Hall of Names: The December Holidays
Wednesday, December 29 2004 @ 12:33 PM EST
Contributed by: Mick Doherty
As 2004 comes to a close, it's time to present the eighth of what will be 12 "all-month" teams for your discussion and ridicule. There's no easy name for the December squad (though we're looking forward to introducing the March Hares and the April Fools in months to come), but given the spirit of the season, we'll go with the December Holidays. If we're looking for a team captain, rest assured that my former boss John December wasn't a ballplayer of any sort, and Toronto's own Roy Halladay was born in September -- though somehow he escaped notice in formation of the September Morns -- so he's right out.
But in looking for a Christmas miracle, we'll find that team captain ... on December 9, 1957, a child was born unto the people of Orlando, Florida, and it was future Reds, Cubs and White Sox catcher Steve Christmas. Now, as for the rest of the team ...
... as with all the other months (see links below), this is a squad made up entirely of players born in the month of December. Incidentally, there are a fair number of other (pretty hilarious) winter holiday names on display in this old thread, but no big December-born players are identified.
All-February || All-June || All-July || All-August
All-September || All-October || All-November
December's All-Hall Team
We'll start by using a precedent established with the February team and look at the Hall of Famers born in December. This team could be a lot stronger if we engaged in speculation about December-born players who might make the Hall, such as Larry Walker, Mike Mussina, Craig Biggio, even current down-ballot candidates like Steve Garvey and Lee Smith; but there seems only one mortal lock for the Hall among December arrivals, and he will play left field and lead off with a "green light" at all times; do I even need to tell you who, with those clues?
Actually, before we get any further into the players on the field, how about that December Hall of Fame braintrust? Connie Mack is a pretty decent owner/manager, with Walter Alston available to be his bench coach. And in the front office, how do you like Ford Frick giving orders to former Civil War officer Morgan Bulkeley, the first president of the National League and later a U.S. Senator and Governor of Connecticut. As for someone to run player personnel, there's a young up-and-comer named Branch Rickey who can start off by running the minor league system for the Holidays.
A couple of other non-players who came along in December are in the Hall; actually, Jocko Conlan did get 365 AB for the 1934-35 White Sox, but he's in Cooperstown as an umpire, as is Tom Connolly.
There is one rather huge gaping hole on this team in that nobody who ever spent even a good part of his career at 3B was both born in December and is in the Hall of Fame.
In fact, only eight December-born HOF players have ever appeared at 3B at all: King Kelly (96 games), Joe Kelley (48), Tony Lazzeri (166), Nellie Fox (6), Al Kaline (2), Jesse Burkett (1), Carlton Fisk (4); the career leader in December-born HOF games at 3B is none other than the greatest catcher of all time, Johnny Bench, with 195.
Bench may get moved back behind the plate for the full All-December team, but for now to get his bat in the lineup for the All-Hall team, he plays 3B because Fisk and Gabby Hartnett (who can also be a player-manager-bench coach for Mack) won't even start ahead of the great Josh Gibson. Actually, since we don't know much about Gibson's glove, let's DH him and give Fisk the start; that's three of the greatest catchers of all time, all making the starting December lineup.
The rest of the infield finds Joe Kelley, who had 2,220 hits and a career BA of .317 at 1B; Lazzeri nosing out Fox at 2B; and the multiple gold gloves of Ozzie Smith at shortstop.
Ty Cobb wasn't a great defensive outfielder, but he can play deep in CF with Ozzie and Lazzeri the ZZ-factor in the middle infield; he's flanked by Rickey Henderson in LF and Kaline in right, with Larry Doby and Burkett in reserve. Our utility options are expanded by the versatility of King Kelly, who played at least a dozen games at every position, including pitcher; he retired with a .308 BA and 368 SB; with Ozzie, Rickey and Cobb, think this team mighy run a little bit? Kelly was also player-manager of the 1891 Cincinnati Kelly's Killers; they finished 43-57, so maybe the choice of team name was a bit prematurely optimistic. Kelly did finish (and remains) the all-time franchise leader in doubles ... with 15.
The pitching staff might seem a tad thin -- but don't fool yourself; the only thing thin about this staff is Sandy Koufax's wiry frame. It's true that there is no bullpen to speak of -- we'll try to cobble one together for the full December team later -- but Koufax and fellow lefty Steve Carlton combine well with righties Fergie Jenkins, Ted Lyons, Pud Galvin and Charley Radbourn to provide plenty of workhorse innings. Not only does this six-man staff boast four 300-game winners, but if you add up the top number of innings pitched in a single season for each hurler, you reach a total of 2,549. When you consider that a full 162-game season of nine-inning games will only net you 1,456 innings, who needs a bullpen on this team? If absolutely necessary, Burkett, who threw 115 innings for the 1890 Giants, is around for mopup duty.
The All-December All-Hall team:
MGR Connie Mack
C Carlton Fisk
1B Joe Kelley
2B Tony Lazzeri
SS Ozzie Smith
3B Johnny Bench
LF Rickey Henderson
CF Ty Cobb
RF Al Kaline
DH Josh Gibson
LHSP Steve Carlton
RHSP Fergie Jenkins
LHSP Sandy Koufax
RHSP Ted Lyons
RHSP Charley "Old Hoss" Radbourn
RHSP Pud Galvin
Bench/Bullpen
C Gabby Hartnett (like he'll ever play!)
IF Nelie Fox
OF Larry Doby
IF/OF/RP Jesse Burkett
Sidebar: December's All-in-the-Family Notes
Maybe we should've named this team the Geminis, since two sets of Twins (of the identical/fraternal, not Minnesota, variety) came along in December.
Stan and Stew Cliburn were both California Angels, though apparently never teammates; Stan caught 54 games for the '80 California squad, while Stew went to Delta State University then later pitched in 85 games for '84-'85-'88 Angels and posted a wonderful career line: 13-5, 3.11, six saves, career ERA+ of 128. The little righty's 1985 line included 99 innings and a seasonal ERA+ of 196. Meanwhile, Eddie and Johhny O'Brien debuted as a good-field, no-hit DP combo with '53 Pirates, and while both flamed out preetty quickly, both made it back to Pittsburgh, of all things, as right-handed relievers. Each won exactly one MLB game, Johnny in '56 and Eddie in '57.
Given the number of options, most months you're bound to run into a Bell, a Boone or an Alou -- in December, we hit two out of three, with Matty (brother of Felipe and Jesus, uncle to Moises) Alou and the lesser-known Mike (brother to David, son of Buddy, grandson of Gus) Bell. Baltimore's (as opposed to Kansas City's) royal family is well represented, as both Cal Ripken Sr. and son Billy have a December turquoise birthstone.
Other names you will recognize: Pedro Borbon Sr.; Ozzie Virgil Jr.; Mel Stottlemyre Jr.; Gary (brother of Ron) Roenicke; Dale (son of Yogi) Berra; Dave (father of Derrick) May; Storm (stepbrother of Glenn) Davis; Dennis (stepfather to Jayson) Werth; Phil (brother of Ralph) Gagliano; Jaret (son of Clyde) Wright; Frank (brother of Joe) Torre; and Donnell (brother of Otis) Nixon.
And with apologies to the Niekros and the Perrys, December also brought us arguably the greatest pitching brothers of all time -- Christy and Henry Mathewson combined for a career mark of 373-189 (okay, sure, Christy was 373-188) -- and oh by the way, both Mathewson brothers were first cousins of former Reds stalwart Jack Billingham, who brings the family's career win total to 518. For whatever reason, the two worst seasons of Christy Mathewson's prime were the two in which Henry was a teammate.
Sidebar: December's Jays
We've already seen some December Jay family connections -- Stottlemyre and Werth jump to mind -- but there have been plenty of others worth noting. Of course, there have been many other Toronto rosterites born in December, but here are just a few that will likely stir a trip down memory boulevard:
Gustavo Chacin ... Bobby Mattick ... Kevin Cash ... Vernon Wells ... Reed Johnson ... Tony Batista ... Willie Canate ... Derek Bell ... Orlando Hudson ... Billy Koch ... Mike Flanagan ... Jim Clancy ... Roy Howell ... Vinnie Chulk ... Jason Kershner ... Tom Wilson ... Tom Underwood ... Craig Grebeck ... Esteban Loaiza ...
What do you say? Toronto could do a lot worse than a rotation of Clancy, Flanagan, Loaiza, Underwood and Chacin, with Kershner and Chulk trying to get the ball to Koch. Tough to put a full offense together, but Wells, Batista, Bell and Howell provide some pop and any team managed by Bobby Mattick is going to play hard.
Now, on to the non-Hall-of-Fame November team options.
December Relief?
As noted, the December Hall of Fame roll call didn't provide us with any sort of bullpen -- actually, it was a "null"pen -- but that doesn't mean it won't someday; all-time saves leader Lee "Scary Looking Dude" Smith is a December arrival, as is fellow righty Rick Aguilera, who started his career with a bang as a starter, going 31-17 with the Mets, then ripped off 317 career saves, primarily for the Twins -- uh, the Minnesota variety this time.
Another All-Star turquoise closer of the right-handed variety is former Tiger Mike Henneman, but he probably can't make this team with Smith and Aguilera around; neither will Steve Bedrosian, who won a Cy Young Award as a right-handed closer, but flamed out and disappeared pretty quickly. Looking for a little lefty balance? (Is that an oxymoron?) There's Lindy McDaniel, who had 172 saves in his career, and Darold Knowles, who amassed 143.
Filling Out November's Rotation
You know, with that six-deep Hall of Fame rotation above, this team probably won't have a lot of room for additional candidates. We've already mentioned Mike Mussina in passing, but here are a few more that at least bear mentioning ...
Obviously, for Bauxites, the big name is Joaquin Andujar, he of the two 20-win seasons and 127 career wins. Not fabulous numbers compared to say, even fellow December righties Kevin Appier, Dick Donavan and the late Darryl Kile, but Andujar's status as progenitor of the annual Batter's Box YouNeverKnows might could earn him a spot in long relief on this team. If we could figure out how to count his Cuban stats, Jose Contreras might be a credible candidate as well, while Carl Erskine anchored several excellent Brooklyn Dodger staffs then completely lost it when the team moved to Los Angeles.
From the left side, Jim Merritt was a 20-game winner for the Reds who blew out his arm before reaching 100 career victories, while two of the finest lefty starters of the 1970s, Bill Lee and Jerry Koosmanm were also December arrivals. For sheer entertainment value, LHSP Bo Belinsky is probably the most legendary 28-51 career pitcher of all time.
For one game, you couldn't go wrong with RHSP Fred Toney, who was 139-102 for his career, but for one magical day -- May 2, 1917, to be precise -- threw half of the greatest game ever pitched. In one of baseball's all-time classic pitching duels, Toney threw 10 full innings of no-hit ball to defeat the Cubs' Hippo Vaughn, who did not give up a hit or a run until the 10th inning. It is major league baseball's only recorded double no-hitter.
The Rest of the Guys
With the glut of Hall of Fame backstops above, we won't worry too much about finding a catcher for the Non-Hall team; the best is probably Deacon White, who had 2,066 hits and compliled a .312 career batting average while playing all nine positions (but primarily 3B and C) from 1871-1890, or perhaps the young Craig Biggio
However, there is a glut of options at 1B for the Non-Hall December Stars, including Garvey, new multi-billionaire Richie Sexson, a couple of former Red Sox not known for defensive prowess in Mo Vaughn and Bill Buckner; Eddie Robinson, who reached All-Star status during a tenure lasting 13 seasons with seven different A.L. teams; and a trio of Bronx Bomber All-Stars who helped fill in the Gehrig-Mattingly-Giambi gaps: Bill "Moose" Skowron, Chris Chambliss and Tino Martinez.
And that doesn't even count a couple of guys who played a little more in the OF than at 1B -- Dave Kingman, whose best defensive position was DH, and Harry Stovey, a five-time home run champ who belted 122 homers before 1893. That total was good enough to make him the all-time home run king for a brief period and he was second all-time to Roger Connor until some young phenom named Ruth hit #123 early in the 1921 season.
The Kingman-like Gorman Thomas is also available in the outfield, as is the original "Roadrunner," Ralph Garr, former batting champs Larry Walker and Alex Johnson, the oft-injured Cliff Floyd, and gold-glove CF Devon White, who probably also needs to be added that earlier list of Blue Jays. Harvey Kuenn played quite a bit at SS and 3B but mostly he was a slap-hitting OF who ended up with a career average of .303 and is still best-known for being traded straight up for Rocky Colavito.
In the middle infield, former Expo shorstop Tim Foli probably can't crack the lineup on a team that could also feature Larry Bowa, Marty Marion and 1965 MVP Zoilo Versalles. Across the keystone, there's Juan Samuel, Manny Trillo, Tony Taylor (all three Phillies) and former Rookie of the Year Ken Hubbs, a Cub gold-glover tragically killed in a plane crash in 1964 at the age of 23.
Talk about your utility options ... in addition to the multiple-position history of Deacon White and Craig Biggio, there's the great Cy Seymour; as the sponsor of his BBRef page writes, "How many players had 25 wins as a pitcher, and 219 hits (.377 BA) as a hitter?" Seymour achieved that, doing most of his pitching in 19th century, and most of his hitting in 20th.
Again, that leaves us with third base ... not a strong point here, but we won't be left moving a catcher to the hot corner this time. Our two best options are probably Stan Hack, a .301 career hitter over 16 years in the 1930s and 1940s, and until Ron Santo came along, the only Cub to make an All-Star Game as a 3B; and the mercurial Eric Chavez, who by the end of next season should already be in sixth or seventh place on the franchise's all-time home run list; and yes, that includes the Philadelphia and Kansas City A's.
Oh, and to manage this gang? Jim Leyland, Art Howe and Jim Tracy can battle it out for the honour.
December's All Non-Hall Team
MGR Jim Leyland
Bench Coach Jim Tracy
C Craig Biggio
1B Harry Stovey
2B Tony Taylor
SS Larry Bowa
3B Eric Chavez
LF Harvey Kuenn
CF Ralph Garr
RF Larry Walker
DH Dave Kingman
Bench:
C/UTIL Deacon White
IF Marty Marion
OF Devon White
UTIL Juan Samuel
UTIL/RP Cy Seymour
Rotation: (RLRLX)
RHSP Mike Mussina
LHSP Jerry Koosman
RHSP Kevin Appier
LHSP Bill Lee
RHSP Joaquin Andujar
Bullpen:
CL Lee Smith (R)
SET-R Rick Aguilera
SET-L Lindy McDaniel
LOOGY Darold Knowles
LONG-L Jim Merritt
LONG-R Jose Contreras
Before we move on to consolidating one single overarching All-December team, let's visit another monthly diversion.
Final Sidebar: December Names
Before we get into some of the great names of our Turquoise Team, a brief personal note -- two players to whom I have a somewhat tenuous personal connection came along in December; former Expo 3B Andy Tracy grew up down the street from me, and former Met closer Roger McDowell attended my alma mater, Bowling Green. That is all.
Now how about some of these names? You think Buddy Dear might take some crap in the modern locker room? Bill Crouch wasn't a catcher, but he still probably should've made the all-baseball-terms team a while back; the most appropriate nickname of all time was bestowed upon former Ranger/Yankee/Pirate Doc Medich; but what about the nickname for Bill "Swish" Nicholson? Did he earn this moniker because he once struck out 171 times -- over the course of two seasons, a pace Adam Dunn would love to match?
Then there was Phenomenal Smith -- that's quite a nickname for a 54-74 pitcher, don't you think? -- and Welcome Gaston, and that's not a nickname -- the LHSP threw for the 1898-00 Brooklyn Bridegrooms and Superbas but never wore "Dodgers" across his chest. Maurice Archdeacon, an outfielder for the 1923-25 White Sox, shares a birthday with, but apparently outranks, Deacon Van Buren, who played OF for the 1904 Brooklyn and Philly clubs.
Righty reliever Ben Tincup wasn't in a Kevin Costner golf movie, but he did throw 155 innings for the '14 Phillies, then added another 56 big league innings in three, ah, tincups of coffee over the next 14 seasons. And lest we forget, December also brought us Biff Schlitzer, Mike Parrott, Clyde Kluttz, Scat Metha and Nino Bongiovanni. Merry Steve Christmas, indeed.
Now,finally ...
The All-December Team
As suggested earlier, Bench moves back behind the plate; the fact that two of our (non-Johnny) bench players have had good success as major league pitchers allows us to expand the bench to seven from six, while cutting back the bullpen from six to five. Your 25-man roster, then ...
MGR Connie Mack
Bench Coaches Walter Alston, Jim Leyland
C Johnny Bench
1B Joe Kelley
2B Tony Lazzeri
SS Ozzie Smith
3B Eric Chavez
LF Rickey Henderson
CF Ty Cobb
RF Al Kaline
DH Josh Gibson
Bench:
C Carlton Fisk
C/IF/OF Craig Biggio
UTIL/RP Jesse Burkett
UTIL/RP Cy Seymour
IF Marty Marion
OF Devon White
Rotation: (RLRLX)
RHSP Fergie Jenkins
LHSP Steve Carlton
RHSP Mike Mussina
LHSP Sandy Koufax
RHSP Ted Lyons
Bullpen:
CL Lee Smith (R)
SET-R Rick Aguilera
SET-L Bill Lee
LOOGY Jerry Koosman
LONG Pud Galvin
A deep bow of sorrow and apology to Joaquin Andujar -- it may be true that youneverknow, but we do know he couldn't quite make the cut here; and to Old Hoss Radbourn, who was just too much of an injury risk to carry.
Lots of potentially controversial choices ... fire away!
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