Theme Teams

Thursday, November 11, 2010

All-Time One-Team Hall of Famers Team

The New York Times published an article today on this very subject: http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/hall-of-famers-who-played-for-one-team/?emc=eta1. Thanks to Garth Potts for the heads-up. Pretty decent bench, even if you just counted the coaches. If you have a question about which team someone played for, just click on the name. Perhaps most impressive are those whose careers were in the free agency era: Puckett, Rice, Ripken, Young, Brett and Gwynn. There are some baseball historians who would argue that Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke should make this team. Indeed, they would both be starters. Tough decision to sit Clemente, but Musial’s offensive numbers are clearly superior. Interesting notes: Both White Sox pitchers here are switch hitters and both Combs and Reese were (ahem) colonels.

1b - LOU GEHRIG*

2b - CHARLIE GEHRINGER*

3b - MIKE SCHMIDT*

SS - CAL RIPKEN*

C - JOHNNY BENCH*

LF - TED WILLIAMS*

CF - JOE DiMAGGIO*

RF - STAN MUSIAL*

DH - CARL YASTRZEMSKI*

PH - (r) ROY CAMPANELLA*

PH - (l) MEL OTT*

PH - (b) MICKEY MANTLE*

PR - Bid McPhee*

Pitching

RH - Walter Johnson*

RH - BOB FELLER*

RH - BOB GIBSON*

RH - Addie Joss*

RH - TED LYONS*

LH - CARL HUBBELL*

LH - SANDY KOUFAX*

LH - WHITEY FORD*

Mgr - BOB LEMON*

Coaches – BILL DICKEY*, ERNIE BANKS*, ROBIN YOUNT*, BROOKS ROBINSON*, PEE WEE REESE*, TRAVIS JACKSON*, JIM RICE*, BOBBY DOERR*, AL KALINE*

Broadcasters - JIM PALMER*, PHIL RIZZUTTO*, DON DRYSDALE*

Paradigm Shifter - JACKIE ROBINSON*

Reserves

Key

*Hall of Fame (By definition, but don’t you like the visual constellation effect?)

ALL CAPS = All-Star

Bold = Inspiration

Sunday, November 7, 2010

All-Time Team of One-Season Careers

…but played at least 100 games. Only a few of these were from the WWII era. There’s no doubt an interesting story behind all guys. However, you can read those of Arlett, Elliot, and Vache right here in compact, very readable formats, done by SABR biographers Just click on their names in this paragraph. Most of these guys played for very bad teams. Figueroa pitched batting practice for the Blue Jays in their championship years, so he pulls duty as the team’s pitcher.

1b - Art Mahan (1940 Phillies)

2b - Goat Anderson (1907 Pirates)

3b - Hector Rodriguez (1952 White Sox)

SS - Scotty Ingerton (1911 Rustlers)

C - Tom Cahill (1891 Colonels)

LF - Charlie Hamburg (1890 Colonels)

CF - Ernie Sulik (1936 Phillies)

RF - Irv Waldron (1901 Brewers, Senators)

PH - (r) Herman Reich (1949 Senators, Indians, Cubs)

PH - (l) Buddy Blair (1942 A’s)

PH - (b) Buzz Arlett (1931 Phillies)

PR - Carlos Bernier (1953 Red Sox)

Pitching

RH - Jesus Figueroa (1980 Cubs)

Mgr - SPARKY ANDERSON* (152 G, 1959 Phillies)

Reserves

Gair Allie (1954 Pirates)

Tony Bartirome (1952 Pirates)

Elliot Bigelow (1929 Red Sox)

Al Boucher (1914 Terriers)

Ben Conroy (1890 Athletics)

Jack Daniels (1952 Braves)

Dutch Hoffman (1929 White Sox)

Johnny Johnston (1913 Brown)

Bob Maier (1945 Tigers)

Charlie Malay (1905 Superbas)

Mike McCormick (1904 Superbas)

Harry Moore (1884 Nationals) [Also sometimes listed as Henry]

Moon Mullen (1944 Phillies)

Larry Murphy (1891 Statesmen)

Dutch Schliebner (1923 Dodgers, Browns)

Ham Schulte (1940 Phillies)

Johnny Sturm (1941 Yankees)

Tex Vache (1925 Red Sox)

Milt Whitehead (1884 Maroons, Cowboys)

Rasty Wright (1890 Stars, Spiders)

Key

*Hall of Fame

ALL CAPS = All-Star

Bold = Inspiration

Friday, October 22, 2010

All-Time Rangers/Yankees Team

Lots of personnel have toiled for both these organizations. Here’s the crème de la crème.

1b - MARK TEIXEIRA

2b - ALFONSO SORIANO

3b - ALEX RODRIGUEZ

SS - ED BRINKMAN

C - IVAN RODRIGUEZ

LF - ALEX JOHNSON

CF - BOBBY BONDS

RF - ROBERTO KELLY

DH - JOSE CANSECO

PH - (r) Cliff Johnson

PH - (l) STEVE KEMP

PH - (b) SANDY ALOMAR

PR - BERT CAMPANERIS

Pitching

RH – GAYLORD PERRY*

RH - KEVIN BROWN

RH - DOYLE ALEXANDER

RH - SCOTT ERICKSON

RH - MIKE MORGAN

LH - KENNY ROGERS

LH - FRANK TANANA

LH - RICK HONEYCUTT

LH - Tony Fossas

RP - JOHN WETTELAND

RP - SPARKY LYLE

RP - JEFF NELSON

RP - STEVE HOWE

RP - MIKE STANTON

Closer - RICH GOSSAGE*

Mgr - LEE MAZZILLI

Unlikely Hero - BUCKY DENT

Team Aristocrat - Sidney Ponson

Team Psychologist - BOB TEWKSBURY

Team Ethicist - FRITZ PETERSON

Team Trend Setter - Oscar Gamble

Team Blogger - C. J. Nitkowski

Team Spokesman - MICKEY RIVERS

Reserves

Key

*Hall of Fame

ALL CAPS = All-Star

Bold = Inspiration

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

All-Time Halloween Team II

There were enough great suggestions from readers to create a whole new squad, one—I dare say—that would clobber the original one posted last week. And STILL suggestions are welcome. (Why not make them right here?)

1b - RIPPER COLLINS

2b - FELIX “The Cat” MANTILLA

3b - Oliver “Ghost” Marcelle (By far the most common suggestion.)

SS - Willie “Devil” Wells*

C - Mickey “Black Mike” Cochrane*

LF - Bob “The Rope” Boyd

CF - Ed “The Creeper” Stroud

RF - HOOT EVERS

DH - DAVID “Cookie Monster” ORTIZ

PH - (r) Bones Ely

PH - (l) michael mask

PR - Chaney White

Pitching

RH - BOB “Hoot” GIBSON*

RH - Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown*

RH - John “The Count” Montefusco

RH - spider baum

RH - MONTE “Hoot” PEARSON

LH - John “Candy Man” Candelaria

LH - HARRY “The Cat” BRECHEEN

RP - BILLY “Digger” O’DELL
RP - Vern Fear

RP - Jim “Bones” Blackburn

RP - Dick “Bones” Tomanek

Closer - DICK “The Monster” RADATZ

Mgr - Newt Joseph

Reserves

Key

*Hall of Fame

ALL CAPS = All-Star

Bold = Inspiration

Underlined = Negro Leagues (Boyd, Joseph, Marcelle, Wells & White)

all lower case = Minor leagues only

Monday, October 18, 2010

All-Time Giants/Phillies Team

Given that both these franchises date back to 1883, it will come as no surprise that there have been literally hundreds of players who have worn both uniforms. Here are the best of them, fashioned, for your convenience, into one nifty imaginary squad. The Giants played their first couple of seasons as the Gothams. The Phillies changed from the Quakers in 1890 and briefly called themselves the Blue Jays 1943-44.

1b - Dan Brouthers*

2b - DICK GROAT

3b - Roger Conner*

SS - Dave Bancroft*

C - BENITO SANTIAGO

LF - LEFTY O’DOUL

CF - WALLY BERGER

RF - Hack Wilson*

DH - AL OLIVER

PH - (r) Pat Burrell

PH - (l) J. R. Phillips

PH - (b) TOM HERR