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Baseball's Hall of Names! Woohoo!

After this week's earlier "All-Red" Hall of Names piece to welcome Boston's crimson stockings north of the border -- a Hall of Names that set all kinds of dangerous precedents, by the way, in focusing solely on nicknames, which are usually against the rules -- it's time to go to the opposite extreme.

Without getting all technical about what a "colour" is -- yes, yes, in a way, black is a lack of colour while white is just the opposite, a reflection of all colours -- we're going to build the least colourful team in the history of the game. That is, this team is going to be all black, white and gray.

Or, more to the point, all Blacks, Whites and Grays. And we're going to be extremely strict in sticking to the traditional no-nickname rule; so, we'll have to live without Whitey Ford, Black Jack McDowell and Tris "the Grey Eagle" Speaker. And while we're in the business of dismissing Cy Young Award winners like Ford and McDowell, we'll also eliminate those guys whose last/family names simply contain the word(s) in question in part -- so, no Ewell Blackwell, while at the plate, for you old-time Blue Jays fans, no Mark Whiten.

Interestingly enough, no player named Black, Gray or White has yet been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; and while seven men named White have been named to All-Star teams, only one man named Gray has been so honoured, and not a single player named Black has made it to the midsummar classic as yet. And check out the name of the catcher and the backup catcher -- quite a combination!

Still, this team could be pretty damn good. So, meet ...

DON'T COLOUR MY WORLD
**Hall of Famer (if there were any, that is)
* All-Star

STARTING LINEUP
C Sammy White* (.262, 1951-62)
1B Bill Dekova White* (202 homers, 1956-69)
2B Frank White*
SS Bill Dighton White (.241, 1884-88)
3B Bill Gray (.242, 1890-98)
LF Roy White*
CF Devon White*
RF Jo-Jo White (.256, 1932-44)
DH Rondell White*

BENCH
C Sam White (O for 1 in one game for '19 BOS)
COR IF Warren White (.251, 1871-84)
MID IF Elder White (.151 for '62 CHC)
OF Gary Gray (.240, 1977-82)
OF Jerry White (.253, 1974-86)
UTIL Deacon White (2066 hits, played all nine positions, 1871-90)

ROTATION
LHSP Doc White (189-156, 1901-13)
RHSP Sam "Dolly" Gray (111-115, 1924-33)
LHSP Harry "Bud" Black (121-116, 1981-95)
LHSP Ted Gray* (59-74, 1946-55)
SP Bob Black (4-9 for 1884 Kansas City Cowboys; throws "Unknown")

BULLPEN
CL Joe Black (1952 NL ROY)
RHRP Hal White (46-54, 25 saves, 1941-54)
LHRP Gabe White (34-26, 17 saves; active)
RHRP Dave Black (mostly pitched in FL, 1914-15)
LHRP Ernie White (30-21 career; 17-7 for '41 STL)

So, that's 17 Whites, four Blacks and four Grays making the team. (No "White Jays" references, please!) But, Bauxites, surely this isn't so cut and dried ... so, ah, black and white? Could there be additional nuances ... you know, more, ah, shades of gray?

A Complete Lack of Colour | 7 comments | Create New Account
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Nolan - Saturday, April 09 2005 @ 04:51 AM EDT (#110149) #
Some names from the Negro Leagues:

Joe Black- Played 8 years in the Negro Leagues before making it to the majors in 1952 and winning the ROY award. He was a reliever who won 14 and saved 15 in '52. He played in the majors till '57.

"Chester" Gray- Was a catcher from 1940 till 1945.

Sol White- Was a 2B, 3B and OF from 1887 to 1912, first on white minor leagues teams and then on the Philedelphia Giants which he founded and captained. White went on to manage quite a bit in the Negro leagues; he also wrote a book in 1907 on the Negro Leagues and is the most reliable source for info from that time period on the Negro Leagues. So if we want a utility player/manager/pioneer on the team, he's a possibility.

Other:

The only player I could find that Mick really missed for this team is a man by the name of Wil White who played from 1877 to 1886. He won 229 games during that span with an ERA of 2.28. He has seasons in which he won 30, 43, 18, 40, 43, 34 and 18 games. In 7 full seasons he totalled a grand total of 3471 innings, or an average of 496 innings a year!

I think he should be in the rotation...even if those stats are from the 1880's.

Mike Green - Saturday, April 09 2005 @ 11:11 AM EDT (#110175) #
You'd be better off with Deacon White catching and Sammy White backing him up. Deacon might have the best bat in the lineup. OK, I have no way of knowing whether Deacon White was a better hitter than Bill White, but still...

Mick, do you realize that the TV voice of your lineup would have to be Rod Black?
Mick Doherty - Saturday, April 09 2005 @ 12:20 PM EDT (#110179) #
Mike, with Jim Gray as the on-field reporter, that will really class up the joint, won't it?

Mike Green - Saturday, April 09 2005 @ 01:06 PM EDT (#110187) #
I guess Josh White and Jack White will have to fight it out for the right to sing the national anthem. Heck, if Jack White can work with Loretta Lynn, maybe he'd be amenable to a duet.
Mick Doherty - Saturday, April 09 2005 @ 02:36 PM EDT (#110212) #
Well, then, I'd think you're looking at a duet between Jack White and Jack Black, now, aren't you?
Mike Green - Saturday, April 09 2005 @ 05:27 PM EDT (#110245) #
Just as long as they don't sing "Ebony and Ivory", I'm OK with it.
CeeBee - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 09:12 AM EDT (#110311) #
So Mark wasn't Whiten-uff and Ewell was to Black-well.....is there a limit to the shades of gray(grey)cause I'd really like to see one armed outfielder Pete Gray of the 1945 St. Louis Browns on the team.
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