... from Baseball's Hall of Names!
... 42 major league ballplayers born on July 1. Douglas Adams fans can tell you that 42 is actually the answer to the great question of Life, the Universe and Everything, so maybe that's a good sign.
Then again, when you skim the list of those 42, you start to think maybe that's a projection of the number of wins they'd compile over 162. Sure, there are three Hall of Famers, but that includes one Negro League legend and a couple of guys who were great in the 19th century, so it's a trio many readers won't even be familiar with. But anyway, let's see what we can come up with as we meet (cue Beatles) ...
The Canada Day Trippers
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star (none!)
MGR: Ben Taylor
Taylor was a manager in baseball's Negro Leagues.
LINEUP
C Fred Holmes (2 games, one at 1B, 1903 NYY, '04 CHC; career OPS+ of 258)
1B Ben Taylor** (.300+ in 15 of 16 Negro League seasons)
2B Jake Atz (.218, parts of 1902-09)
SS Charlie Nyce (8-for-35, 1895 BSN)
3B Roger Connor** (mostly a 1B; .317, 138 homers, 1880-97)
LF Jim McTamany (.256, 255 SB, 1885-91)
CF Tony Walker (.222, 11 SB, 1986 HOU)
RF Kerry Dineen (.324 -- 12-for-37 -- in 1975-76-78)
DH Babe Young (1B/OF, .273, 79 homers, parts of 1936-48)
BENCH
C/1B Jim Duncan (.230, two teams, 1899)
IF Louis Brower (10-for-62 with 1931 DET)
OF Howie Camp (6-for-21 with 1917 NYY)
OF Paul Lehner (.247, 1946-52)
OF Nelson Cruz (.231, 2005-07 MIL, TEX; tearing up AAA right now)
OF Ken Wood (.224, 1948-53)
ROTATION
RHSP John Clarkson** (328-178, 1882-94)
RHSP Jack Quinn (247 wins, 57 saves, 1909-33)
RHSP Cletus "Boots" Poffenberger (16-12, 4 saves, 1937-39)
RHSP Kent Greenfield (41-48, 1924-29)
RHSP Dick Drott (27-46, 1957-63; 15-11 at age 20 for '57 CHC)
BULLPEN
LHRP Jamie Walker (19-18, 12 saves, 114 ERA+ since 1997)
LHRP Frank Baumann (45-38, 13 saves, 1955-65)
RHRP Frank Barrett (15-17, 12 saves, 1939, '44-46, '50)
LHRP Bert Cole (28-32, 10 saves, 1921-25, '27)
RHRP Hersh Freeman (30-16, 17 saves,1952-58)
FINAL CUTS
OF Mel Simons (.268, 1931-32 CHW)
C Ed Larkin (1-for-6 with 1909 PHA)
LF/1B Justin Huber (.220 in spot play with 2005-08 KCR so far)
OF John Kiley (.207, 1884 WAS, '91 BSN)
RHRP Jim Otten (1-6, 5.46, parts of 1974-81)
RHRP Craig Anderson (3-17, '62 expansion NYM; 7-23, 1961-64)
LHRP Ron Nischwitz (5-8, parts of 1961-65)
LHSP Billy Rohr (3-3, 5.64, 1967-68)
LHRP Jack Bruner (2-4, 1 save, 1949-50)
RHSP Al Tate (0-1, 5.00 with 1946 PIT)
RHSP Wedo Martini (0-2, 17.05 ERA, 1935 PHA)
LHRP Lefty James (2-6, 1912-14 CLE)
RHSP Jim Buchanan (5-9, 1905 SLB)
?SP Charlie Daniels (lost his only two starts, 1884 Boston Reds)
RHSP Foghorn Bradley (9-10, 1876 BSN)
RHRP Chris Perez (rookie with '08 STL off to 2-0/3.97 start of career)
RHRP Rich Thompson (spot appearances so far with 2007-08 LAA, career ERA over 13)
Home Cookin'on July 1 is Canadian Bakin'? ... All three of Taylor's brothers -- he was the youngest -- also played Negro League ball, putting the Taylors one up on the DiMaggios ... Connor, who also had a brother play in the big leagues, became baseball's all-time career home run leader while still active in 1895 and held that title until some guy named Ruth passed him in 1921 ... The all-righthanded five-man rotation is partially balanced by the fact that three of the five hurlers manning the bullpen are lefties ...
That's right, Clarkson -- who also had two brothers (and two cousins) play major league ball -- won nearly 330 games in just 12 seasons, and he only had 11 victories after two years! His total was amassed significantly over eight straight 25+ win seasons, including remarkable 49-19 and 53-16 marks in 1889 and 1885, respectively ... Clarkson also ended his career with 24 homers and 232 RBI, so apparently "helped himself" plenty ... Odd quirk -- from 1987-2004, Jamie Walker was the ONLY Canada Day baby to appear in a big league game ... Dineen is the first cousin of '70s All-Star OF Ken Henderson ...
Even with the three Hall of Famers, it's still true that nobody born on July 1 has ever been named to an MLB All-Star team ... Of the five active Canada Day Babies in MLB, two -- LAA RHRP Rich Thompson and KCR OF/1B Justin Huber -- were born in Australia ... Of those five, only the aforementioned Walker makes this team ... Oddly, not a single major leaguer (yet, anyway) actually from Canada was born on Canada Day ...
So, Bauxites, drop this team squarely into, say, the 2008 NL West. How many games does it win?
Way back in 2005, Original Bauxite Rob Pettapiece, uh petta-pieced together an All Canada Day Hall of Names team, based on the names of the delegates at the Québec Conference of October 1864.
We've not done much for Canada Day since then, but now three years later, let's see what kind of squad we can build of players who were actually born on Canada Day, known here in Tejas as "Uh, it's just July 1st, dude."
There have actually been ...
... 42 major league ballplayers born on July 1. Douglas Adams fans can tell you that 42 is actually the answer to the great question of Life, the Universe and Everything, so maybe that's a good sign.
Then again, when you skim the list of those 42, you start to think maybe that's a projection of the number of wins they'd compile over 162. Sure, there are three Hall of Famers, but that includes one Negro League legend and a couple of guys who were great in the 19th century, so it's a trio many readers won't even be familiar with. But anyway, let's see what we can come up with as we meet (cue Beatles) ...
The Canada Day Trippers
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star (none!)
MGR: Ben Taylor
Taylor was a manager in baseball's Negro Leagues.
LINEUP
C Fred Holmes (2 games, one at 1B, 1903 NYY, '04 CHC; career OPS+ of 258)
1B Ben Taylor** (.300+ in 15 of 16 Negro League seasons)
2B Jake Atz (.218, parts of 1902-09)
SS Charlie Nyce (8-for-35, 1895 BSN)
3B Roger Connor** (mostly a 1B; .317, 138 homers, 1880-97)
LF Jim McTamany (.256, 255 SB, 1885-91)
CF Tony Walker (.222, 11 SB, 1986 HOU)
RF Kerry Dineen (.324 -- 12-for-37 -- in 1975-76-78)
DH Babe Young (1B/OF, .273, 79 homers, parts of 1936-48)
BENCH
C/1B Jim Duncan (.230, two teams, 1899)
IF Louis Brower (10-for-62 with 1931 DET)
OF Howie Camp (6-for-21 with 1917 NYY)
OF Paul Lehner (.247, 1946-52)
OF Nelson Cruz (.231, 2005-07 MIL, TEX; tearing up AAA right now)
OF Ken Wood (.224, 1948-53)
ROTATION
RHSP John Clarkson** (328-178, 1882-94)
RHSP Jack Quinn (247 wins, 57 saves, 1909-33)
RHSP Cletus "Boots" Poffenberger (16-12, 4 saves, 1937-39)
RHSP Kent Greenfield (41-48, 1924-29)
RHSP Dick Drott (27-46, 1957-63; 15-11 at age 20 for '57 CHC)
BULLPEN
LHRP Jamie Walker (19-18, 12 saves, 114 ERA+ since 1997)
LHRP Frank Baumann (45-38, 13 saves, 1955-65)
RHRP Frank Barrett (15-17, 12 saves, 1939, '44-46, '50)
LHRP Bert Cole (28-32, 10 saves, 1921-25, '27)
RHRP Hersh Freeman (30-16, 17 saves,1952-58)
FINAL CUTS
OF Mel Simons (.268, 1931-32 CHW)
C Ed Larkin (1-for-6 with 1909 PHA)
LF/1B Justin Huber (.220 in spot play with 2005-08 KCR so far)
OF John Kiley (.207, 1884 WAS, '91 BSN)
RHRP Jim Otten (1-6, 5.46, parts of 1974-81)
RHRP Craig Anderson (3-17, '62 expansion NYM; 7-23, 1961-64)
LHRP Ron Nischwitz (5-8, parts of 1961-65)
LHSP Billy Rohr (3-3, 5.64, 1967-68)
LHRP Jack Bruner (2-4, 1 save, 1949-50)
RHSP Al Tate (0-1, 5.00 with 1946 PIT)
RHSP Wedo Martini (0-2, 17.05 ERA, 1935 PHA)
LHRP Lefty James (2-6, 1912-14 CLE)
RHSP Jim Buchanan (5-9, 1905 SLB)
?SP Charlie Daniels (lost his only two starts, 1884 Boston Reds)
RHSP Foghorn Bradley (9-10, 1876 BSN)
RHRP Chris Perez (rookie with '08 STL off to 2-0/3.97 start of career)
RHRP Rich Thompson (spot appearances so far with 2007-08 LAA, career ERA over 13)
Home Cookin'on July 1 is Canadian Bakin'? ... All three of Taylor's brothers -- he was the youngest -- also played Negro League ball, putting the Taylors one up on the DiMaggios ... Connor, who also had a brother play in the big leagues, became baseball's all-time career home run leader while still active in 1895 and held that title until some guy named Ruth passed him in 1921 ... The all-righthanded five-man rotation is partially balanced by the fact that three of the five hurlers manning the bullpen are lefties ...
That's right, Clarkson -- who also had two brothers (and two cousins) play major league ball -- won nearly 330 games in just 12 seasons, and he only had 11 victories after two years! His total was amassed significantly over eight straight 25+ win seasons, including remarkable 49-19 and 53-16 marks in 1889 and 1885, respectively ... Clarkson also ended his career with 24 homers and 232 RBI, so apparently "helped himself" plenty ... Odd quirk -- from 1987-2004, Jamie Walker was the ONLY Canada Day baby to appear in a big league game ... Dineen is the first cousin of '70s All-Star OF Ken Henderson ...
Even with the three Hall of Famers, it's still true that nobody born on July 1 has ever been named to an MLB All-Star team ... Of the five active Canada Day Babies in MLB, two -- LAA RHRP Rich Thompson and KCR OF/1B Justin Huber -- were born in Australia ... Of those five, only the aforementioned Walker makes this team ... Oddly, not a single major leaguer (yet, anyway) actually from Canada was born on Canada Day ...
So, Bauxites, drop this team squarely into, say, the 2008 NL West. How many games does it win?
