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Another Halloween has passed, and we are more than halfway through the Nov. 1 anniversary that is known widely in many Christian denominations as "All Saints Day." I thought we might build a Hall of Names team around men with "Saint" or at least "St." in their names, but these sainted ballplayers are few and far enough between that, certainly moreso than the five dozen or so major leaguers with "Angel"-based names, they could gather to dance on the head of a pin.

Though we might assemble a full active roster if we counted the 75 or so historical minor league Saint/St. ballplayers -- including infdividuals like 1953 Drummondville Royals backstop Marcel St. Pierre (who frankly sounds more like a goaltender than a catcher) -- our major league "archive" of saints includes just three men ...



  • LHSP Jim St.Vrain, just 4-6 in his one big league season with the 1902 Cubbies, posting a 2.08 ERA and 129 ERA+ as a 19-year-old who for some reason never made it back to the show;
  • Edward "Ebba" St. Claire, another catcher who hit .249 from 1951-53 for the Braves (in two cities) and Giants, and who was dealt from the Braves to the G-Men in a trade that included luminaries Johnny Antonelli heading east and Bobby Thomson heading west;
  • And the very best, shall we say "most saintly" big leaguer, son of Ebba, RHRP Randy St. Claire, who spent parts of five season in Montreal starting in 1984 and bounced around six other organizations, finishing up back in Canada as a '94 Blue Jay. The younger St. Claire did get to make a World Series appearance -- one inning, one earned run with the 1991 Braves -- and concluded his career with a 12-6 mark, nine saves and a 4.14 ERA

So we have two pitchers and a catcher -- not exactly a holy trinity if you're trying to field an entire team. As Billy Joel once put it (sort of) we may laugh with the sinners, but we'll cry with these saints.

So tell me, Bauxites, other than stuffing the roster with a variety of Independent League St. Paul Saints or wrapping in every Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul we can think of -- how can we further honor our saintly ballplayers with an All Saint's Day roster?

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Nick Holmes - Sunday, November 01 2009 @ 05:15 PM EST (#207949) #
I think we may have to use Santo or Santos. If we do then there's:

STARTERS:
Victor Santos 23-48 from 01-07, best year 11-12 with Milwaukee in 2004

Luis de los Santos who lost 3 games for the Devil Rays in 02
Not to be confused with
Luis de los Santos 1B/DH batted .209 in 55 games over three seasons in 88, 89 & 91



RELIEVERS:
Santo Alcala who went had an ERA of 4.76 over 249 innings in 76 & 77, including a hundred innings for the Expos in 77

Ramon de los Santos 2.19 ERA over 12 innings in 1974 for the Astros

Valerio de los Santos 4.57 ERA over 256 innings from 98 to 08 including eleven not-so-memorable innings here in 04

And the three Jose Santiagos, all of whom spent time in Kansas City:
Jose Guillermo Santiago 10 HBP over 56 innings from 54-56
Jose Rafael (Alfonso) Santiago ERA of .540 over 556 innings from 63-70
Jose Rafael (Fuentes) Santiago ERA of 3.18 over 299 innings from 97-05

OF:
F.P. Santangelo batted .245 with a .715 OPS from 95-01, starting with the Expos

SS/2B:
Ramon Santiago 02-now, mostly for Detroit

3B:
Ron Santo All-Star, Legenday Cub from 1960-74

C:
Benito Santiago All-Star & former Jay
Omir Santos backup & current Met

C/1B:
Nelson Santovenia batted .233 from 87-93, mostly with the Expos


And the light hitting cup of coffee guys:
Rafael Santo Domingo 1979 Red
Angel Santos 2001 Red Sock
Chad Santos 2006 Giant
Francisco Santos 2003 Giant

Not much, but at least you might not have to forfeit!
Mike Green - Sunday, November 01 2009 @ 09:08 PM EST (#207952) #
If you want to stretch it, you could use players born in New Orleans as "Saints".  These would include Rusty Staub, Will Clark, Mel Parnell and a bunch of other lesser known names.  It might be worth it, just to have Louis Armstrong playing "When the Saints go marching in" on the p.a. as the club takes the field.
Mick Doherty - Monday, November 02 2009 @ 01:18 AM EST (#207955) #

Mike, I think that's the same as the St. Paul idea referenced above, but you do raise a pretty interesting future "Hall of Place Names" -- and we haven't done one of those in a really long time. Nick, I like the way you think and am embarrassed I didn't go non-English myself, as we have done in the HoN many times before -- there's a reason my name starts with a Homer Simpsonific "Doh!"

Can we get a full roster? Let's see ...

LINEUP
C Benito Santiago* (.263, 217 homers, 3 Gold Gloves, 9 teams, 1986-2005)
1B Nelson Santovenia (.233, 1987-93, 3 teams, mostly Expos, mostly C)
2B Ramon Santiago (2002-09, DET, SEA; .244 -- more at SS)
SS Rafael Santana (.246, 1985-90, 4 teams, mostly NYM)
3B Ron Santo* (.277, 342 homers, 5 Gold Gloves, 1960-73 CHC, '74 CHW)
LF Luis de los Santos (.209, 1988-89 KCR, 1991 DET, mostly a 1B)
CF Angel Santos Echevarria (.280, 1996-2002, 3 teams, mostly COL)
RF  F.P. Santangelo (.245, 1995-2001; played every position but P, C)

BENCH
C Edward "Ebba" St. Claire (.249, 1951-52 Braves, '53 Giants)
C Omir Santos (.254, 2008 BAL, '09 NYM)
2B/3B Angel Santos (.207, 2001 BOS, '03 CLE)
PH Rafael Santo Domingo (1-for-7 with 1979 CIN)

ROTATION
RHSP Johan Santana* (122-60, two CYAs -- '04 and '06 AL -- through 2009)
RHSP Ervin Santana* (59-45, 2005-09)
RHSP Victor Santos (23-48, seven teams, 2001-07; 11-12 for '04 MIL)
LHSP Jim St. Vrain (4-6, 2.08, 1902 CHC, only big league season)
RHS/RP Jose R.A. Santiago (34-29, eight saves -- and 16 CG -- 1963-70)

BULLPEN
CL-RH Randy St. Claire (12-6, nine saves, 4.14 ERA, five teams, 1984-94)
LHRP Valerio de los Santos (4.57 ERA, 256 innings five teams, 1998-2008)
RHRP Ramon Santo Ramirez (16-11 since 2006, now with BOS)
RHRP Ramon de los Santos (1-1, 2.19, 12 games, '74 Astros)
RHRP Jose R.F. Santiago (17-22, 1997-2005, four teams, mostly KCR)
RH-LONG Santo Alcala (14-11, 4.76, 1976-77 CIN, MON)
RH-LONG Julio Santana (17-31, 1997-2006, six teams)

Also worth considering: both the senior and junior versions of Santos "Sandy" Alomar ...All-Star IF Richard Santo Aurilia ... RHRP Santiago Casilla, still active with Oakland ... And a long list of a variety of cuppajoe guys ...

Erratic lineup includes two legitimate long-time All-Stars ... Rotation is solid, at least at the top, and the almost complete lack of viable bench options allows us to carry a seven-man bullpen ... And it's still a roster only carrying 24 men -- so who's missing still?

And why are the Saints so massively deep behind the plate? Well, ignorance is bliss and catchers wear the tools of ignorance, so by the transitive property ... oh, never mind ...

Nick Holmes - Monday, November 02 2009 @ 03:15 PM EST (#207962) #
Never knew Sandy was short for Santos. Nicely done, Mick.
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