Infield: Third baseman Charlie Hayes (1988-2001) was a journeyman with some pop. He hit 144 home runs inhis career and drove in 740 runs, spread around seven teams. He won a World Series title with the 1996 Yankees, and he led the NL in doubles in 1993 after the Colorado Rockies had made him their first pick in the expansion draft. Shortstop Charlie Hollocher (1918-24) was a promising ballplayer whose career and life turned tragic. He had a big rookie year for the Cubs at age 22, batting .318 and leading the NL with 161 hits and 202 total bases. A few years later, in 1922, he batted .340 and struck out just five times in 592 at-bats. But he was plagued by a mysterious intestinal ailment that was never diagnosed. In August of 1923 he disappeared from the team, leaving a note for the manager that read: “Tried to see you at the clubhouse this afternoon but guess I missed you. Feeling pretty rotten so made up my mind to go home and take a rest and forget baseball for the rest of the year. No hard feelings, just didn't feel like playing anymore. Good luck.” The mystery ailment continued, and he quit baseball after a partial season in 1924. He was plagued by depression and committed suicide at age 44. First baseman Charlie “Piano Legs” Hickman (1897-1908) a journeyman who was a fine hitter but not much of a glove man – he was moved to first base after he made 86 errors at third base for the Giants in 1900. He did less damage at first, though he still occasionally made 40 errors per year at that position. His nickname derived from the fact that he was 5-foot-9 and over 200 pounds, prompting observers to comment on how sturdy his legs must be. But the man could hit -- .295 lifetime, and in 1902 he led the AL in hits and total bases. Second baseman Chuck Hiller (1961-68) was a weak hitter whose best seasons were with the fine Giants teams of the early 1960s.
Outfield: Left fielder Chick Hafey (1924-37) was a good hitter who was somehow elected to the Hall of Fame (by a veterans committee that was feeling charitable and perhaps nepotisimal) despite the fact that he had only five seasons in which he came to the plate 500 times. To his credit, he was a .300 hitter with some pop, led the NL in batting one year and in slugging another year, and had a good arm. He was on Cardinals teams that won four pennants and two World Series. Hafey was one of the first players to wear glasses on the field, and teammates used to speculate about how high his batting average would have been if he had better eyesight. Right fielder Cliff Heathcote (1918-32) was a fairly ordinary player who gained his niche in the annals of baseball trivia in 1922 when the Cardinals traded him to the Cubs between games of a doubleheader, so that he played the first game for St. Louis and the second game for Chicago. Charlie “Eagle Eye” Hemphill (1899-1911) was a decent hitter with good speed who played for several teams around the turn of the century.
Catcher: Chris Hoiles (1989-98) was an awfully good hitter, but no one ever seemed to fully grasp that. He spent his entire career with the Orioles, and he hit 151 home runs despite the fact that he only had two seasons in which he played enough to qualify for the batting title. He also had a good batting eye, turning a .262 batting average into a .366 on-base and a .467 slugging percentage. At age 33, he played half-time for the Orioles, hitting 15 home runs and driving in 56 runs, and then he retired after the season. A slow baserunner and a very ordinary defensive catcher, but the m an could hit.
Rotation: Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell (1928-43) was one of the great lefties of all time, a guy so dependable and outstanding that he was known as The Meal Ticket. He is perhaps most famous for his performance in the 1934 All-Star Game, when he struck out five straight Hall of Famers (Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons and Cronin). Hubbell’s specialty was the screwball, a twisting pitch that did such violence to his arm that by the time he retired his left hand was permanently facing outward (prompting one sportswriter to observe that Hubbell’s left arm looked as though he had attached it in the dark). He led the NL in wins, ERA and winning percentage three times each, and in fewest baserunners per nine innings six times. His career record was 253-154 (a .622 winning percentage), and as a bonus he pitched in three World Series with a 4-2 record and a 1.79 ERA. Catfish Hunter (1965-79), another Hall of Famer, had a career record of 224-166 with Oakland and the Yankees. He pitched for six pennant winners and five World Series champions, and while he was not even remotely as good as Carl Hubbell, he was always good enough to win. Hunter was basically a solid, durable pitcher who played for great teams (the Mustache Gang A’s and the Bronx Zoo Yankees). He threw a perfect game, won 20 games five years in a row and took the AL Cy Young Award in 1974. An easygoing country boy, he was assigned the nickname “Catfish” because A’s owner Charlie Finley thought that it would make him more colorful and therefore more marketable. When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, he refused to choose between the A’s and the Yankees so his plaque depicts him in a generic hat with no insignia. Hunter was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and degenerated physically until he died at age 53 when he fell and struck his head. Claude Hendrix (1911-20) won 24 games for the Pirates at age 23, then jumped to the Federal League two years later and put up a 29-10 record for the Chicago Whales in 1914. When the Federal League collapsed, he signed with the Cubs and had several good years, going 20-7 in 1918. He had a career record of 144-116, but in 1920 he reportedly agreed to throw a game and was effectively blackballed from the sport (though never formally banned). Lefty Cole Hamels (2006- ) is in the prime of a pretty fair career with the Phillies. At the end of the 2011 regular season his career record was 74-54, and he has pitched consistently well since arriving in the Philadelphia rotation at age 22. He has an easy, graceful pitching motion and is a joy to watch, and as an added bonus, he is married to former “Survivor” hottie Heidi Strobel. The fifth starter might well be the venerable Charlie Hough, but at this point we need him to close games in the bullpen, so the last spot in the rotation goes to Carmen Hill (1915-30), whose 49-33 record includes a two-year stretch for the Pirates in which he went 38-21 in 1927-28. Hill won 200 games in the minors, and he was one of the first players to wear glasses (which means that teammates will inevitably tormet him and Chick Hafey by switching their spectacles around and watching them trip over things).
Bullpen: Knuckleballer Charlie Hough (1970-94) was primarily a reliever until his mid-30s, then shifted to the rotation and hung around long enough to win (and lose) 216 games. He might eventually move into the rotation on this team as well, but for now he will start out as the closer, having saved 61 games in his career. Lefty Chris Hammond (1990-2006) took the opposite career path, coming up as a starter and then transitioning to the bullpen. He bounced around quite a bit, retired in his early 30s after getting pounded for a few years, then returned a few years later and pitched effectively until he was 40. As a member of the expansion Marlins in 1993, he hit a pinch-hit grand slam (and the fact that the Marlins sent a pitcher up to pinch-hit with the bases loaded tells you a lot about what it’s like to be an expansion team). Chief Hogsett (1929-44), a lefty submarine pitcher who won 63 games for the Tigers, Browns and Senators. He essentially worked as closer for the Tigers and had 33 retroactively figured saves in his career. His 5.02 ERA was actually much better than it looks when you consider that he pitched in the AL in the 1930s. Chuck Hartenstein (1965-77) saved 10 games for the Cubs in 1967 and 10 games for the Pirates in ’69, so between him and Hogsett, they could free up Hough to move to the rotation. Then again, Hartenstein’s 4.52 career ERA is actually far worse than the big Chief’s 5.02 in the context of their times. Hartenstein pitched for the expansion Blue Jays but did not hit any pinch hit grand slams for them. Charley “Sea Lion” Hall (1906-18) won 54 games in the majors and was frequently used to finish games. He also won 285 games in the minors, including four no-hitters. Clay Hensley (2005- ) is in mid-career with 24 victories. He has been occasionally effective and occasionally awful. The last spot on the pitching staff goes to the legendary Clint Hartung (1947-52), whose mundane career record (29-29, 5.02) doesn’t tell the whole story of the guy who blew out of Hondo, Texas, and was dubbed “The Hondo Hurricane.” A star in high school, in the minors and on Army teams during World War II, he was featured in both Time and Life magazines before he played in his first major-league game, and to hear folks tell it the only question was whether he would go to the Hall of Fame as an overpowering pitcher or as a slugging outfielder. As a 24-year-old rookie he went 9-7 and wasn’t truly terrible on the mound, plus he batted .309 with four doubles, three triples and four home runs in just 94 at-bats. After that, he went straight downhill – he basically neer pitched well again, and though he continued to show some power, attempts to make him a fulltime outfielder fizzled as well. In the end, “The Hondo Hurricane” became known by a second nickname: “Floppy.”
Bench: What is it about all-world prospects named Clint H.? It’s not just Clint Hartung. It’s also Clint Hurdle (1977-87). Hurdle was a first-round draft pick who shot through the minors, had a huge year at Triple-A at age 19 and banged a couple of home runs during a September call-up with the Royals in 1977. In the spring of 1978, Sports Illustrated featured him on the cover, announcing that he was essentially ready to re-invent the sport as we knew it. It took him a couple of years to get going, but he played pretty well in 1980-81, though his time was limited by injuries. But something wasn’t going right, because even though he was just 23 the Royals traded him to Cincinnati for a middling pitching prospect who never appeared in the majors again. With Cincinnati, Hurdle’s injuries got worse, and his love for the night life apparently didn’t help matters. His career was completely derailed. Infielder Chip Hale (1989-97) hit .277 was was a useful reserve for Minnesota for several years. Backup catcher Carlos Hernandez (1990-2000) was a .250 hitter who didn’t get on base and didn’t have much power. He was expected to be better than he was. Third baseman Chase Headley (2007- ) has emerged as a decent player for the Padres, a .270 hitter with a little bit of pop and a decent batting eye. Outfielder and utility man Chuck Hinton (1961-71) had some speed and a little bit of power.
Manager: Clint Hurdle will be player-manager. He has a losing record, but he took the Colorado Rockies to a dramatic National League pennant with a late charge in 2008, and for a while there in 2011 he had breathed some life into the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clearly he’s got something going for him.
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