Infield: First baseman Andres “The Big Cat” Galarraga
(1985-2004) had his biggest years in the high air of Colorado. That’s where he
won his batting title (.370 in 1993), his home run title (47 in 1996) and his
two RBI titles (150 in 1996 and 140 in 1997). Yes, those numbers were inflated
by altitude, but they weren’t totally illusions. The Big Cat could hit. He
finished with 399 home runs and 1425 RBI; his strikeout-walk ratios sucked, but
he did get hit by a lot of pitches, which helped push his career on-base
percentage to .347. He spent eight years in Montreal and five in Colorado, and
for the rest of his two-decade career he was itinerant, moving from team to
team and playing with lots of great ballplayers along the way. Third baseman
Alex Gordon (2007- ) is really more at home in left field, but the way the AG
lineup shakes out, he returns to his original position. He came up through the
Royals’ system as a highly touted third baseman, earning comparisons to George
Brett. He struggled for several years to live up to expectations, but then at
age 27 he moved to the outfield and became the team’s leader and most
dependable hitter. A lifelong Royal (so far), he was a key contributor to the
2015 world champs. At shortstop, there is some confusion, because there were
two shortstops named Alex Gonzalez who played around the same time and had amazingly
similar skill sets. How similar? The one who played mostly for the Blue Jays
had a career average of .243, a career OPS+ of 79, and per 162 games he
averaged 32 doubles, three triples and 16 home runs; the one who played mostly
for the Marlins batted .245 with a career OPS+ of 79, and per 162 games
averaged 33 doubles, three triples and 16 home runs. Neither one was a Gold
Glove shortstop, and neither one was an utter klutz at the position. It would
be great if they could platoon, but they’re both righties. So the starter will
be Alex Gonzalez (1994-2006), the one who played with the Blue Jays. He drew a
few more walks and pushed his on-base percentage higher. But both Alex
Gonzalezes will see playing time at short, and we’re not sure anyone will be
able to tell the difference anyway. No “A.G.” has ever had a significant career
at second base, so we’ll be moving Alfredo Griffin (1976-93) there from his
natural shortstop position. He did play 55 games (336 innings) at second base.
For a guy who couldn’t hit, he had a rather interesting career. Griffin was the
AL Rookie of the Year in 1979 (when he batted .287 for Toronto at age 21); he
made the all-star team in 1984 despite batting .241 with just four walks and no
power, and he won a Gold Glove in ’85 despite making 30 errors. What most
people remember who actually watched Griffin play was his aggressiveness on the
basepaths. He wasn’t a great base stealer, but he was quick and tremendously
alert. If he saw the opportunity, he would score from second on an infield out,
or tag up and take third on a pop-up to short. You can’t do those things often,
but Griffin always seemed to spot the opportunities.
Outfield: OK, Adrian Gonzalez (2004- ) isn’t really an
outfielder. He’s a first baseman, but he has started 21 games in right field,
and we do need to find a way to get both him and Andres Galarraga into the
middle of the batting order with their big sticks. So we’ll plant Gonzalez in
right and hope for the best. He had a stretch in which he drove in 100 more
runs seven times in eight seasons, and the one year he missed he drove in 99.
Solid hitter all around; he’s passed the 300-homer mark for his career, but he
might need a resurgence to reach 400. Left fielder Augie Galan (1934-49) was
never all that famous, and he’s all but forgotten now, but he was a hell of a
good player – a career .287 hitter who drew plenty of walks, hit some doubles,
ran reasonably well. Spending most of his career with the Cubs and the Brooklyn
Dodgers, he scored 100 runs four times. He’ll be batting leadoff on this team,
and we’re looking for him to touch the plate often with guys like Gordon,
Galarraga and Adrian Gonzalez coming up behind him. Center fielder Anthony Gose
(2012- ) just isn’t much of a hitter. He runs well – stole almost 300 bases in
the minors – but he doesn’t get on base much, doesn’t hit for power and strikes
out way too much. His biggest contribution will be putting that speed to use in
center, covering some of the ground that Adrian Gonzalez can’t.
Catcher: Alex Gaston (1920-29) was a backup for almost
his entire career, and there’s nothing much exciting about him. A .218 career
hitter with a decent throwing arm and not much else to sell. He occasionally
was the catcher for his younger brother, Milt Gaston, and one afternoon in 1926
when they were on opposing teams, Alex broke up Milt’s no-hitter. Now, it was
on the third inning, but … Milt only gave up one more hit the rest of the day,
and it was noteworthy because Alex crossed his brother up by singling on the
first pitch, when Milt knew very well that Alex pretty much always took the
first pitch.
Rotation: Ad Gumbert (1888-96) won 123 games in his
career and had a couple of 20-win seasons. But then, he played in an era where
pitchers worked a lot of games, and completed them, so winning 22 or 23 games
didn’t exactly get you a lot of attention at the time. When he went 23-12 in
the Players League in 1890, it was a good season but there were three other
guys who won 30 or more. He hit well enough that he occasionally played the
outfield as well. Armando Galarraga (2007-12), no relation to the Big Cat, was
a mediocre pitcher with a penchant for gopher balls, but he earned his spot in
baseball lore on June 2, 2010, when he pitched a perfect game, kinda sorta but
not really. Well, really he did, but he didn’t. It depends how you look at it.
Officially, he didn’t throw a perfect game. Pitching against Cleveland, he got
the first 26 batters out. The 27th, Jason Donald, hit a sharp grounder
to first, and Galarraga ran over to take the throw, beating Donald to the bag
by a half-step. But umpire Jim Joyce inexplicably called him safe. It really
wasn’t close (see the photo), but Joyce just choked. And, kids, this was before
calls could get corrected on replay. So the game continued, Galarraga got the
next guy out, and he finished with a 1-hitter that is colloquialy known as “the
28-out perfect game.” As a nice little coda, fans and media turned their fury
on poor Mr. Joyce, but the next day Galarraga agreed to take the lineup card
out to home plate before the game and
hand it to the emotionally overwhelmed umpire in a lovely show of
sportsmanship. A.J. Griffin (2012- ) won 14 games for Oakland in 2013, with a
3.83 ERA and solid peripheral numbers (despite giving up a league-leading 36
home runs). It was a promising season for a 24-year-old, but then his elbow
gave out; he missed all of 2014 and most of 2015 recovering from Tommy John
Surgery, finally making a handful of starts in the minors at the end of ’15. He
won seven games for the Rangers in 2016 but still had trouble with the long
ball. Al Gerheauser (1943-48) was a lefty who pitched mostly during World War
II, going 25-50 for three teams. Al Grabowski (1929-30), not to be confused
with the Mad Hungarian, pitched in 39 games (14 starts) for the pre-Gashouse
Cardinals. He didn’t do much of note but did have seven future Hall of Famers
as teammates during his brief time in the majors.
Bullpen: There is no obvious closer on the roster, so for
now that task falls to Al Gettel (1945-55), a well-traveled swing man who won
38 games in his career. Gettel logged 734 innings for five teams, and it’s
never a good sign when a pitcher has a higher total of earned runs (349) than
strikeouts (310). He won almost 200 games in the minors and had some
outstanding seasons in the Pacific Coast League; while he was playing in
Southern California, he got into acting and appeared in several TV westerns and
serials, earning the nickname “Two-Gun” Gettel. Angel Guzman (2006-09) had a
career record of 3-10 with the Cubs. Currently a pitching coach in his native
Venezuela. Aubrey Gatewood (1963-70) won eight games and had a 2.78 career ERA.
After three years with the Angels, he knocked around the minors for five years
before having one last cup o’coffee with Atlanta in 1970. Al Gould (1916-17)
was a diminutive righty who won nine games for the Indians during the Tris
Speaker Era. He had a long career in the
Pacific Coast League, winning more than 100 games in the minors and once
pitching complete games in both ends of a doubleheader. Andrew Good (2003-05) was a very consistent
pitcher for Arizona and Detroit – in three seasons his ERAs were 5.29, 5.31 and
5.40 (in five innings). Lefty Al “Stretch” Grunwald (1955-59) was a converted
minor-league first baseman who pitched three games for Pittsburgh in 1955, went
back to the minors, and then worked six games for the Kansas City A’s in 1959.
In addition to his long career in the minors, he played in Mexico and Japan.
Armando Gabino (2009-10) pitched in seven games for the Twins and Orioles,
posting a career ERA of 15.12. His statistics, when extrapolated out to a
162-game season, are truly ghastly.
Bench: The other Alex Gonzalez (1988-2014) is here and
will see his share of playing time at shortstop. We’re not even sure their
families could tell them apart. Third baseman Al Gallagher (1970-73), known as
Dirty Al, wasn’t a terrible hitter. His full name was Alan Mitchell Edward
George Patrick Henry Gallagher, which is believed to be the longest name in
baseball history, surpassing Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish. Adrian
Garrett (1966-76) is the backup catcher.
He’s a lefty stick off the bench, albeit a lefty stick that batted .185
for his career. He did hit 11 home runs
in 276 at-bats, so there’s something. Utility infielder Alex Grammas (1954-63) was
a career .247 hitter. He will start some at second base, but will mostly be
kept busy managing this team. Outfielder Avisail Garcia (2012- ) is just
hitting the prime of his career, but for now he is a .250 hitter with a lot of
strikeouts and a little power. (If Garcia is not working out, Al Gionfriddo –
who made one of the most famous defensive plays in World Series history – could
take his place.)
Manager: Alex Grammas is best known as the third-base
coach for Sparky Anderson’s Big Red Machine in Cincinnati. After the Reds won
the World Series in 1975, the Milwaukee Brewers hired Grammas as their manager
with very high expectations. They finished last in 1976, and avoided a second
year in the cellar only because of an expansion in 1977 that established the
Blue Jays as the AL’s doormat. As the ’77 Brewers circled the drain, Grammas’
players were criticizing his abilities and he was questioning their effort. He
was fired after that season. After coaching one year under Bobby Cox in
Atlanta, Grammas was reunited with Sparky in Detroit and coached third base
there for more than a decade, including the great 1984 championship team.
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