Infield: Third baseman Doug Rader (19667-77) was a fine ballplayer whose talents were somewhat masked by the AstroDome and somewhat overshadowed by his offbeat personality. Rader, known as The Red Rooster, was a free thinker with a sharp wit and a flair for the dramatic. He once ate a baseball card during a postgame TV interview and told kids that eating baseball cards was a good way to absorb information about the sport. In “Ball Four,” Jim Bouton wrote about how Rader secretly defacated on a teammate’s birthday cake in the hopes that someone would think it was fake and take a bite. He batted .251 for his career with 155 home runs, and he won five Gold Gloves at third base. First baseman Dave Revering (1978-82) was a lefty slugger who was trapped in the Big Red Machine’s farm system by the presence of Tony Perez and Dan Driessen. Traded to Oakland, he hit a total of 50 home runs in his first three seasons but had injury problems and faded out of baseball before he turned 30. Dave Rosello (1972-81) was a middle infielder who was once expected to take over in Chicago for either Don Kessinger or Glenn Beckert, but he never hit enough to land a fulltime job. The DRs don’t have Kessinger or Beckert, so Rosello will start at second base. Shortstop Desi Relaford (1996-2007) played for seven teams. He had good speed and a strong arm, but he never hit enough to have a firm grasp on a regular job.
Outfield: Left fielder Dusty Rhodes (1952-59) was never more than a role player for the Giants, but he played his role reasonably well as a pinch-hitter and reserve outfielder. He will always be remembered for his heroics in the 1954 World Series. He won the first game with a walk-off pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the 10th. He went 4-for-6 with two home runs and seven RBI in the Giants’ sweep of Cleveland. He was the last New York Giants player to bat in the Polo Grounds, and he played briefly for the Giants in San Francisco before retiring. Center fielder David Ray Roberts (1999-2008), hereinafter known as Dave Roberts the Speedster, stole 243 bases in his career. Three times he stole more than 40 bases, and he very rarely got thrown out. He wasn’t a great hitter, but his speed almost always created a market for him. He secured his niche in baseball history during the 2004 ALCS, when the Red Sox inserted him as a pinch-runner and his dramatic stolen base and subsequent run keyed a rally against Mariano Rivera that was crucial to Boston’s first World Series title since 1918. Right fielder Dave Robertson (1912-22) was from our very own Hampton Roads area in Virginia – born in Portsmouth, died in Virginia Beach, buried in Norfolk. He’s hardly a household name, but he was a pretty fair ballplayer – led the NL in home runs twice for the Giants during the deadball era. During his only postseason appearance, in the Giants’ loss to the White Sox in 1917, he went 11-for-22 with a home run. For his career, he batted .287 with power, and when he was done in the majors, he returned to Virginia and batted .350 in the minors for several more seasons.
Catcher: Double Duty Radcliffe, a Negro League legend who earned his nickname by catching one game of a doubleheader and then pitching the second game, will be the regular catcher here. (His real first name was Ted, but he is certainly remembered by the moniker that was bestowed upon him by Damon Runyon, who will be assigned to cover the D.R. team for the local paper.) He played in the Negro Leagues for two decades and was a good pitcher and an even better catcher. He was 45 when the color line was broken and never got the chance to play in the majors, but he lived to be 103 years old.
Rotation: Dick "Cannonball" Redding was a flamethrower in the Negro Leagues for more than a decade. While statistics from his career are sketchy, there are reports that he threw as many as 30 no-hitters. Lefty Dutch Ruether (1917-27) won 137 games for four different teams and was part of the Cincinnati team that beat the tanking Black Sox in the 1919 World Series. He was a solid pitcher who could also contribute with the bat, and his last season in the majors he went 13-6 with the legendary 1927 Yankees. Dick Rudolph (1910-27) was a 5-foot-9 righty who won 121 games for the Boston Braves, including a high of 26 victories in 1914. He was a durable pitcher who led the NL in innings pitched twice, and he pitched spectacularly in the 1914 World Series – 2-0, two complete games, 0.50 ERA, 15 strikeouts in 18 innings – to help the Braves to their famous “Miracle” championship. Dick Ruthven (1973-86) won 123 games as a middle-of-the-rotation starter, with a high of 17 wins for the World Series champion Phillies of 1980. He led the NL in earned runs allowed twice and losses once. He had a twin sister who married his teammate, first baseman Tommy Hutton. Lefty Doug Rau (1972-81) played on three Dodgers pennant winners, but unlike Ruether, Ruthven and Rudolph, he never won a World Series. He won 81 games and was generally a pretty good pitcher.
Bullpen: Closer Dave Righetti (1979-95) was actually a pretty fair starting pitcher. He once struck out 21 batters in a nine-inning game in the minors. He won the AL Rookie of the Year award with the Yankees in 1981, leading the league with a 2.05 ERA, and in 1983 he threw a no-hitter against the Red Sox on the Fourth of July. In 1984, the Yankees moved him to the bullpen, and in the next seven years he saved 223 games for them, including a league-leading 46 in 1986. He finished with 252 saves. Dick Radatz (1962-69) was 6-foot-6, 230 pounds and known as The Monster. He threw very, very hard, and he struck out almost 10 batters per nine innings over the course of his career. For the first three years of his career, he pitched about as well as a guy can pitch – 40 wins, 78 saves, a 2.17 ERA, and in 414 innings he gave up just 292 hits and struck out 487. For the rest of his career, though, he was 12-22 with a 4.54 ERA. Don Robinson (1978-92) was a swingman with Pittsburgh and San Francisco, winning a World Series title with the “We Are Family” Pirates of 1979. He was one of the best hitting pitchers of his generation, with 13 career home runs, and he finished with 109 wins and 57 saves. Dennys Reyes (1997- ) is a lefty set-up man, listed at 6-3 and 250 pounds, whose head looks like a big round pumpkin sitting on top of a roly-poly body. He came to the majors at age 20, has worked almost 700 games and is still just in his mid-30s. His 2011 season was a disaster, but if he gets back on track and extends his career the way lefty specialists are known to do, he could reach the 1,000-game mark. Dave Rozema (1977-86) won 15 games as a 20-year-old rookie for the Tigers, but that season represented one-quarter of his career victories. He remained a solid pitcher for the Tigers, working both in the rotation and in the bullpen, and he was a member of the 1984 championship team (though he did not appear in the World Series). He is perhaps best remembered for a brawl against the Twins in 1979, when he attempted a flying karate kick on John Castino, missed, and ended up suffering a season-ending knee injury when he landed. David Arthur Roberts (1969-81), hereinafter known as Dave Roberts the Lefty, was a swingman who won 103 games for eight teams over the course of his career. In 1971 he had a 2.10 ERA in 270 innings of work but finished with a 14-17 record because he was pitching for the lousy Padres. Denny Riddleberger (1970-72) was a promising lefty with a big, slow, looping curveball whose career ended in his mid-20s due to injuries.
Bench: David Wayne Roberts (1972-82), hereinafter known as Dave Roberts the SuperSub (to differenitate him from Dave Roberts the Speedster and Dave Roberts the Lefty), was selected by the Padres with the first pick of the 1972 draft. He went straight from University of Oregon onto the Padres’ roster and he played in 100 games that year. In his second season, at age 22, he batted .286 with 21 home runs, but he went backward from there. Still, he was a third baseman who could also cover other infield spots and even catch in a pinch. That made him a valuable guy to keep around. He won’t have to catch much on this team. Catcher Del Rice (1945-61) never hit much but was an outstanding defensive catcher, which was enough to give him a 17-year career, about a third of which was spent as a starter. He was the backup on two World Series champions (1946 Cardinals and 1957 Braves). Dave Rader (1971-80) was another good defensive catcher. He batted over .290 a couple of times, but his career average was .257 and he didn’t have much power. (The presence of two full-time backup catchers, as well as Roberts the SuperSub, will allow Double Duty Radcliffe to pitch as much as the team needs him to.) Outfielder Dick Reichle (1922-23) spent one season and part of another with the Red Sox. Domingo Ramos (1978-90) was a utility infielder who couldn’t hit.
Manager: There have been a handful of DR managers, including Doug Rader and Del Rice, but we’re handing the reins over to the namesake of this team, our friend Dave Rosenfield, the longtime minor-league general manager (make that ”lo-o-o-ongtime”) and patriarch of the Triple-A Norfolk Tides. We have the utmost faith in his abilities to run things.
Outfield: Left fielder Dusty Rhodes (1952-59) was never more than a role player for the Giants, but he played his role reasonably well as a pinch-hitter and reserve outfielder. He will always be remembered for his heroics in the 1954 World Series. He won the first game with a walk-off pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the 10th. He went 4-for-6 with two home runs and seven RBI in the Giants’ sweep of Cleveland. He was the last New York Giants player to bat in the Polo Grounds, and he played briefly for the Giants in San Francisco before retiring. Center fielder David Ray Roberts (1999-2008), hereinafter known as Dave Roberts the Speedster, stole 243 bases in his career. Three times he stole more than 40 bases, and he very rarely got thrown out. He wasn’t a great hitter, but his speed almost always created a market for him. He secured his niche in baseball history during the 2004 ALCS, when the Red Sox inserted him as a pinch-runner and his dramatic stolen base and subsequent run keyed a rally against Mariano Rivera that was crucial to Boston’s first World Series title since 1918. Right fielder Dave Robertson (1912-22) was from our very own Hampton Roads area in Virginia – born in Portsmouth, died in Virginia Beach, buried in Norfolk. He’s hardly a household name, but he was a pretty fair ballplayer – led the NL in home runs twice for the Giants during the deadball era. During his only postseason appearance, in the Giants’ loss to the White Sox in 1917, he went 11-for-22 with a home run. For his career, he batted .287 with power, and when he was done in the majors, he returned to Virginia and batted .350 in the minors for several more seasons.
Catcher: Double Duty Radcliffe, a Negro League legend who earned his nickname by catching one game of a doubleheader and then pitching the second game, will be the regular catcher here. (His real first name was Ted, but he is certainly remembered by the moniker that was bestowed upon him by Damon Runyon, who will be assigned to cover the D.R. team for the local paper.) He played in the Negro Leagues for two decades and was a good pitcher and an even better catcher. He was 45 when the color line was broken and never got the chance to play in the majors, but he lived to be 103 years old.
Rotation: Dick "Cannonball" Redding was a flamethrower in the Negro Leagues for more than a decade. While statistics from his career are sketchy, there are reports that he threw as many as 30 no-hitters. Lefty Dutch Ruether (1917-27) won 137 games for four different teams and was part of the Cincinnati team that beat the tanking Black Sox in the 1919 World Series. He was a solid pitcher who could also contribute with the bat, and his last season in the majors he went 13-6 with the legendary 1927 Yankees. Dick Rudolph (1910-27) was a 5-foot-9 righty who won 121 games for the Boston Braves, including a high of 26 victories in 1914. He was a durable pitcher who led the NL in innings pitched twice, and he pitched spectacularly in the 1914 World Series – 2-0, two complete games, 0.50 ERA, 15 strikeouts in 18 innings – to help the Braves to their famous “Miracle” championship. Dick Ruthven (1973-86) won 123 games as a middle-of-the-rotation starter, with a high of 17 wins for the World Series champion Phillies of 1980. He led the NL in earned runs allowed twice and losses once. He had a twin sister who married his teammate, first baseman Tommy Hutton. Lefty Doug Rau (1972-81) played on three Dodgers pennant winners, but unlike Ruether, Ruthven and Rudolph, he never won a World Series. He won 81 games and was generally a pretty good pitcher.
Bullpen: Closer Dave Righetti (1979-95) was actually a pretty fair starting pitcher. He once struck out 21 batters in a nine-inning game in the minors. He won the AL Rookie of the Year award with the Yankees in 1981, leading the league with a 2.05 ERA, and in 1983 he threw a no-hitter against the Red Sox on the Fourth of July. In 1984, the Yankees moved him to the bullpen, and in the next seven years he saved 223 games for them, including a league-leading 46 in 1986. He finished with 252 saves. Dick Radatz (1962-69) was 6-foot-6, 230 pounds and known as The Monster. He threw very, very hard, and he struck out almost 10 batters per nine innings over the course of his career. For the first three years of his career, he pitched about as well as a guy can pitch – 40 wins, 78 saves, a 2.17 ERA, and in 414 innings he gave up just 292 hits and struck out 487. For the rest of his career, though, he was 12-22 with a 4.54 ERA. Don Robinson (1978-92) was a swingman with Pittsburgh and San Francisco, winning a World Series title with the “We Are Family” Pirates of 1979. He was one of the best hitting pitchers of his generation, with 13 career home runs, and he finished with 109 wins and 57 saves. Dennys Reyes (1997- ) is a lefty set-up man, listed at 6-3 and 250 pounds, whose head looks like a big round pumpkin sitting on top of a roly-poly body. He came to the majors at age 20, has worked almost 700 games and is still just in his mid-30s. His 2011 season was a disaster, but if he gets back on track and extends his career the way lefty specialists are known to do, he could reach the 1,000-game mark. Dave Rozema (1977-86) won 15 games as a 20-year-old rookie for the Tigers, but that season represented one-quarter of his career victories. He remained a solid pitcher for the Tigers, working both in the rotation and in the bullpen, and he was a member of the 1984 championship team (though he did not appear in the World Series). He is perhaps best remembered for a brawl against the Twins in 1979, when he attempted a flying karate kick on John Castino, missed, and ended up suffering a season-ending knee injury when he landed. David Arthur Roberts (1969-81), hereinafter known as Dave Roberts the Lefty, was a swingman who won 103 games for eight teams over the course of his career. In 1971 he had a 2.10 ERA in 270 innings of work but finished with a 14-17 record because he was pitching for the lousy Padres. Denny Riddleberger (1970-72) was a promising lefty with a big, slow, looping curveball whose career ended in his mid-20s due to injuries.
Bench: David Wayne Roberts (1972-82), hereinafter known as Dave Roberts the SuperSub (to differenitate him from Dave Roberts the Speedster and Dave Roberts the Lefty), was selected by the Padres with the first pick of the 1972 draft. He went straight from University of Oregon onto the Padres’ roster and he played in 100 games that year. In his second season, at age 22, he batted .286 with 21 home runs, but he went backward from there. Still, he was a third baseman who could also cover other infield spots and even catch in a pinch. That made him a valuable guy to keep around. He won’t have to catch much on this team. Catcher Del Rice (1945-61) never hit much but was an outstanding defensive catcher, which was enough to give him a 17-year career, about a third of which was spent as a starter. He was the backup on two World Series champions (1946 Cardinals and 1957 Braves). Dave Rader (1971-80) was another good defensive catcher. He batted over .290 a couple of times, but his career average was .257 and he didn’t have much power. (The presence of two full-time backup catchers, as well as Roberts the SuperSub, will allow Double Duty Radcliffe to pitch as much as the team needs him to.) Outfielder Dick Reichle (1922-23) spent one season and part of another with the Red Sox. Domingo Ramos (1978-90) was a utility infielder who couldn’t hit.
Manager: There have been a handful of DR managers, including Doug Rader and Del Rice, but we’re handing the reins over to the namesake of this team, our friend Dave Rosenfield, the longtime minor-league general manager (make that ”lo-o-o-ongtime”) and patriarch of the Triple-A Norfolk Tides. We have the utmost faith in his abilities to run things.
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