When you search the greatness of BaseballReference.com for "Clay," you receive no fewer than 40 returns, a number somewhat higher than I expected.
But realize, that includes five men whose last/family name was (or contained) "Clay" along with 22 men with the given first or middle name "Clayton" -- including a couple of All-Stars and our only Hall of Famer sculpted from clay(ton).
As near as I can tell, just 17 men in big league history, including the now-immortalized young Mr. Buchholz, have been given and gone by the first name "Clay" -- in fact, the young Bosox hurler is probably already ahead of all of them in the fictional "greatest Clay ever" sweepstakes, except former All-Star closer Clay Carroll, and possibly pitcher Clay Kirby and catcher Clay Dalrymple.
Still, if we open up this roster-building exercise to include all 40 returns noted above, we may have a pretty decent ball club on our hands, one that could only be named, not the Cardinals, not the Orioles, not the Blue Jays, but instead ...
THE CLAY PIGEONS
**indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star
MGR: Nobody named "Clay" has ever managed in the big leagues
LINEUP
C Clay Dalrymple (.233, 55 homers, 1960-71)
1B Willie Clay Upshaw (.262, 123 homers, 1978-88)
2B Clay Bellinger (.193, 1999-2002; did all but P, C)
SS Royce Clayton* (.258, 110 homers, 231 SB through 1991-2007)
3B Clay Perry (2-for-17, 1908 DET)
LF Dain Clay (.258, 1943-46)
CF Lance Richbourg (.308, parts of 1921-32)
RF Fred Clay Tenney (.216, three teams, 1884; also 1B/SP -- 3-2, 2.09)
DH Harmon Clayton Killebrew** (573 homers; 1969 AL MVP; 1B/3B/OF/DH)
BENCH
C William "Dutch" Drescher (.266, 1944-46)
IF Henry Clay "Ted" Baldwin (.313, 5-for-16, 1927 PHI)
OF Bill Clay (2-for-8, 1902 PHI)
ROTATION
LHSP Robert Clayton "Bobby" Shantz* (109-99, 1949-64)
RHSP Clay Kirby (75-104, 1969-76)
LHSP Geoffrey Clayton Zahn (111-109, 1973-85)
LHSP Denver Clayton "Denny" Lemaster* (90-105, 1962-72)
LHSP Harry Clayton Harper (57-76, parts of 1913-23)
BULLPEN
CL-RH Clay Carroll* (96-73, 143 saves, 1964-78)
LHRP Dennis Clay Powell (11-22, 3 saves, 1985-93)
RHRP Mark Clay Brandenburg (5-8, 1995-97)
RHRP Claiborne "Clay" Bryant (19-11, 1937 CHC; 32-30, 7 saves career)
RHRP Ken Clay (10-24, 1977-81)
RHRP Clay Condrey (8-6, 2002-03 SDP, '06-07 PHI)
RHS-RP Clay Hensley (11-12, 2006 SDP; 14-16 career so far)
RH-LONG Clay Buchholz (Has won first two big league starts, including no-hitter)
A LITTLE (SCOTTISH?) CLAY-MORE ... Because of a lack of viable
candidates, we have just a three-man bench, but at least it includes a
catcher, an infielder and an outfielder ... That allows us to stock an
eight-man bullpen and still keep the roster to 25, which at least nails
down a roster spot for the no-hit kid Buchholz ... Not sure what to
make of the starting rotation, where three of our five starters were
out of the majors at a pretty young age -- Kirby and Harper were each
28 when they threw their last big league pitch, while Lemaster was just
33 ...
That said, for whatever reason, the Clays of baseball history have most often been pitchers,
though many were brief cuppajoe guys, like RHRP Clay Christiansen (2-4
and two saves with the 1984 Yankees in his only big league go-round),
RHRP Clay Parker (7-10 over parts of 1987-92 with the Mariners, Yankees
and Tigers) and another southpaw in LHRP Clay Rapada, who has faced --
and retired -- one batter with the 2007 Cubs at this writing ... Since
the rotation is stuffed with lefties -- seriously, at least until
Buchholz has been around a bit longer, four of the top five Pigeon
starting pitchers toss from the port side -- we'll stack the bullpen
with righties ...
So, Bauxites, any thoughts on how we can, um, mold this team any better?
