Long-time readers of Batter's Box may know that one of the semi-regular "sidebar" features we've provided to Baseball's Hall of Names
is the occasional look at an all-birthday team of players born on the
same day (in different years, of course). We've done most major dated
holidays and a variety of others. So occasionally I'll glance at the
greatness of BaseballReference.com to see if there is an interesting
all-birthday team for that day -- and we've found some pretty good ones!
Given that we haven't done such a squad in some time, let's take an
extra step and work through an entire weekend of teams, for Oct. 17, 18
and 19, respectively. The interesting thing about these teams is that
one of the very first players born on each of those days to make the
major leagues (Buck Ewing, born 10/17/1859; Candy Cummings, born
10/18/1848; and Mordecai Brown, born 10/19/1876) all made the Hall of
Fame, but not a single player born Oct. 17-18-19 since then has so much
as sniffed Cooperstown induction. and only a total of 11 have even made an All-Star team.
Let's take a look at these three sets of Mister Octobers ...
** Hall of Famer
* All-Star
10/17
MGR: NONE
LINEUP
C Buck Ewing** (.303, 1880-97; played everywhere, even mound)
1B Pop Dillon (.252, 1899-1904)
2B Jim Gilliam (also 3B, OF: .265, 1953-66; '53 NL ROY)
SS Ecky Stearns (24 games at SS; mostly 1B; .242, 1880-85, '89)
3B Red Rolfe* (.289, 69 homers, 1931-42)
LF Glenn Braggs (.257, 70 homers, 1986-92)
CF Carlos Gonzalez (.242, '08 OAK rookie)
RF Dan Pasqua (.244, 117 homers, 1985-94)
DH John Mabry (OF/1B, .263, 96 homers, 1994-2007)
BENCH
C/IF Mike Sandlock (.240, parts of 1942-46, '53)
1B Mark Johnson (.232, 38 homers, 1995-2002)
3B/IF Kelly Paris (.217, parts of 1982-88)
OF/3B Johnny Ostrowski (.234, parts of 1943-50)
OF Count Campau (,267, parts of 1888-94)
OF Bob Christian (.224, 1968-70)
ROTATION
RHSP Paul Derringer* (223-212, 1931-45)
LHSP Ernie Wingard (29-43, 1924-27)
RHSP Ken Dixon (26-28, 1984-87)
LHSP/OF George Nicol (.362 BA, 5-7 W-L, parts of 1890-94)
RHSP Seth Etherton (9-7, parts of 2000-06)
BULLPEN
CL-LH John Rocker (88 saves, 1998-2003)
LHRP Rich Folkers (19-23, 7 saves, 1970-77)
RHRP Johnny Klippstein (101-118, 66 saves, 1950-67)
RHRP Pete Cimino (5-8, 5 saves, 1965-68)
LHRP Ravelo Manzanillo (4-3, 1 save, 1988, '94-95)
Final cuts ...
OF/1B/C Jim Hutto (.175, 1970, '75)
C Chris Tremie (.146, parts of four seasons, 1995-2004)
BBRef Spotlight: In
a very short career, George Nicol made a big impression both as a
pitcher and as a hitter. He pitched a no-hitter in his first game and a
one-hitter in his second. As a hitter, his lifetime average was .362.
10/18
MGR: Burt Shotton (697-764, 1928-34, '47-50; two NL flags)
Coach: Jim Gifford (74-136, 1884 IND, 1885-86 NYM)
LINEUP
C Charlie Berry (.267, 1925-38)
1B Roy Cullenbine* (.276, 110 homers, 1038-47; more OF)
2B Bobby Knoop* (.236, three Gold Gloves, 1964-72)
SS Skeeter Newsome (.245, 1935-47)
3B Hans Lobert (.274, 316 SB, 1903-17)
LF Willie Horton* (.273, 325 homers, 1963-80)
CF Walt Wilmot (.276, 58 homers, 381 SB, 1888-98; led 1890 NL in homers)
RF George Hendrick* (.278, 267 homers, 1971-88)
DH Andy Carey (.260, 1952-62)
BENCH
C Boileryard Clarke (.256, 1893-1905)
IF Alex Cora (.245 since 1998)
IF/OF Jerry Royster (.249, 189 SB, 1973-88)
OF David Murphy (.286 since 2006)
OF Cliff Carroll (.251, 1882-93)
3B/IF Babe Pinelli (.276, 1918, '20-27)
ROTATION
RHSP Candy Cummings** (145-94, 1872-77; invented cureveball)
LHSP Garrett Olson (10-13 since 2007)
RHSP Allen Ripley (23-27, 1978-82)
LHSP Andy Hassler (44-71, 29 saves, 1971, '73-85)
RHSP Jack Gilligan (1-5, 1909-10 SLB)
BULLPEN
CL-RH Ed Farmer* (30-42, 75 saves, 1971-83; 30 saves in '80)
LHRP Michael Tejera (10-13, 2 saves, 1999, 2002-05)
RHRP Alan Mills (39-32, 15 saves, 1990-2001)
RHRP Terry Clark (10-23, 1988-90, '95-97)
RHRP George LeClair (Quebec native 7-12, 1914-15 Fed League)
Final cuts ...
C Wally Millies (.243, 1934, '36-41)
C Doug Mirabelli (.231, 1996-2007)
IF Steve Kiefer (.192, 1984-89)
OF Guy Curtright (.276, 1943-46)
RHRP Mike Walters (1-4, 4 saves, 1983-84)
BBRef Spotlight: After
his playing career, Babe Pinelli became a PCL umpire in 1933 and 1934.
He was then an umpire in the National League from 1935-56, best known
for concluding his career in blue as the plate umpire in Don Larsen's
perfect game.
10/19
MGR: NONE
LINEUP
C Bob O'Farrell (.273, 1915-35; 1926 NL MVP)
1B Walt Bond (.254/20/85 for '64 HOU; .256, 41 homers, parts of 1961-67)
2B Sandy Alomar Sr.* (.245, 249 SB, 1964-78)
SS Michael Young* (.300, 115 homers through 2008)
3B Al Gallagher (.263, 1970-73)
LF Fred Snodgrass (.275, 1908-16)
CF Rajai Davis (.256 since 2006)
RF Lloyd Christenbury (.273, 1919-22)
DH Jose Bautisa (.239 through 2008)
BENCH
C Don Leppert* (.229, 1961-64)
UTIL Joe McEwing (.251, 1998-2006; all but P, C)
UTIL Tom McCreery (.290, 1895-1903; 2-3 W/L, did all but C)
SS/IF Joe Koppe (.236, 1958-65)
OF Marc Newfield (.249, 1993-98)
IF German Barranca (.290, parts of 1979-82)
ROTATION
RHSP Mordecai Brown** (239-130, 1903-16)
RHSP Tim Belcher (146-140, 1987-2000)
RHSP David Palmer (64-59, parts of 1978-89)
LHSP Horacio Estrada (4-1, parts of 1999-2001)
RHSP Mike Gardiner (17-27, 1990-95)
BULLPEN
CL-RH Keith Foulke* (191 saves through 2008)
CL-LH Mark Davis* (1989 NL CYA; 96 saves, 1980-94, '97)
LHRP Al Brazle (97-64, 60 saves, 1943, '46-54)
RHRP Dave Veres (95 saves, 1994-2003)
RHRP Mike Perez (24-16, 22 saves, 1990-97)
Final cuts ...
C Vic Roznovsky (.218, 1964-67, '69)
LHSP Mario Ramos (1-1, three starts, 2003 TEX)
LHSP J.A. Happ (1-1, 2007-08 PHI)
RHRP Tim McCabe (5-1, 1915-18)
RHRP Sam Nahem (10-8, parts of 1938-48)
Spotlight:
Alan Mitchell Edward George Patrick Henry Gallagher had the most names
of any Major Leaguer (tied with Christian Frederick Albert John Henry
David "Bruno" Betzel).
So which of these teams is best? The 17th has the only Hall of Fame
regular; the 19th has (probably) the top ourfield; the 19th has
the best double-play combination and bullpen. That last sounds like a
winner combination. ... in a round-robin tournament, let's ranks these
teams (1) 10/19; (2) 10/17 and (3) 10/18. But it's a close call ...
Your thoughts, Bauxites?
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