Infield: First baseman Don Mattingly (1982-95) was almost preternaturally respected. He was known as “Donnie Baseball,” and analyst Bill James once described him quite succinctly as “100 percent ballplayer, zero percent bullshit.” He is an iconic Yankee, and fans bemoan the fact that he came up in the years after the Bronx Zoo and retired (due to back problems) just before the Jeter Era, resulting in a career that included 1,785 regular season games and none in the postseason. Mattingly was a graceful, athletic defensive player, and before his back started giving him trouble, he had a sweet lefty swing that produced line drives like lightning bolts. He led the AL in hits twice, doubles three times, RBI once, won a batting title and an MVP – all before he turned 26. Over the first eight years of his career, he batted .323/.368/.521 and averaged 44 doubles and 27 home runs per 162 games; from age 28 until his retirement at age 34, those numbers fell to .286/.345/.405, averaging 36 doubles and 13 home runs. He would have been an easy Hall of Famer is his back had held up. Second baseman Dick McAuliffe (1960-75) might have been the most underrated player of the 1960s. He played his prime years in a pitcher’s era and he batted .247 for his career, but he was a middle infielder (971 games at second, 666 at short) who drew a lot of walks and hit for power – 197 careeer home runs. He wasn’t fast but was routinely among the league leaders in triples, and he wasn’t a Gold Glover but was adequate anywhere in the infield. If he had played a few more games at short, he could have been reasonably argued to be the best shortstop of the 1960s. Third baseman Don Money (1968-83) was somewhat similar to McAuliffe – a .261 hitter with mid-ranger power (302 doubles, 176 home runs in his career) and a decent batting eye (though not as good as McAuliffe’s). Like McAuliffe, he came to the majors as a shortstop and moved to another position not because he couldn’t handle short, but because better options presented themselves. Between McAuliffe and Money, this team has two consistently productive players who should thrive as role players and provide decent defense. Shortstop Dal Maxvill (1962-75) was about as bad a hitter as a guy can be and still earn a paycheck. He batted .217 for his career with zero power and no speed to speak of. But he played fine defense at shortstop and was a starter on three pennant winners and two World Series champions with the Cardinals. The fact that McAuliffe and Money can both play shortstop will give the team some defensive flexibility after Maxill has been replaced by a pinch-hitter.
Outfield: Right fielder Dale Murphy (1976-93) was one of the most respected and popular players of the 1980s, a clean-living Mormon who was beloved by teammates and fans. A 6-foot-4 catcher who converted to center field and won five Gold Gloves, he led the NL twice in RBI and twice in homers, in four separate seasons. A two-time MVP (in 1982 and ’83), he finished with 398 home runs and 1,266 RBI, and while he wasn’t a speedster, he stole 161 bases with a good success rate. Murphy switches from center to right field because (a.) his defense in center was a bit overrated, and (b.) his similarly named contemporary Dwayne Murphy (1978-89) has got center field nailed down. Dwayne Murphy was a fabulous player but few people realized it because he batted .246 and had injury problems. But he had power and speed and drew a ton of walks and played center field as well as anyone in the period between Garry Maddox and Devon White. In 1982, for example, Murphy batted .238 – but he drew 94 walks, hit 27 homers, stole 26 bases and won the Gold Glove in center. With Dwayne Murphy and McAuliffe batting ahead of Mattingly and Dale Murphy, the team will put up some runs. Completing the All-Murphy outfield is left fielder Danny Murphy (1900-15), who actually played more games at second base but still logged 600 games in the outfield, mostly for the Philadelphia A’s. He was a .289 hitter who had good speed and gap power during the deadball era. He won four pennants and three World Series titles with the A’s, batting .305 in 16 World Series games and driving in a dozen runs. He could bat fifth, or he could push for one of the top two spots in the batting order. The original second baseman in Connie Mack’s celebrated $100,000 Infield, he can move back to the infield when Maxvill is not in the game.
Catcher: Deacon McGuire (1884-1912) spent 26 seasons in the majors, though that’s a little bit misleading – from 1907-12, he appeared in a total of 11 games. But still, he came to the majors at age 20 and got regular playing time until he was 42. He played for 11 different teams, a record that stood for almost a century. His career record of 1,859 assists as a catcher will likely never be broken (they attempted a lot more steals back in those days). As a hitter, he was good but not a star – a .278 hitter with some extra-base pop.
Rotation: Dennis “El Presidente” Martinez (1976-98) is the winningest Hispanic pitcher in major-league history and a legend in his native Nicaragua. He was a talented young pitcher with the Orioles, but his career was derailed by alcoholism just as he was hitting his prime. After a couple of largely lost years, he beat the bottle and returned better than ever. He won 245 games in his career, more than half of them in his 30s and 40s after he had stopped drinking. He pitched a perfect game for the Expos in 1991. Lefty Dave McNally (1962-75) was part of the great Baltimore rotations in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, winning 20 or more for four straight years and compiling a 2.49 ERA in a dozen postseason starts. He won 184 games in his career, which ended due to arm trouble after one season with the Expos. But even though he retired following that 1975 season, he had agreed to join starting pitcher Andy Messersmith in a legal challenge of the reserve clause (on the premise that it would be harder for the owners to shut down the lawsuit if a second player was involved). The abriter ruled in their favor, paving the way for free agency, even though McNally never pitched again. Denny McLain (1963-72) won 31 games for the Tigers in 1968, making him the only pitcher since 1934 to win 30 games. He won the Cy Young Award and the MVP that year, and then won the Cy Young again in 1969 when he went 24-9. He was on top of the world, one of the top pitchers in baseball and just entering his prime, and he even augmented his primary income as a musician, playing the organ in the offseason. His career was derailed by arm problems and a self-destructive gambling habit. Not content with placing bets, he eventually set up his own bookmaking operation and he was once sidelined by a foot injury that Sports Illustrated reported was mob retribution for gambling debts. (McLain gave several different alternate explanations for the foot injury, the most fanciful of which involved his falling into a manhole while fleeing from a pack of wild dogs.) After his career ran dry – he won 131 games but was done before he turned 30 – his greed continued to get the best of him, and he ended up serving prison terms on charges ranging from cocaine trafficking to embezzlement and fraud. Danny Macfayden (1926-43) won 132 games, one more than McLain, but his career was the exact opposite – long and methodical, rather than short and meteoric, and the fact that the bespectacled Macfayden was known as “Deacon Danny” suggests that he had a different personality than McLain as well. His fastball disappeared early in his career and he reinvented himself as a wily curveballer. Doc McJames (1895-1901) went 27-15 for the Baltimore Orioles in 1898, which was the highlight of a career in which he went 79-80.
Bullpen: Don McMahon (1957-74) will serve as the closer. He won 90 games and saved 153 in a long, consistent career (extended twice after his initial retirement when the Giants’ bullpen became so depleted that they had to activate McMahon, the team’s pitching coach). He worked 874 games for seven teams and was generally quite good. Donnie Moore (1975-88) saved 89 games, including 31 in 1985 when he had a 1.92 ERA in 103 innings for the Angels. Moore was a good reliever but will always be remembered for his implosion during the 1986 ALCS against the Red Sox. Fans blamed Moore for the playoff loss and booed him for the next two years. Shortly after he was released, he committed suicide (and shot his wife, who survived the attack). His grieving teammates blamed the media for Moore’s suicide, though it was later revealed that he had a long history of alcoholism, drug abuse and domestic violence that predated the 1986 playoffs. Dale Murray (1974-85) saved 60 games but was mostly a set-up man in a 12-year career with six teams. Dale Mohorcic (1986-90) knocked around theminors for several years, arrived in the majors at age 30, and then pitched quite well – a 3.49 career ERA in 254 games. Dan Miceli (1993-2006) pitched for 10 teams in 14 seasons and was generally adequate. No relation to former Cardinals second baseman Tony Miceli. Lefty Darrell May (1995-2005) was a swingman who lost 19 games for the Royals in 2004. Lefty Dan McGinn (1968-72) had a career ERA of 5.11, and he was consistent – in four of his five seasons in the majors, his ERA was in the 5.00s.
Bench: First baseman Don Mincher (1960-72) was a big, burly lefty hitter who hit 200 home runs despite playing in a pitcher’s era and despite spending the first half of his career primarily as a platoon player. He batted .249 for his career but had a good batting eye and tremendous power. Outfielder Dale Mitchell (1946-56) batted .312 in his career and struck out just 119 times in 4,357 at-bats. Ironically, he is best known for a strikeout – he was the last out in Don Larsen’s perfect game. Outfielder Dave Martinez (1986-2001) played for nine teams and had the first hit in Tampa Bay Devil Rays history. He played in almost 2,000 games but was honestly better suited to be a fourth outfielder. He’ll be an effective reserve on this team. Infielder Dots Miller (1909-21) was a decent hitter who knocked out a lot of triples. He got his nickname in 1909 when a reporter asked Honus Wagner for the rookie’s name and Wagner replied “That’s Miller.” The reporter misunderstood Wagner’s accent and assumed that the kid’s name was Dots Miller, and it stuck. Catcher Damian Miller (1997-2007) reached double-figures in home runs for four straight seasons, though his career high was only 13. He’ll be a solid backup to the Deacon.
Manager: Danny Murtaugh won 1,115 games with the Pirates, including World Series titles in 1960 and 1971.
Outfield: Right fielder Dale Murphy (1976-93) was one of the most respected and popular players of the 1980s, a clean-living Mormon who was beloved by teammates and fans. A 6-foot-4 catcher who converted to center field and won five Gold Gloves, he led the NL twice in RBI and twice in homers, in four separate seasons. A two-time MVP (in 1982 and ’83), he finished with 398 home runs and 1,266 RBI, and while he wasn’t a speedster, he stole 161 bases with a good success rate. Murphy switches from center to right field because (a.) his defense in center was a bit overrated, and (b.) his similarly named contemporary Dwayne Murphy (1978-89) has got center field nailed down. Dwayne Murphy was a fabulous player but few people realized it because he batted .246 and had injury problems. But he had power and speed and drew a ton of walks and played center field as well as anyone in the period between Garry Maddox and Devon White. In 1982, for example, Murphy batted .238 – but he drew 94 walks, hit 27 homers, stole 26 bases and won the Gold Glove in center. With Dwayne Murphy and McAuliffe batting ahead of Mattingly and Dale Murphy, the team will put up some runs. Completing the All-Murphy outfield is left fielder Danny Murphy (1900-15), who actually played more games at second base but still logged 600 games in the outfield, mostly for the Philadelphia A’s. He was a .289 hitter who had good speed and gap power during the deadball era. He won four pennants and three World Series titles with the A’s, batting .305 in 16 World Series games and driving in a dozen runs. He could bat fifth, or he could push for one of the top two spots in the batting order. The original second baseman in Connie Mack’s celebrated $100,000 Infield, he can move back to the infield when Maxvill is not in the game.
Catcher: Deacon McGuire (1884-1912) spent 26 seasons in the majors, though that’s a little bit misleading – from 1907-12, he appeared in a total of 11 games. But still, he came to the majors at age 20 and got regular playing time until he was 42. He played for 11 different teams, a record that stood for almost a century. His career record of 1,859 assists as a catcher will likely never be broken (they attempted a lot more steals back in those days). As a hitter, he was good but not a star – a .278 hitter with some extra-base pop.
Rotation: Dennis “El Presidente” Martinez (1976-98) is the winningest Hispanic pitcher in major-league history and a legend in his native Nicaragua. He was a talented young pitcher with the Orioles, but his career was derailed by alcoholism just as he was hitting his prime. After a couple of largely lost years, he beat the bottle and returned better than ever. He won 245 games in his career, more than half of them in his 30s and 40s after he had stopped drinking. He pitched a perfect game for the Expos in 1991. Lefty Dave McNally (1962-75) was part of the great Baltimore rotations in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, winning 20 or more for four straight years and compiling a 2.49 ERA in a dozen postseason starts. He won 184 games in his career, which ended due to arm trouble after one season with the Expos. But even though he retired following that 1975 season, he had agreed to join starting pitcher Andy Messersmith in a legal challenge of the reserve clause (on the premise that it would be harder for the owners to shut down the lawsuit if a second player was involved). The abriter ruled in their favor, paving the way for free agency, even though McNally never pitched again. Denny McLain (1963-72) won 31 games for the Tigers in 1968, making him the only pitcher since 1934 to win 30 games. He won the Cy Young Award and the MVP that year, and then won the Cy Young again in 1969 when he went 24-9. He was on top of the world, one of the top pitchers in baseball and just entering his prime, and he even augmented his primary income as a musician, playing the organ in the offseason. His career was derailed by arm problems and a self-destructive gambling habit. Not content with placing bets, he eventually set up his own bookmaking operation and he was once sidelined by a foot injury that Sports Illustrated reported was mob retribution for gambling debts. (McLain gave several different alternate explanations for the foot injury, the most fanciful of which involved his falling into a manhole while fleeing from a pack of wild dogs.) After his career ran dry – he won 131 games but was done before he turned 30 – his greed continued to get the best of him, and he ended up serving prison terms on charges ranging from cocaine trafficking to embezzlement and fraud. Danny Macfayden (1926-43) won 132 games, one more than McLain, but his career was the exact opposite – long and methodical, rather than short and meteoric, and the fact that the bespectacled Macfayden was known as “Deacon Danny” suggests that he had a different personality than McLain as well. His fastball disappeared early in his career and he reinvented himself as a wily curveballer. Doc McJames (1895-1901) went 27-15 for the Baltimore Orioles in 1898, which was the highlight of a career in which he went 79-80.
Bullpen: Don McMahon (1957-74) will serve as the closer. He won 90 games and saved 153 in a long, consistent career (extended twice after his initial retirement when the Giants’ bullpen became so depleted that they had to activate McMahon, the team’s pitching coach). He worked 874 games for seven teams and was generally quite good. Donnie Moore (1975-88) saved 89 games, including 31 in 1985 when he had a 1.92 ERA in 103 innings for the Angels. Moore was a good reliever but will always be remembered for his implosion during the 1986 ALCS against the Red Sox. Fans blamed Moore for the playoff loss and booed him for the next two years. Shortly after he was released, he committed suicide (and shot his wife, who survived the attack). His grieving teammates blamed the media for Moore’s suicide, though it was later revealed that he had a long history of alcoholism, drug abuse and domestic violence that predated the 1986 playoffs. Dale Murray (1974-85) saved 60 games but was mostly a set-up man in a 12-year career with six teams. Dale Mohorcic (1986-90) knocked around theminors for several years, arrived in the majors at age 30, and then pitched quite well – a 3.49 career ERA in 254 games. Dan Miceli (1993-2006) pitched for 10 teams in 14 seasons and was generally adequate. No relation to former Cardinals second baseman Tony Miceli. Lefty Darrell May (1995-2005) was a swingman who lost 19 games for the Royals in 2004. Lefty Dan McGinn (1968-72) had a career ERA of 5.11, and he was consistent – in four of his five seasons in the majors, his ERA was in the 5.00s.
Bench: First baseman Don Mincher (1960-72) was a big, burly lefty hitter who hit 200 home runs despite playing in a pitcher’s era and despite spending the first half of his career primarily as a platoon player. He batted .249 for his career but had a good batting eye and tremendous power. Outfielder Dale Mitchell (1946-56) batted .312 in his career and struck out just 119 times in 4,357 at-bats. Ironically, he is best known for a strikeout – he was the last out in Don Larsen’s perfect game. Outfielder Dave Martinez (1986-2001) played for nine teams and had the first hit in Tampa Bay Devil Rays history. He played in almost 2,000 games but was honestly better suited to be a fourth outfielder. He’ll be an effective reserve on this team. Infielder Dots Miller (1909-21) was a decent hitter who knocked out a lot of triples. He got his nickname in 1909 when a reporter asked Honus Wagner for the rookie’s name and Wagner replied “That’s Miller.” The reporter misunderstood Wagner’s accent and assumed that the kid’s name was Dots Miller, and it stuck. Catcher Damian Miller (1997-2007) reached double-figures in home runs for four straight seasons, though his career high was only 13. He’ll be a solid backup to the Deacon.
Manager: Danny Murtaugh won 1,115 games with the Pirates, including World Series titles in 1960 and 1971.
No comments:
Post a Comment