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.
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.
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