As February winds to a close and spring training ramps up, let's take a look at the first of what will be 12 All-Star teams ... that's right, it's the All-February Team, made up entirely of players born in the shortest month. Next February, if time, energy and patience permit, we can play a tournament to determine the best of all months to be born if you want to play in The Show.
Now, first, there are nine Hall of Famers elected primarily for what they did as players who were born during February. These are Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner (ooh, pretty good start, huh?) ...
... Chick Hafey, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Herb Pennock, Monte Irvin, Eddie Murray, and "Sliding" Billy Hamilton. Now, whether or not these players deserve to be in the Hall, and whether or not others on the list should be there with them, these things are not up for debate right now.
A note of interest, there seemed to be an inordinate number of non-playing Hall of Famers born in February, from Sparky Anderson to Bill Veeck to Bill Klem. That's less than half of them.
Researching this team provided many grand diversions -- Wally Pipp was a February baby, as were former Jay Heroes Eddie Zosky and Huck Flener, while it also appears to be a great month for failed baseball players aiming for a career under center in the NFL, as both Drew Henson and Chad Hutchinson broke from the huddle in February.
Okay, then, let's jump right in and start with the pitching staff. (Sorry Chad, you don't make it -- focus on trying to beat out former Cub farhmhand and October baby Quincy Carter in Dallas). We know that Alexander and Pennock can anchor the five-man rotation, but what three lucky stalwarts will join them?
There are a number of good, solid, middle-of-the-rotation (relatively speaking) choices, including Dave Stewart, Allie Reynolds, Preacher Roe and Wilbur Cooper.
And who says we shouldn't consider Jack Billingham, John Tudor, Scott Erickson, Joe Coleman (the son, not the father), Juan Pizarro, Pat Dobson, Bill Gullickson or Dave Dravecky? All of them fronted rotations at one time or another, and all of them reached or toyed with reaching 20-win seasons.
And a special nod to a dominant Don Wilson, who won 104 games in nine years with bad, bad Astros teams before tragically dying at the age of 29.
Pennock is a lefty; let's slot Cooper into the second lefty slot (with apologies to Tudor) and go with Reynolds and Roe, who opposed each other in the '49 World Series, as the other righties behind Ol' Pete.
For a five-man bullpen to back these guys up -- should they ever need it -- there's a nice mix available, including a clear-cut Proven Closer in Dan Quisenberry. Truth be told, though, any one of Elroy Face, Ugueth Urbina, Tim Burke and even Will McEnaney could take a turn in the ninth inning. And look at that -- there's three former Expos in the 'pen. Apparently February is a Relief in Canada.
As much as it would be fun to add Ryne Duren to the mix just to scare the living bejeezers out of those pansies from November or January, we'll wait until he gets LASIK.
Now, behind the plate, there isn't exactly a Bench or a Berra -- or even a Benito Santiago -- to be found in February. The best of a weak lot appear to be Muddy Ruel and Johnny Kling, who had long, relatively undistinguished careers, although Kling gets some props for being a turn-of-the-century pioneer in the Roger Bresnahan mold. What we do have here is a good sponsorship opportunity for the team who can "pitch" the platoon to detergent manufacturers with the tagline "Clean up behind the plate and get over that Muddy-Kling feeling with Tide (tm)!"
Eddie Murray checks in at first base, with Roberto Alomar nudging out Red Schoendienst at second base. As much as Alan Trammell really belongs in the Hall, shortstop is in the sure hands of the greatest ever to play the position in Honus Wagner. Nice start to the infield.
The hot corner is a bit of quandary; who makes the team among Ron Santo, Ron Cey, Sal Bando and Al Rosen? Okay, just kidding. The starter is Santo; Rosen, the former AL MVP, makes the roster, too.
Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron ... um, nice start to the outfield; we'll slide Aaron over to LF because, well, Babe does what he wants, and he wants to play right field. Who's in center? None of Monte Irvin, Chick Hafey and Sam Rice, while HOF outfielders all, is the right fit; the gloves of Chet Lemon, Dom DiMaggio and Fred Lynn are briefly tempting, and that's Lance Berkman and Cesar Cedeno in the background waving to get some attention. Hi, boys. No dice. We'll sacrifice defense to go with an outfield of Aaron and Ruth flanking ... Vladimir Guerrero. Ohh, yeah.
There is a designated hitter in this game. Apologies, apologists. And as a grand symbolic gesture, we'll give the February slot to far and away the best player ever born on Leap Day -- Rosen. Of course, only 12 players ever have been born Feb. 29, and the second-best turns out to be Terrence Long, so this was a pretty easy choice.
So here's the All-February Roster:
ROTATION
SP Grover Cleveland Alexander (R)
SP Herb Pennock (L)
SP Preacher Roe (R)
SP Wilbur Cooper (L)
SP Allie Reynolds (R)
BULLPEN
CL Dan Quisenberry
RP Roy Face
RP Will McEnaney (LOOGY?)
RP Ugueth Urbina
RP Tim Burke
LINEUP
2B Roberto Alomar
SS Honus Wagner
RF Babe Ruth
LF Hank Aaron
1B Eddie Murray
3B Ron Santo
CF Vladimir Guerrero
DH Al Rosen
C Johnny Kling
BENCH
C Muddy Ruel
IF Alan Trammell
IF Red Schoendienst
OF Sam Rice
OF Fred Lynn
Hall of Famers Hamilton, Irvin and Hafey don't make the team. How sad. Got the February blues, for sure.
Okay, fire away. What's wrong with this team?
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