FT: The Francois Truffauts

Infield: First baseman Frank “The Big Hurt” Thomas (1990-2008) was a devastating hitter, a Ted Williams type who hit for a high average with tons of walks and power. He was a massive guy (listed at 6-5, 240) who couldn’t field and was dreadfully slow, but he might have been the most devastating hitter of the 1990s. He was undrafted out of high school – go figure – so he accepted a football scholarship to play tight end at Auburn. He walked on to the school’s baseball team and quickly emerged as a star. The White Sox drafted him in the first round in 1989, and by the end of the 1990 season he was beating the holy hell out of major-league pitching. Year in and year out, he would bat well over .300 with 120 walks and 35-40 home runs, scoring and driving in 100 runs. He won two MVP awards and finished his career at .301/419/.555 with 521 home runs, 1,704 RBI and 1,494 runs. One assumes he will be a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection, but then, one never knows how to predict the voters’ prejudices against designated hitters and sluggers from the steroid era (although Thomas was one of the most outspoken players in advocating drug testing in baseball). Third baseman Fernando Tatis (1997-2010) had one outstanding season – 1999 for the Cardinals, when he batted .298 with 82 walks, hit 34 home runs, driving in 107 runs and scoring 104. The centerpiece to that season came on April 23, when he set a record we feel strongly will never be broken, hitting two grand slams in the same inning (both off Chan Ho Park). Injuries set in after that season, and he appeared to be done in 2003 at age 28. He went home to the Dominican Republic but made an improbable return to the majors three years later when he needed funds to build a church in his hometown. He spent a few years as a fairly productive role player, and yes, he got that chuch built in San Pedro de Macoris. Second baseman Fresco Thompson (1925-34) was an Ivy Leaguer who had a fairly modest major-league career – he was a contact hitter who batted .298, and in the hitter-friendly Baker Bowl he put together a couple of superficially impressive seasons. He is best known for his long association with the Dodgers as a minor-league manager, farm director and front office executive. (He finally became the team’s general manager in 1968 but was subsequently diagnosed with cancer and died a few months later.) Shortstop Fred Thomas (1918-20) was a light hitter who won a World Series title with the 1918 Red Sox.

Outfield: Left fielder Frank “The Donkey” Thomas (1951-66) was a slugger who was versatile enough to be a defensive liability at several different positions. His nickname may have been a reference to his large size, his lack of physical grace and/or his lack of personal grace (he was known to get into fights with teammates, and he changed teams often). That said, he was a good hitter, knocking out 286 home runs and driving in almost 1,000 runs. He spent most of his career with bad teams, including the 1952 Pirates (42-112) and the legendary 1962 Mets (40-120). Right fielder Fred Tenney (1894-1911) was primarily a first baseman, but he’s not going to beat out The Big Hurt, and he occasionally played catcher, which is a good thing, because this team needs a backup at that position. But his main position on this roster will be outfield. Tenney was a good, consistent lefty hitter who compiled 2,231 hits and 1,278 runs in his career, mostly with the Boston Beaneaters. He will bat leadoff on this team and will score quite a few runs with the two Frank Thomases and Fernando Tatis coming up behind him. Another Ivy Leaguer (from Brown), he was a gentleman in baseball’s era of roughnecks. Center fielder Fred Treacey (1871-76) was a diminutive fellow whose career actually predates professional baseball, and he may well have fought in the Civil War. From the looks of his basic stats, he was nothing special as a player.

Catcher: Fred Tyler (1914) was the younger brother of Lefty Tyler, a pitcher who won 129 games in the bigs. Fred was nowhere near as successful, going 2-for-19 in his brief major-league career.

Rotation: Lefty Frank Tanana (1973-93) was a workhorse, one of a small handful of pitchers in history to make more than 600 starts. He came to the majors as a teenage fireballer, and after some injuries he reinvented himself as a junkballer. Toward the end of his career he liked to joke that he threw in the 90s in the ‘70s, and in the 70s in the ‘90s. As a young stud, he teamed with Nolan Ryan to head some formidable Angels rotations; Tanana led the AL in strikeouts in 1975 and in ERA in 1977. He never won 20 games, but he finished with 240 victories and 2,773 strikeouts. Fred Toney (1911-23) won 139 games, but one victory stands out over the rest. On May 2, 1917, pitching for the Reds, Toney threw a no-hitter – but Cubs pitcher Hippo Vaughn also held Cincinnati hitless through nine innings, so the game went to extra innings as a scoreless tie. In the 10th, the Reds broke up the no-hitter and the shutout, and Toney completed his no-hitter for the victory. Fred Talbot (1963-70) had a career record of 38-56, but he was immortalized in Jim Bouton’s notorious memoir “Ball Four.” Talbot, a crew-cut conservative, had been teammates with the liberal Bouton with the Yankees, and they were reunited in 1969 with the Seattle Pilots. They seemed to enjoy antagonizing each other, and not in a friendly way. Bouton once arranged to send Talbot a telegram informing him that he was being named in a paternity suit, just to watch Talbot squirm uncomfortably in the clubhouse; Talbot responded by nailing Bouton’s shoes to the floor using enormous railroad spikes. Freddie Toliver (1984-93) had a long career in the minors but never got a strong foothold in the majors. He split his time between the bullpen and the rotation, winning 10 games in his career. Fred Tenney (1884), not to be confused with the other Fred Tenney (or for that matter with Fred Toney), was a weak-hitting outfielder, but he did make five starts during his brief big-league career and he actually pitched pretty well. (The two Fred Tenneys were apparently not related, though both attended Brown University, giving this team three Ivy Leaguers).

Bullpen: Lefty Forrest Thompson (1948-49) is the de facto closer in a very thin bullpen. He didn’t make it to the majors until he was 30 years old, but he pitched reasonably well for the Senators, and he did save four games. The job is his to lose. Fay Thomas (1927-35) was a journeyman who spent four seasons in the majors with four different teams. He actually won 214 games in the minors, and as such he might well take a job in the rotation away from Toliver or Tenney, but for now he’ll be a workhorse out of the bullpen. (He also appeared in the movie “Pride of the Yankees,” playing the role of Christy Mathewson.) Fuller “The Brush Salesman” Thompson (1911) appeared in three games for the Boston Braves. Frosty “The Snowman” Thomas (1905) appeared in two games for the Tigers. Frank Todd (1898) pitched briefly and ineffectively for Louisville. Fred Trautman (1915) pitched one game in the Federal League. If you’re counting, the last four pitchers in this bullpen logged a total of 10 games in the majors. Told you the bullpen was thin.

Bench: First baseman Frank Torre (1956-63), brother of Joe, was a decent singles hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. His job on this team will be as a defensive replacement for The Big Hurt. Frank Tepedino (1967-75) was a light-hitting first baseman for the post-dynasty Yankees. After his retirement, he became a New York City firefighter and was one of the first responders at Ground Zero. Infielder Felix Torres (1962-64) spent three years as the Angels’ starting third baseman, hitting 11 home runs in 1962 and 12 in 1964. He was very quiet and never spoke English; an Angels trainer once spent three days working on Torres’ left arm before Torres finally mentioned to him that it was the right arm that was hurt. Outfielder Faye Throneberry (1952-61) was nowhere near as colorful as his brother, Marvelous Marv. Infielder Frank Truesdale (1910-18) was a fine defensive second baseman but not much of a hitter. Outfielder Frank Thompson (1875) went 2-for-5 in his only game for the Brooklyn Atlantics, giving him a career average of .400.

Manager: Frederick L. Thomas, a different guy than the shortstop listed above, never played in the majors, but he went 11-18 as manager of the Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1887. We’re guessing h e’ll get some help from Fresco Thompson in running this team.

FW: The Flip Wilsons

Infield: Second baseman Frank White (1973-90) was a fantastic defenseive second baseman and was a decent enough hitter — .255 career, with 400 doubles and 160 home runs, 886 RBI and 912 runs. Overall a very fine player and a key guy on the Kansas City Royals teams that won consistently for a decade, culminating with the World Series title in 1985. He was the most successful graduate of the Royals’ innovative “Baseball Academy,” which was designed to take undrafted players who were good athletes but limited baseball backgrounds and to develop them into ballplayers. First baseman Fred Whitfield (1962-70) was a first baseman with some pop – he would hit 25 home runs in a good season. Other than that, he didn’t do much, and most of his teams generally found someone better to play first base and push him aside. Third baseman Fred Waterman (1871-75) was a fine player in baseball’s earliest days immediately after the Civil War and before any “major leagues” had emerged. He played just a handful of games in the National Association, generally recognized as the first “major league,” though he did have 101 hits in 303 career at-bats, good for a career average of .333. His photograph at baseballreference.com shows a gentleman in a suitcoat and bow tie who actually bears at least a passing resemblance to John Wilkes Booth. Shortstop Fred Warner (1875-84) played in the same era but wasn’t nearly as good as Waterman.

Outfield: Center fielder Farmer Weaver (1888-94) was a West Virginia boy who most likely did grow up on a farm, though it is unclear whether he also knew how to weave. He was a versatile player with some speed and he played several different positions, but his most common spot was center field. Right fielder Frank Welch (1919-27), nicknamed “Bugger” for some reason, spent most of his career playing for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s during the period when they were making the transition from cash-depleted sad sacks back toward respectability. He hung around long enough to play with Lefty Grove and Mickey Cochrane, but he was done before the Foxx-Grove-Cochrane dynasty took root. Left fielder Frank “Squash” Wilson (1924-28) did little to distinguish himself in his brief major-league career, but his presence in left does give the team an outfield consisting of a Farmer flanked by Squash and Bugger.

Catcher: Fleet Walker (1884), while not well known, is a key figure in baseball history. Playing for Toledo in the American Association, he was the most prominent of a handful of black players who made an inroads into the major leagues in their formative period. A college man, he was a good hitter and a strong catcher with a good reputation for handling pitchers. Some people weren’t comfortable with their presence, and there was an incident in which Cap Anson, the biggest star in the game, threatened to boycott games against Toledo rather than share a ballfield with a black man. This incident is often pointed to as the precise moment when baseball's de facto color line was drawn, and while that analysis is an oversimplification, the fact remains that Moses Fleetwood Walker was the last black player in the majors before Jackie Robinson in 1947. (It has been said that for a half-century, he was the answer to two baseball trivia questions: Who was the first black player in the majors? And who was the last black player in the majors?)

Rotation: Negro League right-hander Frank Wickware had one of the best fastball of the ‘teens. He hailed from the same hometown as Walter Johnson – Coffeyville, Kansas – and the two men had some noteworthy pitchers’ duels in exhibition games. He changed teams frequently, going where the money was, and there was one instance when two different teams vying for a league championship were surprised to learn that Wickware had agreed to pitch for both teams. The game was held up by a protest over which team had the rights to use him. He will be looked to for a heavy workload on this staff, as the rest of the rotation is as thin as tissue. Frank Wills (1983-91), not to be confused with the security guard who rattled the doorknob that led to Watergate and the resignation of Richard Nixon, was a first-round draft pick of the Kasnas City Royals who never developed into an effective pitcher at the major-league level. He spent most of his career in the bullpen but did manage a few dozen starts. Finished with a 22-26 record and a 5.06 ERA. Lefty Fin Wilson (1914-15) pitched briefly for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League. He wasn’t great, but he was better than his 1-9 career record would indicate. He also batted .324 for his career, which counts for something. Frank Woodward (1918-23) had a fine career in the minors but never fully established himself in the majors. He finished with a career record of 9-15, spread out over four teams and five seasons. Frank Watt (1931), nicknamed Kilowatt, had seasons with 28 and 20 wins in the minors but didn’t make it to the majors until he was 28, at which point he went 5-5 as a swingman with a weak Phillies team.

Bullpen: Closer Frank Williams (1984-89) forged a pretty fair major-league career into a life that included a humble beginning and a tragic end. He and his twin brother were abandoned as infants and bounced around the Foster Care system in the Pacific Northwest, going through several dreadful homes before finally landing with a stable and loving family. He made it to the majors with the Giants in 1984 and spent his entire career as a reliever, except for one start as a rookie in which he threw a complete game shutout (OK, it was rain-shortened to five innings, but it still counts as a complete game and a shutout). He pitched 333 games – mostly middle relief, though he did have eight saves – and was still pitching well when he sustained a broken neck and other injuries in a car accident. The injuries ended his career and sent his life into a tailspin. His drinking habit and reckless nature devolved into severe alcoholism, and his marriage fell apart. Upon learning that his birth parents were part of an aboriginal tribe in British Columbia, he moved to Vancouver and worked construction jobs when he could find them, along with his twin brother, who had also been injured in an accident. Williams’ drug and alcohol habits worsened, and he spent time living on the street and in flophouses. Shortly after his brother died in a fire, Williams suffered a heart attack and died at age 50. Floyd Weaver (1962-71) spent a lot more time in the minors than in the majors. He was born in Ben Franklin, Texas, went to high school in Pecan Gap, Texas, and ultimately died in Powderly, Texas, thus cornering the market on small towns with quaint names. Fred Wenz (1968-70) was nicknamed “Fireball,” but that may have referred less to his fastball than to his propensity for tossing gasoline on the fire by giving up home runs. Fred Waters (1955-56) was a lefty who had a pretty decent rookie year for the Pirates, with a 2.82 ERA in 23 games, but he walked twice as many as he struck out. Despite the promising results, he ended up back in the minors and continued to pitch well there for several more years. Fred Woodcock (1892) was a 19th-century lefty with a name that would make Beavis and Butt-Head snicker uncontrollably. Floyd Wooldridge (1955) was a swingman who spent some time with the Cardinals, but when you give up 91 baseunners and strike out just 14 in 58 innings, you don’t stick around long. Fred Winchell (1909), who may or may not have been related to either Walter or Paul, was 0-3 with a 6.28 ERA for the Indians.

Bench: Negro League second baseman Frank Warfield was a 5-foot-7 speedster who was known primarily for his fielding prowess and his baserunning. Backup catcher Frank “Kid” Withrow (1920-22) didn’t hit much. Outfielder Floyd “What Do You Want” Wicker (1968-71) batted .159 for four teams and had almost twice as many strikeouts as hits. Outfielder Frank Whitney (1876) was nicknamed “Jumbo” despite the fact that he was 5-7 and 152 pounds. Infielder Frank Whitman (1946-48) wasn’t good enough to move the aging Luke Appling off of the White Sox shortstop position.

Manager: Fred Waters managed the low minors in the Minnesota Twins system for many years and had a role in the early development of several generations of players, from Rod Carew and Kirby Puckett. Waters will be assisted by Frank Warfield, who was player-manager of the Baltimore Black Sox team that won the Negro American League title in 1929.

GB: The Heebie GBs

Infield: Third baseman George Brett (1973-93) finished his career with 3,154 hits, and he was just short of 1,600 runs and 1,600 RBI. He hit 300 home runs, stole 200 bases. He won two batting titles, an MVP and a Gold Glove. He batted .337 in 43 postseason games, including .373 in 13 World Series games, and he hit an astonishing home run off Goose Gossage in the 1980 ALCS. But the numbers only tell part of the story. You had to see Brett play to truly get the feel for him. He approached the game with burning intensity (witness his famous charge out of the dugout in response to the Pine Tar Incident) and a childlike joy. He was a force of nature, always hustling (665 doubles and 137 triples), playing the game as though a loss – any loss – was simply unacceptable. A Hall of Famer, and one of the top third basemen of all time. Second baseman Glenn Beckert (1965-75) was a legendarily good hit-and-run man. He batted .283 for his career, never struck out and played the game in a way to satisfy the fundamental purists. He had weaknesses – he didn’t walk either, he had no power, and he was no better than average defensively – but on the whole, he was a good player on a good Chicago Cubs team. First baseman George Henry Burns (1914-29) played at the same time as outfielder George Joseph Burns, which creates inevitable confusion for the modern fan trying to keep them straight. They were actually very distinct players, and both pretty good. George Henry Burns played for five teams and had a career batting average of .307, leading the league in hits before the Lively Ball Era started (178 hits in 1918) and afterward (216 hits in 1926). He averaged almost 50 doubles a year for a five-year stretch in mid-career. Geoff Blum (1999- ) is really a third baseman, but he played enough shortstop to qualify as the starter on this team. He’s a .250 hitter with no walks or speed, but in a good year he’ll hit a dozen home runs. On the plus side, he has a career World Series slugging percentage of 4.000 – in his only World Series at-bat, he hit a walk-off pinch-hit home run in extra innings to help the White Sox beat Houston in 2005.

Outfield: Right fielder George Joseph Burns (1911-25) was several inches shorter than his counterpart at first base. Their careers were almost identical in length (GJB had 2,077 hits in 1,853 games, and GHB had 2,018 hits in 1,860 games), but George Joseph Burns was a speedster, stealing 383 bases. He also drew a lot of walks, leading the league four times. He also led the NL four times in runs, twice in steals, and he was durable enough to step up to the plate 650-700 times per year. Left fielder George Bell (1981-93) was part of the great outfield in Toronto alongside Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield. Bell was the weak link of the three defensively, but he was a powerful slugger who won the 1987 MVP award with 47 home runs and 134 RBI. Center fielder Ginger Beaumont (1899-1910) was a speedster and a defensive standout who also batted .311 for his career. He was a star on the outstanding Pittsburgh teams featuring Hall of Famers Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke, and he ended his career with an appearance in the 1910 World Series with the Cubs.

Catcher: Glenn Borgmann (1972-80) spent most of his career as a backup with the Twins. He didn’t hit much but had a good defensive reputation.

Rotation: Guy Bush (1923-45), a.k.a. The Mississippi Mudcat, won 176 games in his career, including 10 straight seasons in double-digits. He was a good, durable righthander who spent most of his career with the Cubs (but left before the World Series appearance in 1935). George “Grin” Bradley (1875-84), pitching in those Jurassic days after the Civil War, is one of three pitchers in baseball history to have both a 40-loss season and a 40-win season. George “Farmer” Bell (1907-11) was a decent right-handed pitcher who finished with a record of 43-79 because he played for some very bad Brooklyn teams. Gene Bearden (1947-53) went 20-7 with a league-leading 2.43 ERA for the Indians as a rookie in 1948 and capped off his season by throwing a shutout in Game 3 of the World Series. He would never again win in double-digits. He would only have one subsequent ERA below 4.00. He would never again lead the league in anything other than wild pitches. He walked substantially more batters than he ever struck out. But that rookie years was still pretty good. Gary “Ding Dong” Bell (1958-69) was a swingman who won 121 games in his career but is best known to most fans as Jim Bouton’s roommate with the Seattle Pilots in “Ball Four.”

Bullpen: Grant Balfour (2001- ) is an Australian right-hander who has had a couple of fine seasons for the Tampa Rays, but he has also had some seasons in which he struggled. He will start out as the closer on this team. In the 1999 International Cup, Balfour saved three games to help lead Australia to a surprise championship over favored teams from the U.S., Cuba and Japan. George Blaeholder (1925-36) won 104 games in the majors and 129 in the minors, and he is frequently cited as the pitcher who invented the slider (though it is more accurate to say he was one of several pitchers to have played a role in developing the pitch). He has the distinction of having given up Babe Ruth’s 600th home run, which will give him something to talk about with Guy Bush, who gave up #714. Garland “Gob” Buckeye (1918-28) was a fine swingman who played offensive line for several years for the Chicago Cardinals before he devoted himself to baseball in his mid-20s. Greg Booker (1983-90) was a 6-foot-6 righty who had a good run as a middle reliever for the Padres. He was part of the bullpen that played a key role in San Diego’s 1984 pennant. He played for his father-in-law, Jack McKeon, who traded Booker to Minnesota in 1989, presumably creating some interesting talk around the dinner table. Gene Brabender (1966-70) was a 6-foot-5 strongman who, like Gary “Ding Dong” Bell, pitched for the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and was a central figure in Bouton’s “Ball Four.” Bouton described Brabender as a fearsome hulk, generally a nice guy but fond of telling people, “Where I come from, we only argue for a short time—then we hit.” As a prank, Brabender once used railroad spikes to nail Bouton’s shoes to the clubhouse floor. Greg Burke (2009- ) pitched alright for San Diego in 2009, going 3-3 with a 4.14 ERA. He put a lot of runners on base, but he got by with it. Anyways, he went back to the minors after that and hasn't made his way back yet. We'll see if he returns to The Show. George Burpo (1946) pitched worse than Grover Baichley, but Burpo gets the last spot in the bullpen in large part because he has a funny name and we like the idea of a bullpen that has Brabender and Blaeholder, Buckeye and Burpo.

Bench: Outfielder Gus Bell (1950-64) – father of Buddy, grandfather of David – got squeezed out of the starting outfield despite a .281 career average and 206 home runs. He was a four-time all-star and a four-time 100-RBI man. Gates Brown (1963-75) was a part-time outfielder with the Tigers who made his name as a pinch-hitter – 16 of his 84 career home runs came in that role. He was a big, strong guy and a fan favorite who played a valuable role for some really good Detroit teams. First baseman Greg Brock (1982-91) hit 110 home runs for the Dodgers and Brewers, giving this team three very potent lefty sticks off the bench. The best right-handed pinch-hitter will be utility infielder Gene Baker (1953-61), who could hit .270 with a dozen homers in a good season. Backup catcher Gary Bennett (1995-2008) hung around for 13 years without ever becoming a starter.

Manager: George Bamberger had a couple of good seasons with the Brewers in the late 1970s but had some weak seasons later with the Mets and in a second go-round with Milwaukee. Originally a pitching coach, he played a role in the development of players like Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Cecil Cooper, but he didn’t stick around long enough to enjoy the 1982 pennant that they won.

GC: The Gary Coopers

Infield: Second baseman George Cutshaw (1912-23) wasn’t a great hitter, but he was considered to be a remarkable fielder and one of the first who truly mastered the art of the double play pivot (which was not emphasized at all around the turn of the century). Stories about his fielding prowess abound, and teammates such as Casey Stengel and Ty Cobb raved about how Cutshaw’s approach to defensive play at second base changed the way they approached the game. For the GC team, he will be turning double plays with George Carman (1890), who batted .174 in a brief trial with the Philadelphia A’s. The record is too scant to tell how he handled himself in the field, but the team is hoping that he and Cutshaw will developed a nice keystone chemistry. First baseman George Crowe (1952-61) was a Negro League slugger who spent his 30s playing for several National League teams, most notably the Reds. In 1957, filling in for the injured Ted Kluszewski, Crowe hit 31 home runs. But that year, as the fans in Cincy ran an infamous promotion to stuff the All-Star game ballot boxes, Crowe was the only Reds position player who did not start for the NL team, losing out to some guy named Musial. Crowe was a good hitter, and if circumstances had been different – if there had been no color line, if he had been given more than one season as a full-time starter – he might have hit a few hundred home runs in the majors. Third baseman Grey Clarke (1944) was a .300 hitter in a long minor-league career, but he only spent about a half-season in the majors for the White Sox during World War II. He played alright, but he was already in his 30s by that point and the guys who had been drafted would be returning soon, so Clarke’s big-league career was brief.

Outfield: Right fielder Gavy Cravath (1908-20) was a power hitter in the deadball era who took advantage of the Baker Bowl’s cozy dimensions to lead the NL in home runs five times and hit 119 in his career. For many years, he was believed to have held the career home run record before Babe Ruth obliterated it, though later research determined that Roger Connor actually held that distinction. Cravath was a right-handed hitter, but his power was to the opposite field, where the Baker Bowl was a bandbox in right and right-center fields. In 1914, he hit all of his league-leading 17 home runs in his home ballpark. Center fielder George Case (1937-47) was a speedster with the Washington Sen ators who led the league in stolen bases a half-dozen times and frequently partook in exhibitions in which he raced against Jesse Owens, or a racehorse, or some such paragon of fleetness. Left fielder Gino Cimoli (1956-75) was a journeyman who moved around the majors and at various times shared the outfield with Duke Snider, Stan Musial, Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron. As a rookie, he played alongside Snider and Carl Furillo in the Dodgers’ last season in Brooklyn. He was never a star, but was usually functional enough to hold down a position as needed.

Catcher: Hall of Famer Gary Carter (1974-92) was a teriffic defensive catcher who hit 324 home runs in his career and was seen as the on-field leader of the 1986 World Series champion Mets. In addition to his other skills, he was viewed as a fine handler of pitchers. He was a key player in the expansion Expos’ rise to respectability, and his arrival in New York coincided with the development of several talented young pitchers. Generally considered to be one of the top 10 or 12 catchers in major-league history.

Rotation: Gene Conley (1952-63) was a 6-foot-8 righthander who spent his winters playing basketball for the Boston Celtics and was a key reserve on three NBA championship teams. Along with his World Series title with the 1957 Milwaukee Braves, that makes him the only player in history to win both NBA and World Series titles. He was selected to three All-Star Games and was winning pitcher in one and losing pitcher in another. Gustavo Chacin (2004- ) had a promising rookie year for Toronto, going 13-9 with a 3.72 ERA at age 24. Since then, he has been unable to stay healthy and unable to keep his ERA below 5.00. His official bio says Chacin cannot grow hair because of a medical condition called alopecia areata. George Chalmers (1910-16) was a Scottish spitball specialist who went 29-41 over the course of seven seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies. In Game 4 of the 1915 World Series, he lost a fine pitcher’s duel to Ernie Shore of the Red Sox. George Caster (1934-46) was not the general who lost at Little Big Horn. He was a pitcher – middle name Jasper, nickname Ug – who had two 19-loss seasons and a 20-loss season for the Philadelphia A’s between 1937-40. He also holds the distinction of having more career saves (28) than anyone else in the history of the St. Louis Browns. George Cunningham (1916-21) had a losing record for the Detroit Tigers and also tried his hand in the outfield briefly.

Bullpen: Greg Cadaret (1987-98) was a journeyman lefty set-up man for a decade. Not one of those one-out specialists, but a relative workhorse as lefty relievers go. Though he never saved more than three games in a season, he’ll be the closer on this team. George Culver (1966-74) played for six teams but had his best seasons for Houston. Galen Cisco (1961-69) was the captain of the 1957 national champion football team at Ohio State before he moved on to a pro baseball career. He had a couple of hard-luck seasons with the diastrous early 1960s Mets, leading to a career record of 25-56. He went on to a long career as a pitching coach in the majors. Giovanni Carrara (1995-2006) has dual citizenship in Venezuela and Italy and has pitched for both countries in international competition. He had an up-and-down pro career for a decade, but in his good seasons he was pretty good. Gary Christenson (1979-80) was not very effective and pitched just 30 games in the majors, totaling 40 innings of relief – but he did manage to finish with a 3-0 career record. George Cappuzzello (1981-82) pitched about the same amoung as Gary Christenson and pitched far better, but he finished with a 1-2 record. Guy Cantrell (1925-30) pitched pretty well for three teams in a short major-league career.

Bench: Gordy Coleman (1959-67) was Cincinnati’s first baseman in the years after George Crowe. They are both lefty hitters of similar abilities, so look for a spirited competition for playing time. Greg Colbrunn (1992-2004), a righty first baseman will pick up some starts against left-handed pitchers. Colbrunn hit for a decent average but with less power than Coleman or Crowe. He had a long career as a useful role player and was rewarded with a World Series title in Arizona. Outfielder Gene Clines (1970-79) generally got between 200-300 at-bats a year and was a useful sub – not great at anything and not terrible at anything. George Creamer (1878-84) was an infielder-outfielder who didn’t hit much. Catcher Gilly Campbell (1933-38) spent most of his career backing up Hall of Famers Gabby Hartnett and Ernie Lombardi, so he should feel very comfortable here backing up Gary Carter.

Manager: George Creamer will be player-manager. He managed eight games for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1884 and lost all eight. Only two managers in history have lost more games without winning any (two other 19th-century guys who each went 0-11). He will be assisted by Galen Cisco, Gene Clines and a few other GCs who had noteworthy careers as big-league coaches and minor-league managers.

GG: The Gigis

Infield: Third baseman Gary Gaetti (1981-2000) and shortstop Greg Gagne (1983-97) played side-by-side in the Minnesota Twins’ infield for six years in the late-1980s, including the 1987 championship team. They were both fine defensive players. Gaetti, more hard-nosed than elegant at third, won four Gold Gloves; Gagne, more efficient than spectacular at short, never won one but arguably deserved one or two. Neither was a great offensive player, but both made contributions. Gaetti was a .255 hitter who didn’t get on base, but he hit 360 home runs and 443 doubles, and he drove in 1,341 runs and scored 1,130. Gagne was a .254 hitter who walked about as often as Gaetti (which is to say, some but not a lot), and he had far less power, though his 111 career home runs represent a respectable total for a shortstop. Neither one had any speed, and they both had some strange base stealing figures – in 1986 Gaetti stole 14 bases and was thrown out 15 times, and Gagne in 1993-94 stole 20 bases and was thrown out 29 times. They weren’t great players, but they were good players. After their heydays with the Twins, both moved around the leagues a bit, reuniting for a couple of years in the 1990s on the infield of the Kansas City Royals. Second baseman George Grantham (1922-34) was a better offensive player than Gaetti or Gagne. Granted, he played in an era of high batting averages, but even so he was a .300 hitter who got on base and had gap power – he averaged 80 walks, 33 doubles, 10 triples and 12 home runs per 162 games. He played more than 800 games at second base, which was his primary position, but he made a huge number of errors there and was nicknamed “Boots.” First baseman Gary Gray (1977-82) was a decent minor-league hitter who never got a foothold in the majors until the post-expansion Mariners gave him a part-time job for a couple of years. He was a .240 hitter with a terrible strikeout-to-walk ratio but a bit of power – in his career, he had 625 at-bats and managed 24 home runs and 71 RBI, but he never really hit enough to stick.

Outfield: Right fielder Goose Goslin (1921-38) was one of the top hitters of his era, batting .316 and driving in 1,609 runs. He had his best years for the Senators, smashing line drives around the field and losing tons of home runs to cavernous Griffith Stadium. From 1923-29, his prime seasons in Washington, Goslin hit 104 home runs – 22 at home and 82 on the road. No foolin’. In 1926, he hit 17 home runs on the road and none at home. In the 1924 World Series, he batted .344 with three home runs to lead the Senators to their only championship, and a year later he batted .308 with another three home runs as Washington lost a seven-game series to Pittsburgh. Folks tend to assume that his nickname was simply a play on his last name, but apparently he was called “Goose” because he had a long neck and an ungainly way of running with his arms flapping. Center fielder George “Piano Legs” Gore (1879-92) must have been one of the most fascinating players to watch in the early era of baseball. He had good speed and a terrific throwing arm, and he was one of the first batters to grasp the importance of strike zone judgment, setting records for walks. He was a .300 hitter who scored lots of runs, and the general consensus was that he would have been an even better player if his penchant for drunkenness and cavorting with loose women hadn’t gotten in the way of his baseball. Left fielder Greg Gross (1973-89) didn’t have a colorful nickname like Goose or Piano Legs, and in fact he wasn’t a colorful player at all. A quiet, unassuming player, he was a fine left-handed hitter who spent much of his career and as role player and a platoon hitter – he had 11 seasons with more than 100 games, but only three with more than 130. He batted .287 for his career, walked twice as often as he struck out and very rarely stole a base or hit an extra-base hit.

Catcher: George Gibson (1905-1918) spent almost his entire career in Pittsburgh and was part of the Pirates’ 1908 championship team. He wasn’t much of a hitter, but a great defensive catcher and a workhorse at the time when shin guards were first being introduced.

Rotation: Gary Gentry (1969-75) was a 22-year-old rookie starter on the Miracle Mets of ’69, but he wasn’t destined to have the same type of career as teammates like Seaver, Koosman, Ryan and McGraw. An arm injury in his mid-20s saw to that. As a rookie, he started 35 games and won 13 for the team that swept to one of the most improbable championships in baseball history, but he somehow did not get mentioned on a single Rookie of the Year ballot while the voters flocked to a bunch of nondescript players like Ted Sizemore, Coco Laboy and Bob Didier. In Game 3 of the World Series, he teamed with Nolan Ryan to shut out the powerful Orioles on four hits and beat Jim Palmer. He finished his career with 46 victories and was out of baseball before he turned 30. Like Gentry, Geremi Gonzalez (1997-2006) had success as a 22-year-old rookie, winning 11 games for the Cubs, but was sidetracked by injuries (in his case, to the knee). He dropped off the map from 1999-2001, then came back and pitched occasionally and sometimes effectively in the majors, the minors, in Japan and in his native Venezuela for a few years until he was struck and killed by a bolt of lightning two days before his 31st birthday. George Gill (1937-39) went 23-14 in a couple of seasons for the Detroit Tigers, but then early in the 1939 season he was part of a 12-player trade, going from a good Detroit team to an absolutely godawful St. Louis Browns team. He went 1-12 for St. Louis that season, dragging his career record below .500 and bringing an end to his major-league career. Greg Garrett (1970-71) pitched quite effectively in brief turns as a lefty swingman for the Angels and the Reds, but he injuries finished him off in his mid-20s. (Considering the history of this rotation, it may be imperative that the team find a very good trainer and team doctor with the initials G.G.) In an odd footnote to his career, Garrett has the ignominious distinction of allowing the only home run ever hit by pinch-running specialist Allan “The Panamanian Express” Lewis. Gio Gonzalez of the Oakland A’s has gotten his career off to a fine start and, now in his mid-20s, he looks like he could have a good career.

Bullpen: Goose Gossage (1972-94) was one of the most overpowering closers of all time. His numbers don’t really do him justice – his 310 career saves pale compared to the numbers being put up by today’s closers, his 3.01 career ERA seems mundane, and his 1,502 strikeouts in 1,809 innings doesn’t really hint at how dominant he was for many years. For the White Sox in 1975, he worked 141 innings in 62 games with a 1.84 ERA, and a couple of years later in Pittsburgh he pitched 72 games, 133 innings with a 1.62 ERA. He joined the Bronx Zoo Yankees and put up a 2.10 ERA for six seasons. He consistently made all-star teams and factored into both Cy Young and MVP voting. He pitched into his 40s, but it was that deacde early in his career (1975-85, interrupted by one bad season in which a misguided manager tried to make him into a starter) that defines his greatness. Deservedly inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008, but unfortunately it took so long that he resorted to a lot of ingracious grumbling about not getting his due. Gene Garber (1969-88) would be the closer on most initial teams, with 218 career saves, but here he is a set-up guy to the Goose. The two of them will stay very busy, considering the rag-armed rotation and the back end of this bullpen. (Good thing they were durable – Gossage is one of the few pitchers to work 1,000 games in his career, and Garber’s not far behind at 931.) Geoff Geary (2003-09) had some good year in middle relief for the Phillies and the Astros but ran out of steam in his early-30s. Gary Glover (1999-2008) was a 6-foot-5 righty who was given a lot of chances but never pitched very well. He is no relation to Gary Glitter, who does a glam-rock version of the National Anthem before home games. Glenn Gardner (1945) was a career minor leaguer (160 wins) who pitched a few games for the Cardinals and went 3-1. Greg Gohr (1993-96) showed some promise, but when given an extended chance he couldn’t get big-league hitters out. German Gonzalez (1988-89) pitched for the Twins in the years between their two championshps.

Bench: Gary Geiger (1958-70) roamed the Red Sox outfield alongside Ted Williams during the early years of his career. He was a decent hitter with a bit of pop and a bit of speed. Gene Green (1957-63) was an outfielder who could also function as a backup catcher. Gil Garrido (1964-72) was a utility infielder who couldn’t hit, and Geronimo Gil (2001-07) was a backup catcher who hit like a utility infielder. George “Pickles” Gerken (1927-28) was an outfielder who had a good career in the minors but never did much in the majors.

Manager: George Gibson will serve as player-manager. He managed the Pirates for several years and was a coach (and briefly manager) with the Cubs as well.

GH: The George Hickenloopers

Infield: Gil Hodges (1943-63), the first baseman for the “Boys of Summer” Dodgers, was a tremendously strong man who hit 370 home runs in his career. He and teammate Duke Snider were the only two players to hit 300 home runs and drive in 1000 runs during the 1950s. He was a terrific defensive first baseman and a quiet leader of a historic team. That, coupled with his managerial career, brought him to the threshold of the Hall of Fame – but not through the door. It could be argued, in fact, that no player has ever received more Hall of Fame support than Hodges without getting eventually elected. Shortstop Granny Hamner (1944-62) was a good fielder and a decent hitter with some pop, sort of the Chris Speier of the ‘50s. Like Hodges, Hamner was viewed as a team leader, and at age 23 he was given much credit for the Philles’ NL pennant. (In 1962, after he had retired and then managed in the minors, he made it back to the majors to pitch a few games for the Kansas City A’s, so he might get some mop-up duty for the Hickenloopers.) Second baseman Glenn Hubbard (1978-89) was built like a fireplug, and he had a round face with a scraggly beard that always made him look stockier than he actually was. Hubbard was basically a .250 hitter who drew some walks and bunted well, plus he was a good glove at second base. He played for the Braves in the years just before the got really good. Third baseman Grady Hatton (1946-60) played for the Reds in the years following World War II. He was a functional player – a .260 hitter with double-digit home run power and enough walks to get on base a fair amount. He was a good enough hitter to resurface with the Cubs in 1960, four years after his last major-league game, and bat .342 as a pinch-hitter and role player. He later coached and managed at the major-league level. He later served for many years as a coach and manager at both the major- and minor-league levels.

Outfield: Center fielder George Hendrick (1971-88) had a reputation for being lazy, which was probably exaggerated – a reflection of his frequently casual and laidback approach to the game, but also perhaps a hint of the subtle racism that pervaded many people’s perception of black athletes in the 1970s. Hendrick hit the ball hard, good for 343 doubles and 267 home runs in his career, and he drove in more than 1,100 runs. He shifted in mid-career to right field, where his powerful throwing arm was a key defensive weapon. He is perhaps most famous as the cleanup batter on the 1982 Cardinals, who won the World Series despite hitting just 67 home runs during the regular season. Left fielder Glenallen Hill (1989-2001) was a journeyman who was never firmly established as an everyday player but who was good enough as a part-time player to hit 186 home runs in his career. He was a poor defensive outfielder, but a good enough hitter that he still helped the teams he played for. He earned his niche in the annals of bizarre sports injuries when he had to miss several games in 1990 with cuts,scrapes and bruises he sustained while sleepwalking during a nightmare in which he was being chased by spiders. Right fielder George Harper (1916-29) batted .303 in a career that spanned more than 1,000 games spread out over a half-dozen teams. He drew almost twice as many walks as strikeouts, and he hit the ball hard. All in all, he was a very solid hitter.

Catcher: Gabby Hartnett (1922-41) is on the short list of the greatest catchers of the first half of the 20th century. After battling through some injuries in his 20s, he was a dominant force in his 30s, helping lead the Cubs to four NL pennants and winning the MVP award in 1935. He was a fine defensive catcher who walked more than he struck out, and he hit 236 career home runs (including his famous Homer in the Gloamin’ during the 1938 pennant race). The nickname “Gabby” was a sarcastic reference to his soft-spoken nature. In a well known anecdote, Hartnett stopped by the side of the dugout one afternoon to chat with the legendary mobster Al Capone, who was taking in a game at Wrigley Field. Photos were snapped and circulated, and Commissioner Landis sent Hartnett a terse telegram ordering him to no longer pose for pictures with Al Capone. Hartnett wired back that he would comply, but that he would be more comfortable if Landis broke the news to Capone.

Rotation: Guy Hecker (1882-90) went 52-20 for Louisville in 1884, leading the American Association in wins, ERA (1.80), games (75), complete games (72), innings (670) and several other categories. He is one of four pitchers to have won 50 games in a season in a league listed as a major. The other three (Spaulding, Radbourn and Clarkson) are all in the Hall of Fame. Hecker is not in the Hall, in part becaue he only played nine season. He won 175 games in his career. He was also a good hitter and once scored seven runs in a game. Gentleman George Haddock (1888-94) pitched in the same era as Hecker, but he m axed out at 34 wins in his best season. Haddock won 95 games in his career. Glen Hobbie (1957-64) was a durable starter who won 16 games for the Cubs in both 1959 and ’60 (though he lost 20 in the second season). Greg W. Harris (1988-95) was a solid starter for several years, always referred to with his middle initial to differentiate from a different Greg Harris who pitched at the same time. Greg W. Harris started out with a couple of outstanding seasons in relief and then moved into the Padres’ rotation. He pitched well but was frequently injured and was out of baseball by his early 30s. Lefty Greg Hibbard (1989-94) went 57-50 before arm injuries ended his career before age 30. His 15 wins in 1993 was the most by a Cubs lefty in the years between Ken Holtzman (17 in 1970) and Ted Lilly (15 in 2007).
Bullpen: Greg A. Harris (1981-95), the bookend to Greg W., will start out as the team’s closer by virture of his 54 career saves. Harris was a consistently effective reliever, a righty who was ambidextrous enough that he wore a special mitt that allowed him to switch hands on the mound. His managers would not allow him to switch hands during the prime of his career, but pitching for the Expos in 1995, he finally got his opportunity to do so, facing three batters as a lefty (walking one and retiring the other two). Gene Harris (1989-95) spent seven seasons in the majors and only three times did he end the year with the same team with which he began it. He served as the Padres’ closer for one season. Guy Hoffman (1979-88) was a promising young lefty who had injury issues. Greg Hansell (1995-99) pitched one season apiece for four different teams, and when he finally had a good year for Pittsburgh in 1999, he got hurt and never made it back to the majors. Gil Heredia (1991-2001) was an occasionally effective swingman who gave up too many home runs. George Hemming (1890-97) worked a lot of games and a lot of innings in the dead ball era and will be a valuable long reliever and spot starter on this team. His nickname, for reasons lost to history, was Old Wax Figger. George Hesselbacher (1916) pitched a half-dozen games for Connie Mack’s A’s in 1916, got royally clobbered, and then moved on to other things, including a stint as a commanding officer in the Army during World War I.

Bench: Infielder Glenn Hoffman (1980-89), Trevor’s big brother, was a light-hitting glove man who wasn’t actually all that good with the glove either. Gail Harris (1955-60) was a slugging first baseman who spent most of his career backing up guys like Bill White, Orlando Cepeda and Norm Cash. Outfielder Gene Hermanski (1943-53), a teammate of Gil Hodges in Brooklyn, was a good lefty hitter who will get some platoon opportunties alongside Glenallen Hill. Hermanski batted .272 for his career, walked more than he struck out and could hit the occasional home run.Catcher Grover “Slick” Hartley (1911-34) spent most of his career in a backup role and was pretty decent in it. Outfielder George Hall (1871-77) batted .322 in his post-war career (that would be the Civil War).

Manager: Gil Hodges is almost as famous for managing the Miracle Mets of ’69 as for his outstanding playing career. He will serve as player-manager, and he will have considerable help from several teammates who were also managers – Granny Hamner, Glenn Hoffman Gabby Hartnett, Grady Hatton and several others who managed or coached in the minors and majors.

GM: The General Motors

Infield: Gil McDougald (1951-60) was an infielder on the great Yankees teams of the 1950s, moving freely among second, third and shortstop as manager Casey Stengel re-tooled his lineup from one day to the next, and he was a very good defensive player at all three positions. He was a good hitter – a .280 stick with mid-range power and as many walks as strikeouts – and his versatility was very important to the Yankees teams that won eight pennants and five World Series titles in his time. He was rookie of the year and a five-time all-star, and he retired in mid-career rather than report to the Washington Senators after the Yankees traded him. He will be the regular second baseman on this team, but look for him to move around. First baseman George McQuinn (1936-48) was a Mark Grace-type player – a solid average, outstanding batting eye, lots of doubles and a bit of power, plus a fine defensive first baseman utilizing a specially hinged glove known as the McQuinn Claw. He was originally with the Yankees, but the team let him go (not realizing that Gehrig by that point was playing on borrowed time). He landed with the St. Louis Browns and had many fine seasons for bad teams, though he did bat .438 in a losing effort when the wartime Browns made their appearance in the 1944 World Series. At the end of his career he returned to the Yankees and was part of the team that won the 1947 World Series. Shortstop George McBride (1901-20) holds the distinction of having the lowest batting average (.218) of any player with 5,000 or more at-bats. He had no extra-base power and wasn’t exactly a speedster, but he was a terrific defensive infielder and he played shortstop every day for the Washington Senators. Third baseman George Moriarty (1903-16) was a smart, fiery utility player and a daring baserunner with a penchant for stealing home. He became more famous for his endeavors after his playing career was over. He spent many years as a respected AL umpire, and in one infamous incident he got into a postgame brawl on the field with four White Sox players who objected to some of his calls. According to the media reports in 1932, the four men attacked him simultaneously but he fought them so ferociously that it was declared a draw. He also became famous for composing poetry, including verses written as elegies for noteworthy baseball players.

Outfield: They used to say that two-thirds of the Earth’s surface was covered by water, and that Garry Maddox (1972-86) could cover the other third. A remarkable defensive center fielder, he was a key player on the great Philadelphia Phillies teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a .290 hitter with good speed and some line drive power, but he was best known for his range in center, a skill that was made all the more important by the barely ambulatory presence of Greg Luzinski in left field. Maddox served in the U.S. Army and did a tour of duty in Vietnam, making him perhaps the last major-league player to have done active combat duty. Maddox and Gary “Sarge” Matthews (1972-87) were both drafted by San Francisco in 1968, but they arrived at a period when the Giants had develop a bad habit of discarding all-star outfielders – not just Maddox and Matthews, but also guys like Bobby Bonds, Dave Kingman, and the Alou brothers. Matthews signed a big free agent contract with the Braves, later rejoined Maddox for a few years in Philadelphia and was part of the Cubs team that came so close to winning the 1984 pennant. He was a very solid player who would generally hit .280-.300 with some walks, and he had 234 career home runs. He’ll be in left field here, and his son Gary Matthews Jr. (1999- ) will be in right. Junior is not nearly as good as Dad was (other than a career year he had in 2006 while in the walk year of a contact), but he hasn’t been a bad player throughout an itinerant career.

Catcher: Gus Mancuso (1930-45) bounced around the National League for many years. He was generally with good teams, and he played in five World Series, winning championships with the Cardinals in 1931 and the Giants in 1933. He wasn’t anything special as a hitter, but he wasn’t terrible either, and he was a good defender. He was respected enough to finish in the top 10 in a couple of MVP votes while having seasons that weren’t exactly eye-popping.

Rotation: What can one say about Greg Maddux (1986-2008)? He won more games than any post-deadball pitcher other than Warren Spahn, and at 355-227 he had a very impressive .610 winning percentage. He led the NL three times in wins, four times in ERA and won four Cy Young Awards (and, for good measure, 18 Gold Gloves). He came off like a nice, professorial type and he was popular everywhere he went. He was part of an amazing generation of historically great pitchers (along with Clemens, Pedro and the Big Unit), and he was the anchor for the superb pitching staffs that led Atlanta to a decade of dominance in the NL East. No one ever said a bad word about him. Wabash George Mullin (1902-15) went 29-8 for Detroit in 1909 and had four other seasons of 20 or 21 victories. For his career, he won 212 games in the AL and another 16 in the upstart Federal League. For the Tigers, he pitched in three World Series. The team lost all three, but Mullin had an ERA of 1.86 in seven postseason games, and in 1909 he set a record that isn’t likely to be broken by pitching 32 innings in a seven-game World Series. George McQuillan (1907-18) did not allow a run in the first 25 innings of his major-league career, a record that lasted more than a century until it was broken by A’s reliever Brad Ziegler. McQuillan went on to win 85 games, highlighted by a 23-17 record for the Phillies in 1908. Gil Meche (1999- ) has spent his career as a highly functional back-of-the-rotation guy. He’ll never win a Cy Young Award, but he’s durable and efficient and if you give him some offensive and defensvie support he could win a dozen games or more. Lefty George Mogridge (1911-27) spent most of his career with the pre-Ruth Yankees and the Washington Senators toward the end of Walter Johnson’s career. He won 132 games and was generally an average or slightly better than average pitcher.

Bullpen: Closer Greg Minton (1975-90) was a slightly flaky reliever who saved 150 games for the Giants and the Angels. He was a sinkerball specialist who avoided the big fly. In fact, from 1978 until early in the 1982 season, Minton worked 178 games (269 innings) without allowing a single home run. Greg McMichael (1993-2000) was a sidearmer who had one outstanding season as a fill-in closer for the Braves, followed by several seasons as a very effective set-up guy. Guillermo Mota (1999- ) is a big, flame-throwing righthander has bounced around the majors as an effective middle reliever and set-up man. He tested positive for steroids in 2006, but he wasn’t a big power hitter so no one really cared. Greg Mathews (1986-92) was a promising lefty for the Cardinals in the late 1980s. He could never stay healthy, and for several years, the Cardinals explained disappointing seasons by saying, “Well, if Greg Mathews had stayed healthy … “ Gary Majewski (2004-08) stayed busy for a few years as a middle reliever but didn’t last long. Guy Morton (1914-24), known as The Alabama Blossom, went 1-13 for a dreadful Cleveland team as a rookie, but as the team improved, Morton went on to win 98 games in his career. Any pitcher who goes 1-13 as a rookie and finishes his career 12 games over .500 has done a pretty good job. Garrett Mock (2008- ) is a big righty in mid-career.

Bench: Greg Myers (1987-2005) and George Mitterwald (1966-77) will share the backup catching duties. Myers had a long, distinguished career as a part-time catcher for seven different teams, batting .255 with a little bit of pop. Mitterwald wasn’t quite as good as Myers. He played a bit more regularly, but in a shorter career with the Twins and the Cubs. There’s something to be said for a catcher who has the word “Mitt” in his name. Gene Michael (1966-75) was a Yankees infielder during the dull period between the Mantle dynasty and the Reggie Era. He was nicknamed “Stick” because was tall and skinny, not because he could hit. In fact, he hit about as little as a guy can hit and still retain a job, but he ingratiated himself with the organization and was part of the managerial revolving door during the period when Steinbrenner was hiring and firing Billy Martin on a regular basis. George Magoon (1898-1903) will share the utility infield duties with Michael. Outfielder Rowdy Gene Moore (1931-45) had a couple of pretty good seasons with the Boston Bees in the hard-hitting 1930s, putting up double-digits in doubles, triples and home runs in 1936 and ’37. He’ll probably spell Little Sarge in right field.

Manager: Gene Mauch had a storied managerial career. He had a fine reputation despite a losing record and despite never winning a pennant in 27 seasons. He had a long history of taking over weak teams and making them better. He came close in 1964, when his Phillies blew a commanding lead down the home stretch, and again in 1986 when his Angels won the AL West but imploded in the ALCS against the Red Sox.