Yesterday, young Diamondacks righty Micah Owings put on a
positively Ruthian display of hitting and pitching, holding the Braves
to three hits -- all solo homers -- over seven innings, while hitting
two homers and driving in six runs hisownself. Owings is 7-for-14 with
two doubles and three homers in his past five games and has evened his
rookie W-L record at 6-6. Does this power/pitching modus operandi already make him, at the age of just 24 (25 next month), the greatest M.O. in major league history?
Well, the answer to that, of course, is "Mel (Ott) No!" Young Owings isn't even the best M.O. currently active (and we don't mean "Mo Rivera") as there is a fellow named ...
... Magglio Ordonez in Detroit having an MVPOTAR (Most Valuable Player Other Than Alex Rodriguez) season. Hey, "Micah Owings" even sounds like he's ripping off the name of another old All-Star, catcher Mickey Owen, and just tricking up the spelling a little bit. So there's some serious M.O. talent. But can we build a representative Hall of Names team -- or at least a lineup -- from the 20-some big league players who bore those initials?
Actually, no, we can't. (Damn!) But if we stretch our usual HoN rules a tiny bit to accept players who had a middle name that starts with "M" and a last/family name that starts with "O" we can at least cobble together a decent lineup and a full pitching staff, along with an incredibly odd bench to get our roster to a full complement of 25.
it's time to meet ... (or should that be, "It's time to mete out ...")
M.O. Better Baseball
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star
# indicates middle-name exception
Player/Manager: Mel Ott** (464-530, 1942-48 NYG)
LINEUP
C Mickey Owen* (.255, 1937-51, '54)
1B Peter Michael O'Brien# (.261, 169 homers, 1982-93)
2B Marv Olson (.241, 1931-33 BOS)
SS Ivan Massie "Ivy" Olson# (.258, 156 SB, 1911-24; all but P, C)
3B Marv Owen (.275, 1931-40; .295/9/105 in '36)
LF Mel Ott** (also 3B; .304, 511 homers, 1926-47)
CF Jose Manuel Oquendo# (.256, 1983-95, mostly 2B/SS)
RF Magglio Ordonez* (.310, 240+ homers since 1997)
DH Joseph Michael Orsulak# (OF, .273, 57 homers, 1983-97)
BENCH
Well, at least this team is deep behind the plate!
C Miguel Olivo (.239 since 2002; a little 1B)
C Miguel Ojeda (.224, 2003-06; a little OF and 1B)
C Mike O'Berry (.191, 1979-85)
C Joseph Melton Oliver# (.247, 1989-2001)
C George Michael "Mickey" O'Neil# (.238, 1919-27)
C Manuel "Ralph" Onis (1-for-1 with '35 Dodgers)
ROTATION
RHSP Frank Malcolm Owen# (82-67, 1901-09, 21+ wins, '04-06)
LHSP Robert Michael Ojeda# (115-98, 1980-94)
RHSP Mike Oquist (25-31, 1993-99)
LHSP Scott Matthew Olsen# (22-21 since 2005 with FLA)
LHSP Mike O'Connor (3-8, 2006 Nats)
BULLPEN
RHRP Milton Darrell Osteen (1-4, 3 saves, 1965-67, '70)
RHS/RP Marty O'Toole (27-36, 1908, '11-14)
LHRP William McDaniel Ohman# (5-8, 1 save, parts of 2000-07 CHC)
RHR/SP John Mahlon "Jack" Ogden (25-34, 3 saves, 1918, '28-32)
RHS/RP Mike O'Neill (32-44, 1901-04)
25 Men Out? ... The last man cut from the squad was ?SP/OF Mike O'Rourke (1-2 in 5 starts; .115 BA) ... See, versatility is nice, but he pretty much washed out as both a pitcher and hitter, and records don't even show which hand he threw with ... Yes, yes, we have no less than seven catchers on our 25-man roster, but I suppose if you had to cut it back to two, you'd still have Owen start, with either O'Neil or Oliver to back him up -- edge to O'Neil since he at least went by "Mickey" ... Axing all the rest of the backup backstops would also free up roster space for -- oh wait, that's right -- nobody! ....
When you search the greatness of BaseballReference.com for the initals M.O., the returns include (for a variety of reasons, some less clear than others), among others, Orlando Cepeda, Ozzie Guillen, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Miguel Tejada, Blue Moon Odom and Carl Hubbell ... Think that group would improve this lineup a bit? But seriously ... suggestions welcome. How can this team be better?
Well, the answer to that, of course, is "Mel (Ott) No!" Young Owings isn't even the best M.O. currently active (and we don't mean "Mo Rivera") as there is a fellow named ...
... Magglio Ordonez in Detroit having an MVPOTAR (Most Valuable Player Other Than Alex Rodriguez) season. Hey, "Micah Owings" even sounds like he's ripping off the name of another old All-Star, catcher Mickey Owen, and just tricking up the spelling a little bit. So there's some serious M.O. talent. But can we build a representative Hall of Names team -- or at least a lineup -- from the 20-some big league players who bore those initials?
Actually, no, we can't. (Damn!) But if we stretch our usual HoN rules a tiny bit to accept players who had a middle name that starts with "M" and a last/family name that starts with "O" we can at least cobble together a decent lineup and a full pitching staff, along with an incredibly odd bench to get our roster to a full complement of 25.
it's time to meet ... (or should that be, "It's time to mete out ...")
M.O. Better Baseball
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star
# indicates middle-name exception
Player/Manager: Mel Ott** (464-530, 1942-48 NYG)
LINEUP
C Mickey Owen* (.255, 1937-51, '54)
1B Peter Michael O'Brien# (.261, 169 homers, 1982-93)
2B Marv Olson (.241, 1931-33 BOS)
SS Ivan Massie "Ivy" Olson# (.258, 156 SB, 1911-24; all but P, C)
3B Marv Owen (.275, 1931-40; .295/9/105 in '36)
LF Mel Ott** (also 3B; .304, 511 homers, 1926-47)
CF Jose Manuel Oquendo# (.256, 1983-95, mostly 2B/SS)
RF Magglio Ordonez* (.310, 240+ homers since 1997)
DH Joseph Michael Orsulak# (OF, .273, 57 homers, 1983-97)
BENCH
Well, at least this team is deep behind the plate!
C Miguel Olivo (.239 since 2002; a little 1B)
C Miguel Ojeda (.224, 2003-06; a little OF and 1B)
C Mike O'Berry (.191, 1979-85)
C Joseph Melton Oliver# (.247, 1989-2001)
C George Michael "Mickey" O'Neil# (.238, 1919-27)
C Manuel "Ralph" Onis (1-for-1 with '35 Dodgers)
ROTATION
RHSP Frank Malcolm Owen# (82-67, 1901-09, 21+ wins, '04-06)
LHSP Robert Michael Ojeda# (115-98, 1980-94)
RHSP Mike Oquist (25-31, 1993-99)
LHSP Scott Matthew Olsen# (22-21 since 2005 with FLA)
LHSP Mike O'Connor (3-8, 2006 Nats)
BULLPEN
RHRP Milton Darrell Osteen (1-4, 3 saves, 1965-67, '70)
RHS/RP Marty O'Toole (27-36, 1908, '11-14)
LHRP William McDaniel Ohman# (5-8, 1 save, parts of 2000-07 CHC)
RHR/SP John Mahlon "Jack" Ogden (25-34, 3 saves, 1918, '28-32)
RHS/RP Mike O'Neill (32-44, 1901-04)
25 Men Out? ... The last man cut from the squad was ?SP/OF Mike O'Rourke (1-2 in 5 starts; .115 BA) ... See, versatility is nice, but he pretty much washed out as both a pitcher and hitter, and records don't even show which hand he threw with ... Yes, yes, we have no less than seven catchers on our 25-man roster, but I suppose if you had to cut it back to two, you'd still have Owen start, with either O'Neil or Oliver to back him up -- edge to O'Neil since he at least went by "Mickey" ... Axing all the rest of the backup backstops would also free up roster space for -- oh wait, that's right -- nobody! ....
When you search the greatness of BaseballReference.com for the initals M.O., the returns include (for a variety of reasons, some less clear than others), among others, Orlando Cepeda, Ozzie Guillen, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Miguel Tejada, Blue Moon Odom and Carl Hubbell ... Think that group would improve this lineup a bit? But seriously ... suggestions welcome. How can this team be better?
