Infield: Dick Allen, by far the most exciting and talented D.A. ever to play the game, spent most of his career at first base and third base, but he will move to the outfield on this team because (a.) we need him more there, and (b.) he was an absolutely brutal defensive player anywhere he went so we might as well shore up the infield defense. First baseman Dale “Moose” Alexander (1929-33) led the AL in hits as a rookie with 215, and he drove in 272 runs in his first two seasons. In 1932, he led the league in batting with a .367 average (just 454 plate appearances, but it qualified at the time). The following season, he injured his knee sliding into home plate, and his leg was inadvertently burned during his subsequent therapy. Gangrene set in, and he almost lost the leg. He never played in the majors again, finishing with a .331 career average. He went back to the minors for several years and ended up with more than 2,100 hits in the minors. Second baseman Dustin Ackley (2011- ), the second player picked in the 2009 draft, is young and he's just getting started, but in his rookie season he has already established himself as the best middle infielder in history with these initials. Too soon to guess what kind of career he'll have, but he hits for a good average, has an excellent command of the strike zone, runs well and has some pop. Keep an eye on this one. Shortstop Dave Anderson (1983-92) was a nondescript utility infielder who spent most of his career with the Dodgers, hitting .240-.250 and holding his own in the field. Third baseman Dave Altizer (1906-11) was a slap hitter who led the NL in being hit by a pitch in 1910.
Outfield: Dick Allen (1963-77) will play left field. He’s not really a left fielder, but then, he wasn’t really a third baseman or a first baseman. One suspects he could have been – he was a spectacular athlete, powerful and fast – but he was always a “professional hitter” who just kind of took up space on defense. But, holy cow, the man could hit. As a 22-year-old rookie, arriving in the middle of a pitcher's era, he batted .318, hit 29 home runs, and led the NL with 13 triples and 125 runs. He batted .300 the next three years, with power and a good number of walks. He would ultimately led the league twice in on-base, three times in slugging, twice in home runs, and once each in runs, RBI, walks and total bases. He was Rookie of the Year in 1964 and MVP in 1972. But his career was plagued, and often overshadowed, by fights with teammates and managers, as well as problems in the clubhouse and off the field. He frequently moved from team to team in the second half of his career, even after big seasons, and barely a year after he won the AL MVP award with the White Sox, another team’s general manager said – on the record – that he wouldn’t take Dick Allen on his roster for free, or even if the team was being paid a bonus to take him. While playing first base, he would use the toe of his shoe to write messages to the fans in the dirt (sometimes they were even printable, like "Boo.") He became so controversial that fans used to throw things at him, prompting him to start wearing a helmet even while in the field, which just made them throw more stuff. He also had a tremendously charming side, which complicated matters further, because he often ended up dividing clubhouses into teammates who loved him and teammates who hated him, to the extent that the 1976 Phillies, upon winning the NL East, reportedly held two separate victory celebrations in the clubhouse – the pro-Allen faction and the anti-Allen faction. His career numbers are outstanding - .292/.378/.534 with 351 home runs, 1119 RBI and 1009 runs in a relatively short career when offense was not inflated at all – but he is remembered as much for the controversy that followed him as he is for his prodigious hitting. Right fielder Dell Alston (1977-80) was a decent prospect who made the mistake of batting .325 in 22 games for the Yankees in 1977, getting people all excited for a while. He wasn’t that good, and he didn’t last long. He ended up batting .238 in 332 at-bats for his career. Center fielder Dave Augustine (1973-74) appeared in 29 games, totaling 29 plate appearances and 29 at-bats (no walks, no hit by pitch, no sacrifices). He batted .207. He had a little bit of speed and he was used occasionally as a pinch-runner, but he was thrown out in his only stolen base attempt.
Catcher: Doug Allison (1871-83) was not a race-car driver, but a gentleman who played catcher for several years after fighting in the Civil War as a teen. He was a decent ballplayer and, by reputation, a sure-handed catcher, although it’s hard to know what to make of the newspaper accounts from the 1870s.
Rotation: Doyle Alexander (1971-89) was a prickly character but also a talented pitcher, for which reason he won 194 games for eight different teams. He was a headstrong guy who preferred to call his own pitches, so he liked to work out a system with his catchers that allowed him to signal what pitch he was throwing without tipping it off to hitters. In one of those “veteran for prospect” trades that teams frequently make in the heat of the pennant race, the Tigers in 1987 traded a young pitcher to Atlanta in exchange for Alexander, who went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA down the stretch to carry the Tigers to the AL East title. On the down side, that young prospect turned out to be John Smoltz, who had a pretty good career last time we checked. Doc Ayers (1913-21) won 64 games in his career, with a 2.84 ERA (a pretty good ERA, even for the deadball era). Don “Dude Stuff” August (1988-91) went 13-7 with a 3.09 ERA as a rookie, but it was all downhill after that. He got pounded for a few years in the majors and drifted away, but then spent almost a decade playing wherever he could find a mound, including Canada, Mexico, Italy and Taiwan. Dave Anderson (1889-90) went 3-13 while pitching for teams in his native Pennsylvania. Dan Adams (1914-15) went 4-11 for two seasons in the Federal League. His middle name was Leslie and his nickname was Rube.
Bullpen: The battle for the closer job is between the first two pitchers in an alphabetical history of baseball – David Aardsma (2004- ) and Don Aase (1977-90). Aardsma is a journeyman who became the Mariners’ closer in 2009 and saved 69 games before missing the entire 2011 season with Tommy John surgery. He’s a fireballer who strikes out a batter per inning, while Aase was more of a junkballer. Aase was a converted starter who saved 82 games in his career, including 34 for the Orioles in 1986. If Aardsma gets a firm grasp on the closer role, Aase might be used to shore up the rotation, which is thin on its back end. Until that point, they'll share the closer and set-up roles. Darrell Akerfelds (1986-91) changed teams pretty much every year. The one time he was given regular work – 71 games, 93 innings for Philadelphia in 1990 – he pitched well, with a 3.77 ERA, though he walked more than he struck out. The Phillies took that as a sign to bring him back the following year, and he got rocked. Dewey Adkins (1942-49) won 115 games in the minors and two in the majors. Lefty Doc Amole (1897-98), whose name rhymes with guacamole, pitched well at age 18, got clobbered at age 19 and didn’t stick around to pitch in the 20th century (though he worked steadily in the minors for several more years). Dale Alderson (1943-44) pitched for the Cubs during World War II and didn’t get many people out. Dennis Aust (1965-66) was 0-1 with a 5.82 ERA for the Cardinals.
Bench: Doug Ault (1976-80) was a first baseman and corner outfielder who played for the expansion Blue Jays. His career amounted to 713 at-bats, a little more than one full season, and he batted .236 with 17 home runs. Dick Attreau (1926-27), a lefty first baseman, was a .300 hitter in the minors but a .215 hitter in the majors. Outfielder Drew Anderson (2006) was 1-for-9 with the Brewers, but he did score three runs. Utility infielder Dwain Anderson (1971-74) never hit much. He was traded four times in two years, and none of the deals included anyone you've ever heard of. Backup catcher Danny Ardoin (2000-08) batted .206 in 165 major-league games.
Manager: Doug Allison will serve as player-manager. He went 2-21 as manager/captain of the Elizabeth Resolutes in 1873.
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