CD: The Certificates of Deposit on Compact Discs

Infield: First baseman Carlos Delgado (1993-2009) was a monstrous hitter, and he was still fearsome in his late 30s – pursuing 500 career home runs – when hip problems derailed his career. He finished with 473 home runs and 1,512 RBI. He had a career average of .280, and he drew plenty of walks. He came up as a catcher but couldn’t stay there, so he moved to first and was a barely adequate defensive player there. His career slugging percentage (.546) is among the top 30 of all time, but keep in mind that more than a dozen guys ahead of him played in the same era as Delgado. Third baseman Charlie Deal (1912-21) was a light-hitting infielder who played on the Miracle Braves who won the 1914 World Series. He didn’t contribute much, batting .210 in the regular season and .125 in the World Series, but still, being a part of that famous underdog championship team counts for something. Second baseman Crash Davis (194-42) has nothing to do with the character played by Kevin Costner, other than the fact that he gave the filmmakers permission to use his name. This Crash Davis wasn’t a minor-league slugger (he hit a total of 51 home runs), and he spent more than a couple of weeks in the majors (148 games with the A’s, spread out over three years during World War II). Shortstop Claud Derrick (1910-14) played for the first great Philadelphia A’s dynasty. He was a backup for the guys in the famed $100,000 Infield (which makes him, what, the Nickel-and-Dime Utility Guy?). He played for two World Series champions but never appeared in a World Series game.

Outfield: Center fielder Chili Davis (1981-99) was a good and consistent hitter who was generally good for an average in the .270s and 20-30 home runs. His 350 home runs rank fourth all-time among switch-hitters. Davis developed a bad back in his 20s and spent the second half of his career as a designated hitter. He won a World Series title with the Twins and two more with the Yankees. Left fielder Chris Duncan (2005- ), son of catcher/pitching coach Dave Duncan, had a big (partial) rookie year at age 25, hitting .293 with 22 home runs in just 280 at-bats for the Cardinals. That raised expectations to a level beyond what he was able to accomplish. His hitting tailed off, and neck and back injuries kept him out of the lineup, and pretty soon the fans turned on him and made him a scapegoat for anything that went wrong with the Cardinals. Still trying to make his way back to the majors – he’s a lefty with power, so he’s got that going for him – but he’s got a long way to go. If he is done, his career numbers would include a .257 average and 55 home runs. Right fielder Cozy Dolan (1895-1906) bounced around the National League for a decade before he died of typhoid fever at age 34. He batted .269 in his career.

Catcher: Clay Dalrymple (1960-71) was a solid defensive catcher but a light hitter. He was a starter on the 1964 Phillies, who blew a big lead and lost the NL pennant to the Cardinals, and a backup on the 1969 Orioles who lost in the World Series to the Miracle Mets.

Rotation: Curt “Coonskin” Davis (1934-46) had a rather amazing career. He didn’t pitch in the minors until he was 24 years old, and he had to win more than 100 games – mostly with San Francisco in the Pacific Coast League – before a major-league team gave him a contract. As a 30-year-old rookie in 1934, he won 19 games for a seventh-place Phillies team, finishing fourth in the NL in ERA and landing in the top 10 of the MVP voting. He pitched into his 40s, winning 158 games in the majors despite the late start. Chuck Dobson (1966-75) was a durable but fairly ordinary starter for the Oakland A’s, but his career ran out of steam just as the A’s were preparing to win three straight World Series titles. He won 46 games for Oakland between 1969-71, but he missed the entire 1972 season and then pitched briefly and ineffectively in ’73 and ’74. Finished h is career with 74 victories. Chubby Dean (1936-43) was a lefty who came up as a 20-year-old first baseman but shifted to the mound. He was a decent hitter – for a pitcher – but his career record was just 30-46, pitching mostly for weak teams. Clise Dudley (1929-33) went 17-33 as a swingman for the Dodgers and the Phillies. Carl Doyle (1935-40) had a career record of 6-15.

Bullpen: Closer Carlos Diaz (1982-86) was a hard-throwing lefty who had a good year for the Mets in 1983 and another good year for the Dodgers in ’85. His career record was 13-6 with four saves. Chad Durbin (1999- ) has occasionally pitched well and is still in mid-career. Craig “Ding Dong” Dingman (2000-05) had the dual problem of putting too many runners on base and giving up too many home runs. Lefty Clem “Steamboat” Dreiswerd (1944-48) won 150 games in the minors but just six in the majors. Cot Deal (1947-54) – not to be confused with Coot Veal – won three games in the majors but had a long career coaching in the minors and majors. Lefty Chick Davies (1914-26) was an outfielder who couldn’t hit, so he made the move to the mound and had slightly more success. Cory Doyne (2007) had a 98 mph fastball but never got anyone out in the majors with it.

Bench: Corner infielder Chris Davis (2008- ) made a big splash at age 22, batting .285 with 17 home runs and 55 RBI in a half-season with Texas. Since then, he has moved backward rather rapidly. He is not old yet, but he needs to reestablish himself. He’s not going to move Delgado off of first base on this team, but he could theoretically take over the starting job at third base (though he was a poor glove man there). Corner infielder Chris Donnels (1991-2002) came billed as a prospect who could hit .300, but he never developed into that. He was a marginal role player who batted .233. Outfielder Chuck Diering (1947-56) batted .249 for his career with 14 home runs. Cozy Dolan (1909-22) – that’s Albert James “Cozy” Dolan, not to be confused with unrelated Patrick Henry “Cozy” Dolan, who starts in right field – had a .252 career batting average before he was banned for life for attempting to fix games. Backup catcher Charlie Dexter (1896-1903) was a nondescript utility player at the turn of the century.

Manager: Charlie Dressen was as good a third baseman as the other guys on this roster, but we’re going to let him focus on managing the team. He had a reputation as a smart in-game strategist, and he had a career record of 1,008 -973 with two pennants. He took over the great “Boys of Summer” Dodgers in 1951 and managed them to 97, 96 and 105 victories in the next three years – but he was ousted from Booklyn when he demanded a three-year contract instead of the standard one-year deal that the team always offered. Dressen’s job went to Walt Alston, who managed the team for more than 20 years, winning the World Series in Brooklyn in 1955, moving to L.A. and managing the team from the Koufax Era on through the Steve Garvey Era. Dressen was a successful manager, but his career is largely defined by what he might have done if he hadn’t tried to strong-arm the Dodgers.

CF: The Carrie Fischers

Infield: First baseman Cecil Fielder (1985-98) is listed at 230 pounds at baseballreference.com, and that may have been accurate during his rookie year, but in his prime he almost certainly topped three bills. He was a big fellow. He showed plenty of power as a young kid with the Blue Jays, but he came up at the same time as Fred McGriff and there wasn’t room for two first basemen, so Fielder headed for Japan in 1989 and banged out 38 home runs. The convinced the Detroit Tigers to sign him, and he rewarded them with 51 homers in 1990, followed by 44 the next year. He led the league in RBI three times, drew a good number of walks and was a pretty fair player for several years, finishing with 319 home runs and 1,008 RBI. He and his equally large (but much more mobile) son Prince are the only father-son combination to both hit 50 home runs in a season. Third baseman Chone Figgins (2002- ) hits for a decent average, has good speed and draws some walks. This, and his defensive versatility, once led John Kruk in one of his loopier moments to declare Figgins the best player in all of baseball. He was never anything close to that, but he had some pretty good years with the Angels. Signed a free agent contract with the Mariners in 2010 and immediately fell off the map. Second baseman Carlos Febles (1998-2005) showed some promise with the Royals, batting .256 at age 23 with 10 home runs and 20 steals. Those figures represented his ceiling, not his floor, and injuries ended his career before he turned 30. Cuban shortstop Chico Fernandez (1956-63) was originally lined up to be Pee Wee Reese’s heir apparent in Brooklyn, but that didn’t materialize. Instead he spent most of his career with the Phillies and the Tigers as a light-hitting semi-glove man. He hit 40 career home runs, half of which came in the 1962 season.

Outfield: Center fielder Curt Flood (1956-71) is known for two things: His spectacular defense and his quixotic attempt to challenge baseball’s reserve clause in the era immediately before free agency. Flood was a .300 hitter with moderate power and speed, and his extraordinary glove work in center was a key component of the great Cardinals teams of the 1960s. However, his uncharacteristic misplay – misjudging a fly ball by Jim Northrup that was ruled a triple – largely cost St. Louis the 1968 World Series. A year later, the Cardinals sent him to Philadelphia as part of a major, multi-player trade, and Flood refused to go. The Phillies were awful at the time, and they played in a run-down stadium, and Flood characterized their fans as belligerent and frequently racist. Demanding the right to negotiate a contract with other teams, he wrote: “After 12  years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes.” Commissioner Bowie Kuhn said that’s exactly what he was. The resulting lawsuit went to the U.S. Supreme Court and was decided in baseball’s favor, though the owners did agree to add the 10/5 rule, which said that a player who had 10 years in the majors and five with the same team earned the right to veto trades. After he sat out the 1970 season, the Phillies traded Flood to the Washington Senators, but he was a shell of his former self. He struggled at the plate and in the field, and after a few weeks he called it quits at age 33. A few years later, attacking the reserve clause from a different angle, pitcher Andy Messersmith succeeded where Flood had failed – he won his arbitration case against baseball and ushered in the era of free agency. While Flood’s unsuccessful challenge had no substantial effect on the subsequent decision, he was still held up by the players’ union as a noble martyr to the cause. Right fielder Carl Furillo (1946-60) was a key supporting player on the Boys of Summer Dodgers. His powerful throwing arm (and his Pennsylvania birthplace) earned  him the nickname The Reading Rifle. Furillo was a .300 hitter with mid-range power, and he played on seven pennant winners and two World Series champions. Left fielder Cliff Floyd (1993-2009) had more than a few highlights during his itinerant career. He had three seasons with more than 40 doubles, and he hit 233  home runs in his career. Floyd’s career was plagued by injuries and bizarre trades, but he managed to stick around for 17 years.

Catcher: Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk (1969-93) was a tough guy who gave new meaning to “old school.” As a New Englander playing for the Red Sox, he was royalty. In 1972, he won AL Rookie of the Year and the Gold Glove and finished fourth in the MVP voting. He was a monster at blocking the plate, and collisions led to injuries that threatened his career in the mid-1970s, but he battled back and ended up setting all sorts of longevity records for catchers. His 12^th-inning home run to end Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is the stuff of legend, and it changed the way that TV networks cover sporting events. In the midst of a contract dispute with Red Sox management, he bolted for Chicago (he called  it “changing his sox”) and for good measure, he inverted his uniform number from 27 in Boston to 72 in Chicago. He played with the White Sox until he was 45 years old, and though he departed both franchises under acrimonious circumstances, he remains a legend in both cities. He hit 376 home runs and was a smart enough ballplayer that as a 34-year-old catcher with bad knees, he stole 17 bases in 19 attempts. He was a great handler of pitchers and a force in the clubhouse. If you don’t like Carlton Fisk, you don’t like baseball.

Rotation: Chuck Finley (1986-2002) was a 6-foot-6 lefty who won 200 games and struck out 2,600 batters, mostly for the Angels. He never won 20, and he only received Cy Young votes one time (finishing seventh in 1990 when he won 18 games with a 2.40 ERA), but he was an awfully good and dependable pitcher for a long time. Odd baseball-related note: On three separate occasions, Finley struck out four batters in an inning. No one else has done it twice. Odd non-baseball note: He was married to music video sexpot Tawny Kitaen, but they divorced after she was charged with assaulting him (the charges were dismissed on the conditions that she went into counseling and never went near him again). Chick Fraser (1896-1909) had a career record of 175-212. He won 20 twice and lost 20 five times. Fraser led the league in walks three times, wild pitches twice and hit batsmen once but never led the league in any category that was not directly related to a lack of control. Cy Falkenberg (1903-17), a 6-foot-5 stringbean, was a very ordinary pitcher until his mid-30s, when he learned to throw the emery ball. That pitch, which was illegal, involved attaching a portion of an emery board to his glove and using it to scuff the baseball in order to make his pitches dip, dive and dart. Of his 130 career victories, 48 of them came in 1913-14 when he was dominating batters with his sneaky pitch. Cherokee Fisher (1871-78) won 56 games in a career that began after he fought in the Civil War. He twice led the National Association in ERA, if you can put faith in the statistical records of the 1870s. Lefty Carl Fischer (1930-37) was a consistently mediocre pitcher who bounced around the American League in the 1930s. He pitched in the minors into his 40s and won 184 games.

Bullpen: Cecil Ferguson (1906-11), who as a rookie saved a league-high seven games (retroactively figured), starts out as the team’s closer. His qualifications aren’t good, though he did finish 58 games in a career that was evenly split between the rotation and the pen. He went 5-23 for the Boston Braves at age 25 and was gone pretty quickly after that. Chad Fox (1997-2009) was never a closer during his big-league career, but he was a better pitcher than Ferguson and he had some decent seasons, so he look for him to press for the ninth-inning job. His best season came in 2001 when he had a 1.89 ERA for Milwaukee with 80 strikeouts in 67 innings. He also pitched very well down the stretch for the Marlins in 2003 and helped Florida to its second World Series title. Casey Fossum (2001-09), a lefty known as The Blade, won 40 games in his career, mostly for Boston and Tampa. Cliff “Mule” Fannin (1945-52) won 34 games as a swing man for the miserable post-war St. Louis Browns. Carlos Fisher (2008- ) hasn’t done much to distinguish himself at this point, but he still has a little gas left in his tank, so we’ll see. Curt Fullerton (1921-33) had a career record of 10-37. He actually only pitched for a few years in the majors. He was finished in 1925 but later came back to pitch a handful of games in 1933. In a long career in the Pacific Coast League, he won more than 100 games. Charlie Furbush (2011- ) is just getting started and could actually have a decent career. This bullpen could certainly use it.

 Bench: Infielder Chick Fewster (1917-27) played for some fine teams but was never more than a mediocre role player. Outfielder Curt Ford (1985-90) got called up by the Cardinals for the stretch drive of 1985, and he responded with six hits and four walks in 16 plate appearances. He never really did anything after that. Backup catcher Chris Fulmer (1884-89) played several years for the prehistoric Baltimore Orioles. Infielder Chick Fulmer (1871-84) played around the same time as Chris Fulmer, and they both came from Pennsylvania, but if they are related, that fact is lost to the history books. Chick did have a brother named Washington Fulmer, but that’s neither here nor there. Outfielder Chick Fullis (1928-36) played for some colorful teams in New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis. He won a World Series with the Gas House Gang in 1934. (With three Chicks on the bench and one in the rotation, the clubhouse is going to look like a henhouse.)

 Manager: Charlie Fox had a long association with the San Francisco Giants, managing that team from 1970-74. He won a division title and the Manager of the Year award in 1971. He eventually left San Francisco and had short stints with Montreal and Chicago.

CG: The Complete Games

Infield: Second baseman Charlie Gehringer (1924-42) was known as “The Mechanical Man,” which was intended not only as a comment on his quiet, businesslike nature, but also on his tremendous consistency. He was sort of the Ryne Sandberg of the 1920s, playing his whole career for one team (the Tigers), going out year after year and hitting .320-.330 with 40-some doubles and 15-20 home runs. He was a fine defensive second baseman, and when he got the chance to play in three World Series with Detroit, he was as consistent as ever (career batting average - .320 regular season, .321 World Series). Gehringer had seven seasons with 200 or more hits, seven season with 100 or more RBI, and a dozen seasons with 100 or more runs (including several when he was in the 130s and the 140s).First baseman Charlie Grimm (1916-36), known as “Jolly Cholly,” is best known as the longtime manager of the Cubs and Braves, but he also had a long playing career (much of it with the Cubs, leading to his transition as a player-manager). He was a .290 career hitter, but he played in an era when that was a very ordinary average, and he didn’t have any power. He never led the league in anything, and in fact he was rarely among the league leaders, but he was consistently OK and a respected player. Third baseman Carlos Guillen (1998- ) has been a quietly, consistently efficient player for more than a decade in the majors - .285 career average with more than 120 home runs. Versatile enough to play all over the field, but not an especially good glove anywhere. Shortstop Cristian Guzman (199-2010) had some wheels. He was a starter at age 20 and had led the American League in triples three times before he turned 25. His poor command of the strike zone prevented him from developing the way some thought he might.

Outfield: Right fielder Curtis Granderson (2004- ) is one of the few players in modern times to have 20 doubles, triples and homers in the same season (38-23-23 for the Tigers in 2007). He strikes out a lot, but he draws some walks, too, and he runs well and plays hard. Still in mid-career, he put up 41 home runs and a league-leading 119 RBI for the Yankees in 2011. Granderson has played mostly center field, but he moves to right to make room for Cesar Geronimo (1969-83), the brilliant defensive center fielder on The Big Red Machine. Geronimo wasn’t much of a hitter, but the Reds had enough big boppers in the lineup that they could afford to carry a glove man, and the up-the-middle combination of Bench, Concepcion, Morgan and Geronimo was the backbone of the great team’s defense. Left fielder Clarence “Cito” Gaston (1967-78) was a pretty ordinary player with some bad teams – the expansion Padres and the Atlanta Braves of the Rowland Office Era.

Catcher: Charlie Ganzel (1884-97) spent a long time with Detroit and Boston in the early years of the Natonal League.

Rotation: Clark Griffith (1891-1914) left a huge impact on the sport. He pitched for 20 years, managed for 20 years and owned the Washington Senators for about 30 years. He was one of the founders of a forerunner of the players’ union, and a key figure in launching the American League as a rival to the established National League. During World War I, he helped galvanize support for the U.S. service members by organizing “Griffith Days” all around the majors to collect donations. A 5-foot-6 righty, he had a career pitching record of 237-146, compiled through his mastery of breaking balls, offspeed stuff and trick deliveries such as the quick pitch. He was very bold about disfiguring the ball in order to get the break he wanted – he would sometimes use his cleats to gouge the ball on the mound – but as a manager he led the charge in 1920 to ban the spitball and other “freak pitches.” Charlie “Pretzels” Getzien (1884-92) went 30-11 for Detroit in 1886 and 29-13 the following year (his catcher was Charlie Ganzel, so he’ll feel right at home on this team). Getzien was a pretty ordinary pitcher, but he was durable and worked with good teams, so he had a career record of 145-139. Chad Gaudin (2003- ) has been unable to sustain a spot in a major-league rotation and has bounced all over the majors in recent years. He’s still in his late 20s and trying to hang on as a reliever. Chris George (2001- ) was a highly touted lefty prospect who got hammered with the Royals for a few years and is still hanging around in the minors in his early 30s. Chris Gardner (1991) pitched in a few games for the Astros at age 22. He struggled with his control, hurt his arm and was out of baseball before he turned 30.

Bullpen: Closer Cecilio Guante (1982-90) had a good fastball, and he saved 35 games in his career. He was never a dominant pitcher, but he had several years when he was pretty good. Charlie “Pass That” Gassaway (1944-46) was a lefty from Gassaway, Tenn., which probably isn’t a coincidence. He played for three teams in the mid-1940s and wasn’t anything special. Chippy Gaw (1920) won 100 games in the minors but just one in the majors. Charlie Gettig (1896-99) was 15-12 for the Giants in the final years of the 19th century. He also played second base and outfield, but based on his lousy hitting, it was probably a good idea to try his hand on the mound. Charlie Gorin (1954-55) was a career minor-leaguer who got a few shots with the Braves and actually pitched alright. Connie Grob (1954) was a good minor-league pitcher who got lit up like a pinball machine when he pitched for the Senators. Carlos “Don’t Call Me Che” Guevara (2008) had a brief shot with the Padres and went 1-0 with a 5.84 ERA.

Bench: Backup catcher Charlie Greene (1996-2000) batted .173 in his short major-league career. Infielder Chris Gomez (1993-2008) had a long career as a utility infielder and role player, batting .262. A fine bench player. Carlos Garcia (1990-99), another utility infielder, is sort of like Chris Gomez, but in a shorter career. Chick Galloway (1919-28), another utility infielder, wasn’t as good as Gomez or Garcia. Outfielder Curtis Goodwin (1995-99) had a bit of speed but not much else.

Manager: Jolly Cholly Grimm will be player manager, but he will get considerable input from his player-coaches Clark Griffith and Cito Gaston. Grimm had a career record of 1,287-1,067 and he won three NL pennants. Griffith, who will also run the front office along with his son Calvin, had a career record of 1,491-1,367, but his only pennant came in his first year as player manager. Gaston was 894-837 with Toronto, and he was the first black manager to win a World Series title (and, for that matter, the first black manager to win back-to-back World Series titles).

CH: The Charlton Hestons

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.

CJ: The Calamity Janes

Infield: Third baseman Chipper Jones (1993- ) goes on the list of the top 10 all time at his position. The only question left is how high he ranks on that list. He’s a switch-hitter with a career .300 average who draws 90-100 walks per year and has 436 home runs. He has scored 1,500 runs and driven in 1,500. Chipper is clearly slowing down but is still a good player as he approaches 40. The Braves made him the top pick in the 1990 draft largely because Todd Van Poppel, the “can’t miss” pitching prospect who was the presumptive No. 1, insisted that he was going to college. The A’s picked Van Poppel in the middle of the first round and convinced him to go pro, which was hailed as a coup – but Van Poppel was never very good, and the Braves ended up with a future Hall of Famer in Chipper. The start of his career was delayed by a knee injury that cost him the entire 1994 season, but since then he has been a consistent run producer and a key member of the great Braves teams of the 1990s. First baseman Cliff Johnson (1972-86) came up as a catcher, but you’d be hard-pressed to actually say he was a catcher. For that matter, he wasn’t much of a first baseman either. He was a born designated hitter, and when he finally got to the AL in his late 20s, he settled into that role. He’ll play first here – because we’re not using the DH – but whatever position he plays in the field, the man could hit. A 6-foot-4, 215-pound slugger, he hit almost 200 home runs in his career despite the fact that he only had one year with more than 400 at-bats. Johnson had a good batting eye and he pounded left-handed pitching. He was a jovial guy and a fun player to watch – once, while playing with the Yankees, he scored on a sac fly and accidentally bulldozed the home plate umpire when he got up a head of steam and couldn’t stop in time. The umpire was knocked out cold and suffered a back injury that sidelined him for several months. Shortstop Cobe Jones (1928-29) briefly served as a backup to Glenn Wright and Dick Bartell in Pittsburgh. Second baseman Caleb Johnson (1871) was born in Illinois in 1844, so there’s a good chance he fought in the Civil War. He later became a lawyer. In between he spent one year playing third base for Cleveland in the National Association, and based on his statistics, it was a wise decision to go into law. His photograph at baseballreference.com features a beard that would make ZZ Top proud, but to be honest, it looks more like his “lawyer” photo than his “baseball photo.

Outfield: Center fielder Cleon Jones (1963-76) batted .340 for the Miracle Mets of 1969, and he then batted .429 in the playoff victory over Atlanta. He only hit .158 in the World Series against the Orioles, but he had already done enough that year to be considered one of the heroes of that legendary underdog championship team. (He also caught the fly ball that ended the World Series.) For his career, he batted .281 with 93 home runs. Left fielder Charley Jones (1875-88) has been forgotten by history, but the man could surely hit. A burly 5-foot-11, he hit .298 in his career with a .345 on-base and .444 slugging – the league averages at the time were .257/.294/.336. For a few years in the 1880s, he held the “major league” record for home runs in a single season and in a career. Among the details of his life that have been lost to the history books – an explanation of why he changed his name from Benjamin Wesley Rippay to Charles Wesley Jones, and any information at all about when, where and how he died. He is the most prominent major-league baseball player for whom no death details have been uncovered. Right fielder Charlie “Cuckoo” Jamieson (1915-32) is the only guy in the starting lineup who is not named either Jones or Johnson. He spent most of his career with Cleveland, batting .303 and scoring 1,062 runs. He was not a power hitter or a base stealer, but he piled up some doubles and triples and got on base a lot.

Catcher: Charles Johnson (1994-2005) was a superior defensive catcher with a cannon arm, and he was good for 20 home runs a year with regular playing time (167 career). He was dreadfully slow and didn’t hit for a high average, but he drew enough walks to give him a passable on-base percentage. A good ballplayer who contributed to good teams, but who had obvious limitations to what he could do.

Rotation: Connie Johnson (1953-58) was a Negro League fireballer who made it to the majors at age 30 and pitched pretty well for the White Sox and the Orioles. He started with the Kansas City Monarchs at age 17 and was the youngest player ever picked for the Negro Leagues’ East-West All-Star Game. When he made it to the majors, he pitched well and with incredible consistency – in his first four seasons, his OPS+ (the stat that measures park-adjusted ERA versus the league average) was 114, 114, 114 and 112. Chief Johnson (1913-15) was an American Indian whose career was disrupted when he jumped from the Cincinnati Reds to the Federal League and became caught up in one of the more prominent court cases involving that upstart league. He was generally a good pitcher and he won 40 games before his career ended at age 29. He was reportedly a heavy drinker, and he was shot to death over a dice game in 1922 at age 36. Lefty Chuck James (2005- ) pitched fairly well for the Braves in 2006-07, but he struggled badly in 2008 and has yet to get back on track. Lefty Cowboy Jones (1898-1901), reportedly the only 19th century player to hail from Colorado, had a career record of 25-34. Charlie Jaeger (1904) pitched reasonably well in a few games for the Tigers but didn’t stick in the majors, thus his career record of 3-3.

Bullpen: Closer Claude Jonnard (1921-29) pitched for the Giants before there was such a role as “closer,” but manager John McGraw frequently used him to finish games and he was retroactively credited with 17 career saves. He pitched for six seasons and was on five pennant winners. Claude had a twin brother named “Bubber” who was a catcher in the majors, but there were never teammates. Calvin Jones (1991-92) had a long career in the minors but didn’t last long in the majors. Casey Janssen (2006- ) is in mid-career with the Blue Jays and has been a solid, durable reliever. Cesar Jimenez (2006- ) is a Venezuelan lefty who has pitched briefly in the majors but has yet to establish himself. Chris Jakubauskas (2009- ), undrafted out of University of Oklahoma, battled his way through the independent leagues and was a 30-year-old rookie with the Mariners in 2009. He hasn’t pitched very well in the majors, but it’s impressive that he made it that far at all. Chesty Chet Johnson (1946) was a lefty who pitched briefly and none too well for the St. Louis Browns, though he won 204 games in the minors. Charlie Jordan (1896) appeared in two games for the Philadelphia Phillies, but it was long enough for him to earn the nickname “Kid.”

Bench: First baseman Conor Jackson (2005- ) has a decent batting eye and a little bit of power. He’ll start at first base when Cliff Johnson moves behind the plate to give Charles Johnson a break. Outfielder Chris James (1986-1995), the younger brother of former football star (and current ESPN analyst) Craig James, was an outfield prospect who had some good seasons but was never as good as people thought he would be be. He finished his career with a .261 average and 90 home runs. Outfielder Charlie Jones (1901-08) had some speed and started for a few years with the Washington Senators. Infielder Chuck Jackson (1987-94) batted .218 in his brief major-league career. Charlie Jackson (1915-17) was a diminutive outfielder who played mostly in the minors.

Manager: Chappie Johnson gets the nod in part because of a local connection – he managed our hometown Norfolk Stars in the Negro Leagues.

CK: The Captain Kangaroos

Infield: Second baseman Chuck Knoblauch (1991-2002) was a pretty great player for a while. He came up with the Twins at age 22 and won the Rookie of the Year Award, and from that starting point he developed into a guy who would hit .300 (actually, well over .300) with lots of walks, doubles and stolen bases. As a result, he scored lots of runs – as many as 140 in a season. But in his late 20s, right as his career should have been taking off, his production took a step backward. He signed a big free agent contract with the Yankees and almost immediately developed a mental block about m aking throws to first base. He didn’t completely fall apart, but he was never as good as he had been in his mid-20s, and he was essentially done in his early 30s. He finished his career with 1,132 runs and 407 stolen bases – very good numbers, but not close to what was expected. First baseman Casey Kotchman (2004- ) is a functional hitter in mid-career. He’s a solid contact hitter, but he has no power or speed. He doesn’t hit the way that teams expect a first baseman to hit, but he can fill a hole adequately and has already played for five teams. Third baseman Corey Koskie (1998-2006) was geneally good for 15-20 home runs per year. He finished his career with 124 of them. In his best season, playing for Minnesota in 2001, he batted .276 with 37 doubles and 26 home runs, good for 103 RBI and 100 runs. Koskie was a fine player, but he ran out of steam in his early 30s. Shortstop Clem Koshorek (1952-53) had a long minor-league career but never did much in the majors. At 5-foot-4 he was one of the shortest players in big-league history.

Outfield: Left fielder Charlie Keller (1939-52) was nicknamed “King Kong,” partly because he apparently had so much hair on his body that he looked like an ape, but mostly because he was incredibly strong. He was, plain and simple, one of the best hitter who ever lived, and If he had not developed serious back trouble in mid-career, he would almost certainly be in the Hall of Fame. He came up with the Yankees and played alongside Joe DiMaggio in one of history’s best outfields. Keller hit for a decent average, drew 100 walks per year, had good power and was fast enough to routinely hit double-digits in triples. He won four pennants and three World Series titles with the Yankees; in those four World Series appearances he batted .306 and drove in 18 runs in 19 games. The back problems finished him as an everyday player in his early 30s, but before the injuries he was a monster. Right fielder Chuck Klein (1928-44) was a very fine hitter who won the Triple Crown in 1933, leading the NL in batting (.368), homers (28) and RBI (120), as well as hits, doubles, on-base and slugging. He put up huge numbers for several years, but they were greatly inflated by his home park – the Phillies’ cozy Baker Bowl. For his career, Klein batted .354 in home games and .286 on the road. Almost two-thirds of his 300 home runs came in his home ballparks, and he drove in 727 runs at home and 477 on the road. Klein led the league in about two dozen statistical categories, won and MVP and finished second in the voting twice, but was nothing more than an ordinary good player when he left the Baker Bowl. He had a strong arm and piled up tons of assists (a record 44 in one season) while playing shallow in the small ballpark. He was a fine player, but he did little of note after age 30 and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame largely because of his park-inflated stats. Center fielder Chick King (1954-59) was a good minor-league outfielder with some speed, but he never got more than a few at-bats in the majors. Flanked in the outfield by two guys with Hall of Fame talent, King will simply be asked to run down some fly balls.

Catcher: Chad Kreuter (1988-2003) had a long career as a backup and platoon catcher for seven teams. In 1993, the Tigers gave him 119 games and 431 plate appearances, and he responded with a .286/.371/.484 line and 15 home runs. He wasn’t really that good, but he was generally a decent enough ballplayer.

Rotation: It’s too soon to speculate what kind of career Clayton Kershaw (2008- ) will have, but he’s certainly off to a good start. He’s still just 23 years old and he’s already won 47 games for the Dodgers, and in 2011 he led the NL in wins (21-5), ERA (2.28) and strikeouts (248). Already he’s the ace of the CK staff, and if he stays healthy he could be something special. Clay Kirby (1969-76) might have had a good career if he hadn’t been picked in the expansion draft by the 1969 Padres. As a rookie he went 7-20 with a 3.80 ERA, and two years later he went 15-13 for a team that lost 100 games. He eventually pitched for the Big Red Machine, but by that time arm troubles were setting in and he wasn’t quite as good a pitcher. He was out of baseball before he turned 30. In his most famous game, during the 1970 season, he was removed for a pinch-hitter after throwing eight innings of no-hit ball against the Mets. Kirby had given up a run in the first (two walks, a steal and an RBI groundout) and trailed 1-0 despite giving up no hits through eight. Manager Preston Gomez sent Cito Gaston up to pinch-hit in the eighth, to no avail, and the San Diego bullpen gave up three hits and two runs in the ninth. Kirby finished his career with a record of 75-104. Chris Knapp (1975-80) was another pitcher who showed promised but burned out. He went 12-7 for the White Sox in 1977 and then, traded to the Angels, followed that with a 14-8 record the following season. His ERA was actually well worse than league average both seasons, but he was winning games. Arm trouble set in soon after, and he was done before he turned 27. Cal Koonce (1962-71) went 10-10 as a 21-year-old rookie with the Cubs and then never won more than seven games again in the rest of his career, partly because he shifted primarily to the bullpen after a few years. He pitched for the Miracle Mets in 1969 but did not appear in the World Series. Charlie Knepper (1899) went 4-22 for the Cleveland Spiders, which was the best record put up by any of the team’s primary pitchers (the others had records like 4-30, 1-18, 2-17 and 1-11).

Bullpen: Closer Craig Kimbrel (2010- ) is just getting started, but he looks electrifying. As a rookie with the Braves in 2011, he led the NL with 46 saves, and in the first 100 games of his big-league career he has a 1.75 ERA and averages 15.4 strikeouts per nine innings. Charlie Kerfeld (1985-90) was a big country goofball who wore t-shirts under his jersey with images of the Flintstones and the Jetsons. He stood 6-foot-6, and he arrived in the majors as at a doughy 280 pounds, though he did slim down a bit after that. He had one good season – at age 22, he went 11-2 with a 2.59 ERA for the division champion Astros and then never pitched as well again. But he was always entertaining. Flushed with excitement during spring training 1987, he announced his plan to buy 3,000 tickets to each game and distribute them to local charities. Told that this magnanimous gesture would cost him an estimated $1.6 million, he apologized and retracted the offer. At the time he was making an annual salary of $110,037.37 (he wore No. 37 and asked the Astros to tack 37 dollars and 37 cents onto the minimum salary). Clyde King (1944-53) won 32 games in his career, mostly for the “Boys of Summer” Dodgers. In 1951 he went 14-7 out of the bullpen despite striking out just 33 hittrs in 121 innings. Chad Kimsey (1929-36) spent most of his career with the Browns. He finished with a 5.07 ERA becaue he was better at finding bats (11 hits per nine innings) than he was at missing them (2.1 strikeouts per nine innings). Cactus Keck (1922-23) was born and raised in St. Louis and died there, too, but he got his nickname while pitching minor-league ball in Texas. He was a sidearm or submarine pitcher who had a couple of effective seasons for the Reds, though he struck out even fewer batters than Chad Kimsey (1.8 strikeouts per nine innings). Curtis King (1997-99) was effective in a short career for the Cardinals – 6-2 with a 3.43 ERA in 68 games. Curt Kaufman (1982-84) pitched a few games for the Yankees and then worked 69 innings for the Angels in 1984. He had trouble with the long ball and didn’t stick around.

Bench: Backup catcher Clyde Kluttz (1942-52) had a great name, and he was basically as good as Chad Kreuter. He loses out on the starting job because Kreuter had a longer career and was a switch-hitter, but Kluttz will get his share of starts here. First baseman Craig Kusick (1973-79) had a good batting eye and a little bit of pop, but it’s hard for a .235 hitter to get much playing time at first base. Infielder Cotton Knaupp (1910-11) played sparingly for the Indians in his early 20s at batted .184. Utility man Charlie Krehmeyer (1884-85) played for three teams in his early 20s but didn’t leave any discernible footprint with his .221 average. First baseman Chuck Kress (1947-54) spent very little time in the majors, spreading 175 games out across, returing to the minors in 1948-49 and again from 1951-53. He was a good hitter in the minors – he hit .280-.290 with mid-range power – but never quite stuck in the majors.

Manager: Clyde King will be player-manager from his perch in the bullpen. He went 90-72 with the Giants as a rookie manager in 1969, but the team fired him after a slow start in 1970. He later managed the Braves and the Yankees, but after that strong first season in San Francisco, his record was 144-157.

CL: The Christopher Lloyds

Infield: Third baseman Carney Lansford (1978-92) was a solid, consistent hitter for more than a decade – generally good for a .280-.300 average with 80 runs, 70 RBI and double-digit home run totals. Other than the batting title he won (.336 for Boston in the strike-shortened 1981 season), he was never great at anything – he hit 19 home runs three times but never hit 20, and he could steal a few bases but he wasn’t anyone’s idea of a speed burner. Pushed past 2,000 hits and 1,000 runs before he was done. Playing for Oakland in 1989, he batted .455 in the ALCS and then .438 as the A’s swept San Francisco in the earthquake World Series. Second baseman Cookie Lavagetto (1934-47) was a fine player who made four all-star games as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, but he is primarily remembered today for the last hit of his major-league career: In Game 4 of the 1947 World Series, Yankees pitcher Bill Bevens took a no-hitter (and a 1-0 lead) into the ninth. Bevens got two outs, but walked two batters and then - one out away from the first no-hitter in World Series history - he gave up a walk-off pinch-hit double to Lavagetto. First baseman Candy LaChance (1893-1905) – yes, yes, we know, his name sounds like a stripper, but he was actually a baseball player – was a decent hitter and a good fielder. In one well known anecdote, LaChance tried to throw Rube Waddell – the Philadelphia A’s manchild pitching star – off his game by goading him into a pregame wrestling match on the field, only to have Waddell body slam him and then pitch a complete game victory. Shortstop Carl “Hooks” Lind (1927-30) had only one season as a starter in the majors – at age 24, playing second base and batting leadoff for the Indians in 1928, he hit .294 with 42 doubles and scored 102 runs.

Outfield: Center fielder Chet “The Jet” Lemon (1975-90) was an awfully good ballplayer. He batted .300 in his better seasons (.273 career), had enough power to hit 215 home runs and almost 400 doubles, plus he drew a decent number of walks and he led the league in getting hit by pitches four times. He was fast, but not a good baserunner – 58 stolen bases in his career and (ouch) 76 times caught stealing. He never won a Gold Glove, but he was a fine outfielder with good hands and a strong arm. Left fielder Carlos Lee (1999- ) has been a consistent run producer for a decade. He has batted .300 six times, and he is well over 300 home runs and 1,200 RBI for his career, though he seems to have run out of gas in his mid-30s. In his prime years he was surprisingly quick for a big guy – 6-2, 265 pounds – but he was never a good defensive outfielder. Right fielder Chet Laabs (1937-47) had some good years for the Browns, with a deceng batting eye and enough power to hit 20 home runs in a good year (117 in his career).

Catcher: Charlie Lau (1956-67) had a long career as a backup and a role player, batting .255 for five teams. He gained fame in the 1970s as a “hitting guru,” primarily with the Kansas City Royals, where he was given a lot of credit for the development of players such as George Brett, Willie Wilson and Hal McRae. His philosophy of hitting – a specific set of mechanics, as well as “hitting the ball where it’s pitched” rather than trying to pull everything – became widespread, and he wrote a book on “The Art of Hitting .300.”

Rotation: Lefty Cliff Lee (2002- ) is in middle of what looks to be a very, very fine career. His won-lost record is outstanding, his K-BB ratio is sensational, he's won a Cy Young Award and he has a burgeoning resume of postseason success (7-2, 2.13 ERA in 10 postseason starts). He changed teams four times in 18 months between mid-season 2009 and the December 2010 when he signed a lucrative free agent deal with the Phillies. Now let’s see what he does with his 30s. Lefty Charlie Leibrandt (1979-93) won 140 games as a dependable middle-of-the-rotation starter. He never won 20, but he won 15-17 games four times, including a 17-9 record for the 1985 World Series champion Royals. Charlie Lea (1980-88) was a promising pitcher who threw a no-hitter in 1981 and went 43-31 for the Expos from 1982-84 before shoulder problems set in. He missed the 1985 and ’86 seasons and was never effective after he came back. Cory Lidle (1997-2006) went 82-72 for seven teams and might have reached 100 wins if he hadn’t died at age 34. He went 12-10 that season for the Phillies and Yankees, but after New York lost in the ALDS, Lidle – working to become a licensed pilot – was killed when the plane he was co-piloting crashed into a building in New York. Carl Lundgren (1902-09) pitched for the great Cubs teams in the first decade of the 20th century, going 91-55 with a career ERA of 2.42. In 1907 he went 18-7 with a 1.17 ERA, as the Cubs’ starting rotation had five of the six lowest ERAs in the National League.

Bullpen: Closer Clem Labine (1950-62) was a fine reliever during the era when aces were used in any key situation late in the game, frequently working two and even three innings at a time. He won 77 games and saved 96, mostly for the Dodgers. He won four pennants with the Dodgers and played for three World Series champions – the Dodgers in 1955 and ’59, as well as the 1960 Pirates. Craig Lefferts (1983-94) was a dependable lefty setup man who slid into the closer role from time to time and saved 101 games in his career. Curt Leskanic (1993-2004) was a good reliever whose numbers were skewed early in his career because he was pitching in Denver’s Mile High launching pad. For his career, he won 50 and saved 55. Colby Lewis (2002- ) was a starter for the Rangers in 2003 when he gave up 11.6 hits and 5 walks per nine innings en route to a 7.30 ERA – and a winning record. He’s still trying to get his career going at the major-league level, though he pitched reasonably well in 2010. He’s not ready to break into the CL rotation, but he might get a few spot starts. Chris Leroux (2009- ), along with Labine, gives this bullpen two native French-Canadians. LeRoux has yet to pitch well in the majors. Chip Lang (1975-76) pitched briefly for the Expos. Calisle Littlejohn (1927-28) went 5-2 for the Cardinal when he wasn't galavanting about with Robin Hood and Friar Tuck.

Bench: Utility man Clifford Walker Lee (1919-26), hereinafter known as The Other Cliff Lee, also serves as the team’s backup catcher. He was a pretty decent batter – a .300 hitter with some pop – but he never became a full-time player in the majors. Infielder Chris “The Crab” Lindsay (1905-06) was done after he batted .224 for the Tigers in 1906. Infielder Charlie Letchas (1939-46) had 2,000 hits in the minors but never hit well in the majors. Outfielder Carlos Lopez (1976-78) batted .260 with a little bit of pop in a brief major-league career. Outfielder Chris Latham (1997-2003) had some promising years in the minors but never hit in the majors.

Manager: Cookie Lavagetto will be the player-manager. He spent several years managing the Washington Senators as the team was making the move to Minnesota. He also had a long career as a coach.

CM: The Cornbread Maxwells

Infield: First baseman Carlos May (1968-77) was the younger brother of Lee May, who pounded out 354 home runs in his career. By all accounts, Carlos was the more talented athlete of the two, but he was seen as a disappointment in the majors. He was a good player, even after he lost a thumb in an accident involving mortars while on duty with the U.S. Army Reserves. He was a .270-.280 hitter with better strike zone judgment than his brother, but he never fully developed his power stroke (90 career home runs) and he was out of baseball by age 30. He was a good player who nonetheless failed to live up to expectations. He is also an answer to a popular baseball trivia question: He is the only player in history to wear his birthday on his uniform (May 17). Third baseman Cal McVey (1871-79) was a very talented hitter in the early days of pro baseball. He led the National Association in RBIin 1874-75 (and, in fact, he had the most career RBI in the history of the N.A.). His career average was .346 and he hit a lot of doubles and triples. He had a long career as a manager, scout and team executive in various leagues that formed in California in the late 19th century. Casey McGehee (2008- ), primarily a third baseman, will move to his secondary spot – second base – in order to accommodate McVey. McGehee drove in 104 runs in 2010. That appears to have been an anomaly, but he's still a regular, so the next few years will make it more clear what kind of career he’s going to have. Shortstop Cass Michaels (1943-54) was a slap hitter with a good batting eye and a decent glove. He played in the majors at age 17 under his birth name (Casimir Kwietniewski) before decided to adopt a new name that people could actually spell and pronounce. He became a regular with the White Sox at age 19 and made a couple of all-star games in his early 20s before he spent a few years roaming around the American League. He was back with the White Sox in his late 20s when his career was ended by a beanball that almost killed him. He survived but was left with impaired vision and never played again.

Outfield: Center fielder Clyde Milan (1907-22) was one of the fastest players in baseball during his era. He stole 495 bases in his career, including 88 in 1912 to set a modern record that lasted until Ty Cobb stole 96 three years later. He spent his entire career playing alongside Walter Johnson with the Senators, accumulating 2,100 hits and 1,004 runs. He had a long career as a manager and coach, which ended quite suddenly when he dropped dead of a heart attack on the field at spring training in 1953. Left fielder Candy Maldonado (1981-95) was a much-hyped Dodgers prospect who took several years to establish himself as a regular (and even after that, he only qualified for the league batting title three times during a 15-year career). That said, he was a very good role player and platoon outfielder, banging 146 home runs in his career. Right fielder Charlie “Smokey” Maxwell (1950-64) couldn’t break into the Red Sox lineup, but he was traded to Detroit and became a starter at age 29, ultimately hitting 148 home runs and making a couple of all-star games. He had a good batting eye and a reputation for clutch hitting – he is the only major-leaguer to hit five extra-inning home runs in a single season. A native of Michigan and a gradute of Western Michigan University, he was much beloved by fans in Detroit.

Catcher: Chief Myers (1909-17) was an American Indian, Dartmouth-educated and a lover of art and history, who worked as Christy Mathewson’s catcher with the Giants for several years and will have that role again here. He was a very fine hitter – a regular .300 hitter during the deadball era, with a good batting eye – and he was highly respected for his intelligence on the field. He and Mathewson were close friends who actually performed together in a touring Vaudeville show during one offseason.

Rotation: Christy Mathewson (1900-16) is one of the great pitchers of all time, and was one of the heroic, larger-than-life figures in the sport in the early part of the 20th century. Mathewson won 373 games, still the most in National League history, with a career ERA of 2.13. He famously pitched three shutouts in the 1905 World Series (27 innings, 13 hits, 1 walk, 18 strikeouts), and his ERA in 11 career World Series starts was 0.97 (though that figure does reflect a large number of unearned runs and his record was just 5-5). He was considered a man of great integrity, and he was the only prominent person within the game who spoke out loudly about the infestation of gamblers and crooked players leading up to the Black Sox scandal. Historian Bill James has suggested that if there were a few more players like Mathewson, willing to speak up about the growing problem, that the owners would have been forced to address the situation before it boiled over in 1919. A World War I veteran who died of tuberculosis at age 45, he was one of the five players inducted in the Hall of Fame’s inaugural class. Carl Mays (1915-29) was a hard-throwing submarine-style pitcher most famous for killing Cleveland Indians star Ray Chapman with one of his underhand fastballs in 1920. He was an outstanding pitcher, with a career record of 208-126 with a 2.92 ERA, but he did have a reputation for pitching inside and many players around the sport blamed him for killing the quiet, respected Chapman. Lefty Cliff Melton (1937-44) was a North Carolina hillbilly who went 20-9 for the Giants as a 25-year-old rookie. He was nicknamed “Mickey Mouse” and “Mountain Music” (apparently he liked alliterations), and his brother “Rube” also made it to the majors. Melton won 86 games in the majors and 143 in the minors. Carl Morton (1969-76) was the NL Rookie of the Year when he went 18-11 for a last-place Expos team in 1970. He won 48 games for the Braves between 1973-75 but began to break down. He was out of baseball in his early 30s, and he died of a heart attack before he turned 40. Lefty Clarence Mitchell (1911-32) had a career record of 125-139 but his spot in baseball history rests on the day in 1920 when he hit a line drive at Cleveland shortstop Bill Wambsganss, who turned it into the only unasssisted triple play in World Series history.

Bullpen: Closer Carlos Marmol (2006- ) is a flamethrower in mid-career, and as the Cubs’ closer in 2010 he put up some number that were just stupefying. In 77 2/3 innings, he struck out 138 batters (16 per nine innings). He struck out 41 percent of the batters he faced, and barely 40 percent of the batters he faced actually put the ball in play. He’s a very good pitcher and a lot of fun to watch. Craig McMurtry (1983-95) came up as a starter, won 15 games for the Braves and finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1983. He eventually moved to the bullpen and pitched for several years with moderate effectiveness. Lefty Chuck McElroy (1989-2001) had a long career in which he won 38 games, saved 17 and had a solid 3.90 ERA. He played for nine teams in 13 seasons but never made it to the playoffs. Cal McLish (1944-64) won 92 games as a journeyman swingman. His full name – we’re not making this up – was Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish (which isn’t quite as long as Alan Mitchell Edward George Patrick Henry Gallagher, but is infinitely more creative). Lefty Cyclone Miller (1884-86) won 14 games during the 1880s. Chris Michalak (1998-2006), another lefty, was a reasonably effective swingman. Cla Meredith (2005- ), a sidearmer, has been a dependable middle reliever. And, yes, his name is not Clay, not Cal, but Cla – Olise Cla Meredith.

Bench: Carmelo Martinez (1983-91) was a first baseman and corner outfielder who hit 108 home runs in his career. Clyde McCullough (1940-56) was your basic .250 hitter with good defensive skills, and he beats out Charlie Moore for the backup catching job in part because he later managed the hometown Tidewater Tides. Outfielder Chito Martinez (1991-93) was a lefty slugger who showed promise with the Orioles but had a short career. Craig Monroe (2001-09) was an outfielder who hit 115 home runs, mostly for the Tigers. Despite his middle name (Keystone), Monroe never played second base or shortstop, meaning utility infielder Chippy McGarr (1884-96) will be the only backup infielder on the bench at this point. He’s got a great name, sounds like a swashbuckling pirate, and his sepia-toned photograph at baseballreference.com fits that image quite fine.

Manager: Connie Mack was one of the central figures in baseball history, managing for 53 years and setting unreachable records for both wins (3,731) and losses (3,948). The losing record is deceptive. Mack owned the teams that Philadelphia A’s teams that he managed, and he went through long periods when he could not afford to put frontline talent on the field. But he won nine pennants and five World Series titles, and he was the architect of two of baseball’s greatest teams – the 1909-14 A’s, and the 1928-32 A’s. He was a soft-spoken, dignified man – he wore a suit and tie in the dugout and was always addressed as “Mr. Mack” – and he liked to work with college educated players. He will enjoy managing Mathewson and Chief Meyers on this team. He was a tremendous judge of talent and a smart strategist, one of the great managers in history.

CP: The Carter Phelpses

Infield: First baseman Carlos Pena (2001- ) is a slugger with a decent glove. He hit 46 home runs for Tampa in 2007 and led the AL with 39 two years later. Through 2011, he has 258 career home runs, but he may be running out of steam, having hit below .230 for three straight years. He strikes out a whole lot, but he draws a ton of walks, too, so he still has value. We’ll see how much of it he holds onto as he hits his mid-30s. Third baseman Craig Paquette (1993-2003) hit for a low average, didn’t draw any walks, struck out too much and had no speed. His mid-range power – he could hit 15-20 home runs per year and had 99 for his career – wasn’t enough to really offset hit shortcomings. He hung around for a long time and had a few years when he was actually alright. Second baseman Charlie Pick (1914-20) played 13 years in the minors (batting over .300) and spent six years in the majors (as a contact hitter who would bat . 260-.270). He batted .389 for the Cubs in the 1918 World Series. Shortstop Cliff Pennington (2008- ) is in mid-career with Oakland, a rather nondescript player who isn’t terrible at anything but isn’t all that good at anything either.

Outfield: Center fielder Corey Patterson (2000- ) has got good wheels, a decent glove and a little pop. He doesn’t get on base enough to bat at the top of the order and doesn’t have enough power to bat in the middle, but given regular playing time he’ll steal a lot of bases, hit a few home runs and track down the flies in center. A team could do worse. Left fielder Curtis Pride (1993-2006) has been the only deaf player in the majors in the past half-century. An outstanding athlete, he played elite soccer at the international level as a teen and started at point guard for the basketball team at College of William and Mary. He had a long career in the minors, in which he hit 150 home runs and stole 300 bases; in the majors, he was a journeyman but managed to play in more than 400 games. He won MLB’s Tony Conigliaro Award for overcoming adversity, and he and his wife run a charitable organization that benfits hearing-impaired athletes. Currently coaches the baseball team at Gallaudet University. Right fielder Charlie Pabor (1871-75) played in the era immediately after the Civil War, and he sported a wicked set of mutton-chop sideburns. He was a decent hitter, as far as we can tell from the stats of his era, and he also pitched enough to set a rather obscure record – most career innings pitched (51 1/3) without recording a strikeout.

Catcher: Cy Perkins (1915-34) had a six-year run as a starter for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s, stuck in the middle of a long career as a platoon player and backup. He’ll have to be durable here, as there is no backup available. Perkins appears to be the only person with the initials C.P. ever to catch in the majors. Perkins was the A’s starter when a young kid named Mickey Cochrane arrived, and he was enough of a team player to recognize the future when he saw it. Perkins helped Cochrane develop his defensive skills and then accepted a backup role as Cochrane took over the starting job and went on to a Hall of Fame career.

Rotation: Camilo Pascual (1954-71) was a Cuban workhorse who spent most of his career with the Senators/Twins and put up a 174-170 record despite playing for generally bad teams. He led the AL three times in complete games, three times in shutouts and three times in strikeouts, finishing his career with more than 2,100 strikeouts. During the winters he would return to his native Cuba and pitch there, winning two league MVP awards. Claude Passeau (1935-47) was another durable righty, and he won 162 games for the Cubs and Phillies. He was a solid pitcher who helped himself in many ways – he had good control, didn’t allow the long ball and even hit 15 career home runs. His career highlight was a 1-hit shutout in the 1945 World Series. Chan Ho Park (1994-2010) was the first South Korean to play in the majors, and he won 124 games in his career. He had a knack for giving up noteworthy home runs. In 1999, he gave up two grand slams in the same inning to Fernando Tatis (which suggests that maybe the manager stuck with him just a little too long), and in 2001 he gave up Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 71st home run. Also in 2001, Park gave up a home run to Cal Ripken in Ripken’s last all-star game. There was much attention focused on Ripken at that game, and many people suspected that Park grooved a pitch in order to let Ripken have one last hurrah on the big stage. There was a nasty on-field incident in 1999 when Park bunted the ball and then got into a fight with Tim Belcher after the tag – Park elbowed Belcher in the face and delivered a flying, spinning karate kick, later accusing Belcher of using some sort of racial slur. He was a pretty decent pitcher until he signed a big free agent contract with the Rangers and began getting lit up in the hitter-friendly ballpark in Arlington. Carl Pavano (1998- ) finished the 2011 season with a career record of 106-102. He’s never really been anything more than a solid middle-of-the-rotation guy. He gave up McGwire’s 70th home run in 1998 (so he can talk with Chan Ho Park about that one), and he pitched very well for the Marlins during their run to the 2003 World Series title. He started out as a hot pitching prospect in the Red Sox organization, and Boston traded him to Montreal in the deal that brought Pedro Martinez to the Sox. He has had a decent career, but he tends to be more known for his injury history and his penchant for dating actresses and models. Casey Patten (1901-08) won 106 games despite pitching for some really, really miserable Washington Senators teams. This gives the CP team, rather surprisingly, an entire rotation of pitchers with more than 100 victories.

Bullpen: Closer Chris Perez (2008- ) is just hitting what should be the prime of his career with Cleveland. He’s been up and down, but he’s got good stuff and he’s had some success in the closer role. The bullpen is not as deep as the rotation, so he’ll be needed. Righty Cliff Politte (1998-2006) was a St. Louis boy who came up with his hometown Cardinals and then drifted around to three other teams in a solid career that saw him win 22 games and save 15. Chris Peters (1996-2001) was a lefty swingman who won 19 games for the Pirates. Lefty Carolos Perez (1995-2000) was a starter who will function as a long man out of this pen, and he’ll get some starts when Carl Pavano is laid up. He was talented enough to pitch in the all-star game as a rookie, but a great and stable career simply wasn’t in the cards for him. One of the mercurial Perez brothers, along with Pascual and Melido, he was always making headlines for something – getting arrested or injured, dropping some crazy quote on reporters or being accused of laziness. At bat, he would swing for the fences no matter what the count or the situation, so he hit a few home runs and struck out a boatload. He was never dull. Chad Paronto (2001-09) was a big dude, listed at 6-5 and 255, and he generally pitched alright for several years. Charlie Puleo (1981-89) was a swingman who won 29 games in his career. Clay Parker (1987-92) knocked around the American League for a few years.

Bench: Outfielder Carlos Paula (1954-56) was a Cuban who batted .312 in the minors and .271 in the majors but never showed a lot of power, speed or defense. He’ll be a useful bench player here. Utility infielder Chris Pittaro (1985-87) didn’t hit much. Outfielder Cap Peterson (1962-69) apparently got his nickname because his initials are C-A-P. (He wasn’t a team captain, and everyone else wore the same type of hat, so the initials make the most sense.) First baseman Calvin Pickering (1998-2005) was a big, slow slugger who never got a foothold in the majors. First baseman Chris Parmelee (2011- ) played in the second half of 2011 for the Twins and hit the snot out of the ball. He’s young, and we don’t know yet if this was a quick hot streak or the start of a fine career. It’s enough to land him a spot on this bench – for now. Likewise, two rookies – Cleveland infielder Cord Phelps and Seattle outfielder Carlos Peguero – are young and very talented, and it feels like just a matter of time before they push Calvin Pickering and Cap Peterson aside. Meanwhile, someone is going to have to learn to catch so that Cy Perkins can get the occasional breather.

Manager: Cum Posey made it to the Hall of Fame on the basis of a Negro League career that saw him win nine straight league pennants and two black World Series titles. An exceptional basketball player in his younger years, he switched to baseball and had a decent playing career but is best known as the manager/owner/promoter who turned Pittsburgh’s Homestead Grays into a powerhouse.

CR: The Cliff Robertsons

Infield: Shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. (1981-2001) is overrated and underrated at the same time, which happens sometimes to living legends. He played in 2.632 consecutive games, breaking Lou Gehrig’s “unbreakable” Iron Man streak by 500 games. Perhaps you already knew that. Over the course of that streak, Ripken emerged in some views as a superhuman hero who was incapable of doing anything wrong – in the wake of the disastrous 1994 work stoppage, Ripken’s larger-than-life image was considered to be one of the factors that helped draw fans back to the game. But then there was the backlash. A lot of people got tired of how The Streak dominated baseball talk, and they painted Ripken as a selfish player who put his own accomplishments ahead of his team’s success. To those who saw him as a hero, Ripken was the best player in baseball; to those who saw him as selfish, he was an average player lifted to a higher status because of a record that was impressive but irrelevant to the goal of winning baseball games. So what’s the truth? The truth is, he was one of the five best shortstops in history. He won two MVP awards, and even when he wasn’t playing at that level, he was a good (but not great) hitter. Defensively, he was far better than people realized. At 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, he was bigger than traditional shortstops, so he didn’t fit the mold of the little wiry guy diving all over the place (think Ozzie Smith) – but he had a powerful and accurate arm, which allowed him to play deeper than other shortstops and therefore cover more ground, even without leaping and diving. He finished his career with 3,184 hits, including 603 doubles and 431 home runs. He drove in 1,695 runs and scored 1,647. A shortstop who can hit like that while playing good defense and being the top ambassador for his team and his sport – that’s a very good player. Yes, it is true that The Streak itself was overrated, and if the popular image of Saint Cal was overdone. But Ripken was a hell of a ballplayer. Remember, he came to the majors as a third baseman (folks thought Earl Weaver was nuts in 1982 when he decided to move the big guy to shortstop). He might move back to that position on this C.R. team if third baseman Charlie Reilly (1889-97) doesn’t get the job done. (That would be “Princeton Charlie” Reilly, not to be confused with Charles Nelson Reilly, the goofy game-show celebrity from the 1970s.) At age 22, Reilly joined the Columbus team in the American Association for a weeklong trial at the end of the season, and he went 11-for-23 with three home runs and nine stolen bases. As you might imagine, that was enough to win a job for the following season. Well, after that he was a very ordinary player – mediocre or sub-mediocre for the rest of his career. In fact, after hitting three home runs in his first week, he went on to play in more than 600 games and his career high in home runs was … uh … four. According to some sources, he has the distinction of being the first batter ever used as a pinch-hitter. Second baseman Claude Ritchey (1897-1909), a 5-foot-6 firebrand who was affectionately known as “Little All Right,” is best known as Honus Wagner’s double play partner. In fact, they played together with several minor-league teams before their long tenure together with the Pirates, and they were roommates and close friends. Ritchey was a very ordinary hitter, but a teriffic glove man. First baseman Claude Rossman (1904-09) was a decent line drive hitter for Cleveland and Detroit in his mid-20s. He was out of the majors before he turned 30, but he hit .300-plus a few more times in the minors.

Outfield: Right fielder Carl Reynolds (1927-39) was a .300 hitter who put up a good number of extra-base hits. His best season was 1930, when he batted .359 with 104 RBI and 103 runs for the White Sox – a very good season, but not exactly eye-popping in the A.L. in the 1930s. He is perhaps best known for his participation in an on-field brawl that began when he bowled over Yankees catcher Bill Dickey, prompting Dickey to break Reynolds' jaw. Center fielder Cody Ross (2003- ) is a .260-.270 hitter – some doubles and home runs, lousy strike zone judgment – who hit three home runs in the 2010 NLCS for the eventual World Series champion Giants. Left fielder Chief Roseman (1882-90) was a solid hitter with gap power. He bounced around the American Association for the better part of a decade.

Catcher: Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz (2006- ) is a very ordinary catcher who hit very well for the Phillies in the 2008 NLCS and World Series.

Rotation: Charlie Root (1923-41) is known to generations of fans as the guy who gave up Babe Ruth’s “called shot” in the 1932 World Series. But let’s move past that, OK? After all, Root was a pretty fair pitcher – the winningest pitcher in Chicago Cubs history. His career record was 201-160, and in 1927 he went 26-15 and led the NL in victories. It is ironic that Root is best known for giving up a home run. In general he was very good about keeping the ball in the park – playing in an era of high offense, he only gave up a home run every 18 innings – but things were very different in the postseason. In 22 2/3 World Series innings, Root gave up eight home runs (including Ruth’s “called shot” and the home run that Gehrig hit on the very next pitch). Charlie Robertson (1919-28) served in World War I, pitched one game for the 1919 Black Sox, spent the next two years in the minors before rejoining the cleansed White Sox in 1922 – and promptly threw a perfect game in his third major-league start. His career sort of went downhill from there. He pitched for bad teams, and he didn’t pitch all that well, so he finished with a 49-80 record. Clayton Richard (2008- ) went 14-9 with the Padres in 2010 and is still in his prime. He has yet to establish himself as an especially good pitcher, but he's not bad either. We'll see where he goes from here. Chuck Rainey (1979-84) was an itinerant swing man who is perhaps best remembered for the time when he and Mark Clear were warming up for Boston, prompting the broadcaster to say “It’s Clear and Rainey in the Red Sox bullpen.” (Rimshot.) Rainey was 43-35 in his career. Chick Robitaille (1904-05) pitched briefly for Pittsburgh and actually pitched very well – 12-8, career ERA of 2.56. He was a fine pitcher in the minors and did well when he pitched in the bigs as well.

Bullpen: Closer Claude Raymond (1959-71) was a French-Canadian from Quebec who hung around long enough to pitch for the expansion Montreal Expos. He was popular enough with fans that he spent many years in the broadcast booth for the Expos’ French radio affiliate. He had a 46-53 record with 83 saves in his career. Chris Reitsma (2001-07) was born in the U.S. (Minneapolis) but raised in Canada (Calgary), and thus has dual citizenship and pitched for the Canadian Olympic team. He was 32-46 with 37 career saves. Chris Ray (2005- ), who has no known affiliations with Canada, pitched well as a 23-year-old rookie in 2005 and then became the Orioles’ closer and saved 33 games in 2006. Things went downhill from there, and he is trying to reestablish himself in his late 20s. Carlos Reyes (1994-2003) was a generally dependable middle reliever for five teams. Lefty Clay Rapada (2007- ) has had a very fine minor-league career and is 4-0 in various trials in the majors. He gets bonus points from being a local boy from Portsmouth, Virginia (just as Chris Ray gets bonus points for playing at the College of William and Mary). Chris Resop (2005- ) is in mid career and has a great arm, but he need to work on his consistency. Curt Raydon (1958) pitched for the Pirates at age 24, going 8-4 with a 3.62 ERA. One of those victories was a 4-hit shutout of the Giants, who had the best offense in the National League that year. For whatever reason, Raydon went back to the minors in 1959, pitched for several more seasons, but never made it back to the majors. Oddly enough, in his one season in Pittsburgh he went 1-for-38 as a hitter – but drew six walks.

Bench: Craig Reynolds (1975-89) was a shortstop who could possibly replace Charlie Reilly in the starting lineup at shortstop and bump Ripken back to third base. He batted .256 for his career, with no power or speed and not many walks, but he was a good glove at shortstop and a very good bunter, and he did manage to play in a couple of all-star games. Infielder Cookie Rojas (1962-77) was a similar model – a .263 hitter with no power or speed and not many walks, but a good bunter. From 1971-74, in his mid-30s, he averaged .276 with 5 homers and 9 steals and played average defense at second base – but he played in four straight all-star games and received votes on MVP ballots in two of those years. Go figure. Colby Rasmus (2009- ) is an extremely talented young outfielder who could very easily move into the starting lineup on this team – but we’ll wait to see just a bit more before that happens. Infielder Connie Ryan (1942-54) was a similar type player to Craig Reynolds and Cookie Rojas. He was once ejected from a game for going up to the plate wearing a raincoat to protest the umpires’ decision to continue a game during a downpour. (You have to admit, that’s pretty funny.) Backup catacher Charlie Reipschlager (1883-87) has a name that is very fun to say in a fast, sharp tone of voice. Try it. Reipschlager! Reipschlager! See?

Manager: Cal Ripken Sr. was a longtime coach and minor-league with the Orioles and played a role in shaping many great players who came up through that farm system, from Jim Palmer to Eddie Murray (and of course, his sons Cal Jr. and Billy). His term as manager of the Orioles was brief, unpleasant and unsuccessful, but he was a highly respected institution within the organization. He was a chain-smoking taskmaster who believed in discipline and was fond of saying that “practice doesn’t make perfect – perfect practice makes perfect.”

CS: The Charles Schulzes

Infield: Shortstop Chris Speier (1971-89) looked like a budding star in his early 20s. He was a good defensive shortstop with a cannon arm ad enough power to hit 10-15 home runs a year. Back problems set in, and he never developed much as a hitter, but he was still a good glove man, and he played until he was almost 40. Speier played in three all-star games before his 25th birthday but never played in another one. Still, a good defensive shortstop who finishes his career with 112 home runs, 720 RBI and 770 runs is a guy who has some value. Third baseman Chris Sabo (1988-96) was hard-nosed guy with a crew cut and a pair of “Rec Specs” perscription goggles. He arrived in Cincinnati as a 26-year-old rookie filling in for an injured Buddy Bell, and he responded by hitting .271 with 40 doubles and 46 stolen bases, winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award. In 1990, he batted .563 with two home runs in the Reds’ sweep of Oakland in the World Series, and the following year he batted .301 with 26 home runs and 88 RBI, all career highs. Various injuries set in after that and he began to struggle. As a role player in 1996, he was caught using a corked bat and took that as a sign that it was time to retire (though he did the perfunctory job of claiming that he had no idea whatsoever how that cork got inside of his bat). First baseman Chris Shelton (2004-10) was a consistent .300 hitter in the minors but could never stick in the majors. He generally played well enough in the majors – in 299 games, he hit .273 with 37 homers, 124 RBI and 132 runs – but he wasn’t able to hold onto a job. One quarter of his career home runs were hit during the first two weeks of the 2006 season, a power surge he was unable to sustain or recapture. Second baseman Cub Stricker (1882-93) was 5-foot-3 and had a mustache like a walrus. He was a very weak hitter but had good speed, and he played in the early versioin of the majors for 11 years.

Outfield: Right fielder Cy Seymour (1896-1913) had a big year for the Reds in 1905, missed the NL triple crown by one home run – leading the league in batting (.377), slugging (.559), hits (219), doubles (40), triples, (21), runs batted in (121) and total bases (325). Not a bad season for a converted pitcher – he won 61 games in his mound career, including a 25-19 record for the 1898 Giants. The 1905 season was his best by far. In fact, it was the only time he ever lead the league in any offensive categories. But he was a good player for a long time – a .303 career average with 799 RBI. Left fielder Chick Stahl (1896-1906) played at the same time as Seymour and had a .305 career average. He was a fine player, one of the stars of the Boston Red Sox team that won the inaugural World Series in 1903. The team began struggling in the next few years, and Stahl was promoted to player-manager near the end of the 1906 season. The Red Sox didn’t do well, and it weighed heavily on him. He resigned as manager during the offseason, but the team ownership begged him to reconsider. In March 1907, as the team was in Florida preparing for the upcoming season, the 34-year-old Stahl committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid that had been prescribed to him for external use on a foot injury. Center fielder Chris Singleton (1999-2005) had a good rookie year with the White Sox - .300 with 31 doubles, 17 home runs and 20 steals while playing solid defense in center. He was never that good again, though he was generally a decent hitter and an above-average glove.

Catcher: Carl Sawatski (1948-63) was primarily a backup catcher with some pretty good teams, including the World Series champion 1957 Braves. He was a tremendous slugger in the minors – more than 200 career home runs, including 45 in one season – but his single-season high in the majors was 15, and that was at age 34.

Rotation: Curt Schilling (1988-2007) might have had the most interesting career of his era. A prospect for the Red Sox, he was traded to the Orioles (along with a young Brady Anderson) in exchange for an aging Mike Boddicker. Now that the Orioles had Anderson to play center, they decided that they no longer needed the young Steve Finley, so they packaged up Finley, Schilling and Pete Harnisch and shipped them to the Astros for an injured Glenn Davis. The Astros thought Schilling could be their closer but he struggled a bit, so they traded Schilling to the Phillies in exchange for Jason Grimsley, a mediocre pitcher who later became one of the central figures in the steroid scandals that plagued the sport. At that point, Schilling was just 25 years old but had already been involved in three trades that would come to look ludicrous with the benefit of hindsight; in Philadelphia he joined the rotation and hit his stride. He won 14 games with a 2.35 ERA in 1992, and then went 16-7 the following season. A couple of seasons marked by injuries followed, but in his 30s he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. He won 20 games three times, struck out 300 batters three times and ended his career with 216 wins and 3,116 strikeouts. He was also one of the dominant postseason pitchers of all time, with an 11-2 record and a 2.23 ERA and two of the most legendary performances in recent World Series history. In 2001, he made three dominant starts against the Yankees, sharing Series MVP honors with Randy Johnson. In 2004, he helped the Red Sox win their first championship in 86 years – during Boston’s dramatic ALCS victory over the Yankees, he pitched with blood seeping through his sock from an injured ankle that had been surgically repaired using tendons from a cadaver in a procedure that had never been attempted before. The bloody sock is now on display in Cooperstown. CC Sabathia is a 6-foot-7, 290-pound workhorse who is still in mid-career and at his peak pitching for the Yankees. Having led the AL in victories in 2009 and 2010, he certainly has a shot to top Schilling in victories, and maybe in strikeouts, too. We shall see. His performance with the Brewers, while brief, remains incredible. Acquired from Cleveland at mid-season in 2008, he went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA and led the National League in complete games (7) and shutouts (3) despite making just 17 starts for Milwaukee, hitting a couple of home runs for good measure. Schilling and Sabathia look to be the big hosses atop the rotation. Curt Simmons (1947-67) was no slouch either, winning 193 games, primarily for the Phillies and the Cardinals. He never won 20, but he was between 14-17 wins seven times – including a 17-8 record for the Whiz Kid Phillies of 1950 and 18-9 for the 1964 World Series champion Cardinals. Lefty Chris Short (1959-73) and the Phillies came out on the wrong end of that 1964 pennant race, famously collapsing down the stretch while the Cardinals surged past them. Short went 17-9 that year with a 2.20 ERA, and he finished his career with 135 victories. With Schilling and Sabathia atop the rotation, followed by Simmons and Short, the team has a solid, durable foursome that will most likely log some extra starts, leaving the fifth spot open to a variety of spot starters, perfect for manager Casey Stengel who always loved mixing things up. The primary guy in the five hole will be lefty Chuck Stobbs (1947-61), who won 107 games in his career but also lost 130, including an 8-20 season for the Senators in 1957.

Bullpen: Not nearly as strong as the rotation. Closer Calvin Schiraldi (1984-91) had 21 career saves and a 4.28 ERA, and he is perhaps best known as one of the key figures in the Red Sox’s famous implosion in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series (a.k.a. The Bill Buckner Game). Schiraldi did have a 1.41 ERA for Boston that season, but that was the only year when he was anything like a top-notch reliever. Carl Scheib (1943-54), a bonus baby who joined the Philadelphia A’s at age 16 and won 45 games in his career, will pitch in long relief and spot starts. Chuck Seelbach (1971-74) only had one full season in the majors – 61 of his 75 career games came for Detroit in 1972, and he pitched pretty well. But a shoulder injury ended his career in his mid-20s, so he retired and became a teacher at his old high school. Chris Sampson (2006- ) is a contemporary reliever for the Astros who has done nothing noteworthy. Lefty Clyde “Hardrock” Shoun (1935-49) will get some spot starts as well. Though he was primarily a reliever, he did have three seasons with 13-14 victories on his way to a career record of 73-59. Craig Swan (1973-84) won 59 games for the Mets and in 1978 was the NL ERA leader at 2.43. Carlos Silva (2002- ) is a big Venezuelan righty who has a 70-70 record but spent 2011 in the minors and may be done. It didn't bode well when the Cubs released him during spring training 2011 and a team executive said that Silva's production was "way below major-league standards," and that he "seems to have the continual problem of blaming everyone but himself."

Bench: Cory Snyder (1986-94) was a utility guy who could play all over the field, and he had plenty of power. Unfortunately, he had no concept of the strike zone, and as a result he averaged 150 strikeouts per 162 games with just 34 walks. This combination of skills made him an undeniable value on the roster, but very limited usefulness as an everyday player. Backup catcher Clyde Sukeforth (1926-45) is best known for his tenure as a coach with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was technically Jackie Robinson’s first major-league manager, since he was Brooklyn’s interim manager for the first two games of the 1947 season – after Leo Durocher got suspended and before Burt Shotton got hired. Utility infielders Craig Shipley (1986-98) and Chris Stynes (1995-2002) were role players who hit in the .270s. Champ Summers (1974-84) beats out Chick Shorten for the last spot on the bench, in part because Summers thrived as a pinch-hitter and in part because it’s gotta be good karma to have a guy named Champ.

Manager: Casey Stengel. What more do you need to say? He was a colorful character with some bad teams in Brooklyn and Boston before he went on to win 10 pennants and seven World Series titles with the Yankees. Then he finished as the grandfatherly boss of the notorious expansion Mets, of whom he famously asked, “Can’t anybody here play this game?” Along the way, he became legendary for his offbeat way of speaking, often getting lost in mid-thought and ending up taking a circuitous route to the end of the sentence. He was famous for changing his lineup from one day to the next, playing whims and hunches, but it worked.