That's Right, It's Another Edition of ...
Baseball's Hall of Names! Woohoo!
After this week's earlier "All-Red" Hall of Names piece to welcome Boston's crimson stockings north of the border -- a Hall of Names that set all kinds of dangerous precedents, by the way, in focusing solely on nicknames, which are usually against the rules -- it's time to go to the opposite extreme.
Without getting all technical about what a "colour" is -- yes, yes, in a way, black is a lack of colour while white is just the opposite, a reflection of all colours -- we're going to build the least colourful team in the history of the game. That is, this team is going to be all black, white and gray.
Or, more to the point, all Blacks, Whites and Grays. And we're going to be extremely strict in sticking to the traditional no-nickname rule; so, we'll have to live without Whitey Ford, Black Jack McDowell and Tris "the Grey Eagle" Speaker. And while we're in the business of dismissing Cy Young Award winners like Ford and McDowell, we'll also eliminate those guys whose last/family names simply contain the word(s) in question in part -- so, no Ewell Blackwell, while at the plate, for you old-time Blue Jays fans, no Mark Whiten.
Interestingly enough, no player named Black, Gray or White has yet been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; and while seven men named White have been named to All-Star teams, only one man named Gray has been so honoured, and not a single player named Black has made it to the midsummar classic as yet. And check out the name of the catcher and the backup catcher -- quite a combination!
Still, this team could be pretty damn good. So, meet ...
DON'T COLOUR MY WORLD
**Hall of Famer (if there were any, that is)
* All-Star
STARTING LINEUP
C Sammy White* (.262, 1951-62)
1B Bill Dekova White* (202 homers, 1956-69)
2B Frank White*
SS Bill Dighton White (.241, 1884-88)
3B Bill Gray (.242, 1890-98)
LF Roy White*
CF Devon White*
RF Jo-Jo White (.256, 1932-44)
DH Rondell White*
BENCH
C Sam White (O for 1 in one game for '19 BOS)
COR IF Warren White (.251, 1871-84)
MID IF Elder White (.151 for '62 CHC)
OF Gary Gray (.240, 1977-82)
OF Jerry White (.253, 1974-86)
UTIL Deacon White (2066 hits, played all nine positions, 1871-90)
ROTATION
LHSP Doc White (189-156, 1901-13)
RHSP Sam "Dolly" Gray (111-115, 1924-33)
LHSP Harry "Bud" Black (121-116, 1981-95)
LHSP Ted Gray* (59-74, 1946-55)
SP Bob Black (4-9 for 1884 Kansas City Cowboys; throws "Unknown")
BULLPEN
CL Joe Black (1952 NL ROY)
RHRP Hal White (46-54, 25 saves, 1941-54)
LHRP Gabe White (34-26, 17 saves; active)
RHRP Dave Black (mostly pitched in FL, 1914-15)
LHRP Ernie White (30-21 career; 17-7 for '41 STL)
So, that's 17 Whites, four Blacks and four Grays making the team. (No "White Jays" references, please!) But, Bauxites, surely this isn't so cut and dried ... so, ah, black and white? Could there be additional nuances ... you know, more, ah, shades of gray?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050408235620317