Rockin' and Rollin' All Week Long

Monday, August 29 2005 @ 08:00 AM EDT

Contributed by: Mick Doherty

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days.
Thursday, Friday, Happy Days.
The weekend comes,
My cycle hums,
Ready to race to you.

These days are ours ... happy and free. (Those Happy Days)
These days are ours ... Share them with me. (oh baby)
Goodbye gray sky, hello blue.
There's nothing can hold me when I hold you.
Feels so right, it can't be wrong ... Rockin' and rollin' all week long

With our "All-Happy Days" team, as we did with another HoN look at a 1970s homage to the pop culture of the 1950s (All-Grease), we will be allowing both the names of the characters in the TV show and the names of the actors who played those characters to serve as our "source" material.

Without diving too deeply into the character actors and guest stars, here are the character names we have to work with:

Cunningham (of course), Weber (Potsie) and Phillips (c'mon, you remember Ted McGinley as Roger Phillips!). Among those character names that have, at least to date, never appeared on a major league roster are Delvecchio (sorry Big Al), Malph, Tuscadero (though there have been eight Pinkys and one guy named Hal Leathers), Fonzarelli, Takahashi (Arnold! Though perhaps Shingo Takatsu will make a case), Arcola (Jose Arcia is as close as we get for Chachi); Jenny Piccalo spelled her musical name wrong, but opens the door for a fine-fielding shortstop who also spelled his name wrong, tbough to a different tune, in 1970s and 1980s IF Rob Picciolo.
Among some character first names that have been big league last/family names are Warren and Arnold, not to mention Howard (Though as you'll see below, we don't need Mr. C's first name when we have the actor who played Richie's last name!) and Marion (the latter two would provide quite a right side of the infield in 1B Frank Howard and 2B Marty Marion); we may well need them to fill out the roster. Oh, and lest we forget, Fonzie's younger cousin Spike Fonzarelli could get us either a righty for the Bullpen in Spike Lundberg, a middle IF like Spike Owen, or perhaps even OF Charlie Spikes.

But you know, that's not going to fill an entire team, especially if we don't allow repeats -- and with half-hour sitcoms, who ever wants to endure repeats? So here are some of the (last/family) actors' names we might also use for "source code" ...

(Ron) Howard, (Marion) Ross, (Tom) Bosley, (Erin) Moran, (Anson) Williams (that should net us a pretty decent LF, anyway), (Al) Molinaro, (Ted) McGinley and (Roz as Pinky Tuscadero) Kelly. Sorry, but no dice -- meaning no MLB matches -- for (Pat) Morita, (Henry) Winkler -- sorry, Bobby Winkles doesn't quite cut it as our manager -- (Scott) Baio, (Linda) Goodfriend, (Cathy) Silver and (Danny) Butch, all of whom were in above-the-title credits or regular guest stars.

Our manager, of course, takes his name from Happy Days creator and executive producer Garry Marshall; the only big league skipper with that surname was Jim Marshall, who was 229-326 in, naturally, the 1970s, including consecutive 75-87 marks with the 1975-76 Cubs and a 54-108 record heading up the horrid 1979 Oakland A's; this may be the only chance he has to head up a "Happy Days" team.

As usual, we will limit ourselves to the use of each surname one time -- except in this case for "Cunningham," which is a name that appeared everywhere in Happy Days. Of course, there have been only eight Cunninghams in big league history, including our SP Bert, who was 28-15 in 1898 (but just 142-167 overall in his career)

So now, with a nod to the "Happy Days of the Week" and the greatness of homonyms, it's time to meet ...

THE MIGHTY WEAK
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star

Co-GM Former commissioner "Happy" Chandler**
Co-GM HOF Negro league pitcher Leon Day**
MGR Jim Marshall

LINEUP
C Elston Howard* (Ron Howard as Richie)
1B George "Highpockets" Kelly** (Roz Kelly as Pinky)
2B Billy Moran* (Erin Moran as Joanie)
SS Rob Picciolo (Jenny Piccalo)
3B Don Ross (Marion Ross as Mrs. C)
LF Ted Williams** (Anson Williams as Potsie)
CF Thad Bosley (Tom Bosley as Mr. C)
RF Bob Molinaro (Al Molinaro as Al)
DH Joe Cunningham*
UTIL Tony Phillips (Ted McGinley as Roger Phillips)
RHSP Bert Cunningham
RHRP Ben Weber (Warren "Potsie" Weber)
RHRP George Cunningham

So Bauxites, how can we make this team better? You know, cooler -- or at least "happier"?

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