Infield: Second baseman Davey Lopes didn’t make it to the majors until he was 27 and didn’t become a starter until he was 28, but he managed to score 1,023 runs and become one of the top base stealers of all time. Lopes, the leadoff batter from the fine Dodgers teams of the 1970s and early 1980s, stole 557 bases in his career at an 83 percent success rate. (He was a smart enough baserunner that at age 40, playing 99 games for the Cubs, he stole 47 bases in 51 attempts.)He was a .263 career hitter, but he drew some walks and had a bit of power and was, all in all, a fine player. First baseman Derrek Lee (1997- ) doesn’t steal bases like Davey Lopes, but he does everything else. He’s a .280 hitter who won the NL batting title in 2005, and he’s got enough pop to have well over 400 doubles and 300 home runs. Lee is over 1,000 in both runs and RBI, and he has won three Gold Gloves at first base. He was part of the Florida Marlins’ 2003 World Series championship team. Third baseman Denny Lyons (1885-97) led the American Association in on-base and slugging in 1889, finishing second in batting average. That’s the only time he led the league in an offensive category, but he was a consistently good hitter. His batting average was .310, and he drove in 100 runs twice and scored 100 four times. Shortstop Doc Lavan (1913-24) was a light-hitting infielder who spent most of his career in St. Louis with the Browns and Cardinals. He was a dreadful fielder – he rotinely made 45-55 errors in a year with a high of 75, and no, this was not back in the era when they played bare-handed.
Outfield: Left fielder Duffy Lewis (1907-27) won three World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox, highlighted by the 1915 Series when he batted .444 and drove in five runs in five games. Lewis played the outfield alongside Hall of Famers Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper in what some have characterized as the greatest defensive outfield of all time. He was a career .284 hitter who was good for 30 doubles a year, and he was the first batter ever to pinch-hit for a young southpaw named Babe Ruth. Center fielder Don Lock (1962-69) batted .238 for his career, but no one hit for a good average in the 1960s. He drew a good number of walks and hit 122 career home runs. Left fielder Danny Litwhiler (1940-51) was a solid ballplayer, a .300 hitter in good seasons and the first major-league outfielder to play 150 games in a season without making an error. He spread his career fairly evenly over four teams, winning two pennants and a World Series title with the Cardinals. When he was done in the majors, he won more than 600 games as the head coach at Florida State and Michigan, helping to mold such ballplayers as Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey and Dick Howser.
Catcher: Don Leppert (1961-64) was a backup and platoon player for a few years. His major-league career consisted of 532 at-bats, fairly close to one full season for a starting catcher. He batted .229 with 15 home runs and 59 RBI. Oddly enough, there was another ballplayer at the same time, a second baseman, named Don Leppert. They were apparently not related. This is almost as strange as there being two unrelated Steve Ontiveroses who played around the same time.
Rotation: There were two Dutch Leonards, both of whom were pretty good pitchers. Emil “Dutch” Leonard (1933-53) was a knuckleball specialist, and Hubert “Dutch” Leonard (1913-25) was perhaps most noteworthy for being the man who accused Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker of participating in a plan to fix games. Hubert “Dutch” Leonard won 139 games for the Red Sox and Tigers, and in the heart of the deadball era he went 19-5 with an O.96 ERA for Boston. He won two World Series titles with the Red Sox, pitching brilliant complete game victories in both 1915 and 1916. Leonard spent his entire career feuding with teammates, managers, owners and umpires, and he especially battled with Cobb, his player-manager in Detroit. Cobb made it clear that he didn’t like Leonard, and he amused himself by overworking the pitcher to wear out his arm. In one famous game, he left Leonard in to work a complete game even though he had given up 20 hits and 12 runs. After the 1925 season, the Tigers released him and Cobb used his connections to make sure that no other teams signed him. Leonard was furious at Cobb for blackballing him, and at Speaker, the Indians manager and Leonard’s former teammate in Boston, for refusing to sign him. He retaliated by accusing Cobb and Speaker of fixing a game in 1919 between their teams. Commissioner Landis asked Leonard to meet with him to discuss the allegations, but Leonard refused. Landis cleared both managers. After his baseball career, Leonard retired to California and became a millionaire in the wine business. Emil “Dutch” Leonard spent most of his career with bad teams, and he led the league twice in losses, but his career record was 191-181. He gave up a lot of hits, but unlike the stereotypical knuckleballer, he had outstanding control, and he produced very few walks and very few strikeouts. Dennis Leonard (1974-86), who somehow avoided the nickname “Dutch,” spent his entire career with the Kansas City Royals and won 144 games for them. He was a key player on the teams that dominated the AL West in the late 1970s, winning 20 games twice and leading the league three times in games started. He began to break down in his early 30s, perhaps because of the heavy workload, and he was not on the postseason roster when the Royals finally won the World Series in 1985. Dolf Luque (1914-35) was a hot-headed Cuban who won 194 games for Cincinnati and Brooklyn. In his best season, he went 27-8 for the Reds in 1923 while leading the NL with a 1.93 ERA, less than half the league average. Derek Lowe (1997- ) came to the Red Sox in a famously lopsided trade – the Mariners packaged Lowe and Jason Varitek in order to acquire reliever Heathclff Slocumb. Lowe was a reliever for the first half of his career, leading the AL with 42 saves in 2000. But when the Red Sox needed him to move to the rotation, he won 21 games in his first full season in the rotation, and he has won 12-17 games every year since including a no-hitter in 2002. He's up over 160 career victories now and still productive as he approaches age 40. One hell of a deep rotation.
Bullpen: With Lowe in the rotation, lefty Dave LaRoche (1970-83) will serve as closer. He won 65 games in his career and saved 126, working for five teams. He enjoyed serving as the player rep for his teams and took great joy in agitating, once reportedly filing a union grievance because he didn’t like the flavor of ice cream the Twins stocked in the clubhouse. He was a flamethrower early in his career, but as the heat began to cool off, he developed a pitch he called LaLob – an overhand toss that would arc about 20 feet in the air on the way to home plate. He is the last pitcher to regularly use a variation of the “eephus” pitch in the majors. Dave Leonhardt (1967-72), the last major-leaguer to come out of Johns Hopkins University, was part of Earl Weaver’s pitching staffs that helped win three pennants and one World Series title. Dave LaPoint (1980-91) was a junkballing lefty who specialized in working his way into trouble and then getting out of it. He spent much of his career moving between the rotation and the bullpen, winning 80 games for nine teams. Denny Lemaster (1962-72) was a hard-throwing lefty who won 90 games, mostly as a starter for the Braves and the Astros. Derek Lilliquist (1989-96), yet another lefty, had two very fine years in the Indians’ bullpen in the middle of an otherwise mediocre career. Dennis Lamp (1977-92) began as a starter for the Cubs but gradually moved into a middle relief role and hung around until he was almost 40, finishing with a career record of 96-96. Don Larsen (1953-67) was a pretty forgettable pitcher. His career record was 81-91 with seven teams, and he never won more than 11 games in a season. His career ERA was right around league average, but for one day during the 1956 World Series he was perfect.
Bench: Backup first baseman Dale Long (1951-63) was a big slugging journeyman with a lefty power stroke. He hit 132 home runs in his career, including one stretch when he homered in eight consecutive games in 1956 (a record since tied by Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr.). Long also caught a couple of innings for the Cubs in 1958, making him one of the few lefty catchers of the20th century. Dwight Lowrey (1984-88), who threw with his right arm, will be the actual backup catcher. Don “Footsie” Lenhardt (1950-54) had 22 home runs and 81 RBI as a rookie with the Browns. He was a corner infielder-outfielder, and he moved around quite a bit, rarely starting and finishing the season with the same team. But the man could hit – a .271 career average with decent power and good strike zone judgement – and his career was cut short by a leg injury in his early 30s. Darren Lewis (1990-2002) played for seven teams as a good glove man with a weak stick. He will serve as Don Lock's defensive replacement in center. Dario Lodigiani (1938-46) was an infielder who batted .260 with the A’s and the White Sox.
Manager: Davey Lopes will serve as player-manager, but on the recommendation of his old teamate Steve Garvey, he will give considerable weight to the opinions of Danny Litwhiler.
Outfield: Left fielder Duffy Lewis (1907-27) won three World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox, highlighted by the 1915 Series when he batted .444 and drove in five runs in five games. Lewis played the outfield alongside Hall of Famers Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper in what some have characterized as the greatest defensive outfield of all time. He was a career .284 hitter who was good for 30 doubles a year, and he was the first batter ever to pinch-hit for a young southpaw named Babe Ruth. Center fielder Don Lock (1962-69) batted .238 for his career, but no one hit for a good average in the 1960s. He drew a good number of walks and hit 122 career home runs. Left fielder Danny Litwhiler (1940-51) was a solid ballplayer, a .300 hitter in good seasons and the first major-league outfielder to play 150 games in a season without making an error. He spread his career fairly evenly over four teams, winning two pennants and a World Series title with the Cardinals. When he was done in the majors, he won more than 600 games as the head coach at Florida State and Michigan, helping to mold such ballplayers as Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey and Dick Howser.
Catcher: Don Leppert (1961-64) was a backup and platoon player for a few years. His major-league career consisted of 532 at-bats, fairly close to one full season for a starting catcher. He batted .229 with 15 home runs and 59 RBI. Oddly enough, there was another ballplayer at the same time, a second baseman, named Don Leppert. They were apparently not related. This is almost as strange as there being two unrelated Steve Ontiveroses who played around the same time.
Rotation: There were two Dutch Leonards, both of whom were pretty good pitchers. Emil “Dutch” Leonard (1933-53) was a knuckleball specialist, and Hubert “Dutch” Leonard (1913-25) was perhaps most noteworthy for being the man who accused Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker of participating in a plan to fix games. Hubert “Dutch” Leonard won 139 games for the Red Sox and Tigers, and in the heart of the deadball era he went 19-5 with an O.96 ERA for Boston. He won two World Series titles with the Red Sox, pitching brilliant complete game victories in both 1915 and 1916. Leonard spent his entire career feuding with teammates, managers, owners and umpires, and he especially battled with Cobb, his player-manager in Detroit. Cobb made it clear that he didn’t like Leonard, and he amused himself by overworking the pitcher to wear out his arm. In one famous game, he left Leonard in to work a complete game even though he had given up 20 hits and 12 runs. After the 1925 season, the Tigers released him and Cobb used his connections to make sure that no other teams signed him. Leonard was furious at Cobb for blackballing him, and at Speaker, the Indians manager and Leonard’s former teammate in Boston, for refusing to sign him. He retaliated by accusing Cobb and Speaker of fixing a game in 1919 between their teams. Commissioner Landis asked Leonard to meet with him to discuss the allegations, but Leonard refused. Landis cleared both managers. After his baseball career, Leonard retired to California and became a millionaire in the wine business. Emil “Dutch” Leonard spent most of his career with bad teams, and he led the league twice in losses, but his career record was 191-181. He gave up a lot of hits, but unlike the stereotypical knuckleballer, he had outstanding control, and he produced very few walks and very few strikeouts. Dennis Leonard (1974-86), who somehow avoided the nickname “Dutch,” spent his entire career with the Kansas City Royals and won 144 games for them. He was a key player on the teams that dominated the AL West in the late 1970s, winning 20 games twice and leading the league three times in games started. He began to break down in his early 30s, perhaps because of the heavy workload, and he was not on the postseason roster when the Royals finally won the World Series in 1985. Dolf Luque (1914-35) was a hot-headed Cuban who won 194 games for Cincinnati and Brooklyn. In his best season, he went 27-8 for the Reds in 1923 while leading the NL with a 1.93 ERA, less than half the league average. Derek Lowe (1997- ) came to the Red Sox in a famously lopsided trade – the Mariners packaged Lowe and Jason Varitek in order to acquire reliever Heathclff Slocumb. Lowe was a reliever for the first half of his career, leading the AL with 42 saves in 2000. But when the Red Sox needed him to move to the rotation, he won 21 games in his first full season in the rotation, and he has won 12-17 games every year since including a no-hitter in 2002. He's up over 160 career victories now and still productive as he approaches age 40. One hell of a deep rotation.
Bullpen: With Lowe in the rotation, lefty Dave LaRoche (1970-83) will serve as closer. He won 65 games in his career and saved 126, working for five teams. He enjoyed serving as the player rep for his teams and took great joy in agitating, once reportedly filing a union grievance because he didn’t like the flavor of ice cream the Twins stocked in the clubhouse. He was a flamethrower early in his career, but as the heat began to cool off, he developed a pitch he called LaLob – an overhand toss that would arc about 20 feet in the air on the way to home plate. He is the last pitcher to regularly use a variation of the “eephus” pitch in the majors. Dave Leonhardt (1967-72), the last major-leaguer to come out of Johns Hopkins University, was part of Earl Weaver’s pitching staffs that helped win three pennants and one World Series title. Dave LaPoint (1980-91) was a junkballing lefty who specialized in working his way into trouble and then getting out of it. He spent much of his career moving between the rotation and the bullpen, winning 80 games for nine teams. Denny Lemaster (1962-72) was a hard-throwing lefty who won 90 games, mostly as a starter for the Braves and the Astros. Derek Lilliquist (1989-96), yet another lefty, had two very fine years in the Indians’ bullpen in the middle of an otherwise mediocre career. Dennis Lamp (1977-92) began as a starter for the Cubs but gradually moved into a middle relief role and hung around until he was almost 40, finishing with a career record of 96-96. Don Larsen (1953-67) was a pretty forgettable pitcher. His career record was 81-91 with seven teams, and he never won more than 11 games in a season. His career ERA was right around league average, but for one day during the 1956 World Series he was perfect.
Bench: Backup first baseman Dale Long (1951-63) was a big slugging journeyman with a lefty power stroke. He hit 132 home runs in his career, including one stretch when he homered in eight consecutive games in 1956 (a record since tied by Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr.). Long also caught a couple of innings for the Cubs in 1958, making him one of the few lefty catchers of the20th century. Dwight Lowrey (1984-88), who threw with his right arm, will be the actual backup catcher. Don “Footsie” Lenhardt (1950-54) had 22 home runs and 81 RBI as a rookie with the Browns. He was a corner infielder-outfielder, and he moved around quite a bit, rarely starting and finishing the season with the same team. But the man could hit – a .271 career average with decent power and good strike zone judgement – and his career was cut short by a leg injury in his early 30s. Darren Lewis (1990-2002) played for seven teams as a good glove man with a weak stick. He will serve as Don Lock's defensive replacement in center. Dario Lodigiani (1938-46) was an infielder who batted .260 with the A’s and the White Sox.
Manager: Davey Lopes will serve as player-manager, but on the recommendation of his old teamate Steve Garvey, he will give considerable weight to the opinions of Danny Litwhiler.
Wow. These are my initials, so I just made this team at baseballreference.com like a week ago (http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/9381#comments - I'm comment #46). I have to say, I completely missed on Don Lyons, but I don't know why you guys chose Darren Lewis over Don Lock in center. Lock was a better player. Lewis was just a journeyman who exemplified the phrase, "have glove, will travel." But the one you really missed was Dolf Luque. No love for Dolph? He's better than almost every other DL pitcher, with the exception of Dutch Leonard. Good job, though.
ReplyDeleteMissing Luque was an obvious error that we will go in and correct right away. As Homer Simpson would say, "D'oh!"
ReplyDelete