Infield: First baseman Frank Chance (1898-1914) is one of the more interesting players from the first decade of the 20th century. He was the first baseman in the legendary “Tinker to Evers to Chance” Chicago Cubs infield. He was recognized as “The Peerless Leader” of what was, quite simply, the most successful team of all time – the Cubs team that won 530 games (and lost just 235) between 1906-10. Four pennants and two World Series titles in that stretch. As a player? Well, he was very good. He batted .296, had a great batting eye, played a terrific first base, and led the National League in steals twice. He only had a half-dozen seasons in which he played 100 games, but he cruised into the Hall of Fame on the basis of his role on those great Cubs teams and the fame that came from Franklin Adams’ famous bit of baseball poesy. Shortstop Frankie Crosetti (1932-48) knew a little something about winning baseball games, too. He spent his entire career with the Yankees, playing on nine pennant winners and eight World Series champions. When he was done, after handing the position over to Phil Rizzuto, he stayed with the Yankees for several decades as third-base coach and was part of nine more World Series titles. Crosetti was a slick fielder and a light hitter, though he drew enough walks to score a fair number of runs at the top of the powerful Yankees lineup. Second baseman Frank Catalanotto (1997-2010) was a versatile guy who could play infield or outfield. He batted .291 for his career with a decent batting eye and a little pop. Never a star, but always useful. Third baseman Fred Corey (1878-85) was old enough to remember the Civil War, but not old enough to have fought in it. He was an unspectacular player, and his career apparently ended when he lost an eye in a hunting accident.
Outfield: Left fielder Fred Clarke (1894-1915) was a great leadoff batter for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the Honus Wagner Era. He batted .312, stole 500 bases, scored 1,600 runs and finally won a World Series title at age 36. He was an aggressive baserunner, a smart strategic players, and he had a highly successful career as player-manager with the Pirates. Clarke was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1945. Right fielder Fred Carroll (1884-91) also played in Pittsburgh, for the 19th-century Alleghenys, and he led the NL in on-base percentage in 1889. Center fielder Felix Chouinard (1910-15) was a 5-foot-7 sprite who was a bit player in the American League and in the upstart Federal League.
Catcher: Francisco Cabrera (1989-93) wasn'g a very good receiver, had a bit of a weight problem, and he had a bad strikeout-to-walk ratio. On the other hand, he hit for a decent average and had 17 home runs in 351 career at-bats. Best known for delivering the walk-off hit that scored Sid Bream in 1992, sending the Braves to the World Series. His career NLCS stats consist of five pinch-hitting appearances in which he had three hits and three RBI.
Rotation: Frank Castillo (1991-2005) came up with the Cubs and ended as a journeyman, posting a career record of 84-104. He had good control but gave up a lot of hits, and he led the NL in losses in 1996, when he went 7-16 for the Cubs. Frank “Fiddler” Corridon (1904-10) went 70-67, mostly for the Phillies. He is one of the pitchers credited with inventing the spitball. Apparently in the minors he and a teammate came up with the idea and began experimenting to determine just how much saliva to apply in order to get the optimum break on the ball – which must have been some really lovely experiments. Francisco Cordova (1996-2000) went 42-47 for Pittsburgh, which was not a bad record considering how miserable the Pirates were during that period. The highlight of his career was a combined no-hitter – he pitched nine innings in a scoreless tie, and reliever Ricardo Rincon worked a hitless 10th and got the victory. Lefty Fritz Coumbe (1914-21) went 38-38, mostly for the Indians, splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen. Lefty Fritz Clausen (1892-96) went 16-22, which is not a good record but it still makes him the second best Lefty Fritz C in baseball history.
Bullpen: Closer Francisco Cordero (1999- ) has 329 career saves, which is the 12th-highest total of all time. He only needs another dozen saves to crack the top 10, but then … he’s in his late 30s, he wasn’t in the closer role last year, and he got royally hammered in 2012. We’ll see what happens. He had 40-save seasons for three different teams (Texas, Milwaukee and Cincinnati). Fernando Cabrera (2004-10) had a live arm – 193 strikeouts in 175 career innings – but he tended to give up the long ball and that kept his ERA way too high. Floyd Chiffer (1982-84) had a solid rookie year for the Padres, with a 2.95 ERA in 51 games, but he got hurt and was done pretty soon after. Lefty Frank Carpin (1965-66) pitched well for the Pirates in 1965 but not so well for Houston the next year. Fabio Castro (2006-07) was a lefty whose big-league career consisted of 30 games in which he gave up very few hits but a whole lot of walks. He pitched well for a while, but then the bottom fell out. Still in his late 20s and knocking around in the minors. Fred Caligiuri (1941-42) pitched a few games for the Philadelphia A’s in his early 20s. On the final day of the 1941 season, Caligiuri started the second game of a doubleheader. His opponent was Lefty Grove, making his final major-league start. In that game, Ted Williams got two hits off of Caligiuri to emphatically nail down his legendary .406 batting average. Francisco Cruceta (2004-08) appeared in 19 games for three teams. He may not have gotten clobbered in all 19, but it sort of looks that way.
Bench: Catcher and utility man Fred Carisch (1903-23) came up age age 21 and played his last game at age 41, but don’t be confused into thinking he had a 20-year career. At age 41, he appeared in two games while coaching for the Detroit Tigers (without coming to the plate). He played in 226 games and batted .227, which means if the Tigers had been visionary enough to play him in the field one more time in 1923, his games played total would have matched his batting average. Infielder Foster Castleman (1954-58) wasn’t much of a player, but he has a great name (which gets even better when you add his middle name, Ephraim). Infielder Frank Croucher (1939-42) was an even worse player, but his nickname was Dingle. Utility man Frank Connaughton (1894-1906) appeared in 146 major-league games spread out over three seasons. He played forever in the minors, or at least until his mid-40s. Felipe Crespo (1996-2001) was a nondescript utility man. On June 7, 2001, Felipe and his brother Cesar both homered while playing against each other in the same game.
Manager: It will be a player-manager with a fine pedigree and a Hall of Fame resume, that’s for sure. Perhaps it will be Frank Chance (946-648, winning percentage of .593, four pennants and two World Series titles). Or maybe it will be Fred Clarke (1602-1181, .576 winning percentage, four pennants and one World Series title). Or maybe they will share the job in some sort of way. We’ll let team president Frank Cashen make the final decision.
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