’ story has not come to a tragic ending. But his promising career, which began with a Rookie of the Year award and 46 wins before his 24th birthday, has been thrown completely off course by anxiety disorders, control issues and other problems. Willis was an instant fan favorite with his high-kicking motion, beaming smile and enthusiastic demeanor – but he is not yet 30, and he is struggling mightily to get his career back on track. We at Baseball Initially are rooting for him. Lefty Dave Williams (2001-07) won 10 games for the Pirates in 2005, which represented almost half of his 22 career victories.

Bullpen: Closer Duane Ward (1986-95) had a star-crossed career with the Blue Jays. He spent several years setting up Tom Henke, picking up a dozen or so saves per year. In 1993, Henke left via free agency and Ward ascended into the closer role, putting up a 2.13 ERA and a league-leading 45 saves, striking out 97 batters in 71 innings. He saved two more games in the World Series as Toronto repeated as champions. And then he hurt his arm, missed the entire 1994 season with biceps tendinitis, and retired after a few games in 1995. He led the league in saves and then retired without ever saving another game. Dan Wheeler (1999- ) has had a fine, durable career spent mostly with Tampa Bay. Working mostly in set-up relief, he has put together 43 saves and is still in mid-career. Righty David Weathers (1991-2009) worked 964 games in his career, one of the 20 highest total in history for a pitcher. He was never great but was generally good, and he finished with 73 wins and 75 saves in a career that spanned nine teams. Donne Wall (1995-2002) was a very average pitcher who spent most of his career in Houston and San Diego. Leflty David West (1988-98) was a swingman who pitched for four teams but never for a team in the West Division. Dooley Womack (1966-70) had a pretty decent career (19-18, 24 saves, 2.95 ERA) but is remembered only as the guy who Jim Bouton was traded for in “Ball Four.” In Bouton’s diary of the 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots, he learns that he has been traded to the Astros. He wants to know who he was traded for, admitting that for reasons of vanity players always want to hear a big name on the other end of the deal – and he is moritified to learn that he has been traded for “the immortal Dooley Womack." Bouton immediately prays that there was a lot of cash involved and that Womack was just a throw-in. Dick Woodson (1969-74) had a few good years for the Twins, but his career fizzled out before he turned 30.

Bench: Outfielder Dick Wakefield (1941-52) is one of the great “What Might Have Been?” stories in baseball history. As a 22-year-old rookie with Detroit in 1943, he batted .316, led the league with 200 hits and 38 doubles and finished sixth in the AL MVP voting. In 1944, he was batting .355 with 12 homers, 53 runs and 53 RBI at midseason when he was inducted into the U.S. Army. When he returned in 1946, he was still a good player, but he never approached his pre-war success. It is unclear if he was injured during his service time, but the fact remains that he batted .328/.405/.477 before his military service, and .268/.391/.426 afterward (despite being just 25 when he returned to Detroit). Denny Walling (1975-92) had a long career as a corner infielder and outfielder, playing in 1,271 games despite never truly nailing down a full-time job. He platooned a lot and never came close to enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title, but he was a valuable player who batted .271 for his career with a good batting eye. Infielder Don Wert (1963-71) was a light-hitting third baseman with a little bit of pop, and he could be stretched to play shortstop in a pinch. Backup catcher Dan Wilson (1992-2005) hit 88 home runs, with a career high of 18 for Seattle in 1996. Darrell Woodard (1978) made it to the majors briefly as part of the Oakland A’s fascination with speed and full-time pinch-runners. He appeared in 33 games but only came to the plate 10 times, never getting a hit. The A’s later sent him to a team in a low-level independent league team as compensation for signing one of the indie team’s coaches to run the Oakland bullpen.

Manager: Dick Williams was a pretty good infielder, more than good enough to earn a spot on this team’s bench, but we will let him focus on his managerial duties. He was an outstanding manager, known for his ability to take on a struggling team and get better results. In 21 seasons, he won 1,571 games, four pennants and two World Series titles. He was known as a no-nonsense “my way or the highway” manager, and he had a long history of fighting with owners and players. He was a 38-year-old first-year manager when he took the Red Sox to their surprise pennant in 1967, and he went on two win two World Series titles with the Oakland A’s, leaving after the 1973 title after owner Charles Finley publically humiliated a player who had made two costly errors. Williams was an unconventional thinker – during spring training he had his Red Sox pitchers play volleyball in the outfield to improve their footwork, and with the A’s he played along with Finley’s bizarre plan to stock his roster with light-hitting second basemen and then pinch-hit for them every time they came up. In Montreal, he used his top starting pitcher as a pinch-runner in the heat of a pennant race and subsequently lost his ace for two weeks when he was hurt breaking up a double play. He was eventually elected to the Hall of Fame, though that honor was delayed by a few years to give the public time to forget about a regrettable incident in which Williams was arrested for wandering around a hotel naked.

EB: The Ed Begleys

Infield: Hall of Famer Ernie Banks (1953-71) spent the first half of his career at shortstop and was adequate there, but he will start here at his subsequent position, first base, in order to allow slick-fielding Ed Brinkman (1961-75) to hold down short. Banks, as famous for his enthusiasm (“Let’s play two!”) as for his prodigious power, spent his entire career with the Chicago Cubs and has remained a fixture at Wrigley Field throughout his retirement. He hit 40-plus home runs five times between 1955-60, and he finished his career with 512 home runs and 1,636 RBI. Banks was respected enough to win back-to-back MVP awards in 1958-59 despite the fact that the Cubs had losing records both years. Steady Eddie Brinkman couldn’t hit. In a career that lasted 1,845 games, he batted below .200 more often than he batted above .240. But he was a very fine fielder. He won the AL Gold Glove at shortstop in 1972, interrupting Mark Belanger’s streak, and he even finished ninth in the MVP voting that season despite batting .203 with no power, no walks and no speed. Third baseman Emilio Bonifacio (2007- ) has terrific speed, but at this point he still doesn’t get on base enough to really put that speed to good use. Emmanuel Burriss (2008- ), a young infielder with the Giants who missed the 2010 season with an injury, has been named the E.B. starter at second base, but his grasp on the starting job is not a firm one, and if he doesn’t start picking it up a bit, he could well land on the bench while utility infielder Eddie Bressoud takes over second.

Outfield: Center fielder Ellis Burks (1987-2004) was a very good slugger who benefited from a move in mid-career to the high altitude of Colorado, where in 1996 he batted .344 with 45 doubles, 40 home runs, 142 runs, 128 RBI and, for good measure, a career-high 32 steals. He was a good hitter - .291 career, with 352 home runs – but his 1996 season was an anomaly, the only time he ever scored or drove in 100 runs. He was a solid defensive outfielder before his knees started to give him trouble, and even after he left Colorado, he had 30-homer seasons in San Francisco and Cleveland. Right fielder Eric Byrnes (2000-10) was a hustling player with some pop, and colorful enough to had three nicknames (Captain America, Pigpen and the Crash Test Dummy). Playing for Arizona in 2007, he batted .286 with 21 home runs and an eye-opening 50 steals, doubling his previous career high. He was rewarded with a lucrative contract extension, but he immediately got injured and was never an effective player again. Now one of the approximately 795 former big-leaguers working as “analysts” at ESPN. Left fielder Emil Brown (1997-2009) had a little bit of speed and some pop, and he put together a couple of pretty good seasons for Kansas City in 2005-06, but he went downhill after that.

Catcher: Wicked platoon of lefty Ed Bailey (1953-66) and righty Earl Battey (1955-67). Bailey had power (155 career home runs), and so did Battey (104 career home runs). Both men had good batting eyes and strong throwing arms. In his New Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James ranked both Battey and Bailey among the top 50 catchers in major-league history.

Rotation: Ewell “The Whip” Blackwell (1942-55) was a devastating pitcher when he was healthy. A 6-foot-6 stringbean with extraordinarily long arms and fingers, he threw with an exaggerated sidearm motion (one observer said he “looked like a man falling out of a tree”) that made it appear as if the ball was coming from somewhere in the vicinity of third base. The velocity he generated, combined with the astonishing release point, was very unnerving to batters. He pitched in six consecutive all-star games, and in 1947 he almost pulled off a VanderMeer – he pitched a no-hitter, and then in his next start took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before giving up a single to Eddie Stanky. His unorthodox pitching motion apparently put tremendous strain on his arm, and his career was curtailed by injuries. His career stats (82-78, 3.30 ERA, 839 strikeouts) don’t do justice to the impression he made on the folks who saw him pitch. Big Ed Brandt (1928-38) was a decent enough pitcher who torpedoed his career stats with a few bad seasons at the start of his career. In his first three seasons, he went 21-45 with a 5.20 ERA; in the remaining eight years of his career he had six seasons at .500 or better, and his cumulative ERA was 3.45. Put them all together and you get a 121-146 record with an ERA right around leage average. Lefty Erik Bedard (2002- ) arrived as a highly touted prospect with a wicked curve, and he had a couple of strong years for the Orioles – 15-11 in 2006, 13-5 in 2007, with good ERAs and lots of strikeouts. This prompted the Mariners to trade half of their farm system to the Orioles for Bedard, who subsequently got injured and won a grand total of 11 games for Seattle. He missed the entire 2010 season with setbacks to his recovery from shoulder surgery. He’s still in his early 30s, but he’s got a lot to overcome if he’s going to reestablish himself. Ernie Broglio (1959-66) won 21 games for the Cardinals in 1960, and he won 18 in 1963, but his biggest legacy in St. Louis came midway through the 1964 season when he was traded to the Cubs for Lou Brock (with other players tossed in on both sides of the deal). Broglio would win just seven games for the Cubs in 2 1/2 years, while Brock would amass 3,000 hits, break the single-season and career stolen base records, and bat .391 with 14 steals in 21 World Series games. Ed Beatin (1887-91) has a lousy name for a pitcher, although his full name (Ebenezer Ambrose Beatin) would qualify him for inclusion in a Dickens novel. In his two seasons as a full-time starter for the Cleveland Spiders, he went 20-15 and 22-30, back when winning 20 games was no big deal.

Bullpen: Ed Bauta (1960-64) wasn’t a very good pitcher, but he did save 11 games in his career, which qualifies him as the closer in this rather thin bullpen. Bauta was a Cuban righty who came up with the Cardinals and finished his career with the moribund post-expansion Mets. Erv Brame (1928-32) was a swingman for the Pirates who won 52 games and, yes, saved one. He is almost certainly the best pitcher in this bullpen, though it remains up for debate whether he would be best utilized in long relief (to keep his team in games) or in short relief (trying to protect a late-inning from the rest of this kerosene brigade). Eric Bell (1985-93) had a career record of 15-18 with a 5.18 ERA. Lefty Elmer “Shook” Brown (1911-15) pitched briefly for the Browns and the Brooklyn Robins and posted a 3.48 career ERA in the deadball era. Elmer “Swede” Burkart (1936-39) was with the Phillies for parts of four seasons, and if you add it all together he appeared in 16 games and worked 42 innings. His career ERA was 4.93. Lefty Enrique Burgos (1993-95) worked five games for the Royals in 1993 and had an ERA of 9.00. The Giants gave him a shot in 1995, and he worked five games with an ERA of 8.64, which at least shows that he was consistent. Emil Bildilli (1937-41), a lefty for the Browns, was known as Hill Billy Bildilli. His nickname was better than his pitching.

Bench: Outfielder Eddie Brown (1920-28) was a .300 hitter with some gap power, and he had 201 hits to lead the NL in that category in 1926. He also had a .322 career average in the minors with more than 2,100 hits (giving him more than 3,000 career hits in the majors and minors). He will press Emil Brown for the starting job in left, though his nickname (Glass Arm Eddie) doesn’t bode well for his defense. After Brown, the best hitter on the bench will most likely be whichever platoon catcher (Battey or Bailey) is not in the starting lineup. The presence of a third catcher, Earle Brucker Sr. (1937-43), makes it easier to use them as pinch-hitters (and Brucker was a decent hitter, too, with a .290 career average and a bit of pop in his bat despite not making it to the majors until age 36). Infielder Eddie Bressoud (1956-67) was primarily a shortstop, and he hit better than Brinkman, with a .250 average and enough pop to hit 40 doubles a couple of times and double-figures in home runs four times. Bressoud could very well work his way into the starting lineup here, either at short (relegating Brinkman to a defensive replacement role) or at his secondary position at second base (nudging Burriss to the bench). Utility man Eric Bruntlett (2003- ) has played every position except pitcher and catcher. He doesn’t hit much, but versatility is a plus, and he has been a member of four playoff teams, including three pennant winners and one World Series champion.

Manager: Hall of Famer Ed Barrow managed the Tigers and the Red Sox, winning the 1918 World Series in Boston, but his true legacy rests on his subsequent career in the front office of the Yankees. He was one of the key architects of the dynasties built upon the shoulders of Gehrig, Ruth, Dickey and DiMaggio.

EC: The Enrico Carusos

Infield: Second baseman Eddie Collins (1906-30) is on the short list of the greatest second basemen of all time. Some, in fact, would argue that he edges past Rogers Hornsby and Joe Morgan to sit on top of that list. He was a .333 hitter who led the American League three times in runs and three times in steals. His 3,315 hits are 10^th all-time (until Jeter passes him in early 2013), and he scored 1,821 runs. He drew lots of walks and never struck out, holds the career record for sac bunts and was a wonderful defensive infielder. Almost as important, he was an Ivy League college boy with a sharp intellect and a reputation as a great leader. Collins began his career in Philadelphia as part of Connie Mack’s fabled Million Dollar Infield (which remains a quaint phrase in these days of millon-dollar utility infielders) and then moved to the White Sox (and if Shoeless Joe had fallen in with Collins instead of the gamblers, he would be in the Hall of Fame today). A gentleman and a competitor. Third baseman Eric Chavez (1998- ) won six Gold Gloves and is coming up on 250 career home runs. Once arguably the best third baseman in the game, he is now a valuable role player in his mid-30s. First baseman Enos Cabell (1972-86) was sort of a transitional player – a guy who was in his prime as the sabermetric wave hit baseball, and who was considered a good player before the wave (decent average, hustle, good reputation) and a bad player after (miserable batting eye, poor stolen base percentage, weak defensive stats). This point was brought home in a memorable comment from an early Bill James Baseball Abstract, when James quoted Sparky Anderson praising Cabell’s attitude and then went on to say that attitude means very little when a guy simply can’t play baseball. In the end, Cabell had a .277 batting average, but was barely over .300 in on-base and well below .400 in slugging. Shortstop Ed Caskin (1879-86) batted .226 but had the reputation as a slick fielder.

Outfield: Center fielder Earle Combs (1924-35) was the leadoff batter for the Murderers Row Yankees, and as such he scored 996 runs in an eight-year stretch during his prime. He batted .325, drew some walks and led the league in triples three times. He played on four championship teams and batted .350 in the World Series. Combs (pronounced to rhyme with “rooms”) was a fleet runner and good outfielder, but he had a notoriously weak throwing arm. Injuries in 1934 (concussion) and 1935 (broken collarbone) ended his career, but if you take a look at what Joe DiMaggio was doing in the minors at that time, you know it was just a matter of time anyway. Left fielder Endy Chavez (2001- ) makes contact, runs well and plays a decent outfield. He doesn’t get on base enough to be a productive starter, but he has his attributes. Chavez was the last player to come to the plate wearing a Montreal Expos uniform. Right fielder Ed Coleman (1932-36) was a longtime minor-league star who arrived in the majors at age 30 and hit .342 in a trial with the Philadelphia A’s. He settled in and batted .280 for several years, and then went back to the minors and kept playing until he was 40.

Catcher: Ed Connolly Sr. (1929-32) batted .178 in four seasons as a reserve for the Red Sox between the ages of 20-23. His son, Ed Junior, came to the majors and was every bit as ineffective as a pitcher as Ed Senior was as a hitter.

Rotation: Knuckleballer (and legal spitballer) Eddie Cicotte (1905-20) was, after Shoeless Joe Jackson, the second-best player among the Black Sox players who were banned for throwing the 1919 World Series. If he hadn’t falled in with the crooks, in fact, Cicotte would have been a good candidate for the Hall of Fame. His career record was 209-148, and while he was in his mid-30s at the time of his banishment, Cicotte went 21-10 in his last season and still seemed to have a few thousand knucklers left in his arm. He agreed to be part of the fix because he hated the White Sox’s cheapsake owner Charlie Comiskey, and as the Game 1 starter, it was Cicotte who plunked Cincinnati leadoff batter Morrie Rath as the signal to the gamblers that the fix was on. His stats in his three starts during the 1919 World Series aren’t all that alarming, but he gave up crucial hits and apparently fielded his position like Helen Keller. An outstanding pitcher with a tarnished legacy. Ed “Cannonball” Crane (1884-93) led the American Association in ERA in 1891. Perhaps his nickname should have been “Scattershot,” because he walked a ton of batters and uncorked plenty of wild pitches. Crane started out as an outfielder but shifted to the mound because of his live arm. He was an umpire for a few years after his playing career, but his drinking became problematic. Lefty Ed Cushman (1883-90) went 62-81 for five teams. Edwin Correa (1985-87) was in the majors at 19 and done by 21. He had a powerful but erratic arm, averaging 8 strikeouts and 6 walks per nine innings. He pitched 202 innings at the age of 20, striking out 189 and walking 126, so you know his pitch counts were high, and his arm blew out midway through the next season. As a side note, Correa was a Seventh Day Adventist, so his managers had to work the rotation so that he could avoid pitching the Sabbath. Ed Connolly  Jr. (1964-67) went 6-12 with a 5.88 ERA. We’ll see if pitching to Dad helps any.

 Bullpen: Closer Ernie Camacho (1980-90) had one decent season in the closer role for the Indians, saving 23 games with a 2.43 ERA in 1984. He couldn’t pitch well enough to hold that job, and he finished his career with 45 saves. Other than that one season, he was never more than an ordinary pitcher. Earl “Teach” Caldwell (1928-48) pitched in the minors until he was almost 50, winning more than 300 games. Along the way,  he got enough time in the majors to log 200 games and a 23-43 record. Ed Cole (1938-39) went 1-7 for the St. Louis Browns, averaging 17 baserunners and three strikeouts per nine innings. Esmailin Caridad (2009- ) pitched well for the Cubs in a few games in 2009 but then got pounded in a few games in 2010. Still hanging around the minors and could resurface. Ed Carroll (1929) finished his career with a 1-0 record, and if you stop there he looks pretty good. If you look beyond that, not so much. Ed Chandler (1947) went 0-1 and gave up seven home runs in 30 innings. Lefty Ensign Cottrell (1911-15)  had a five-year career, but in four of those seasons he appeared in only 1 or 2 games, finishing with a dozen appearances during his career. His given name was Ensign Stover Cottrell, and he goes on some sort of specialty team with others players such as General Crowder, Admiral Schlei and perhaps Cap Anson.

 Bench: Infielder Ed Charles (1962-69) was a solid ballplayer for many years, with a little bit of pop and a little bit of speed. He will always be remembered as the third baseman for the 1969 World Series champion Mets. Google the phrase “Miracle Mets” and you will inevitably get a photograph of Charles dancing in from third base while Jerry Grote and Jerry Koosman celebrate on the mound. He was also known as The Poet Laureate of Baseball; he would recite his original poems on TV shows and send them to kids who wrote to him for autographs. Outfielder Estel Crabtree (1929-44) was a decent lefty hitter for the Cardinals and the Reds, and he will certainly get some playing time in left and right. Catcher Ed Colgan (1884) batted .155 in his only season. First baseman Ed Cartwright (1890-97) was 5-foot-10 and weighed 220 pounds, for which reason he was nicknamed “Jumbo,” but we will retroactively call him “Hoss.” He ran well enough to pile up lots of steals and triples, and he batted .295, so we’ll ride the Hoss plenty off the bench (if he doesn’t take the starting job away from Enos Cabell, that is). Ernie Courtney (1902-08) was a solid utility player, mostly for the Phillies.

Manager: Eddie Collins will serve as player-manager. He managed the White Sox for a few years in the 1920s, compiling a 174-160 record, before he was released as a player and returned to Connie Mack and the A’s to finish his career. Spent several more years as a coach and general manager.

EH: The Ernest Hemingways

Infield: Shortstop Enzo Hernandez (1971-78) is famous for driving in 12 runs in 618 plate appearances for the San Diego Padres in 1971. Now, part of that is explained by the fact that he was batting leadoff. That’s right, a 22-year-old rookie, batting .222 and with an on-base percentage below .300, hit leadoff for most of the season. If you look at the Padres' roster that year, he was probably as good as anyone else they could have batted leadoff, but still, he was pretty awful. Those numbers are representative of his career productivity (in both the minors and the majors), and yet he spent the great bulk of his career batting either leadoff or second. This is reflective of the idea, long-established but especially widespread in the 1970s, that light-hitting middle infielders (especially speedy little Latinos) had some sort of magical “bat control” that made them effective leadoff batters even if it was abundantly clear that they couldn’t hit. People assumed he was a good-field, no-hit shortstop, but the truth is, he wasn’t all that good in the field either. Third baseman Eric Hinske (2002- ) won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2002, batting .279 with 24 home runs for Toronto. He never really built on that, but he didn’t regress all that much either, and he has fashioned a solid career as a platoon guy and role player. He’s approaching 150 career home runs and he’s barely in his mid-30s. First baseman Eric Hosmer (2011- ) is a star on the rise. The Royals took him with the third pick in the 2008 draft. He bashed his way through the minors and became the starter in Kansas City at age 21. We'll see where he goes from here. Second baseman Edson Hemingway (1914-18) played in a grand total of 43 major-league games and batted .227.

Outfield: Elston Howard (1955-68) was a catcher but spent a fair amount of time in the outfield, both as a youngster in the Negro Leagues and for his first several years in the majors, because someone was blocking his path to the starting job behind the plate. So it’s approprate that he’s moved to left field on this team – he’s the best E.H. catcher of the bunch, but the fact remains that this “initial team” has three viable catchers and a weak outfield. Howard, the first black player in the history of the Yankees, was a second-line star at the end of the team’s great dynasty, gradually taking over the catching job from Yogi Berra. He was a good hitter (.274 with 167 career home runs), the AL’s MVP in 1963, and a member of 10 pennant winners and four World Series champions. After finishing his playing career with the Red Sox, he helped develop and market the newfangled batting doughnut that players use to warm-up in the on-deck circle. Right fielder Ed “Don’t Call Me Noodles” Hahn (1905-10) played in the deadball era and batted .237, which wasn’t really all that bad in the context of his time. He won a World Series title as the leadoff batter for the 1906 White Sox. Center fielder Emmet Heidrick (1898-1908) was nicknamed “Snags,” so he must have been a good fielder, and he banged out 10-15 triples a year, so he clearly had some wheels. He was a .300 hitter who jumped from the St. Louis Cardinals to the St. Louis Browns in 1902.

Catcher: Ed Herrmann (1967-78) and Elrod Hendricks (1968-79) were both lefty hitters, so they can’t really platoon per se, but they will share duties behind home plate. Hendricks was famous for his ability to “handle pitchers” and was a fine role player for Earl Weaver’s great Orioles teams that were built on pitching and defense. Herrmann spent most of his career with the White Sox. He could hit 10-12 home runs in a good season and had 80 in his career. They were two of the slowest baserunners of the 1970s. Hendricks had both of his insteps crushed when his feet were run over by a car as a child, but Herrmann had no such excuse and was just plain naturally slow. They will occasionally entertain fans by competing in a footrace around the bases (with announcer Ernie Harwell calling the race over the P.A.).

Rotation: Erik Hanson (1988-98) had a wicked curveball. He was a good pitcher who never quite became the star that people expected him to be. He had some very good seasons – 18 wins and 211 strikeouts for a bad Mariners team in 1990, 15-5 and a spot in the All-Star Game for the Red Sox in 1995 – and overall he had a solid career, winning 89 games with a 4.15 ERA and a good strikeout-to-walk ratio. Folks kept expecting him to emerge as an ace starter, but instead he settled in as a solid, dependable middle-of-the-rotation guy. Lefty Earl Hamilton (1911-24) won 115 games, mostly for the St. Louis Browns and the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a solid, durable pitcher over the course of a long career. Egyptian Healy (1885-92) was born John J. Healy, but because his hometown was Cairo, Ill., they called him “Egyptian.” That’s what passed for clever in 19th-century baseball. He had a career record of 78-136, highlighted by a 12-29 record at age 20 with Indianapolis in 1887. Ed Halicki (1974-80) was a 6-foot-7 righty who pitched, appropriately, for the Giants. He threw a no-hitter in 1975 and won 16 games in 1977. Ed Holley (1928-34) had a career record of 25-40, mostly for the Phillies.

Bullpen: Earl Harrist (1945-53) will start the season as closer on this team despite a 12-28 career record and a 4.34 ERA. The itinerant righty did have 10 saves in his career. Ed Heusser (1935-48), a.k.a. “The Wild Elk of the Wasatch,” is probably the best reliever on the team, and he will probably take over the closer role from Harrist, but well, it’s hard to hand the closer job to a guy you call “Wild Elk.” On the other hand, Heusser was a swingman who had 56 wins and 18 saves in his career, and in 1944 he led the NL with a 2.38 ERA. Ed Head (1940-46) won 27 games for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and if we ever put together a team of players with rhyming names, he’ll be on that one, too (along with Don Hahn and Mark Clark, as well as honorary announcer Harry Caray). Ed Hobaugh (1961-63) pitched a couple of years for the Washington Senators. Ed Hanyzewski (1942-46) won a dozen games for the Cubs during World War II. Eric Hillman (1992-94) was a good pitcher at Triple-A and had some good years in Japan, but in the majors he had a 4-14 record and a 4.85 ERA. The 6-foot-10 Hillman will room with Ed Halicki on the road, and they can complain to each other about the short beds and low shower heads in the team hotels. Ernie Herbert (1913-15) spent most of his career in the minors but did win two games in the Federal League.

Bench: One of the starting catchers, Herrmann and Hendricks, will always be avaiable in case they are needed to pinch-hit or (ha ha) pinch-run. Infielder Ed Holly (1906-15) wasn’t much of a hitter. He’ll room with Ed Holley on the road, so that if anyone asks, “What room is Ed Holley in?” the road secretary won’t have to say “Which one?” Infielder Ed Hallinan (1911-12) batted .211 and fielded below .900. First baseman Emil Huhn (1915-17) batted .300 in a long minor-league career but never did much in the majors. Outfielder Ed Householder (1903) had a fine minor-league career but played in just a dozen games in the majors.

Manager: Eddie Haas had a long affiliation with the Atlanta Braves as a coach and minor-league manager. He managed the team in 1985 but was fired before the season ended.