Infield: First baseman Alvin Davis (1984-92) was sort of Fred McGriff Lite. He wasn’t as good as McGriff, and he didn’t play nearly as long, but he was a similar model – a .280-.290 hitter who drew lots of walks and hit for power. He spent almost his entire career with the Mariners, winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1984 (.284-27-116) and going on to hit 160 career home runs. He will be sharing the infield with Alvin Dark (1946-60), Art Devlin (1904-13) and Aledmys Diaz (2016- ), though the exact configuration is a bit tricky. Diaz and Dark are both shortstops. Devlin is a third baseman who also played sparingly at other infield spots. Nobody played more than a handful of innings at second base. For now, we'll allow Dark and Devlin to stay at their natural positions, and move Diaz to second base, where he played for two innings as a rookie. It's far from perfect, but it feels like the best use of resources for the A.D. roster. Dark was a good enough player that historian Bill James has suggested he may have made the Hall of Fame if the start of his playing career had not been delayed by World War II. He was a good contact hitter with a little bit of power (126 career home runs) and a decent glove. He won a Rookie of the Year Award, played in three all-star games and had a .323 batting average in 16 World Series games. Devlin was also a contact hitter, with more speed than Dark but less power. Diaz is a Cuban defector who had an outstanding rookie year for the Cardinals and is just getting started.
Outfield: Hall of Famer Andre “Hawk” Dawson (1976-96) came up with the Expos as a speed burning center fielder who also hit with power. Knee injuries, complicated by the artificial turf at Stade Olympique, eventually took away his speed and forced him to move to right field, where his powerful throwing arm remained an asset. Dawson hit 438 home runs and drove in almost 1,600 runs, but he had a terrible batting eye that limited his ability to get on base. He was tremendously respected as a team leader and a mentor to young players, which allowed him to stay in the game into his 40s. In 1987, when the owners colluded and secretly agreed not to sign any free agents, Dawson (looking to escape the artificial turf) famously handed the Cubs a blank contract with his signature on it and told them to fill in whatever salary they wanted. The Cubs signed him for $500,000 plus some incentives, and he responded with 49 home runs, 137 RBI and an NL MVP award. That season made him a Cubs legend, and he spent five more years there. Dawson will stay in center field on this team, while Adam Dunn (2001-14) will start in right. Dunn is a huge guy, listed at 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds, and a consistent slugger. How consistent? For four straight years, starting in 2005, he he exactly 40 home runs. He broke that streak by hitting 38 in back-to-back seasons. Dunn is a “three true outcomes” player – just under half of his career plate appearances resulted in either a home run, a strikeout or a walk. His 222 strikeouts in 2012 is the second-highest total of all time, but he also had seven seasons with more than 100 walks, and he hit 462 career home runs. (As a side note, the 2009 Washington Nationals frequently used an outfield of Dunn, Elijah Dukes and Austin Kearns, a trio that according to their officially listed weights that year checked in at a combined 778 pounds. If that ain’t a record, we want to see who beats it.) Left fielder Abner Dalrymple (1878-91) was a 19th-century leadoff batter who ran well and had some pop.
Catcher: Al DeVormer (1918-27) was never more than a backup in the majors, but he played for some very good teams and spent almost his entire major-league career playing for Hall of Fame managers (Miller Huggins, Frank Chance and John McGraw). He was a respected defensive catcher and a popualr teammate, and he stuck around in the minors until he was 40.
Rotation: Lefty Al Downing (1961-77) came up with the Yankees in the final years of the Mantle-Berra-Ford dynasty, a kid with an overpowering fastball but also with control problems (he led the AL in both strikeouts and walks in 1964). He eventually got it together enough to win 123 games, including a 20-9 season for the Dodgers in 1971. He was a good pitcher – very, very good at times – but he is probably best known for giving up Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th home run. Al Demaree (1912-19) won 80 games for four teams, and he had some good seasons along the way. After he retired, he went on to an even more prominent career, spending several decades drawing highly distinctive sports-themed narrative cartoons for The Sporting News. Art Ditmar (1954-62) was nothing special as a pitcher, but he had the good fortune to spend a few years with the Yankees – in the years right before Al Downing – and therefore he won three pennants and a World Series title. Ditmar split his career between the powerhouse Yankees and the laughingstock A’s – he was 47-32 with a 3.24 ERA with the Yankees, and 25-45 with a 4.97 ERA with the A’s. Atley Donald (1938-45) spent his whole career with the Yankees during the DiMaggio era, putting up a career record of 65-33. He won three World Series titles with the Yankees, though he didn’t appear in the 1939 or ’43 World Series and he pitched badly in the 1941 Series. Anthony Desclafani (2014- ) has got a live arm and decent command. He has won 20 games (and lost 20) in three years for Cincinnati.
Bullpen: Closer Adrian Devine (1973-80) had 11 wins and 15 saves for the Rangers in 1977, which was the highlight of his career. Probably the most interesting detail of his career is the trade history that shuttled him back and forth between Atlanta and Texas. He came up with the Braves and was traded in 1976 to Texas as part of a package for Jeff Burroughs, who was two years removed from his AL MVP award. A year later, he went back to the Braves in a massive deal that involved 11 players moving among four teams. Two years after that, the Rangers traded him back to Atlanta. It seemed like every December at the winter meetings, the Braves and Rangers would exchange Adrian Devine. Art Decatur (1922-27) won 23 games for the Brooklyn Robins and the Philadelphia Phillies. Art Delaney (1924-29) had a distinguished minor-league career but largely got hammered in the majors. He’s a set-up man in this rather thin bullpen. Andy Dunning (1889-91) pitched a total of three games in the majors, all before his 20th birthday, and he appears to have gotten clobbered in all three. Two of them were complete game starts. Arthur Doll (1936-38) pitched in a total of four games and seems to have had better luck than Andrew Dunning. Alec Distaso (1969) pitched in two games for the Cubs at age 20, and he was out of baseball due to arm injuries before he turned 22. He went on to a career with the L.A.P.D. Art Daney (1928) had a major-league career that consisted of one scoreless inning for the Philadelphia A’s. That means the last four guys in our bullpen pitched in a total of 10 major-league games – we’ll be looking for some complete games out of our rotation.
Bench: Argenis Diaz (2010) was an infielder who spent part of one year in the majors and didn't do much, though he could still get some starts on this thin roster. Backup catcher Alex Delgado (1996) spent 18 years in the minors and in Mexico but only got a brief shot in the majors with the Red Sox. Outfielder Alejandro de Aza (2007- ) is a lefty stick with a bit of speed who has bounced all around the majors. He isn't great at anything, but he is OK at everything. That makes him a useful reserve. Adam Duvall (2014- ) is a first baseman and corner outfielder who hit 33 home runs and drove in 103 runs for Cincinnati in 2016, his first full season. He also struck out 164 times. On powe ralone he's got a place on this bench. Outfielder Andy Dirks (2011-13 ) was a decent lefty hitter who never got enough of a foothold in the majors, but he'll be a fine sub and pinch-hitter here.
Manager: Alvin Dark will be player-manager. He won a pennant with the 1962 Giants (might have won the World Series if McCovey had hit the ball three feet to either side on the final play of Game 7), and then won a World Series title with the A’s in 1974 (replacing Dick Williams, who had won titles in Oakland the previous two years but then quit because he was tired of dealing with owner Charles Finley). His career record was 994-954. Early in his managerial career there was the perception that he had difficulties dealing with players of color. A magazine article quoted him saying that blacks and Latins lacked the “mental alertness” of white players; he claimed that he had been misquoted, and several players such as Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson spoke up for him. He later became a devout Christian, which led to a very funny column by Mike Royko about the day that Dark came into a blue-collar saloon in Chicago trying to preach the benefits of godliness and clean living. One of the assembled drunks observed that Babe Ruth was (a.) a drinker and a womanizer, and (b.) a better player than Alvin Dark. When Dark agreed with both assessments, the assembled drunks “drank a shot to the memory of Babe Ruth and dirty living.”
Outfield: Hall of Famer Andre “Hawk” Dawson (1976-96) came up with the Expos as a speed burning center fielder who also hit with power. Knee injuries, complicated by the artificial turf at Stade Olympique, eventually took away his speed and forced him to move to right field, where his powerful throwing arm remained an asset. Dawson hit 438 home runs and drove in almost 1,600 runs, but he had a terrible batting eye that limited his ability to get on base. He was tremendously respected as a team leader and a mentor to young players, which allowed him to stay in the game into his 40s. In 1987, when the owners colluded and secretly agreed not to sign any free agents, Dawson (looking to escape the artificial turf) famously handed the Cubs a blank contract with his signature on it and told them to fill in whatever salary they wanted. The Cubs signed him for $500,000 plus some incentives, and he responded with 49 home runs, 137 RBI and an NL MVP award. That season made him a Cubs legend, and he spent five more years there. Dawson will stay in center field on this team, while Adam Dunn (2001-14) will start in right. Dunn is a huge guy, listed at 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds, and a consistent slugger. How consistent? For four straight years, starting in 2005, he he exactly 40 home runs. He broke that streak by hitting 38 in back-to-back seasons. Dunn is a “three true outcomes” player – just under half of his career plate appearances resulted in either a home run, a strikeout or a walk. His 222 strikeouts in 2012 is the second-highest total of all time, but he also had seven seasons with more than 100 walks, and he hit 462 career home runs. (As a side note, the 2009 Washington Nationals frequently used an outfield of Dunn, Elijah Dukes and Austin Kearns, a trio that according to their officially listed weights that year checked in at a combined 778 pounds. If that ain’t a record, we want to see who beats it.) Left fielder Abner Dalrymple (1878-91) was a 19th-century leadoff batter who ran well and had some pop.
Catcher: Al DeVormer (1918-27) was never more than a backup in the majors, but he played for some very good teams and spent almost his entire major-league career playing for Hall of Fame managers (Miller Huggins, Frank Chance and John McGraw). He was a respected defensive catcher and a popualr teammate, and he stuck around in the minors until he was 40.
Rotation: Lefty Al Downing (1961-77) came up with the Yankees in the final years of the Mantle-Berra-Ford dynasty, a kid with an overpowering fastball but also with control problems (he led the AL in both strikeouts and walks in 1964). He eventually got it together enough to win 123 games, including a 20-9 season for the Dodgers in 1971. He was a good pitcher – very, very good at times – but he is probably best known for giving up Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th home run. Al Demaree (1912-19) won 80 games for four teams, and he had some good seasons along the way. After he retired, he went on to an even more prominent career, spending several decades drawing highly distinctive sports-themed narrative cartoons for The Sporting News. Art Ditmar (1954-62) was nothing special as a pitcher, but he had the good fortune to spend a few years with the Yankees – in the years right before Al Downing – and therefore he won three pennants and a World Series title. Ditmar split his career between the powerhouse Yankees and the laughingstock A’s – he was 47-32 with a 3.24 ERA with the Yankees, and 25-45 with a 4.97 ERA with the A’s. Atley Donald (1938-45) spent his whole career with the Yankees during the DiMaggio era, putting up a career record of 65-33. He won three World Series titles with the Yankees, though he didn’t appear in the 1939 or ’43 World Series and he pitched badly in the 1941 Series. Anthony Desclafani (2014- ) has got a live arm and decent command. He has won 20 games (and lost 20) in three years for Cincinnati.
Bullpen: Closer Adrian Devine (1973-80) had 11 wins and 15 saves for the Rangers in 1977, which was the highlight of his career. Probably the most interesting detail of his career is the trade history that shuttled him back and forth between Atlanta and Texas. He came up with the Braves and was traded in 1976 to Texas as part of a package for Jeff Burroughs, who was two years removed from his AL MVP award. A year later, he went back to the Braves in a massive deal that involved 11 players moving among four teams. Two years after that, the Rangers traded him back to Atlanta. It seemed like every December at the winter meetings, the Braves and Rangers would exchange Adrian Devine. Art Decatur (1922-27) won 23 games for the Brooklyn Robins and the Philadelphia Phillies. Art Delaney (1924-29) had a distinguished minor-league career but largely got hammered in the majors. He’s a set-up man in this rather thin bullpen. Andy Dunning (1889-91) pitched a total of three games in the majors, all before his 20th birthday, and he appears to have gotten clobbered in all three. Two of them were complete game starts. Arthur Doll (1936-38) pitched in a total of four games and seems to have had better luck than Andrew Dunning. Alec Distaso (1969) pitched in two games for the Cubs at age 20, and he was out of baseball due to arm injuries before he turned 22. He went on to a career with the L.A.P.D. Art Daney (1928) had a major-league career that consisted of one scoreless inning for the Philadelphia A’s. That means the last four guys in our bullpen pitched in a total of 10 major-league games – we’ll be looking for some complete games out of our rotation.
Bench: Argenis Diaz (2010) was an infielder who spent part of one year in the majors and didn't do much, though he could still get some starts on this thin roster. Backup catcher Alex Delgado (1996) spent 18 years in the minors and in Mexico but only got a brief shot in the majors with the Red Sox. Outfielder Alejandro de Aza (2007- ) is a lefty stick with a bit of speed who has bounced all around the majors. He isn't great at anything, but he is OK at everything. That makes him a useful reserve. Adam Duvall (2014- ) is a first baseman and corner outfielder who hit 33 home runs and drove in 103 runs for Cincinnati in 2016, his first full season. He also struck out 164 times. On powe ralone he's got a place on this bench. Outfielder Andy Dirks (2011-13 ) was a decent lefty hitter who never got enough of a foothold in the majors, but he'll be a fine sub and pinch-hitter here.
Manager: Alvin Dark will be player-manager. He won a pennant with the 1962 Giants (might have won the World Series if McCovey had hit the ball three feet to either side on the final play of Game 7), and then won a World Series title with the A’s in 1974 (replacing Dick Williams, who had won titles in Oakland the previous two years but then quit because he was tired of dealing with owner Charles Finley). His career record was 994-954. Early in his managerial career there was the perception that he had difficulties dealing with players of color. A magazine article quoted him saying that blacks and Latins lacked the “mental alertness” of white players; he claimed that he had been misquoted, and several players such as Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson spoke up for him. He later became a devout Christian, which led to a very funny column by Mike Royko about the day that Dark came into a blue-collar saloon in Chicago trying to preach the benefits of godliness and clean living. One of the assembled drunks observed that Babe Ruth was (a.) a drinker and a womanizer, and (b.) a better player than Alvin Dark. When Dark agreed with both assessments, the assembled drunks “drank a shot to the memory of Babe Ruth and dirty living.”
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